Drowning

Chapter 6:

We walked up the stairs with Mark and Anna leading the way. I followed closely behind Anna, which meant Ezra was behind me. Even though he kept his distance from me, I could feel the electricity from his body buzzing inside me. My mind envisioned him staring at me from behind as I walked up the stairs. He was probably making fun of the way I walked or laughing at my dress again.

We emerged out of the dark basement into the bright fluorescent lights of the kitchen. JD and Aiden had already put the kitchen back together from their wrestling match and had started pulling out some vodka and tequila. They were lining the kitchen table with shot glasses, one for each of us.

"Pick your poison, ladies choose." JD announced as he placed the bottles of liquor on the table.

"Tequila!" Anna clapped her hands in excitement.

Of course, Anna wanted tequila. I didn't know why anyone bothered asking; it was her go-to drink. I was not ready for tequila tonight. I'm pretty small; it didn't take very much of it for me to get drunk and do stupid things I would not normally do.

"I should probably get back up to Brynn to check on her." I said, trying to get out of this round. I really hadn't planned on drinking tonight, and I was unsure if I really wanted to anyway.

"Alcohol Abuse... er... I already poured you a shot. No chickening out now." JD said, pushing the glass in front of me.

I looked over at Ezra and he was giving me a smug look. I didn't like this guy. He was full of himself and mocking me for wanting to be responsible. Whatever he was thinking about me was wrong and I had the sudden urge to prove it to him.

I picked up my glass and said cheers in his direction and downed the double shot in one gulp. His wicked half-smile crept back to his face. He reached past me for his glass and came too close to my stomach. My body tensed and I jumped back away from his hand. He chuckled to himself.

"A bit jumpy, are we?" His deep honeyed voice taunted me.

"Lil Bit is a spaz. You'll get used to her." JD laughed as he picked up his shot glass.

"I can see that." Ezra brought the drink to his full lips and swallowed his shot in one gulp. He placed the glass down on the table and turned to the rest of the group. They all quickly followed our lead and downed their own shots, pounding their glasses on the table when they were finished.

I shot JD an annoyed look from across the table and he pretended like he didn't see it. I should have known better than to come here tonight. I was never taken seriously when I was here. Just because I was a couple of years younger than them didn't mean they could make fun of me all night.

"I'm going to bed." I grumbled and began to move away from the table.

"Past your bedtime already?" Ezra laughed, grabbing for another shot.

"She gets cranky when she doesn't get her way." JD was adding insult to injury.

I was already out in the living room when Aiden grabbed my arm to stop me.

"Don't be like that. JD's just being JD. Ignore him. Stay and have another drink with us." Aiden whispered in my direction.

He pushed me back into the room and played bartender, pouring another round into my glass. Ezra grabbed it and pushed it towards me before I even had a chance to object again.

"I'm sorry, Riley." JD said, realizing he had made me upset. It really wasn't all him. It was the fact that this Ezra guy, who clearly had some sort of problem with me, joined in on the teasing. I didn't know why he felt he could jump in on the pick on Riley bandwagon.