Chapter 6
"Guess what,"
"What?" I looked over at Leah, who was practically dancing for joy. It was the end of the day and we were at my locker. I wasn't in the mood for guessing games, I just wanted to go home. I was wondering if Jared told Leah about me punching him, and if he did what did she think about it. But, I decided on not bringing it up. No need to start problems.
"We're invited to a pool party," She practically yelled.
"A pool party? In January?" I asked.
"Well, an indoor pool party, at Liam's house. You know how rich his family is, his parents are going to be away for the weekend, so he thinks that it'll be a fun idea. I think that it's going to be great, he says that he has an Olympic sized indoor pool with built in jets and heater, it's like a huge jacuzzi."
"Sounds fun," I managed to say. Truth is, I don''t really want to go. I don't feel like going to a party and being surrounded by Liam's obnoxious friends, including Liam himself.
"Oh liven up a little, Kait. It's going to be so much fun. We'll get to show off our new bathing suits, find you a cute guy, and party it up," She was giving me her 'You Know You'll Love It,' look. But, I was too distracted by the idea of wearing a bathing suit. I'm not really the type of girl whose comfortable with showing skin, especially wearing a bathing suit in front of a lot of people.
"Bathing suit?" I murmured.
Leah saw my horrified look. "Don't worry Kait, we'll get you a really cute one that's not too revealing. Okay?"
I looked at her hopeful, sweet face. I couldn't say no to her.
"Alright," I surrendered. "Whatever you say,"
~*~
"Oh come on Kait, you look great." Leah said while she applied watermelon lip gloss onto her lips. I stared at my reflection in her sparkly pink full length mirror. I was wearing a blue and white polka dotted tankini. The tankini top had tunnel straps and ended just above my belly button and I wore a matching surf short bikini bottom. It looked really cute, I had to admit.
Leah on the other hand was wearing a strapless multicolored plaid bikini top, with a matching bikini bottom that had side ties. She looked like a supermodel, her hair was done in a braided side ponytail, which made her look even better and ready for a pool party. She, unlike me, wasn't afraid to show a lot of skin.
I spun around in front of the mirror a couple of times to see what I looked like from every angle. Not too bad.
"Kait, trust me. You look amazing." Leah walked over to me and squeezed my shoulder. "Guys are gonna be drooling over you,"
I smiled. "I'm not to sure about that, but thanks Leah."
"Alright, well we've got to hurry up and put on our clothes, Drew is coming to pick is up in a couple of minutes." She said, already throwing on her jeans over her bathing suit.
We quickly got dressed and packed towels, makeup bags, flip flops and dresses to put on over our bathing suits after we get out of the pool, all into one of Leah's beach bags.
We waited listening for Drew's honk and when we did, we quickly made our way outside to his car. To my annoyance, Jared was in the passenger seat next to Drew. Leah and I climbed into the back, and I shut my door with a slam.
"Hey, hey, easy there. It's a delicate car." Drew shot me an irritated look. I saw a huge grin slowly form on Jared's face. For some reason, I have the strangest feeling that he is slowly brainwashing Drew into hating me.
Leah leaned forward and shared a quick kiss with Jared. I saw a flash of jealousy shoot across Drew's face.
He quickly pulled out of Leah's driveway and switched onto the main highway. I smiled to myself, remembering what I planned to do if I ever got in a car with Jared. I would pull out my Ipod and play a whole bunch of cheater songs.
"Hey Drew," I said.
"Yeah?"
"Can we listen to some music from my Ipod?"
"Yeah, sure."
I rummaged through Leah's bag until I found what I was looking for, then I placed my Ipod into Drew's waiting hand. He plugged it in expertly and turned to me. "Which playlist?"
I smiled. "The one labeled Cheater."
From the corner of my eye, I could see Jared stiffen. Soon Carrie Underwood's "Before he cheats" filled up the car. I was grinning from ear to ear, singing along.
♪Right now he's probably slow dancing with a bleach blonde tramp, and she's probably getting frisky...♫
I sang along with each song that came on, like "Take a bow" by Rihanna, "Beautiful Liar" by Shakira and Beyonce, "Potential break up song" by Ali and Aj, and "Blind" by Kesha.
I sang the loudest at that one, basically shouting the words at Jared.
♪I think you got the best of me, you're sleeping with the enemy, you left me all alone, alone, alone, alone....♫
It seemed like Jared had, had enough because he pulled the Ipod out and threw it at me. "Bitch," he muttered.
I put on a fake shocked face, I expected this. But, Leah looked stunned. "Jared, what's wrong?" She asked.
"Uh, it's nothing...I just don't like that kind of music." He replied. I chuckled silently.
For the rest of the ride we rode in silence.
I looked out my window, the sun was high up in the sky making everything look bright and warm. It made me forget that it was still winter. I watched as the scenery gradually changed. The view transformed from big buildings and chains of stores to huge masses of land and gorgeous mansions. It was crazy to think that I went to school with people who lived here.
