The Light You Give

7.

I drink my KGB and chat to Bea about things, while Seth's eyes are on his phone. Sneaking glances at me occasionally. Luke walks in with his usual golden retriever grin on his face. The smile is almost wiped from his face, then doubled when he sees Bea. It's fucking adorable of them, isn't it?

The party kicks into gear and before I know it there are well over fifty people crammed into the Nixon's open downstairs, and no doubt a few littered in the upstairs too.

The alcohol was well into my body. I was drifting around the kitchen before I decided to give my feet a damned break and pull myself onto the countertop. If Trina saw me now she would flick her tea towel at me.

"Hey, there gorgeous." A guy says. I look up and see a guy, scruffy, but good looking. Looked well out of high school, clearly a crasher. My lips pull into an accommodating smile as he moves towards me from across the kitchen. He was wearing a blue buttoned-down shirt with some shorts, a beer in one hand.

"How's the party?" He asks, his brown eyes flickering over my body sloppily.

"Pretty good so far," I say offering a small nod, my eyes glancing around him for an escape. It's not that he was creeping me out, he was being respectful, just out of my comfort zone.

"You single?" He asks me. I nod and sip my drink peering around with disinterest, unintentionally. "No boyfriend going to punch me if I asked you to do body shots with me?" He asks, a small grin on his face. I almost chuckle at his response. Straight to the point. Body shots. Of course.

"I'm in a dress," I say chuckling loudly, a little too loudly but with this much alcohol in my system, it was hard to tone it in.

"That doesn't bother me, love." He says with a grin. A hint of a British accent seething through. Sign me up.

"No thank you," I say, after a moment of deliberation.

"Aww why not?" He asks, leaning closer to me. I can smell the stench of stale beer on his breath. Flinching away from him I shrug, attempting to climb off the counter. But he stops me, his hand knocking the drink in my hand, splashing down my leg and soaking my sock. "We might need to go take care of that upstairs?" He asks me his eyebrows wriggling.

"No thank you. I'm just going to move past you." I say attempting again to push around him, my heart beating rapidly inside my chest. 

"Hold up, I'm talking to you." The guy returns, grabbing my wrist. 

"Dude she said she wants to go." I hear a familiar voice say. Seth. 

"Okay cool, let me talk to this chick dude fuck off" The college guy says, leaning towards me with a supposedly nice smile, despite my protesting shrugs.

"She said no," Seth says, pulling the guy off of me and shoving him off.

Damn.

"Ok man." The college looking guy says stepping away. 

"Leave. Get the fuck out of my house." Seth snaps again, his fists curled up at his sides. 

"Okay man, no harm done." He says, backing away. Grabbing one of his mates nearby. "LEt's get out of this shit hole." The guy says, as they move towards the front door. 

I let out a sharp breath, a breath I didn't realise I was holding. 

"You okay?" Seth asks, looking down at me his eyebrows furrowed with concern. God he was cute. 

"Thank you, yeah I'm a bit freaked." I reply, moving over to the bench to grab a tea towel to wipe the spilled drink off my leg. "And I need a fucking drink." I mutter.