04

*Pandora*

"No, mama." I say in a finalizing tone.

"Pandora."

"Mama, he would hate it. He's probably sitting in his room right now, getting ready to study the next four chapters for one of his classes."

My mother has spent the last twenty minutes insisting I bring Monte to the party tonight. The party that I was supposed to be getting ready for at Dalia's house right now.

"Then call your friends and let them know you won't be able to make it. This means a lot to Georgia. She's very happy to see him making friends and I already told her you'd invite him."

"Fine. I'll ask him. But I know he'll say no."

My mother smiles, expectantly, at my response.

"Okay. Okay. I'm going."

Breathing out a heavy sigh, I add to my dramatics with a slam of the door. I can vaguely hear my mother throw a string of jSpanish curse words at me from inside the house.

Standing outside the Collins' front door, I cant bring myself to ring the bell. What happens if he says yes.

But knowing Monte, there's not a chance in hell he'd agree to go. Remembering the Montgomery that shivers under my stare, I ring the doorbell.

"Pandora! Hi, are you guys going to the party so soon?"

"Oh. No, I just came to ask Monte if he wanted to come."

"I already told him he's going. When your mother told me about the party tonight, I thought it'd be good for him. He was, of course, not happy about it. "

"I can imagine." I laugh slightly.

This is going to be a disaster.

"Come in. Monte's in his room, go ahead and get him." She steps away to let me through the door. I give her a small smile before making my way up the stairs and towards Monte's room.

The door is left open little and trying to pull my usual confident demeanor together, I push the door open.

"Alright, Montgomery. Lets get this show-" My words are caught in my throat as I come face to face with a shirtless Monte. The rest of my words come out as a mumble and my eyes rack up the tall frame of the flustered boy in front of me, "on the road."

"Pandora. Um- I'm almost ready."

"You look ready to me. You should ditch the pants too. Maybe we should just forget about the party." Monte's cheeks grow redder than I've ever seen them at my words and it brought a smile to my face. I'm sure that on outside my face was as stoic as ever but on the inside? I feel like the way Monte looks.

He's wearing black ripped jeans, that make us look as if we've cordinated our outfits, and the waistband of his boxer peek out from . His toned chest is left fully on display and I'm left wondering, yet again, how a guy like him looks like that.

"I must say. I am impressed." I smirk before moving from my spot in the doorway. I stop when I'm in front of him and my hands reach up to remove the shirt from his tight grip. Tossing the plain white shirt onto the bed, I let my eyes drop to the defined muscles on his stomach. I lift my hand to trace them softly. At this, I can feel him suck in a breath of air as his body tenses under my touch.

"Relax." I say, bringing my eyes back up to his green ones. The look in his eyes only confirms how anxious he is in my presence. Despite his very obvious nervousness he releases the breath he's been holding.

My hands continue their slow, tortuous journey down Monte's body. Even though he's breathing now, rather heavily actually, his body is still rigid under my touch. I look up from where my fingertips rest on his stomach to see that his eyes have darkened now. Something in them, deep behind the very clear anxiety, is something much less innocent. His eyes roam over my face, as if he's searching for something, before they land on my lips. Instinctively, my tongue shoots out to wet them. My eyes fall to watch his lips open slightly as he lets out a breath. His minty breath invading my senses and if possible, clouding my mind even further.

The room feels smaller, hotter, my fingertips are on fire from the contact and it makes me crave the heat I feel between us. Just before my fingers reach the waistband of his jeans his hand reaches up and wraps around my wrists quickly. Even he seems surprised at his actions and I struggle to give up the control I have over him. But if the way he's looking at me is any indication of the change in dominance, I can tell I have no choice in the matter.

My palms flatten against his solid abdomen and push him towards the bed. When the back of his knees touch the bed he's forced to sit down. Standing between his legs my hands now rest on his broad shoulders and he looks up at me. The anxiety in his eyes is virtually gone and they're now clouded with excitement.

Slowly, my hands reach up to cup his face, bringing it closer to my own. At this, his body tenses again and when my face is only a few inches from his, his eyes grow wind. As if realizes our close proximity he pulls away slightly and his face, once again, breaks out into a deep blush.

"We- we should really get going." He breaks me out of my trance and my hands flinch away from him.

"Yeah, hurry up. We have somewhere to go before the party." I turn around to walk towards the door, but mainly to regain my composure.

After exiting the room and shutting the door, I pull my phone to text Dalia.

Pandora:

Sorry. had to pick up a friend. be there soon

Dalia:

No worries. dumb and dumber showed up

I let out a snort as I know she's referring to Hunter and Wyatt.

Hearing the door open pulls the small smile from my face before I turn around to face a now-clothed Montgomery.

"Ready?"

