Chapter 3

Leah had explained everything to me along with an apology that wasn't needed. She clarified how Zane would always bring him around the house or invite him out with them. That's how they became closer and how she figured out he wasn't all bad. Her reasoning for not telling me was that I finally moved on and that would only put me back in a negative mindset

I guess I can't blame her entirely for that, so all was forgiven. Now we were back at my place going through tons of clothing to find the right outfit for tonight. She insisted I bring her along so she can check out my apartment. It wasn't anything special, just a two-bedroom and one bathroom. As long as the size is decent and nothing is falling apart, I loved it.

"Maybe you should wear this," She held up a red bodysuit.

"I don't think I wanna be sweating all night, maybe something a little thinner and pantless will suffice."

She shrugged and tossed it over her shoulder before sifting through the box of clothes once again. This whole party seemed like a great idea to get to know more people, but I have to admit parties scared me. It's been almost a year since I've been to one and I was still traumatized from the events that took place.

We were playing a drinking game and this random chick got way too drunk to the point where she was stumbling all over and being aggressive with the other guests. Me being the nice person I am, I decided to help her out and she repaid me by puking all over my brand-new outfit. Just the thought and smell of that vomit makes me shudder.

"Ok, this is what we're gonna do." I took the box and flipped it upside down dropping everything on the floor and then I did the same with my other boxes. "You can choose something too if you see anything you like."

"Did I ever tell you I love you?" She beamed.

"Yeah, plenty of times." I picked up a black, satin spaghetti-strap dress, with the back out. I only wore this dress once on a date, but I knew the effect it would have on men. The waist cinched enough to give off the illusion that it was small and it also makes my ass look amazing.

"I'm gonna change, hurry up and choose something." I ran off to my bedroom to put on the dress and then I paired it with my black lace-up heels. I checked myself over in the body mirror when Leah came into the room dressed in a white bodysuit and a black leather mini-skirt.

"Your pussy is gonna be on fire in that skirt," I snickered. She pushed me playfully and stepped in front of the mirror.

"I might have to steal this skirt from you," She turned her back to the mirror and looked over her shoulder, feeling up her ass.

"Your brother is gonna kill you once he catches you in that outfit." I glanced over her reflection.

She scoffed and fixed her breast, "Zane doesn't control what I wear and he's not gonna start today."

Yeah, that's what she thought. I touched up my makeup before grabbing my bag. "Ready?"

"Yeah, but hold up!" She rushed to the living room and came back with her camera. "Picture for my memory wall." We struck a quick pose and she snapped the picture.

"Perfect, now let's go."

The whole ride to the party Zane kept pestering Leah about her outfit choice

The whole ride to the party Zane kept pestering Leah about her outfit choice. It was kind of cute how protective he was of his little sister. It made me wish I had an older brother or at least another sibling, but then I remembered that I love being an only child.

"Like I said you have one hour to have your fun and then I'm taking your ass home," He yelled before slamming the car door and walking off up the stairs.

Her outfit wasn't even that bad, I mean what did he expect her to wear to a party, a garbage bag? She has the body, why not show it off?

She cupped her mouth to yell back, "You're not my dad Zane so stop acting like it!"

Good thing he wasn't. I knew her dad and he would literally drag her ass by her hair back to the house if she dressed like this in front of him.

My mouth dropped open when I looked up at the house in front of me. "Who lives here? This place is huge."

"I know!" She pulled my hand and dragged me inside through the flood of people. Teenagers by MCR played on the stereo while people were spread all around the living room. If you can even call it that, the living room was the size of a house itself. Strangers were swapping spit on the couch, and then there were the ones who were stumbling around with drinks clung to their hands.

Leah leaned closer to my ear and spoke, "I know where the drinks are, follow me." She led me out back where there were tables set up with different types of liquor and bottles of beer on ice. The backyard was more packed, but that makes more sense. Stay close to the liquor and you don't have to worry about sweating your ass off because you're surrounded by a bunch of people falling all over you.

I looked around at my surroundings and froze when my eyes landed on Ryan on the other side of the pool. He was having a conversation with the same redhead from the pizza shop and taking sips from his blue plastic cup.

As if he could sense I was watching him he gazed across the pool, towards where I was standing, and winked at me.

I didn't even notice Leah had left my side until I saw her walking up to them. I quickly snatched a bottle of Hennessy off the table and fell in step beside her.

"Clair, what are you doing here?" Leah crouched to hug her and then sat near her legs on the lounge chair.

Glad I can put a name to a face.

"You know my parents were never able to keep me in for long. Who can say no to a face like this?" She gestured to her face and stuck out her bottom lip to pout.

"You snuck out didn't you?"

"You already know," she chuckled and looked me over slowly, "And who do we have here? I told you to always let me know when there's fresh meat in the group."

Fresh meat?

"This is my best friend Violet, be nice to her. My version of nice, not yours!" Leah warned.

"Now I'm curious what her version is," I spoke and took a seat on the opposite side of Clair's legs.

Clair smiled at me then stuck her hand out, "You'll find out soon enough, Violet." The way my name rolled off her tongue almost sounded sexual. I'm like 50% sure she wanted to get in my pants and I'm not so sure I would stop her. Those siren eyes and fiery hair were enough to draw anyone in. I shook her hand and glanced over at Ryan. I would've forgotten he was there if he stayed silent a second more.