I could tell when we were getting closer because, I could hear loud techno music blasting into the street. Soon, Drew stopped the car in front of a huge golden gate, with the letters Adams Mansion across it.
A man in a gold vest, carrying a gold clipboard came up to Drew's window. "Names?"
"Drew Anderson, Leah Caywood, Kaitlyn Wilkes, and Jared Griffin," Drew said.
The man quickly checked over the list on his clipboard and then looked up at Drew and waved us forward. Drew maneuvered the car slowly down the narrow lane, and parked beside a red convertible.
We quickly climbed out of the car, buzzing with excitement. We made our way to Liam's huge doorway. I stood staring at the house for a while, taking it all in. His house is amazing, it looked like a castle, complete with arched windows and pillars. Even the door had one of those old day golden knockers, his had a lion with Adams engraved on it.
The inside of the house was even more amazing, all the walls were covered in very expensive paintings and family portraits. There was a grand staircase and windows that were from floor to ceiling long. The floors were marble, and everything had an elegant vibe to it. I was speechless.
The music was so loud in here, making the floor under our feet vibrate. There were dancing bodies everywhere. I turned to Leah, and gave her a 'Can You Believe This?' look. She gave me back an 'Isn't This The Most Wonderful Thing That's Ever Happened To You Before?' look.
"Hey guys, welcome to Casa de Liam,"
I turned around to see Liam talking to Jared and Drew. He was shirtless and was wearing board shorts. I tried not to stare at his well toned arms, abs and how perfectly tan his skin is, but it was hard.
I guess Leah noticed that I was staring because she turned to me and whispered "Your drooling Kait,"
I blushed and looked away. "Well, we're gonna go and freshen up," Leah told the guys. They nodded. Leah grabbed my arm and led to me to one of the bathrooms, which was extremely beautiful, by the way.
We stripped down to our bathing suits and retouched our makeup.
"So what was all that staring at Liam about?" Leah asked, while trying to find our flip flops in her bag.
I felt heat prick my cheeks. "Uh, what?"
"Oh, don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about."
I gave her a blank look.
"Well, I can try and set you guys up, if you want." She gave me a sly smile.
"Uh no thanks, Leah. No need for that." I said hurriedly.
She just smiled again and handed me my flip flops. "Ready?"
"Yup," I answered.
We left the bathroom and followed the noise to the pool room. Just like for the rest of the house, I was speechless. Liam wasn't kidding when he said that it was an Olympic sized pool. It was huge. There were people splashing, swimming, and dancing. Some were just lounging around with just their legs in it, or just laying on the beach chairs. Music pumped through the speakers,and neon colored lights danced around the room. This was exciting.
"Awesome," Leah murmured in amazement.
We kicked off our flip flops, left our bag on one of the beach chairs, and dove right in. I hit the water with a splash and it felt great. The water was refreshing and cool making me nostalgic for summer. Me and Leah danced and partied, it briefly made me forget about Jared and his cheating ways. But, only briefly. I was still keeping an eye on Jared, watching for any little sign of flirtation with other girls or jerk like behavior- which for Jared shouldn't be to hard to catch. However, it seemed like Jared was being a good boy today, because he stayed a huge distance away from most of the girls. He quickly averted his eyes whenever a girl- wearing a particularly revealing bathing suit- walked by, and just stood around with some guys, silently drinking his beer.
I spotted Drew talking to some girls and he seemed to be having a good time. I was glad, he seemed sort of distracted these days.
"Hey, Kait? I'm going to go talk to Jared, real quick. Kay?"Leah told me.
I nodded and she swam towards the side of the pool. I scanned the room thoroughly for anyone that I knew. I wanted to find someone to talk to because sometimes when Leah says 'I'm going to tak to Jared, real quick.' It really means 'I'm going to talk to Jared for hours and hours. I'll be back in a few days.'
I stopped my gaze onto two girls. They looked familiar to me. One had blonde hair and the other had dark hair. Oh that's right, those were the girls I met at the bowling alley. They were Liam and Tyler's dates. As I took this in, I realized that they could help me with my Jared situation. Hopefully, Vanessa's with them and if she is I could take her to Leah as living, breathing proof of Jared's unfaithfulness.
I made my way over to the girls, bumping and shoving people, which was sort of hard to do in a pool. Sure, that earned me some dirty looks, but hey, I needed this to happen quickly.
When I finally reached them, they both gave me matching warm smiles. "Hey!"
"Hey, guys. I didn't know you'd be here," I told them, trying not to seem to eager for my plan to play out.
"Yeah well, Liam invited us." Brooke informed. She looked gorgeous, she wore her blonde hair in two braided ponytails, giving her a sporty look, and she had on a cute soccer designed bikini.
