WestBridge parties were different than Hawkings parties.
Parties at Hawkings were usually in someone's backyards, or in someone's house when their parents weren't home. The living rooms cleared out of furniture, the couches pressed flat against the walls so there was enough room to dance. There was off brand alcohol that mostly consisted of cheap vodka, and the music was coming from someone's phone that was plugged into a speaker.
Parties at WestBridge were the opposite. This one was in someone's mansion. Whoever the owner was, I guess they weren't concerned about scuffs on the white marble floors. There were bottles of champagne displayed over every counter, bottles of Grey Goose too. Cain had his DJ equipment set up, and someone had brought flashing lights that turned the large room into a makeshift night club.
It was a different world than the one I was used to, and while I certainly wasn't thrilled to be in it, I could see the benefits. These kids were wilder than the ones at Hawkings. The girls were dressed in clothes that were so revealing, there wasn't much left to the imagination. The smell of expensive perfume filled the room, along with the smell of alcohol. These rich kids knew how to party. There was drugs floating around the room, being passed through subtle handshakes. The smell of weed being burnt however, was not trying to be hidden at all. Everywhere I looked, there were lit joints hanging out of someone's mouth.
I guess these kids weren't concerned about their parents finding out what they were doing, or even more surprising, the threat of a police officer knocking on the door. I guess that's what happens when you live in a gated estate.
I was standing against the wall, a red plastic cup in my hands. Benji had thrust it in my face almost instantly after we walked through the doors. It's been almost a month since I started at WestBridge. It turns out, Cain's friends weren't as bad as I was expecting. Tyler and Benji were actually pretty funny, if you looked passed their slightly misogynistic behaviour. They were players, there was no way to look around it. It's not like I can talk, I did the same thing at Hawkings.
It's not like I was going to become best friends with them. That was definitely not going to happen, but even I can't pretend hanging out with Cain's friends didn't have it's benefits. They were definitely considered the popular group at WestBridge. So I decided to camouflage myself within them, since I was stuck there anyways. I'd never form the bond I had with O and Gavin with any of them.
There might be another reason I wasn't objecting to being in their group. It's not like it was going to go anywhere, but something about being close to that girl was enough for me. She was almost hypnotizing to be around. Not only because she looked so good on the outside, but because she was so hard to figure out. The first week or so that I ate lunch with them, I thought maybe Seren had a fight with Olivia and Trinity. Finally, I asked Cain if that was the truth. He didn't know what I was talking about. He told me that Seren was acting how she usually acted.
I wondered why that wasn't concerning to him. She was obviously sad. She was obviously checked out. She was obviously not enjoying her time with any of the others. She seemed to only tolerate them. Not that I could blame her. I don't think five minutes went by without one of the guys hitting on her. I don't think ten minutes went by without one of the girls saying something rude to her.
I wondered why she put up with it. I wondered why she didn't find new friends. She could, easily. Girls like her, they don't have trouble fitting in. Yet she stayed. Every day, she stayed at that table until she went to have a cigarette. Every weekend, she showed up to where the others were hanging out.
I wanted to know why.
"Zane, bro." I heard someone slur into my ear, their arm falling across my shoulders. I smelt the whisky on their breath before I saw who it was. "Enjoying the night?"
"Can't complain." I told Jax. He was swaying, even though he wasn't moving. It was only 11:30 pm and he was already hammered. "How's the whisky?"
Jax grinned at me, his eyebrow arching towards the ceiling. "How did you know I'm a whisky guy?"
"Lucky guess." I told him, leaning away from him. I didn't get good vibes from this guy.
"Oh. Look." He sputtered out, pointing two fingers away from the beer bottle he was clutching.
I followed his line of sight, and I instantly knew what he was talking about. It was the same thing that almost all the guys in the room were looking at, and there were a lot of us here. Seren had pulled herself up on the counter of the large island in the middle of the kitchen. I looked back at Jax, and was uncomfortable to see his eyes trained over her exposed legs.
