Chiara [PUBLISHED] ✔️

Fifteen

Orange and honey danced on my tongue. Every sip sent me deeper into drunkenness. I had no idea where we were. The limo drove around and Chiara and I drank in the backseat. Pop music blasted from the loudspeakers, the fast beat making me move in the seat. Chiara sang the song and shook her hair from side to side.

I knew if I acknowledged the time and space, I would probably freak out. So, I ignored my phone and ignored any signs of life beyond this limo. Fortunately, we didn't even see the driver and he couldn't hear us because of the music.

"Do you want to talk about it?!" I shouted over the music, feeling lightheaded and dizzy and so, so tired. Chiara shook her head in the rhythm, grinning widely at me.

She pulled me closer. Our thighs touched and she hugged me around my waist. My heart skipped a beat in the same time as the beat of the music dropped. It was like being on a rollercoaster; my rationality begged me to calm down and my heart whispered to go wild. Heart's whispers seemed louder than mind's screams.

Chiara's fingers intertwined with mine. Her hand was incredibly soft. My pulse vibrated against her skin. The sudden decrescendo made her lean onto the seat, her eyelids fluttering and her forehead sweaty.

I was suddenly able to hear my own thoughts.

"Please, talk to me." I said. The world spun as I tried to close my eyes for a moment. I had to stop drinking. I doubted throwing up in the limo was lady-like.

"I'd rather not." Chiara answered. A slower, soothing song began to play as I stared at Chiara's closed eyes and her agape lips.

Her sweat-covered chest rose and fell; the dimmed light reflecting off her skin. A sudden fear emerged in the pit of my stomach, aching and deep. I drank so much. Perhaps I wouldn't remember this moment as clearly as I would want to. It would be lost over the time. And the only thing that would stay vivid were the beams of sweat and the black of her lashes.

"Do you want me to kick his ass?" I asked, swallowing the rising panic that this moment was fleeting. "I might be able to."

She smiled lightly and looked at me. The emptiness in her eyes made me flinch. It was like looking at a different person. She was usually so positive and full of life. Right now, her green eyes were a shade darker.

Oxygen left my body as she untangled her hand from mine and reached for my face. Goosebumps spread through my skin, the soft hair all over my body lifted. The booze and the music made me lean into the touch. I was suddenly aware of every spot of my body. My thighs leaned onto hers. Her hand around my waist. Her fingers creating circles on my flesh, sending shivers down my spine.

Pulling myself out of the moment with the strength I didn't know I possessed, I moved away from her. A flash of disappointment sparked in her eyes; like she didn't expect me to have this level of restraint.

"Tell me why you're with him." I demanded, swallowing the heat and the excitement that threatened to consume me. Everything in me went wild. I felt the lack of her touch too vividly.

Maeve has never made me go this crazy.

"Why does it matter?" Chiara's voice lowered and hearing her whisper didn't help the building ache in my heart, my stomach and between my thighs.

"It matters." I forced the words out of my mouth against my will. I didn't want to talk. No, I wanted to complete that fucking dare. "Josh made out with another girl at this party and you're about to do the same."

Saying it out loud sounded completely unbelievable.

A spark of destruction appeared in her eyes, but she quickly averted her gaze and moved away from me.