Tonight on the menu with dating Kreepy Kyle? What could possibly be worse than salsa dancing, right?
Apparently, a lot.
Salsa dancing had been easy compared to this. At least at the salsa club or whatever, there wasn’t anyone from my school there. This was much more dangerous. This involved people actually knowing about me and Kyle. While that was the whole reason I was “dating” him, was I ready? Was I ready to possibly face Tanya, or worse, Liam?
“He’s taking you where?” Lulu blanched.
I just nodded. “And you’re coming with me.”
She snorted. “Honey, this is a date. Last I checked, you don’t bring your friends on a date.”
I frowned. “It’s a party, Lulu. That’s not a date. That’s showing off.”
“So this is perfect, then!”
“Yes and no.” I threw around the contents of my dresser drawers behind me after a quick examination. “God, why am I so nervous?!”
“Cause Liam might be there?” Lulu threw in, expressing my exact fears.
I snorted. “Liam doesn’t go to these kinds of parties, Lulu.”
“Or does he? You don’t really know Liam anymore, do you?”
I paused in my mad rush. Not know Liam? After all this time…..But it was true. I never would have thought he’d date Tanya again just to hurt me. I never would have thought he’d have stopped being friends with me just because he didn’t get his own way.
I shook the thoughts away, not ready to be depressed by my Liam situation. “Well, whatever.”
“Piper,” Lulu grabbed my hand gently, making me stop in my tossing of clothes. “I’ve been pretty cool, letting you use my pig brother and what not without ever asking why. But you had to know I’d ask sooner or later.”
I ducked my head and nodded.
“What happened with you guys? I mean, one minute you’re best friends and the next I know he’s dating Tanya. At first I thought you were just a wee bit jealous, but then you started this whole charade with Kyle. Whatever Liam did it wasn’t good…..was it?”
I took a deep breath. I knew she’d ask; that’s what best friends were for. And while I still didn’t want to face the reality of it all, I knew I couldn’t hide from it any longer.
Just don’t cry, I begged myself.
Taking a deep breath, I started, “You know all the business about David and such. Well, Liam said he was gonna take me somewhere fun to make me feel better. We went to Momma’s Country and it was fun, but….” Here I had to pause to gauge my next words. “When we got home, we were both acting….silly….and, well, one thing led to another and he was kissing me.”
Lulu gasped quietly.
“And…I told him I didn’t wanna be with him that way, that we were friends.” Anger started to build up inside of me again as I said, “But Liam didn’t want that. Said he couldn’t be just friends with me anymore and that he….” I stopped.
Lulu waited a minute before she nearly whispered, “What? And that he what?”
I looked down and started folding my discarded clothes. “Loved me,” I finished thickly. “And then Monday I found out he was dating Tanya and…..I dunno, I just snapped. He said I had no right to yell at him about it. Said he was done waiting around for me……Whatever.”
“Hold da phone!” Lulu exclaimed. “You talked to him that day? About Tanya?”
“Well…..talked isn’t exactly the right word……”
“I mean, but….” She looked at the floor, a dumbfounded expression on her face. “Wow.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty awful, huh?”
“No, just…”
I sighed, feeling sorry for myself. “Just tell me I’m a heartless bitch, Lulu.”
“You’re not!” Lulu snapped. “Don’t you see? That’s just what that dick wants you to think! He’s acting like such a spoiled little baby who can’t get his own way.”
I knew Lulu was trying to help; trying to be on my side. But the thing is, I didn’t like that she called Liam a dick, even if it was quite appropriate. Even if he called it quits, I wasn’t ready to not be his friend anymore. I never wanted to stop being his friend; his best friend.
I felt my face heat up and my eyes blur with tears. I cleared my throat and quickly changed the subject. “Anyway, it’s whatever. Are you going with me to this party or what?”
I could tell Lulu wasn’t ready to drop the subject, but she was willing to let it slide. “Yeah,” she sighed. “I guess so.”