She was wearing a short black dress, her long legs almost completely bare. She looked amazing. She looked better than amazing. She looked like she had just walked off a Victoria Secret runway. I wanted to say I couldn't blame him for staring at her, but they way he looked at her made me feel sick.
I shook my head, wondering if I was becoming possessive over a girl I had never spoken to. But... the sight of the other guys looking at her didn't make me feel like that.
"Isn't that a sight?" Jax still had his arm draped over my shoulder, so I shrugged it off completely. "You see anything you like bro?"
Jax pointed across the dance floor, wiggling his eyebrows at me as his fingers moved passed the girls dancing.
"Not yet." I lied. I had seen something I liked, but it didn't matter. She would never like me back. She probably didn't even know my name, and I couldn't even blame her for that.
"No? They got better looking girls at Hawkings?" Jax asked me, his voice smug like he knew for fact that wasn't true.
I couldn't help my eyes as they moved back to Seren. Almost like my mind wanted to prove that I had in fact, never seen a better looking girl than her.
"Oh." Jax's grin grew as he nodded. "I know, man. Welcome to the club."
I shook my head, but I really wanted to roll my eyes at him. This kid was testing my limits. "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean." He clapped me on the back. "Just know, she doesn't date. I've tried, Cain's tried, every single guy on the football team has tried. You're welcome to try, too. But I'm telling you, it won't work."
"I'm not trying to date her." I told him honestly.
"Oh, you're just trying to get in her pants? Yeah. She does that sometimes. You have to get a lot of alcohol in her veins first though." Jax rubbed his chin as he said the words, as if he was considering doing just that. I wanted to punch him.
"If you have to get a girl drunk to sleep with you, you got some big problems, man." I said, and I couldn't control the way my voice dropped. I could feel the anger at his words deep in my chest.
"Nah, bro, I'm not like that. She's my friend." Jax looked at me like I was crazy, and I was torn between feeling bad that I have misinterpreted his words or not.
"Oh shit." Jax said sharply, and I followed his eyes back to Seren. She had her hands raised above her head, swaying back and forth with the music. Her eyes were closed, but there was a smile on her face.
I froze as I looked at it. I think it was the first genuine smile I've ever seen on her face. I know it was the biggest. It made me feel some type of way to know it was happening because she was wasted out of her mind.
I realized a second after what Jax was talking about. Seren's dress had risen up, thanks to the elevation of her arms. I saw the flash of her bright pink underwear before I quickly averted my eyes. I wanted to run to her, and tug the dress back down.
Jax seemed to beat me to it, however, because he darted towards her. He placed his hands on her thighs as he reached her, and she opened her eyes at the touch. She didn't seem startled by it, she looked down immediately, still moving her body to the music. She smiled when she saw Jax. It pissed me off.
Jax was telling her something, I couldn't hear the words over the music. Seren was shaking her head at him, laughing. She rolled her eyes playfully, she tried to bring her hands over her head again, but before she could, Jax swept his arms at her knees, causing them to buckle. Seren gasped as her body fell over Jax's shoulder. Then she started laughing, her arms frantically covering her ass, which the black material of her dress had completely exposed now.
"Jax!" I heard her squeal through her laughter. Jax had a huge grin on his face too. It's like hearing her laugh, made him laugh. And I couldn't blame him at all.
Seren's laugh sounded like wind chimes on a windy day. Her laugh sounded like the beginning of your favourite song. Her laugh sounded like the sound the wind makes when it rushes into your car from the open windows. It made me want to laugh, too.
Jax carried her like she weighed nothing, and judging from the slimness of her body, I bet she almost did. He walked back over to where I was standing, and I felt the nerves tighten in my stomach when he plopped her down beside me.
Seren looked up at me, flicking the hair that had fallen over her back behind her shoulder. I could see how white her teeth were because she was smiling so wide. Her eyes were greener than I remembered, but then again, I've only ever seen her from across the table, or from across the room, or from across the booth at the diner.
"Hey, Zane. I didn't know you were here!" Seren smiled at me. "I'm happy you came."
I swear to god I got goosebumps, just from the sound of her saying my name. I don't think it will ever sound as good again.