He just nods in response, keeping his eyes trained on the plush carpet beneath us. Without another word, I drag him down the stairs and out the door but not before a very happy Georgia yells,

"Have fun kids!"

I walk towards the car, listening to Monte's faint footsteps following behind me.

Once I reach the car, I open the passenger door for him and wait for him to get in the car. Quickly, I shut the door and walk around to the driver's side.

"Where's the party? Who's throwing it?"

"Some girl named Gwen is throwing it. It's at her house, I guess." I shrug as I pull out of my driveway.

A short, uncomfortably quiet drive brings us to Dalia's also very large house.

I turn off the car and make my way to Dalia's front door.

"P! Finally, Wyatt and Hunter have been driving me insane. Who's this?" Dalia's excited voice rings, loudly, in my ears.

"This is Monte. He's my neighbor." I say as we walk through the front door into a very darkly decorated house.

Looking around at the inside of Dalia's house I see where her appearance comes from. Her house matches her dark clothing. She stands in front of me dressed in a tight wine colored dress that reached the middle of her thigh, which she's paired with black thigh-high boots.

"Aren't you cute? I love the whole sexy nerd thing." Dalia slaps his shoulder.

Monte shifts uncomfortably as his eyes dart between the two of us.

"Um- thank you?" He poses his response as more of question than an appreciation.

"Is everyone ready? " I take the attention off a very obviously flustered Monte and bring Dalia's focus back to me.

"Yeah, we're ready but you are not going like that."

I look down at my black jeans and red crop top, which is covered by my usual leather jacket.

"Oh no, I'm fine in this. We can head to Gwen's."

"You look hot as always but when I'm done with you every guy at that party will want to sleep with you." Before I can get a word out I'm being pulled up the stairs and into another dark room. I turn to see Hunter and Wyatt emerge from what I assume to be the living room. They give Monte one of those "bro-hugs" and he looks even more uncomfortable now.

"Pandora, thank god. Which lipstick?" Piper holds up two red lipsticks that look exactly the same to me but I know I can't tell her that. After spending only one hour with this girl I've come to realize a few things. One of which being that, to Piper, the devil is in the details. So I put on my best thinking face, in hopes that she doesn't realize I have no idea which of these lipsticks will "pop against her skin" and roll the dice.

"That one. Definitely." I say pointing to the small tube in her left hand.

"Right! Thank you, these two keep telling me to wear Russian Red. I think they just want me to look like a middle-aged woman." She smiles at me as she turns around to face the mirror and put her lipstick on. I internally chuckle at her excitement, glad to have guessed correctly.

"Now we have to get P ready. There is a hot nerd downstairs that we need to impress." Dalia's voice brings Piper and Val's attention back to me.

"Hot nerd? Do tell, dear Pandora."

"She's embellishing a little. He's just my neighbor. Our moms are close and his mom wanted me to bring him to help him make friends or something."

"I do have a bit of a flare for dramatics but he is definitely hot. So we're going to make this sexy bitch even sexier." Dalia pushes me into the chair placed in front of the vanity in her room.

Thirty minutes of Dalia yelling at me to stop moving as she does my makeup and Val forcing me to try on every dress in Dalia's closet pass by and we're finally ready to leave. I look in the mirror and am surprisingly satisfied with how the look turned out.

My big curls are slicked back into a fluffy bun at the back of my head. My black jeans are gone and I stand there in a strapless, black dress. The dress makes my short legs appear longer and the suffocating top of the dress leaves much of my cleavage on display. My black boots are the only part of my outfit that remains the same and I'm thankful no one tries to convince me to wear heels.

"If that guy doesn't fuck you, I will." Piper smiles before slapping my behind lightly.

"You guys did great. Thank you." I give them a smile and it feels like the first in months. This smile is genuine and natural. One that I don't have to force for people to believe my act of confidence.

"Now let's go get fucked up, bitches!" Dalia cheers loudly.

We take two cars with Monte, Dalia and Val in my car and Hunter, Wyatt and Piper in Hunter's truck.

After following behind Hunter's white jeep for a few minutes we pull up to a curb behind a long row of cars. I can faintly hear music coming from down the street and my nerves begin to spike at the thought of the party.

We all exit our cars and begin walking in the direction of the music. A house probably twice the size of my own comes into view and a mess of empty cans and solo cups confirm this is where the party is.

When we step into the house the loud music rattles through the structure and sends vibrations through my body. I feel Monte following me closely through the mass of sweaty bodies. Something in me wants to reach out and grab his hand to keep him this close. From the look on his face, I know he's even less enthusiastic about the busy environment. His eyes dart all over the room and although it's clear he's trying to remain neutral through all this, his face holds a look of disgust every time his eyes fall on another drunken member of our student body. Amused, I turn my attention back to the bright red hair in front of me and continue following her through the house.

