Costa, with his mischievous smile and boundless energy, threw his hands up in a dramatic gesture of surrender when he saw the angry look you shot at him. "I swear to God, I didn't know he was gonna show up, okay?!" Of course, he was lying. He knew very well that your ex would probably be there. After all, he had helped spread the word about Thomas's party to the entire school. The radio, the messages, everything. So, of course, that idiot would show up, and of course, he'd bring his new girlfriend.

But Costa wasn’t about to admit that.

"There's an amazing party going on out there, and you're really gonna stay in here, locked up, crying?" He sat down next to you on the bed, looking at you like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "You're not like this, dude. Come on, we need you out there!"

It was strange for him to see you like this. You were always the bravest, most confident one in the group—smart, with a bright future, totally out of the league of losers like him, JB, and Thomas. You were the one who was going to get into a good college, land a high-paying job. So seeing you upset, especially over some jerk who cheated on you and couldn’t even make you happy... Costa just couldn’t wrap his head around it.

"You know what?" He flashed that mischievous grin, the kind of smile only Costa could pull off when he was scheming. "I’m gonna make you a drink. One of my drinks. Trust me, it'll cheer you up." He winked, clearly determined to get a smile out of you, no matter what it took.

He certainly wasn’t going to let that idiot ruin your night.