The Unknown Road

14 - Archie

WHEN I PUSH THROUGH the crowd of people now in the kitchen, I find Dee deep in an animated conversation with Callum.

"Hey!" I call, pulling her over to one side, interrupting them. "There you are."

"Heyyyyy," she slurs back, putting her arms around me. "I found you." Callum scowls at me as she does so.

My first thought is that she can't have been looking very hard, because I hadn't moved since I got here; I keep that comment to myself.

Looking at the group she's with, I'm a bit confused. None of her usual friends were there, Becca and Lauren are nowhere to be seen and I hadn't seen them all night. Callum and Ronnie were the only boys I recognised, so I wondered if she was on the offs with either of them.

In fairness, I could tell her spirits lifted at seeing me, so that's something at least. Her eyes are gleaming with excitement, not to mention her smile is the widest I've ever seen it.

Looking at her, her outfit is incredible. She's wearing a pair of white high-waisted gym leggings, ones with bits of see-through material towards the bottom of her legs. She's also wearing a short crop top, showing off her toned stomach. I can see from the fake tattoo on her arms and her tight ponytail that she's come as Sporty Spice. All evening I'd noticed it was only the girls that had decided to dress up. Although I'd seen a couple of boys with the odd smattering of fake blood.

I smile, a memory flashing through my mind, remembering the last time I'd seen her dress up was two summers ago. It was at a school book day, and we'd both entirely coincidentally come dressed as four-hoofed Disney characters. She came as Clarabelle Cow, and I dressed up as Horace Horsecollar. Arguably both not book characters, but still characters all the same.

She latches her arms around my neck as she smiles, and covers my mouth with hers.

Pleased to see her, I pull her flush against me as I deepen her greeting, ignoring the boys cheers and Callum's glaring.

Her mouth tastes like a mixture of watermelon and Aperol Spritz, and as she continues to kiss me, I realise she's walking us backwards out of the kitchen. I'm too caught up in it all to throw up any objections.

I didn't want to stop her anyway; I was going along with wherever we going. We were currently in the middle of a very busy kitchen, and Callum's glares were making me angry.

As we moved out of there, she pulls me down a corridor, and when we finally come to a stop and stumble over a threshold, I realise we're in Callum's games room.

It's a room that's clearly off-limits to the rest of the party, because the lights are off. It feels weird because it has no evidence of the rowdy party going on outside the door. I briefly wonder how she'd known to come in here, but it's put out of my mind when Dee's lips find mine once more.

"I missed you," she says against my lips, before moving down to my neck to nip at the skin there. It's almost painful, but I can just about bear it.

When she nips me harder, I pull away from her slightly, but I dull the rejection by kissing her throat instead, leaving little wet kisses up and down the hollow there on her soft skin.

She moans appreciatively, tipping her head back and grinding herself forward against my crotch. I can feel the heat in my cheeks as she moves faster and starts to move her hands lower, towards the button of my jeans.

"Whoa, whoa," I yelp, grabbing her hand before she can get to undoing my button. Her fingers, wriggling in my tight grasp, are still trying to break free to continue but I hold them so they have little chance of escape.