EVA
"Wait, whose party is this?"
Today was the long awaited day for the party and it wasn't until Laura's car was pulling into the driveway of a huge, beautiful house that I realised I never asked who was hosting the party. All I knew was that there was a party and I was attending.
"Henri." She wiggled her brows. Her shades were parked high on her head just on top of her hair-do and I couldn't help but admire it.
I had long natural hair, but mine were nowhere as curly as Laura's and I knew that it had to do with her other half. She rarely wore wigs and never made braids. She usually went around with her natural hair and styled it more often than people even went to the salon.
I thought it was really cool.
When her words registered in my head, I blinked. "Henri?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I snapped.
"What difference would it have made?" She snapped back. "What does the host have to do with your going?"
Pausing, I grudgingly admitted to myself that what she was saying was true. The host didn't have anything to do with the party and from what I'd gathered from the last party I'd gone to, you didn't necessarily have the meet the host one-on-one. They might not even know that I was there. I mean, I had not spent long at the party, but that was my point exactly.
"Okay."
She parked the car, then turned to me. "Why are you frowning? You look too hot to be frowning right now." Her eyes fell on the top of my gown—at the button that was supposed to be open, but wasn't—and when her eyes trailed back up to mine, they were narrowed. "Would you just leave it open already?"
"The gown is short already. Why can't I just button it up?"
She rolled her eyes. "Because it makes you look like you're about to choke to death." A pause, then, "Like Mr Utoh."
The laugh that bubbled up my throat and out my mouth couldn't be helped. Mr Utoh was the Vice Principal and I knew exactly what she meant now. He had a bulging belly and his shirts were always too-tight. As if he wasn't looking choked up enough, he would button the shirts to the neck. Everytime he wore button down shirts—which he always did. I often wondered why the man couldn't just buy a few new shirts and spare himself the suffering, but then after a while, came to the conclusion that he probably wasn't suffering since he was no doing anything about it.
"See?" Laura pressed, the beginnings of a smile on her lips. "You wouldn't want to look like that, would you? Plus, I don't want you to die on my watch, so let's free this button."
There was a smile on my face when I said, "Sure." But before I could free the button, she reached across the centre console and did it for me, giving me a playful pat on my cheek.
"Good." She nodded, smiling at her handiwork. "Now let's go."
We got out of the car and Laura threw her hand over my shoulder as we walked. It was a great feeling, knowing that she was there. That was the main reason I agreed to go to parties with her. I knew that no matter what, even if I was in the wrong, Laura would have my back.
She was the type to jump on an argument in public and back me up even though she didn't know the whole thing that went down—then give me a verbal ass beating when we were away from watchful eyes. And maybe even some physical ones too.
"They said they're at the pool around the back of the house." She informed me, tapping away on her phone.
Yes, that was right. Unlike the last party I'd been to, this one was in broad daylight. That was probably why they were having it out back. And I wasn't sure how I felt about that.
There was something about the dark that made me feel comfortable enough to say or do certain things that I would never do in daylight. It was the fact that no one would be able to see me even if they heard me. Hell, no one would even pay attention to me and that was my idea of a good time.
With the light though, my face would be very very visible. My eyes too. There would be no hiding it. No running away. Because for one, it wasn't my house, so where would I go? And second, Laura was my ride here and she was no doubt going to be having the time of her life. I couldn't make her leave.
As if she could read my thoughts, Laura tightened her hand around me, prompting me to look at her. "Relax."
She smiled. I smiled.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. I was with Laura after all.
What could go wrong?
"A pool party?!" I screeched, turning wide, accusing eyes at Laura.
"Oh, shit." She cursed, her eyes locked on the scene in front of us.
We had finally reached the back of the house, only to see people from our set and a few other strange faces smiling around. That was a common innocent sight, right?
Nothing alarming about it whatsoever, except for the fact that they were all wearing swim suits. Another thing alarming about the scene was the amount of people in the pool, playing different games.
"A freaking pool party, Laura?" I caused for the first time out loud, in front of her.
"Oh my God, he must have stated that in the message and I didn't see it." Laura turned wide, apologetic eyes on me. "I'm so sorry, Eva."
"Jesus." I turned away from her, shoving my hand through my hair and almost scattering the bun that had taken her hours to perfect. Somehow, even in a situation like this, she reached up and swatted my hand away.
"Stop that. You're going to ruin it."
I cocked a brow at her. "Is that even important right now?"
"How we look is always important." She countered.