"It's great to see you, we don't know much people here," Natalie added. Natalie looked just as amazing. Her dark brown hair was in wild curls that framed her face perfectly, giving her an exotic look. She had on a funky zebra striped bikini.
I smiled. "It's great to see you guys here too,"
We talked a bit then about school, clothes, and makeup. I kept trying to think of a good way to bring up Jared and Vanessa. I wasn't sure how they'd react to it, but I took a chance anyway.
"So, where's Vanessa?" I tried to sound nonchalant.
"Oh, she's somewhere around here. I'm not sure, where though. She said something about talking to some guy." Brooke said gesturing towards the kitchen.
"Thanks, I'm actually going to get something to drink." I lifted myself out of the pool and started heading towards the kitchen.
"Wait, there are some drinks over there." Natalie called out, pointing to a mini bar in the corner.
Hmmm... How'd I miss that?
"Uh, I want something different. That...aren't...those?" I managed to say and before they could respond I sprinted for the kitchen.
I entered the kitchen, barefoot, silently cursing myself for not getting my flip flops. These european marble floors, were extremely cold. I quickly scanned the room for Vanessa. But, I was out of luck. I couldn't find Miss Priss anywhere.
As I turned around to look for her in the grand living room, I bumped into something hard. I looked up to see what or who I bumped into and came face to face or more like face to chest with Liam.
His eyes trailed over my body and he smiled appreciatively, which sent chills up my spine. "Well, hello there."
"Uh, hey." I replied meekly. I tried to get past him, but he blocked my path.
"So, how's the party?" He asked, keeping his eyes on me.
"It's good, great house by the way."
He shrugged and moved a step closer to me. "I guess, it's an okay house."
"An okay house? Dude, it's amazing." I assured him.
"Yeah, I guess." His fingers softly trailed the side of my thigh. I backed away from him and shivered. It'd be great if he stopped touching me, right now.
"You seem cold, Want to cuddle?" He asked, amusement filling his eyes. A devious smile formed on his lips.
"I'm good. But, I'm actually looking for someone. So if you don't mind. . ." I made another attempt to leave, but he grabbed my arm.
"Why don't we go upstairs and hang out for a while. You know, away from everyone and the noise. We never really talk anymore." His milk chocolate brown eyes were sparkling and it was hard to look away.
"Uh, thanks for the offer Liam, but I'll take a raincheck on that."
"Oh come on, Kait-" Liam started.
"Oh, hey guys, What's up?"
Liam and I both turned to find Tyler by the fridge. He was wearing board shorts and a blue T-shirt. His T-shirt really brought out his dark blue eyes and I was just about ready to faint. Curse these good looking boys.
"Hey, Tyler," I took this as my chance to get away from Liam and I walked over to Tyler's side.
"Hey Kait, you look great," Tyler told me.
"Thanks, so do you, that shirt really brings out your eyes."
"Well, I try," He said with a smile.
I took a seat at the counter and watched Liam and Tyler talk for a while. Liam seemed really irritated with Tyler for interuppting us, but I was grateful. I mean, Liam is definitely good looking and hilarious, but sometimes he can be too obnoxious and frightening.
"Kaitlyn?"
I turned to see who called me, and was shocked to find dark hair and dark forest green eyes. Nathan.
"Nathan? Wow, I can't believe your here." I practically shouted.
He came over to me and gave me a big hug. I haven't seen Nathan in a while. We keep in contact with texting and im-ing each other. But, I haven't seen him in person, since that day at Pete's shack.
"Yeah, I'm as shocked to see you here too." He took a seat next to me.
I saw Liam send us a few looks and then smirk before he left with Tyler. I wonder what that's about.
"So, how do you know Liam?" Nathan asked me.
"Well, he's my best friend's boyfriend's best friend." I replied.
"Whoa, okay. Well, we used to go to camp together, when we were younger."
"Aw, camp? How cute." I said playfully.
"Hey, I was forced to go. Not my choice." He said with a laugh.
"There you are Nathan," A pretty redhead wearing a colorful sundress approached us.
I looked over at Nathan and his eyes widened.
She came over to Nathan's side and gave him a semi-long kiss. Now it was my turn to widen my eyes.
"Uh, Kait, this is my..." Nathan trailed off.
"I'm his girlfriend, Lilah. Nice to meet you Kait." She stuck out her hand for me to shake. I shook it numbly, feeling my heart sink. Nathan was just another cheater. He was just like Jared, how could I think he was any different? And Lilah doesn't know a thing.
This made me want to expose Jared even more now. Why do guys think that it's alright to cheat on their girlfriends? Are there brains wired differently or something?
I got up and turned to Lilah. "You might want to check into what your boyfriend's doing because, he's been flirting with other girls."
Nathan's face contorted into a 'Deer caught in headlights' look.
"What?" Lilah demanded.
I just nodded and walked away. Take that cheater.