“Pick you out an outfit, then.”
A small smile crept on Lulu’s lips. “That was mighty country of you.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be sure never to say anything like it again.”
Guess who bitched tonight? I was mighty glad it wasn’t me; not yet, anyway. Kyle was all “if I’m driving ahead of you to show you where the party’s at, why not just take the same car?” Well, unfortunately for Kyle, I didn’t plan on staying at this party for very long. That, and I didn’t wanna be responsible for a drunken Kreepy Kyle.
“Should’ve gone in the same car,” Lulu muttered as we parked behind the dozens of cars lined on the sidewalks.
“Lulu!”
“What? I’m just sayin’! It ruins the image.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’d rather live, thank you. Once was enough.”
Lulu just giggled and got out of the car. She looked great tonight. Her blonde and violet hair was piled on top of her head in a messy ponytail, her bangs covering one very black lined eye. She mixed girly vs. emo in the wardrobe department; tattered black tights, a tight black mini skirt, and a cute pink and green blouse. I, on the other hand, kept the down low—no need to look good for anyone but myself. My outfit consisted of wavy hair left down, dark skinny jeans, and a hazel colored quarter sleeved shirt whose sleeves and half of the back were lace.
“Wow, you look hot,” Kyle “complimented”, slinging his arm around my shoulders.
I resisted the urge to peel his arm off and instead forced a smile. “Well….thanks.” I hated it when guys called girls hot. It was just so disrespectful.
We walked up to the rather large house—who knew behind across from the drugstore in the less-than-friendly neighborhood there were such beautiful house?—where the door was already opened. Loud, poppy—aka, annoying—music blasted my eardrums and reverberated in my chest. All I had to do was look to the left, where there was a crowded living room of teenagers making out and dancing—usually at the same time—to know where Kyle’s thoughts were leading.
I grabbed Lulu’s hand. “Let’s go dance!” I yelled above the music, craftily slipping under Kyle’s grimy hands and running away.
Lulu was laughing at me. “You’re not a very good date, you know!”
I shrugged, caring less. “With someone I actually like, I am!”
She rolled her eyes.
While everyone else was dancing seductively—aka, barely moving anything but their hips— Lulu and I danced crazy, as if this was some kind of Dance Dance Revolution competition.
“Hey, I freaking love you for coming with!” I yelled.
She laughed. “Well, I couldn’t leave you alone at a house party with my deranged brother, now, could I?”
All good things must come to an end as Kyle cut in. “Hey, you want somethin’ to drink, or what?”
I was so relieved he hadn’t tried to dance with me that I just nodded and went with him.
“You guys go, I found some friends over here,” Lulu said, winking at me.
So much for not leaving me with her griping brother.
We made our way into the kitchen, where there was a keg. Great. Kyle’s eyes sparked as he noticed it and he immediately dove for two blue plastic cups, filling both and offering me one.
Did he not listen to me at all? I smiled politely and shook my head. “No, thanks.”
“Suit yourself, Miss Priss,” he laughed, downing one and starting on the other.
Oh, boy. This was going to be a long night.
For one, I am slightly anti social, and there fore uncomfortable with crowds. And two, if you’re not drunk, house parties are dull. I suspected Kyle had threatened Lulu not to “bug” him the entire night, so she was off. It took four beers for Kyle to be drunk, though not shitfaced, to be fair to the guy. He was currently laughing with his crowd of friends.
The girlfriends of those guys had been sitting aside, talking. They assumed me to be a girlfriend, too, as they had started talking with me. An hour and a half of their men being stupid, though, and half those girls were gone. All that remained was me and this girl Lauren.
Another half hour, though, and I was done. As soon as I got up, Lauren smiled up at me and said, “You leavin’?”
I nodded. “Sorry to leave you here.” Lauren was pretty cool. We got to talking, obviously. Her boyfriend was the cute linebacker, who was more wasted than the others; which inclined Lauren to stay with him.
She shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Drive safely.”
