"Hardly," he rolls his eyes. "I thought you were getting over that fuckhead? Are you into Carlos now, or what?" "Carlos and I were just having fun," I say quickly. "What's your deal?" His change in attitude doesn't sit right with me. "Did he invite you tonight?" "What? No. Anthony did. What does that—" "Hey, you seat-stealer," Casey bumps my shoulder playfully. Dylan shifts his body away from us. "Never mind." What is his problem? Is he assuming there's something going on between me and Carlos? Why would that bother him anyway? I move from Casey's seat and her brows knit together. "Are you ready to go?" I ask her. Dylan's brashness ruins the vibe and I feel like it's time to go. "Uh, sure," she says. I turn to Anthony. "Casey and I are heading out." Thanks to Dylan. "You're leaving already?" Reece says, hearing me. "Yeah, we should probably get out of here." Dylan's tall figure suddenly towers over me. "I'll walk you guys out." Not what I want, but I don't say no. We wave to the guys before Casey takes my hand and we make our way through the crowd with Dylan closely behind. We get to the door and Casey eyes me and Dylan. "I'll go start the car," she holds out her hand. I hand her the keys and she disappears out the door. I cross my arms and Dylan runs a hand through his hair. "I hope you had fun tonight," he says, leaning against the wall next to the door. "I had a lot of fun. I think Casey did too." I'm anxious to talk to her about Kay and how she knows her. And to find out who Xavier is. "Listen, I didn't mean to get all crazy on you about Carlos," his eyes drop to the floor. "He's just irritating the shit out of me." "We're only having fun." To tease him, I say, "Besides, if I were even a little bit interested in someone new, you'd be the first to know." He smirks. "Before Casey?" "Sure, just don't tell her," I laugh. She'd kill me if I told Dylan first about liking someone new. It's like he wants to say something else, but he shuts his mouth quickly. Instead, he pushes himself off the wall and says, "Get home safe." When we get back to Casey's, we go straight to her room. We didn't talked much during the ride back and I'm anxious to ask her about Kay. "That was fun," I say, just to get the conversation going. "Did you have fun?" "I did. I see why you like to hang out with them," she laughs as she kicks off her shoes and throws them into her closet. The boys are an interesting group, but mostly entertaining. "Things got kind of awkward when Dylan and Kay showed up," I say, hoping she'll spill some kind of tea. "Yeah, a little." And that's it. She walks, or escapes, into the bathroom and shuts the door. As I'm putting on my pajamas, I think about Dylan and Carlos. Are they fighting? Why did Dylan get so upset when I danced with Carlos? Plus, Casey and Kay know each other somehow, but how did I not know this? When Casey comes out of the bathroom in her pajamas and a fresh face, I ask, "So you and Kay were friends?" Her eyes don't meet mine. "I wouldn't say that." "What would you say then?" She sits on the bed and brings her legs close to her chest. "Kay has a brother named Xavier. They used to live next to us when we were in middle school. My parents wanted me to be friends with Kay, but she didn't seem to like me. Xavier and I got along really well though." Really well? "Did you like him?" "A little," she shrugs. "What happened? Did you guys grow apart or something?" "Something like that. The age difference was weird for him." Age difference? "How old is he?" "He's four years older, so he's twenty-one." "Four years?" I asks, sitting on the bed in front of her. "Why didn't you tell me about them?" "Well, Xavier and I didn't really hang out until freshman year, right around the time you and Jacob got together. When you guys did your thing, I'd hang out with him and Kay," she explains. "An eighteen-year-old hanging out with a fourteen-year-old looks weird, but we were just friends. I developed a crush on him and he figured it out. I tried to stop liking him because he got mixed up with a bad crowd. We argued about it and I haven't talked to him since last year." While I was soaked up in my personal soap opera with Jacob, Casey was silently dealing with her own boy drama. There's an uncomfortable pit in my stomach. "Case, why didn't you tell me?" "You had your own stuff going on and I didn't want to dump my drama on you. I figured it was best for me to just forget it all." I'm a horrible best friend. I didn't even notice any kind of struggle she was going through. "And you haven't talked to Kay since then?" "I always had the feeling Kay hated me, but I don't know why. She never bothered to talk to me. That's why I liked Xavier better. He actually had a nice personality." She says he got involved with some bad people. I wonder if that has anything to do with why the guys don't like Kay. Is she in with bad people too? Is Dylan? Instead of pestering on, I say, "My drama isn't the only drama that matters. Tell me when you're going through something next time." She smiles. "I will." I then go to the bathroom to wash my face. As I shut the door, I place my hands on my face and sigh. Casey managed to provide a lot of information, yet there are still questions I need answers to. I got a little more background on Kay, but there's so much more behind what Casey said. What crowd is Xavier mixed in? Is Kay in a bad way too and did she get Dylan sucked into all of it? The same thoughts continue to swirl round and round in my mind as I fall asleep.