The next day, Val and Riley show up at the same time. Val must have assumed she’d be safe if she came early, but Riley must have decided to come early that day, too, and as usual, I’m thrown right in the middle of it.
Val pulls me aside when she sees me. “Listen, are you taking me tonight or what? If you are, we should come up with a quick lie to tell Oliver.”
“What kind of loser eighteen-year-olds still lie to their parents?” Riley asks cheerfully from her spot in the wash stall. Val cringes.
“Don’t worry,” I tell Val. “She’s not coming. I already asked her.”
“You invited her? Joey, it was not an open invitation!”
I roll my eyes. “Oh, calm down. It’s a party.”
Riley looks amused. “Don’t worry,” she says to me. “Oliver won’t care. Tell him you’re going to one of Val’s parties, and h
