Read The Next Forever for Free Online Page A

were doing something. You had to do it, too.
    Luckily, I didn’t have any friends here, since the things I did because my friends were doing them back in Collinsville had gotten me arrested.
    I could only hope that Trevor wouldn’t offer me anything other than beer. There was no way I could call Joe to bail me out of jail.
    Trevor came back with two red plastic cups in his hands and a friend at his side.
    Thank goodness.
    “This is Amy. She lives in my dorm,” Trevor said, pointing at me. “This is Pete. I jam with him sometimes,” Trevor finished, pointing at the friend.
    “What’s up?” Pete yelled above the music. He reminded me of one of those guys in the jazz band in high school, dark smoky eyes, lips most comfortable on a trombone.
    I nodded. I knew he wasn’t really expecting me to answer him, so I didn’t.
    “You got any cute friends?” Pete asked, not wasting any time.
    “No,” I said, not adding, I have no friends , which is what I was thinking. I took a sip of my beer, realizing too late I should have said, Yeah, Trevor .
    My stupid mouth had betrayed me again. If I could rewind the moment, I totally would have said that. Of course, if I could rewind the moment, I could rewind this whole night and I might not have ended up here to begin with.
    “Thanks a lot,” Pete said, looking at Trevor with slit eyes.
    “Since when am I your matchmaker?” Trevor asked, his hand tight around his beer cup.
    “You bring someone for yourself and leave me hanging,” Pete said, quiet enough that I probably wasn’t supposed to hear above the music, but I did.
    “I’m not here for him,” I said, and then took a long drink of my beer so I didn’t have to say anything else.
    Whether it was true or not, I needed to say it.
    “You sure about that, bad girl?” Trevor stared at me.
    My neck felt hot, my throat empty of breath. I wasn’t sure, especially if he kept calling me bad girl like that.
    “I didn’t think so,” he said, smiling at Pete.
    I tried to step back from Trevor, but there were so many people that there wasn’t enough room. We were standing so close now. Close enough that I could smell the cigarette smoke on him and hear the faint swish of his leather jacket as he moved. He could have saved my life now if he had to, which was ironic because standing so close to him could quickly end mine.
    “You play or sing?” Pete asked me, possibly hoping for something for us to talk about besides his sex life and mine.
    “No, not me,” I said, taking another long drink.
    “You don’t play or sing and you’re not here for him. So what the hell are you doing here?” Pete asked, his eyes sparkling. I understood he was joking. I understood this was the kind of talk that happened when beer was being drunk, but his question still hit me right in the gut.
    What was I doing there?
    What the hell am I doing there?
    Answer 1: I was bored.
    Answer 2: I was invited.
    Answer 3: My boyfriend just asked me to move in with him and instead of saying yes, I came to a party with another guy.
    Answer 4 (and the one I didn’t want to even consider): I’m a shitty girlfriend on the brink of being even shittier.
    I looked at my phone again.
    “Waiting for your boyfriend to call?” Trevor asked, his lips so close to my cheek he could have kissed it without even moving.
    “No,” I said.
    “Hoping he won’t call?” he asked, his lips even closer.
    “What?” I asked.
    “Maybe that’s just me,” Trevor purred. “You, me, and my hat have an appointment later.”
    “You can shove your hat,” I said, finally able to attempt to defend myself against his advances.
    “Just tell me where, bad girl.”
    I felt like such a dork, but I really liked it when he called me bad girl —liked it in the lower part of my stomach, which let me know I was such a dork. Which let me know I was in trouble.
    Pete laughed and turned to Trevor. “A girl with a boyfriend? At least you have one hand tied behind your back, too.”
    I