"I'm two seconds away from giving in to the urge to strangle you to death ri—"
"Hey, hey. Why the long faces?" A familiar voice asked from behind us and when I turned, I saw that it was Henri, standing there and looking very much edible in jean shorts and a grey T-shirt. I understood Laura's crush on him—even though she would never admit it.
"Hey, Henri." Laura waved, her eyes lighting up when she saw him. "So, funny story. Somehow, I must have missed the part where your text said it was a pool party and now, we're here without swim wears."
Henri's brows lifted. "Oh. Yeah, that sucks." His eyes landed on me and I did a one hand semi wave thing. I was not really in the best of moods. He grinned at me. "Do you girls wanna go through my closet? Pick out anything that you could maybe get into the water with?"
Laura's eyes widened. "Thats so kind of you, but I think I'm good to go." She faced me. "What do you think?"
I shook my head. "Don't worry about me. I'll just hang somewhere." I looked around, seeing a few people siting and texting on their phones, while some laid on their backs. "There are chairs, right? I'll just sit."
"Are you sure?" Henri pressed. "I don't mind. Really."
"It's okay. I'm good." I assured him.
He really was a nice guy. I hadn't noticed before today. Since he hung around Axel and, well, spoke to me like a jerk that night when I went into their hotel room to get my phone back, I'd automatically thought he was both a jerk and a player.
It was nice to know that he wasn't at least one of those things. At least to me and Laura.
Just before he could move away, Laura stopped him with her hand on his shoulder. "Do something for me."
I'd been prepared for whatever it was Laura wanted him to do for her, but I had not been prepared for Laura to swipe her shirt over her head and dump it on his shoulder, unbutton her shorts and shove them down her legs, dump them on his shoulder too, before running toward the pool in her bra and panties and diving in.
Both Henri and I stood there frozen for over thirty seconds. Me with my mouth hanging open and him, with his shoulders carrying her clothes.
He was the first to speak. "Damn. A girl after my own heart."
When eventually he walked away, I stood there with my arms wrapped around my body, my right hand clutching my phone. I'd left my purse in Laura's car since I figured I wouldn't really have much use for it.
My eyes roved around, searching for an empty chair where I could sit. I spotted an empty one right beside an unfamiliar girl. Perfect. As I made my way towards it, I spotted Alexander sitting on one of the chairs with Tabitha sprawled on his lap. There was also an empty seat beside him, but I had not seen one there before. Now that I had, it still didn't make any difference because I would have to be mad to willingly sit next to Alexander and his girlfriend.
Speaking of, where was Axel?
Him and his friends usually hung around each other. If you saw one of them, then you'd seen the others. I'd seen Henri and now Alexander, so where was Axel and Vaughn? The thought that they'd decided not to come crossed my mind, but I dismissed it.
Axel wouldn't miss a par—
Someone shoved me forward and before I knew it, I was underwater, flapping around and struggling to get back out. My legs wouldn't touch the ground no matter how many times I tried to straighten and when I opened my mouth to scream, water poured in with startling speed.
A shocking thought crossed my mind; Was I going to die?
Legs and more legs. They were all I could see. couldnt they see that I was struggling? Didn't they see me get shoved into the water? Why weren't they trying to help me?
I struggled to move in the water, go far enough to touch one of the legs when suddenly, hands slid under my arms and lifted me out of the water.
Immediately I breached the surface, I dragged in air though my nose which caused me to cough since my lungs were filled with water. I coughed and coughed more water out of my lungs, while an unfamiliar hand patted at my back softly, probably to help with the coughing.
When I could finally breathe well again, I looked around through watering eyes, taking in the face of the person that had his arms around me. It took me less than ten seconds to realise it was Dare.
So he was the one that had pulled me out of the water.
I was a little bit disappointed that it wasn't Axel, to be honest. It would have started a conversation between us whether we liked it or not and maybe I would have been able to use that opportunity to carry out Omar's idea.
"Are you okay?" Dare asked, his brows furrowed in concern.
"Yes, I'm fine now." I answered through a cough.
I might have wanted Axel to be the one to save me as if he was a knight in shinning armour, but I supposed that I should be grateful that Dare had been here to help me in the first place. I might have died if not for him. Laura was at the other end of the pool—and the pool was huge—and no one, absolutely no one had moved a muscle to help, but him.
"Thank you so much." I told him, breathing hard with honesty and gratitude.
"Don't even." He brushed it away. "I'm just glad I was here to help."
"No." I shook my head, lifting my hand to his shoulders. He couldn't act like this was not a bug deal. He'd saved me when no one else had. If not for him, I would probably be dead. That wasn't something a person brushed off. "Seriously. Thank you."