I nodded again, trying to slip out of the kitchen.
Kyle caught me, though. “Hey, babe, where you goin’?”
I sighed, putting on a smile before I turned around. “Curfew, babe. I gotta go.”
“No—wait!” Kyle said, tripping over some guy as he made his way over to me.
I rolled my eyes, ready to just go.
He caught me by my arm and pressed himself against. “Just don’t go, okay? Stay a little while longer. Please?”
I sighed irritable. “Fine. But I gotta get some air.” Lie. I was going to ditch this jerk.
Kyle put on his drunkard grin. “I’ll come too.”
I shook my head. “No. You stay here.”
To my surprise, he seemed to catch my lie. “You’re just gonna leave anyway.”
“I’ll come back in, I swear.” I meant it. I really needed air, so I’d go out and get some, and then come back in for Lulu. “Look, I’m only going out back. There’s a fence there. No escape routes for me, ‘kay?”
Though still looking reluctant, Kyle finally let go of my arm and—blessedly!—backed away. “’Kay.”
Great.
I would have run toward the back door, but there were too many people. I grabbed a Dr. Pepper on my way out, though. There were tons of Cokes left over; everyone was drinking beer.
I threw the back door open as soon as I reached it, breathing in the sweet, cool night air. I sat down on the steps, letting my head rest against the door.
It wasn’t until I opened my eyes that I realized I had company. Standing to my left was Liam, trying to look as if he hadn’t seen me. I wondered if I should do the same.
I mean, it freaking figures! All day, I’m worrying about whether Liam’s gonna be here, and I get here and forget all about it. As soon as my guard’s down, who shows up?
But I decided to be the better person. I looked up and smiled politely. “Well…..I didn’t figure you for a house partier.”
Liam looked at me for the first time. My breath hitched a little bit at seeing those piercing hazel eyes again. He looked different. A little scruffy in the face, no baseball cap on. His eyes weren’t very kind, looking at me; though not as….frightening as they had been the last time we uttered a syllable to eachother.
“Um,” he cleared his throat and gestured to the house. “Tanya….she’s really the house partier.”
“Oh.”
There was a long pause of awkward silence. It just felt so wrong, to have been best friends not a month ago and now barely looking at eachother. To be honest, I was rather surprised he responded at all.
I drummed my fingers on my Coke can. “So….how you been?”
He looked a bit surprised I was still speaking to him. He cleared his throat again. “Fine…. you?”
Miserable. I miss you. I shrugged. “Oh, you know….same old, same old.”
He nodded. “Good.”
This time, the silence was a bit more painful rather than just awkward.
I stood up.
At the same time, he said, “Well, I should really….”
“Yeah, um…” I stopped, realizing we’d both stepped toward the door and were now way too close.
I blinked up at him, not really wanting to move. He blinked down at me, making no move to step back.
That was when the door flew open, revealing a not so happy looking Tanya. Her eyes narrowed as soon as she saw me, and they narrowed even more when she noticed the thin distance between her boyfriend and me.
Liam moved in the doorframe just as Tanya opened her mouth. “Ready?” he asked, his voice a little rushed sounding.
With a final glare at me, Tanya snatched Liam’s hand and practically dragged him away.
I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. If it wasn’t so tragic, I’d almost feel sorry for him. Poetic justice, I say. I just couldn’t believe Liam was letting a girl drag him away!
On the other hand, I had to keep myself laughing long enough to find Lulu and get the hell out of there before I wasn’t just bursting out in giggles.
What a mess I’d gotten myself into!
A/N Gasp! He speaks! I miss my dear, sweet, country boy Liam L Don’t you? Now he’s letting slutty girls tell him what to do. An oh my gord, it is so freaking hot out! I wanted to write so bad, but it was just so hot! I finished this, though! Looking forward to my promised strawberry banana smoothie!
VOTES?
COMMENTS?
TTFN,
Hannah
P.S Seriously, though, have you read the League yet?