FIRST KISS (High School Romance - FYI - In need of redrafting/rewrites)

Chapter Eleven

The rest of the party went by in a sort of fog. I got water for Andrew, but left him him to drink it on his own.

All I could think about was what Bryce had said: that all those months ago he had actually liked me.

Liked me, liked me. Not just as a friend.

But if that was the case, why hadn't he said anything? Why hadn't he said anything after the whole Taylor-Nick incident and the break-up?

I shrugged. Because he was Bryce. Because he was proud. Because he would have wanted to be sure of the result before he made a move. And I suppose he was right not to do anything, because I genuinely hadn't thought of him like that. Had I?

But maybe I hadn't because Bryce had been eternally single. He'd always been there at my side, sitting with me at lunch, driving me to and from school. I mean, he was utterly devoted to me, and had been for years. Only now, with this Taylor thing going on, had I realised what it might be like to lose him.

And I sure as hell didn't want to do that.

"Wow, someone looks like they're doing some deep thinking," said Luke, tottering towards me with an ice-pack held to his face.

I smiled. "How's the eye?"

"I'm going to look like shit tomorrow. Thank god my parents are away for the week." He slumped against the wall next to me and sipped on his drink. "Oh by the way, your date is doing karaoke in the sitting room; he's got quite an audience."

"He's not my date," I said, playfully slapping Luke's arm. "And you guys are so going to pay for asking him to come. He's been a nightmare. He threw up in your mom's flower beds."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Someone does it every time. No biggie."

Taylor and Dixon pranced past us in the hall. They were holding hands, or rather she was holding his and pulling him into the kitchen.

"Woah, hold upTaylor," he was saying. He nodded at us as he was dragged by.

"What's she doing back down here?" I asked. "Shouldn't she be watching Bryce?"

"Bryce is a big boy, Mel. He's probably sleeping anyway. He took a bit of a hit back there."

"But what if he's concussed? Shouldn't someone be watching him?"

Luke raised an eyebrow and stared at me. "If you want to, you can," he said with a cheeky grin. I slapped him again.

"Cut it out. But she's his girlfriend. She should want to be up there."

"Taylor's a party girl." He raised and dropped his shoulders in a hopeless shrug. "She's probably making Dixon funnel more beer, which, let's be honest, is a lot more fun than watching Bryce sleep."

"Dixon is funnelling again," said a pretty girl named Olivia. She reached out and grabbed Luke, dragging him off to the kitchen to watch. He threw me an apologetic glance, but left me alone anyway.

I peeked into the sitting room, where - surprise surprise - Andrew was holding court. He had somehow managed to hook up the plasma TV to the karaoke mike and was belting out some old love ballad. There were a few people in the room, but I think he'd mostly scared them off.

There was a couple making out on the sofa next to the empty pizza box. I squinted at them. Yup, it was definitely Anna and some guy I didn't know. I would have to quiz her in the morning. It amused me to think that Andrew was pretty much singing for them alone, and they probably hadn't even noticed.

A lot of people seemed to have gone home. There were empty chip packets and cookie wrappers lying about, and every surface was littered with paper cups.