Ice cream, Teasing and Awkward Situations

Chapter 12

 "Excellent see you guys tonight," April sang as she skipped away.

"Thanks for that Chloe. I really wanted to get some work done tonight," I grumbled at her in annoyance.

 "Don't be dramatic it's Friday for goodness sake. You deserve one night to let loose and relax," Chloe said persuasively. 

"I suppose you're right; I have been feeling stressed lately..." I trailed off in thought. 

 "Okay fine I'll go," I said with a sigh. One night of fun, with my friends was hardly going to have much of an effect on my grades.

 "Yay," Chloe squealed in excitement.

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"Guys why aren't you dressed already," Chloe said looking down at us angrily.

 May and I were lying on my bed still eating popcorn. We had promised Chloe that we would start getting ready by the time she came out of the bathroom, but she was out and we were quite clearly still dressed in the same clothes she had left us in. 

 Chloe was all dressed and ready, she looked stunning and was wearing a strappy cream bodycon dress. Her hair was perfectly curled and beautifully draped over one side of her shoulder.

 "Hello?" Chloe snapped impatiently with a scowl on her face. 

 "Fine. Relax. I'm getting ready." I said hopping off the bed. "How do you always look so good?" I said taking another glance at her outfit as I started to make my way to the bathroom. 

"Aww you're so sweet, thank you," Chloe said with a wide grin, as she smoothed down her dress some more.

One hour later, with many efforts to drag May from the comfort of my bed we were finally all dressed and were heading to the party. I had decided to wear a strapless navy-blue crop top with tight high waisted black jeans to expose my midriff, it was a miracle I hadn't gotten bloated from all the snacks I'd been eating. I was too lazy to do my hair and just left it out for a change, letting the thick dark wavy strands cascade down my back.

May turned around to face me with a smug look. She was sat in the passenger seat of Chloe's car while I sat miserably in the back-staring daggers at her for beating me to shotgun. She looked great as well wearing a short black jumpsuit, which complemented her short auburn hair.

Once we finally reached the address of April's house, we all clambered our way out of the car, ready to approach the house. April was filthy rich. I think my house could fit into hers 3 times and there would still be room to spare. 

The party was in full swing and you could already hear the loud beat of the speakers from outside; the noise probably wasn't a worry for neighbors as her house was quite secluded. I couldn't help but think how on earth her parents let her have a party with this many people. My parents would kill me if I invited this many people over. We walked past the people mingling around in her lawn and walked through the already open door. 

"Hey, guys, you made it. Come on in," said April who was waiting to greet people at the door. 

Smiling at her in greeting, we made our way further into the house, the sound of the music booming around us. 

"I'm going to get a drink," Chloe said as she headed straight to the kitchen.

 She was a borderline alcoholic in my opinion and nearly every party we went to, seemed to end with Chloe hurling up into a toilet and promising never to drink again.

 "You go ahead May, I'll wait here," I said gesturing for her to follow Chloe.

 "Okay then, see you in a minute," May, said leaving me alone. 

I didn't joint them, as I wasn't a big fan of alcohol. I found it a lot more amusing to watch drunk people embarrass themselves than be the one doing the embarrassing things.

 Plus, we needed someone to be sober to drive us home. I didn't exactly have my driver's license yet, but it wasn't a far drive and I'd taken a few lessons so I was pretty confident I could drive us back safely.

With them gone, I scanned my surroundings around me. People were dancing around in her open space living room ahead and I smiled as I watched them, as they looked like they were having so much fun. 

People were also dotted around talking in small circles on the sofas and in the corners of the room. I could also see a few couples making a show of themselves by kissing and groping each other publicly.

 "Youths," I muttered aloud to myself, sounding far too much like a bitter old lady.

"Oh, hey Mia, I didn't know you were here," said a cheerful familiar voice from behind me. 

Swiveling around to see who was talking I saw Ben. I smiled back at him, happy to see a familiar face.

 "Yeah, my friends dragged me out here," I said with a laugh. 

As I laughed, I couldn't help but feel as though someone was watching me. Turning my head slightly I saw Ethan from the corner of my eye, he was sipping a drink while April tried to make conversation with him.

 He didn't seem at all interested in what she was saying and his eyes firmly focused on glaring at the back of Ben's head. If looks could kill, Ben would be 10 feet under. 

Why did he hate poor Ben so much?

 Realizing I was also being rude and not listening to Ben properly, I turned to focus my attention back on him. I half-listened to him ramble on for a while before I got lost in thought, thinking about Ethan and what his problem was. 

"I guess I'll see you around. I think I'm going to grab a drink," Ben said as he suddenly ended the conversation and headed off.

Chloe and May came back into view, returning from the kitchen. "Ooo he's hot, who is he?" said Chloe looking at Ben as he walked away.

 "He works at Sugar shake with me. Why are you interested?" I asked with a teasing smile.

 "Yeah duh. Do I look stupid to you? If I worked with him, I would have jumped him by now," Chloe said boldly with a laugh.

 "I'll put in a good word for you. Anyway, Let's dance," I said impatiently dragging them towards the direction of the dance floor.

Once we were on the dance-floor, I immediately started moving to the beat of the music finally in my element. As soon as the music switched to my favourite track, I started dancing freely as though nobody was watching, boldly shaking my hips without a care in the world.

 From the corner of my eye, I could see Ethan watching me with a startling intensity, his eyes not leaving my body for one second. For someone who was trying to ignore me, he sure spent a lot of time staring at me. 

 It was really starting to annoy me that he seemed to plague my every thought. It was driving me insane. I was supposed to be here to enjoy myself and let go but that was near to impossible with him here.