His eyes fell to my lips and it was then that I noticed just how close we were standing. I was still in the water, so close that my chest brushed his and I was gripping onto his shoulder as though I would float away if I let him go. Jesus.
I pulled away, taking a careful step back. There was a pause when my bare feet didn't touch the ground, then I cursed out loud again when I remembered that I was still wearing my sneakers. Now they were soaked through. How was I going to deal with that. My gown was soaked too. And my phone!
I'd been holding it when I was shoved into the pool. Where could it be? Oh God, would it still be working?
"What? Whats wrong?" Dare asked when he saw my panicked look.
"My phone. I think it fell into the water."
"Okay. Hold on." He assured me, then in a flash, he went under the water.
I stood there, staring at him in equal parts shock and awe as he swam around slowly, probably searching for my phone. How was he not scared about drowning?
Probably because he could swim. I knew I wish I could.
Dare popped back up a few feet away from me with a phone lighting up in his hand. My phone. His skin glistened beautifully with water as he made his way towards me, a grin on his face.
"I found it." He announced.
"Oh my God, thank you." Without giving much thought to what I was doing, I threw my arms him in a grateful hug. I really didn't know what I would have done without him.
There was no way I would have gone back down there to get my phone and risked drowning again and the possibility of my phone still being there—or working before I would be able to get Laura from the other end of the pool to come here and help me pick it up was incredibly slim. Plus, someone could have stepped on it.
When I pulled away from Dare, I felt the hairs at the back of my neck stand up. I instantly knew that someone was watching me. A quick search with my eyes confirmed my suspicion.
On the once empty seat beside Alexander, was Axel, watching me avidly and the lines of his face tight. When he saw me looking at him, he turned away, dismissing me.
Ouch.
Dare called my attention back to him by clearing his throat. He opened his mouth to say something, but then someone spoke over him. "Eva, what happened?"
I turned to the voice and saw that it belonged to Henri. "Someone shoved me into the pool."
His lips pressed downwards in anger, then he stretched his hand out for me to grab. I assumed it was to help me out of the pool, and frankly, I was starting to get cold. I took his hand and he lifted me out, my gown clinging to my skin uncomfortably and my sneakers spitting out water.
"We should get you changed." Henri told me. "Come, I have some clothes in my room."
He didn't wait for my answer before he started walking away. Seeing as I had no choice but to follow, I waved at Dare before hurrying after Henri. I toed off my sneakers when we got to the entrance of his house and left them there.
When we got to his room—I was still finding it hard to believe I was in Henri's room—he rummaged around in his closet and finally brought out super short shorts and a black T-shirt. They smelled familiar for some reason, but it was probably his scent that I'd gotten accustomed to.
"You can change in my bathroom." Then he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "I'll be out there if you need anything."
I nodded, carried the clothes into the bathroom and changed into them. I folded my wet gown as I walked back out, ignoring the way my wet bra and pamties felt against my skin.
"Do you have anything I can put my gown in..." I trailed off, coming to a halt when I saw Axel sitting on the foot of Henri's bed.
My heart slammed against my ribcage. He was here.
We stared at each other for a long time. I stood there with my soaked gown, while he sat there, looking painfully handsome in sweatpants and a T-shirt.
"Hey." He said finally.
I could barely find my voice. "Hi."
"Those look good on you." He tipped his chin at Henri's close I was wearing. They did actually look good on me. The shorts were a perfect fit stopping mid thigh and slightly free, and only the top sagged a bit over one shoulder.
"They're Henri's." I explained. "He's letting me borrow them because—"
"For him to lend them out, they would have to belong to him first." He cut me off. When I stared at him with a confused expression, he clarified. "They're mine."
Oh.
Oh.
So that was why they smelled familiar. And why did I suddenly feel ten times better knowing that the clothes I was wearing belonged to him?
"You look cold." He observed, then stood up in one fluid motion and walked towards Henri's closet, fishing out a green hoodie. "Up." I didn't understand at first what he was telling me, until he repeated himself. "Lift your arms, Cg."
Dumbstruck, I did and he helped me shove my hands into the sleeves of the hoodie, before rolling it down my body. When he was done, he stepped back from me and I mourned the loss of his body heat immediately.
I wouldn't try to explain how it felt when he wore his hoodie on me because there was no way I would be able to put that into words.
Then, just the way he came in, he left, leaving me blinking after him in confusion.
It was when he'd walked out of the room, that I realized I'd completely forgotten to ask him if he wanted to hang out.
Shit.
I'm starting to get less and lesser comments. Do you guys not know your comments—and your votes—are what keep me going?
ALSO, NEW COVER