Stolen Heart

Chapter 13

"One, two, three," said Jeremy right before the group all took a shot of Clase Azul Tequila. It went down so smoothly that Lana could hardly feel it. She mostly felt good. No, really good. The group had stopped by the bar before heading down to the rec room to get a quick drink. After they did, Lana wanted more.

"Grab the bottle," said Lana after they had set their glasses down.

"Yes, girl! Let's have some fun at this party!" said Chloe.

Jeremy grabbed the bottle and led them back towards the stairs. Jack lightly held Lana's arm and called out after Jeremy and Chloe, "We'll be right behind you, just gotta talk to Lana for a sec."

Jack pulled Lana aside into one of the quiet hallways on the main floor. Eyebrows furrowed as he turned to her, he said, "Lana, I feel awful. What can I do to make it up to you?"

"Jack, seriously stop. I'm really okay, and you don't have to do anything."

"I'm the one who caused this whole mess, so I'd like to do something to make it up to you. Can you at least think about it? Also, I'm going to start by sifting through the Google results. Who knows, maybe something will come up."

"Jack, that'll take like a year."

"Whatever it takes, Lana. I always keep my promises, no matter what."

Lana rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever. Now, let's go just get our minds off of it, okay?"

An inkling of guilt swept through her as she saw Jack's expression grow even more concerned. He looked at her for a moment, seeming as if he was about to say something but then simply nodded his head. "Alright, let's head downstairs. I think you're going to like this rec room."

Jack led the way around the corner of the hallway and briefly placed his hand on the small of her back to guide her toward the stairs. Electricity shot through Lana the moment his hand made contact.

Ugh, why do I like this so much? Must be the alcohol.

As soon as they got to the basement, Lana's jaw fell. The high ceilings and wide-open room were nothing like she expected. A pool table, arcade games, and TVs were planted around the space. Those didn't compare to the mid-sized indoor bean-shaped pool and attached jacuzzi that was just a short distance across the room. "This is amazing, Jeremy!" said Lana as they caught up to the other two.

"Let's go swimming!" said Jeremy.

"We don't have our swimsuits, dummy," said Chloe as she turned to look at Jeremy.

"You can borrow some of the extras. We have a drawer full of women's and men's swimsuits," he said. "Or you can go without one," he added, smiling at Chloe.

Um, excuse me, what?

"Haha, yeah right. Okay Lana, let's go get changed!" said Chloe after elbowing Jeremy in his side.

He held his side in mock pain and pointed the girls toward the bathrooms.

Chloe linked arms with Lana, and she didn't protest. The pair headed straight for the bathrooms.

As soon as they got in, Lana turned to Chloe who was still smiling. "Chlo, what was that? Are you in love with Jeremy?"

Chloe looked at Lana and smiled like a kid on Christmas morning. "Lan, I think I may have a teeeensyy weeeensyy crush on him."

"What! Jeremy? The poor guy has no filter. What happened? I was away from you guys for like two seconds."

"I know! I don't know, we talked a little, and he's actually really funny. He told me about his job as a mechanical engineer and asked a ton of questions about my work. He seemed to be interested in my art and asked me to show him pictures. I don't know, he was just a nice guy and it's refreshing after encountering so many bad ones."