We stop in front of a granite island in the massive kitchen and Dalia is already handing everyone cups of a very strong smelling drink. I quietly set mine down, not wanting to explain why I'd be avoiding alcohol for the night.

From the corner of my eye I can see Monte staring into his cup, examining its contents.

"You don't have to drink it if you don't want to Montgomery." I shout over the music.

"It's not that. I've just never tried alcohol before."

"Then you might want to mix that with something. Judging by the way that cup smells I think that might be a little strong for someone's first try." I move towards the cooler in the corner of the room before grabbing a soda. I take the cup from him and pour a good amount of the soda into it before swirling the cup around a bit. After smelling the cup and not feeling the slight burning sensation in my nose, I hand the cup back to him.

He hesitantly sips the drink and after smoothly swallowing a large gulp, he looks down at me.

"It's good."

The rest of the night is spent dancing with Dalia, Piper and Val. I make sure to keep a close eye on Monte, who has since ditched his cup and now sits on a crowded couch with a very drunk Wyatt. He laughs every now and then at something Wyatt's saying and I feel a warmth inside me at the sight of him smiling. His eyes lock with mine and for the first time ever his face doesn't obreak out in a deep blush. His smile only widens and he lifts his hand to wave at me.

Without thinking, I walk towards him and watch his eyes light up with excitement. He's obviously tipsy at the very least and if I wasn't, well me, I'd probably laugh at his newfound freedom. Seeing the way his shoulders slump further into the couch as I near I know he's much more relaxed than he usually is.

"Pandora! This is so fun! Are you having fun? Did I tell you how pretty you look? I mean you always look beautiful like seriously every time I see you my palms get a sweaty and I cant think. But tonight? That dress? Wow! I do miss your leather jacket though. The look doesn't feel complete without, it doesn't feel like you." I can't hold back my laughter at his slurred words.

"Im glad you're enjoying yourself. Yes I'm having fun."

"I am enjoying myself, but I really have to pee."

"Well let's find a bathroom then. Come on." I reach my hand out towards him, to which he gladly grabs to pull himself up.

I pull him through the house looking behind random doors in search of a bathroom. After pushing open what seemed like a million doors and witnessing more naked girls than I'd have liked, I finally find a bathroom.

Monte sighs happily before brushing past me and rushing into the bathroom. I wait outside the door for him and when a few minutes of silence pass by, I grow worried.

"Montgomery? You okay?" I knock on the door lightly. He doesn't respond and a few more seconds of silence pass before the door flies open to reveal a swaying Montgomery.

"You know, you're a lot less scary when you're drunk." Monte slurs at me before walking out of the bathroom and sitting against the wall.

"I'm not drunk, sweetheart. You are. And I don't see why you're scared of me."

"You just don't care about anything. It makes you seem scary. But I kind of like it." He rambles.

"What makes you think I don't care about anything?" I laugh curiously.

"I don't know. You just do whatever you want, no matter how it makes other people feel. Which to some people might me bitchy but to me, it's just intimidating." His words struck something in me. Listening to his drunk words, I realize he's right. I am a bitch. I should've been offended but I couldn't even bring myself to be upset with him.

I have been a bitch but this is what I wanted, right? This is the person I built from that dark place. Hearing that from anyone else would've brought me joy. But listening to his smooth, low voice, I feel more hurt than anything. That's why I had to keep my distance from him. I can't let him get caught up in that darkness and it was foolish of me to let some silly attraction distract me from that.

"Well, that's pathetic."

"What?" He responds, shocked.

"If you're that easily intimidated, that's pathetic. It's sad that your mom had to force you to come to a party with me. You just let your whole life pass you by because you're too scared to grow a pair and enjoy it. I mean, come on, this is your first time even tasting alcohol. Is this really all you want out of life?" I feel a pang of hurt as the words leave my mouth.

"What's your problem?" The hurt in his voice stings even more than my own . I want nothing more than to tell him I don't mean it and that I'm sorry for everything I just said. But I cant. No matter how much I want to give in to whatever these feelings are, it would ruin him in the process. Part of me thinks these feelings could lead to something great, something that could finally break down the walls I've built. But that part of my lives behind those walls and for good reason. The Monte that tenses at my touch and blushes from a small smile won't survive the person I've become.

"You're my problem, Montgomery. This was a waste of time and I was dumb to think you could be anything other than a loser. " I stand from my spot next to him on the floor. He doesn't say anything as his eyes follow my movements.

I know that if I look at him right now, I'll regret everything I just did. That my strong demeanor is much weaker than it seems.

"Take care of yourself, Montgomery. Get home safe." Every step I take brings me further from a stunned Monte and further into the dark place I've been trying to escape for so long.