Apex

07 | dog days are over

MAY 16

MAUD

It was pathetic, but I'd rehearsed this moment countless times.

I'd recite my lines in front of a bathroom mirror, sobbed them on the shower floor, and felt them tickle my eyelids at night. They were an incantation of strength that I believed to be invincible. Facing Dakota Black was simply mind over matter.

But the moment I saw him parting the crowd like Moses in the Red Sea, I knew that I'd been wrong to believe that. It wasn't because I was nervous or enamored by his curly dark hair. It had nothing to do with him and everything to do with me. 

I guess you couldn't choose what feelings stayed and which faded away. The cameras were rolling, and I knew my lines, but I had never been someone who took pleasure in following a script.

"Hey," Dakota greeted, the corners of his mouth lifting in an almost-smile.

"Hi," I said, my composure threatening to shatter like a thin layer of ice on a pond. "You're here."

Of course he was here, I scolded myself. 

"Yeah." His cognac eyes abandoned me for Nicki, and my heart jumped into my throat. "Great to see you, man."

Nicki didn't miss a beat. "Seems like Hollywood treated you well."

"Most days," Dakota grinned.

As if on cue, they performed that odd yet classic handshake showcasing male comradery. Were boys only immature when it involves navigating their romantic relationships?

"Are you playing the game?" I asked Dakota, my ego prompting one of my eyebrows to lift.

"There's no reason for me not to."

I failed to react for a moment, stunned into silence by his nonchalance; I wondered if he'd rehearsed his lines for this moment as well. Maybe I was acting irrational, but how else was I supposed to process his indifference? There was a small yet noisy part of my brain that screamed that there was no way he'd moved on. There was no way he'd turned his back on our shipwreck of a romance.

But for better or for worse, my assessment proved to be a self-centered lie because Dakota could walk away. I was watching him walk away right now. Once he rejoined a tall and beautiful girl who I recognized as the actress Brenna Quinn, they sat down in the seats near Allix and Syd.

"You okay?" Nicki asked, his voice sucking me out of my trace.

"Yep," I nodded. "Perfectly okay."

The infamous circle of chairs included twenty seats. Choosing the players involved in the first game of truth or dare was always selective. I glanced around the circle and deduced that while it wasn't just the cool kids of Friday Island at the party tonight, only the cool kids who would be allowed to play. Lions always outranked hyenas.

Hadley waved us over, and when Nicki and I assumed our rightful seats, the game commenced.

"Let's review the three standard rules," Bryce said, lounging back in his red chair. "Number one, you need to obtain consent. I don't give a shit if you're friends or fucking. You either get consent or get your ass kicked."

"Number two," Syd said with an uncharacteristic edge to his voice. "No pictures or videos. This is a small island, and snitches can't hide forever."

I shifted in my seat, knowing that Syd was aiming to protect Brenna and Dakota from scrutiny. Besides, we were all under the legal drinking and smoking age. No one wanted their inebriated behavior to come back and haunt them.