

She was definitely rocking the crazy pants. “He was like a Glo Worm but only brighter.”

“That!” Mel pulled her hand free and thrust it through her chin-length, raven-colored hair. He lit up like a freaking glow stick or-or you remember those toys that you squeeze and they light up?” And it was election season, so Senator Vanderson’s name being dropped was bound to get attention. “A light bulb?” I kept my voice down even though it was pointless. Wanting to crawl under the table, I grabbed Mel’s hand and squeezed gently. Both of them!”Ī couple glanced over at us curiously. “Yeah, well most guys don’t turn into a freaking light bulb! But Vanderson’s sons did. Nothing made crazy easier to accept than lounge pants and flip-flops. I needed more comfortable clothes for this stuff. Damn, I wished I’d had time to run home and change. I leaned forward, stretching the fit of my suit jacket as I folded my arms on the round table. Mel liked to party, but she stayed away from the harder stuff. Had she been drinking before we met up? Or toking on the crack pipe? If the frantic voice mail I’d received from Mel while I’d been at the school and the subsequent conversation was any indication, maybe meth was involved. “But I know what I saw, Serena, and I’m telling you Phillip isn’t human.”

Both had chipped nail polish, which was so unlike her glamour-loving nature. I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes, and these blue peepers have twenty- twenty vision thanks to Lasik.” Mel jabbed at her eyes with two fingers. I took a huge gulp of my rum and coke, wincing at the burn. Throughout our lives, no one could figure out how we were so close, but when friendships begin with cupcakes-chocolate, at that-no truer bond develops. Mel was the crazy one, always into something, while I was mostly comfortable reading a book or watching a movie. A rattlesnake and a bunny had more in common than we did. We’d been peanut butter and jelly since I shared my chocolate cupcakes with her in the first grade. That or Mel’s drink was a hell of a lot stronger than mine. In the dim, almost but-not- quite seedy bar lights, I stared openmouthed at my best friend in what had to be the most unattractive manner.
