“She won’t,” Tana said, voice firm. “She misses me and Jordy too much to go away again.”
“And… if she can’t help herself?”
Tana didn’t have an answer. Instead, she said, “Weren’t we talking about a party?”
With a sigh, Daphne took the hint.
“You sure this wouldn’t be awkward?”
“Maybe at first. But my friends will get over it. How about we go super informal? Movie and pizza.”
Daphne took a bite of her sandwich to cover for the time she needed to focus.
She was stuck here, right? Meeting people would be more than good–downright necessary if she wanted to put Candice Chaisson and the rest of Kingsdale out of her mind.
The Other Daphne rubbed against her thoughts, begging for a chance at shiny, new people who wouldn’t flinch away from her glance.
She jumped her scattered excited thoughts like rope. In one instant, she anticipated the private euphoria of flirting with a future boyfriend, the first summer adventure with her new packmates on midnight-darkened streets, and the whispered in-jokes she’d form when she and Tana stayed awake all night.
The image of New Girl Daphne felt flawlessly crystallized in her mind: brilliant conversations, witty repartee, outfit that screamed “I am confident and chill”, all paired with the perfect attitude to lie about her dangerous secrets.
Would it be enough?
Tana’s voice had a lilting tease to it as she said, “I’ll tell my friends to skip the raging kegger and no hot boxing the bathroom. Sound okay?”
One movie wasn’t long enough to get into too much trouble. Without any liquor or weed, her brain would stay her own.
The Other Daphne curled against her back, content.
Daphne wiped a napkin across her mouth. As she saw the electricity of anticipation in Tana’s eyes, it fed into her nearing-bouncy energy.
Daphne’s lips curled into a mischievous smile. “Let’s do this.”
* * *