"You guys are looking delicious tonight." His eyes traveled down my body to my legs before flicking up to my eyes.

"Do I have to hurt you again for being a weirdo?" Leah spat.

He threw his hands up and climbed to his feet, "Such a feisty little girl." I watched him walk away and disappear into the crowd of bodies in the house.

"Ok, I'm gonna go grab something to drink and maybe mingle a bit. You guys talk!" She jumped up leaving me alone with Clair. I sat in Ryan's chair and kicked my feet up.

Clair looked over at me and grinned, "You're that girl from the pizza shop, right? I knew you looked familiar."

"Yeah, I wasn't sure you would recognize me since I looked a total mess."

"Are you blind or crazy? You looked delicious," We chuckled after she used Ryan's choice of words. "No, but seriously you looked great, but how come I've never seen you around before?"

"I moved to Virginia a couple years ago and just moved back yesterday." I took a sip of my Hennessy and winced from the burning sensation in my throat. Ok, maybe I should've started with some water.

Her eyes widened and I thought something was wrong until she spoke. "Oh, shit you're the one she's always telling me about? The Violet." she dug into the cooler beside her and held a beer out to me. "Any friend of Leah's is a friend of mine."

I took the beer from her grasp and held it up.

"Well, cheers to new friends." I took a sip from the beer and then another from the bottle of Hennessy. I sat with her for the next twenty minutes as we got to know each other and laughed over funny and embarrassing stories. Leah rejoined us, but only for a little while. Now she was off in the far corner of the yard making out with some guy.

Ryan headed back over to us and snapped to catch Clair's attention, "Jonah needs you inside real quick."

She rolled her eyes and jumped to her feet. "I'll be right back, hun. Don't get too drunk without me," she whispered before patting my hand.

I watched her jog over to the house and then I looked up at Ryan who watched me over his cup as he took a sip. "Finally we get some alone time," He picked up my feet and placed them in his lap when he took a seat.

I cocked a brow and stifled a laugh, "You have a foot fetish or something?"

"You do have some pretty cute feet, but that's not my fetish."

Good to know.

I took another drink from the Hennessy and handed it over to him, "So what's up? We could skip the small talk if that's why you came over here."

"Just wondering if you were ready to have that long-awaited talk..."

I wasn't planning on talking about it at all since I've already gotten past it, but I guess it'll be good to talk it over instead of going on like nothing happened.

"If you wanna talk then talk." I deadpanned.

He exhaled slowly and placed the bottle on the ground, "Ok, I know this isn't relevant anymore because it's been so long, but I still wanna apologize for my part in the breakup. You were moving away and I was a dumb kid, but everyone knows long-distance relationships never work out."

I finished off the rest of my beer and nodded. Ok, that's true.

"See, you agree. It's not that I didn't care for you. We were both going through shit in our lives and I was starting high school soon and dealing with family drama on top of that."

"Family drama? Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were leaving. It's really nothing, my parents just split up. After 15 years of marriage, you would've thought the petty fights wouldn't break them, but I guess for my mom it did." He sighed and raked his hand through his hair. "Now she's just a stranger."

"I'm sorry, I know how much your mom means to you."

"Meant to me." He corrected me and finished off whatever was in his cup. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down with every gulp and that alone did something to me.

Ok, stop with these thoughts!

"So what you been up to since leaving?" he choked out and wiped his lips on his arm.

"Uh, Just taking care of my mom and trying to find new hobbies to keep myself busy. I had a job as a delivery driver down in Virginia which I loved, but I'm sure I can find something new out here." I kept finding myself getting distracted by his hands on my legs, so I sat up and crossed them.

"So what you been up to? There's a lot to do in a big city like this."

He leaned over and propped himself up on his elbow, "Just working hard so that I can finally afford to leave this piece of shit place behind."

I cocked a brow, "You plan on leaving me this time?"

"You're welcome to join me wherever I end up, but it just won't be here."

Whatever problems he went through seemed to still be affecting him no matter how hard he tried to give off the illusion that he was ok. I needed to be here for him because I know he would do the same for me.

I got up and opened my arms, "Come on."

He looked at me confused, but then he stood up and I wrapped my arms around his waist. "I can tell when someone needs a really good hug, it's like a sixth sense."

He rested his chin on top of my head and snaked his arms around my body, "Thanks for this, but I promise I'm fine."

"I'll pretend that's true."

He softly rubbed his palm up and down my back while I stood there frozen in his arms. The stench of liquor, marijuana and watermelon radiated off of him. Such a strange mix of scents but it smelled amazing on him.

I pulled away and looked up into his eyes. Bad idea.

The liquor must have been kicking in now because all I wanted to do was shove my tongue down his throat right now. Who am I kidding? I don't need liquor for that.

I turned my head and pulled away from his grasp. "So I'm gonna go find Clair, but I'll see you around," I noted before walking away.

I found Clair inside with a few others that she introduced me to. The owner of the house turned out to be good friends with Zane. One of his attractive college buddies. Leah found her way back to us after her long and sloppy make-out sesh and we drank and danced until we physically couldn't anymore.