“Positive. In other news, Marcie's throwing a Halloween party here at the farmhouse."Patch smiled. "Grey - Millar family drama?""The theme is famous couples from history. Could she be any less original? Worse, she's roped my mom into this. They went shopping for decorations today. For three whole hours. It's like they're suddenly best friends." I picked up another apple slice and made a face at it. "Marcie is ruining everything. I wanted Scott to go with Vee, but Marcie already convinced him to go with her." Patch's smile widened.I aimed my best sulky look at him. "This isn't funny. Marcie is destroying my life. Whose side are you on anyway?"Patch raised his hands in surrender. "I'm staying out of this.”

“Try it on.""It's probably a little snug. Marcie tends to buy down when it comes to sizing." He merely smiled."It has a slit up the thigh." His smile depened."Zip it up?"Patch's eyes made a slow assessment of me, sharpening to vivid black. "I'm going to have a hard time sending you off with Scott in that dress. Just a heads-up, if you come home and the dress looks even slightly tampered with, I will track Scott down, and when I find him, it won't be pretty.”

“GUESS WHERE I AM.CLUE? she texted back SWEAR U WON'T TELL A SOUL? U HAVE 2 ASK?I reluctantly texted,@ DINNER W. MARCIE'S DAD.#?@#$?!&MY MOM IS DATING HIM.TRAITOR! IF THEY GET MARRIED, U & MARCIE...COULD USE A LITTLE CONSOLATION HERE!DOES HE KNOW UR TEXTING ME? Vee asked.NO. THEY R INSIDE. I'M IN THE PARKING LOT ----COOPERSMITHS.THE PIMP. 2 GOOD 4 APPLEBEE'S, I SEE.I'M GOING 2 ORDER THE MOST EXPENSIVE THINGS ON THE MENU. IF ALL GOES WELL,HIM GOING TO THROW HANK'S DRINK IN HIS FACE 2.”

“I don’t see any police cars.” “They probably had to park a couple blocks over. Anyway, as I was saying, I noticed illegal substances in the hands of a few guests.” “So?” she snapped. “It’s a party.”“Alcohol is illegal under the age of twenty-one.” “Great!” Marcie shouted. “What am I going to do?” She paused, then raised her voice again. “You probably called them!” “Who, me?” Vee said. “And lose the free food? No way.”

“That's really eco-friendly of you," Vee told Marcie. "Recycling Nora's old trash.”

“Are you defending Marcie?”He shook his head. “I don’t need to. She handled herself. You, on the other hand…”I pointed at the door. “Out.”

“Okay, calm down, we'll pay,"said Vee, reaching into her back pocket. She stuffed a wad of cash into the bowl, but it was dark and I couldn´t tell how much. "You owe me big-time," she told me. "You're supposed to let me count the money first," Marcie said, digging through the bowl, trying to recapture Vee´s donation. "I just assumed twenty was too high for you to count," Vee said. "My apologies." Marcie's eyes went slitty again, then she turned on her heel and carted the bowl back into the house. "How much did you give her?" I asked Vee. "I didn't. I tossed in a condom." I lifted my eyebrows."Since when do you carry condoms?""I picked one up off the lawn on our way up the walk. Who knows, maybe Marcie'll use it. Then I'll have done my part to keep her genetic material out of the gene pool.”