Rebel

Labeling

Avery

I sat upright, nodding my head and smiling at all the right moments. I was wearing a sunny, yellow dress that came down to my knees, with a fashionable faded denim jacket over it. I had on hoop earrings and black ballet flats. My hair and makeup had been styled into perfection. Perfection. That is what I pretended to be. Everyone assumed that I was the perfect daughter of Mary and Howard Triscott. The keyword is assumed. 

Now, I am kind of a goody goody but that doesn't mean I like spending my Sundays at dinners and meetings. Truth be told, I hated coming to these events. I hated dressing up every Sunday to come and pretend like I cared about my father's hotels. I hated listening to my parents make deals and plans for expanding their business. We were currently having a large luncheon outside on the grounds of one of  father's hotels. There were a significant amount of people in attendance. All here for my parent's business.

"If you would excuse me, I would like to get another glass of water." I say, standing up from my chair and slinging my purse over my shoulder. 

"Darling, just ask one of the waiters." My mother tells me.

"No. Its fine. I wouldn't mind stretching my legs." I say and walk away as fast as possible. Once I'm out of the range of my parents, I can finally breath again. I wander over to the long buffet table piled high with various foods and drinks. As I carefully fill my cup with water, I hear whispering. I glance around, looking for the source but there is no one anywhere near me. I shake my head and take a sip of the cool water before hearing again. This time I can tell that its coming from the other side of the wall that surrounds the grounds. I shrug it off and turn around to grab a strawberry when I hear a soft thump. I turn around to find three boys, around my age, dressed smartly. Their eyes lock on mine and I just stand there staring and wondering what I'm supposed to do. They clearly aren't allowed in, considering the fact that they jumped the wall to gain access. 

"Why don't you go ahead boys? I think I'll stay here." The one with dark brown hair standing in the middle suggests. The other two nod their heads and run off, leaving me and mystery boy alone. 

"Who are you?" I finally question. He walks closer to me, coming to stand by my side and helps himself to the buffet. 

"Parker. Oh! And do forgive me for being one of the very few not to know your name. I hope it doesn't piss you off too much." This rubbed me the wrong way and I turn to face him.

"Its Avery. But why do you think that would irritate me?" I ask and he shrugs. 

"You just seem the type." Parker explains and begins eating. 

"What in the world is that supposed to mean?! You don't know me! You have no right to label me!" I tell him. Parker swallows before speaking.

"Thats just it."

"What?"

"What you just said. If you don't know someone, don't try and guess their story. How come you don't follow that rule?"

"I dont label people." I retort but Parker nods his head vigorously. 

"Oh but you do. You all do it. It must just be a rich person thing." He says absentmindedly. 

"Look who's talking. You're preaching me to stop labeling people when you just did exactly that to me like three seconds ago!" I exclaim and he smiles.

"Yeah... It felt good." Parker breathes out and I roll my eyes.

"You make no sense whatsoever." He shrugs.

"I'm a dude. Its my job." He explains before setting his plate of food down and walking in circles around me. 

"What are you doing?" I question.

"Labeling you." He replies and I cross my arms.  After a few seconds he stops and stands in front of me. 

"I'm waiting." I say impatiently and Parker gently smiles.

"I'm gonna say that you're an only child. Haven't had to work for anything in your life because Mommy and Daddy are always there to help you. You're practically perfect. Straight A student. Probably in some fancy ass club that looks good on college applications." 

"Anything else?" I ask, trying to act bored. Parker smirks and starts circling me again, much closer this time.

"Hm... Let me see. Let me see." He says quietly while running his fingers through my hair as he passes. I stiffen slightly. 

"Well, for starters you don't have a boyfriend." He whispers softly in my ear while standing behind me. 

"What makes you think that?" I choke out. 

"You're not marked." Parker says as if its the simplest thing in the world. 

"What?"

"You're not marked" He repeats.

"No recent love bites. No jewelry that could be from a boyfriend. No smell of cologne on you. Well, there is a slight trace but I'm going to guess it was your father." 

"How do you know my boyfriend didn't give me these." I gesture to the earrings and he scoffs. 

"No boyfriend would buy you those." Alec tells me before going back and eating some food off his plate. 

"Wait what? I am so confused right now." I say and he sighs heavily.

"Alright Babe. I'm going to give you a little tip on guys. You might want to write this down cause its sure important. Why do you think we buy  you those bracelets that say TAKEN or lockets or those little heart bracelets with the engraving on them? Its because we want other guest know you're ours. Any guy that buys you things such as earrings, thinks of you only as a friend. A guy that is your boyfriend or wants to be your boyfriends will buy you something from the earlier list because he wants other guys to back off. I can tell you that the first thing a dude looks at on a girl is not her ass or boobs, its if she's marked. So, there is the very long explanation as to how I know you don't have a boyfriend." Parker explains.

"In fact," He gently grabs my chin. I try to pull away but he takes his other hand and pushes me towards him. He uses his hand grabbing my chin to gently run his fingers over my lips. "I don't think you've even had your first kiss." He says with a smirk.

"You know, I could change that for you." He whispers softly in my ear. 

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