CHAPTER 3 (PART 1)
They'd won their game and were all in good spirits as they waited outside of the party. Eric still sat behind the wheel. Angel, who stood outside of the car, leaned in the driver side window. "Pass me a water."
Eric grabbed one from the ice chest and took one for himself.
"C'mon, let's go in." Romero stood in the middle of the street.
Angel made a face. As good as he felt about the way the game had gone tonight, he was tired and not really in the mood for partying. He'd never admit it to anyone, but the only reason he was there at all was for the possibility of seeing Sarah. He'd been thinking about her ever since the day they had talked. Hell, he'd thought about her during the game. He kept glancing up at the stands every chance he got, prompting several disgusted hollers from his coach of, "Get in the game! What the hell's the matter with you, Moreno?"
He hadn't seen her at the game, but then she did say she had to work. There was still a chance she'd make the party. Looking across the street at the lights coming from the DJ in the backyard, anxiousness crept up his spine. "Hold on, give me a sec." He downed some of his water.
"Just take it in with you," Romero said. "I'm ready to get my groove on."
Angel turned to Eric who shrugged. He took another long swig. "All right, I'm ready."
Romero did his famous violent pelvic thrust a couple of times. "Let's do this."
Angel and Eric laughed. Angel grabbed what was left of the twelve pack of beer in the backseat. "You're a moron," he chuckled.
They went down the long driveway and turned the corner. There were a lot more people than they'd expected. They started making their way through the crowd. Angel was just beginning to scope the place when he saw her. He had to do a double take, because he almost didn't recognize her. The second he turned away though, it hit him. His body was suddenly overheating.
Angel gulped hard. Her long hair flowed more than halfway down her back. It was darker than he remembered, and it curled at the bottom. Her jeans hugged her body, and she wore a pair of strappy heels. Her black blouse tied around her neck and was backless, except for the bottom part that draped delicately around the small of her back.
He reached for a beer and could feel how clammy his hand had become. For God's sake, she's just a girl. He cursed under his breath. He intentionally placed himself facing Sarah's direction. He took a short swig of his beer but was careful not to drink too much. Romero was a perfect example of how he might act if he drank too much, and that was the last impression he wanted to make on her.
Romero had walked away for a while to talk to some of the regular girls. He came back to announce they had after-party dates. Usually Romero got high fives all around, but tonight both Angel and Eric seemed out of it.
Angel just nodded his head and half smiled. Eric hadn't even heard. He was staring out into the crowd but at no one in particular.
Romero frowned and tapped Eric. "Hey, man. Did you hear what I just said?"
Eric quickly came back to earth. "Sorry, man. No, what was that?"
"I said Stacey and her friends are down for later tonight. We get dessert, and hey." He winked. "Asia's over there."
Eric and Asia had hooked up regularly last year, though not nearly as often as Angel and Dana.
Eric shook his head. "I'm gonna have to pass. I gotta get up early tomorrow."
Romero's eyes grew wider. "You're gonna pass up a piece of ass 'cause you have to get up early?" He was obnoxiously loud.
"Easy." Eric looked around. "I'm right here. Lower your voice."
Romero shook his head and turned toward Angel. "What about you? Are you in?"
"Well, yeah," Angel lied. "But Eric's my ride. How's that gonna work?"
Romero kept shaking his head. "Un-fucking- believable, hold on-let me see what I can do."
Romero shot Eric a disgusted look and grabbed another beer. He walked toward the girls, stumbling a little. "Dude, he's getting wasted." Eric turned to Angel.
"Yeah, he is." Angel shook his head.Romero put his arms sloppily around two of the girls."Who's he kidding?" Eric chuckled. "He's gonna be passed out in my back seat in an hour. How'd he get drunk so fast?"
"He drank the whole way here, and you know he's a lightweight," Angel said.
They'd all only started drinking about a year ago. Then when a senior last year had almost killed himself driving drunk, it scared them so much they'd all cut back. Even when they did drink, like tonight, it was just a few beers, and they designated a driver. Tonight it was Eric.
Angel took his attention away from Romero for a second to look in Sarah's direction. She had a cup in her hand. He wondered what she was drinking. He could hear Romero calling for Eric.
"Aw shit, dude, he's calling me." Eric looked in the other direction, pretending not to hear."You might as well go. Before his drunk-ass comes over here and drags you over."
"Me? What about you?"
"He ain't calling me," Angel laughed.
"You're gonna stay here by yourself?" Eric raised an eyebrow.
"No, there's someone I wanna go say hi to."
Romero was getting louder. Eric finally acknowledged him. He checked the box with the beer. "There's four more in here. You want one?"
"Nah, I'm good." Angel held up his bottle to show he still had plenty. Eric picked up the box and walked away toward Romero, muttering under his breath.
Strolling in Sarah's direction, Angel recognized the short blond girl holding a beer bottle with her as the ex-girlfriend of his teammate, Reggie Luna.
As he approached Sarah, he could feel his heart pick up speed and his stomach clench up. Despite his attempts to calm down, he felt completely unnerved. It annoyed the hell out of him.
He walked around behind her and moved in closer. She smelled heavenly: a soft delicate fragrance. Not overpowering, like some of the girls he'd hugged earlier.He wanted to put his arm around her waist and pull her up against him. Instead, he leaned over and talked in her ear. "Hey, you made it."
She spun around, nearly losing her drink. Her expression went immediately from startled to pleased. "Yeah, they cancelled."
Angel couldn't get over how amazing she looked. If he gazed at her all night, it wouldn't be long enough. "I almost didn't recognize you with your hair down." His eyes took it all in.
She nodded. "Yeah, it's too long, especially when I'm running. It gets all over my face."
Angel wanted it all over his face. "It's beautiful though. You should wear it like that at school."
She hesitated for a second. "Thank you." She avoided eye contact again.
He didn't want to, but he decided it would be better to change the subject before she got uncomfortable and made an exit. He had no intention of letting her run away again, not this time. He glanced at her cup. "What are you drinking?"
She smiled timidly. "Wine."
"Wine?"
She laughed. "Why does everybody say it like that?"
Her smile somehow had a calming effect on him. "Out of a cup though? You can't drink it straight out of the bottle?"
"It's not a cooler." Her expression challenged him. "It's the good stuff."
She turned to her friend and then glanced into her cup. It was almost empty. "As a matter of fact," she said, "I need more." She bent over to a medium-sized ice chest and pulled out a small jug of wine.
"Nooo!" Angel put his hand over his mouth in disbelief. "Oh, you're sick. You come to a party with a jug of wine in an ice chest?"
She laughed even more now. Her friend laughed with her. Sarah caressed the jug lovingly. "How else am I supposed to keep my little Precious cold?"
Her demeanor was refreshing, especially since she had seemed so apprehensive at school. Maybe it was the wine. Whatever it was, he loved it. He watched as she poured the wine in her cup, noticing how little she poured in before stopping. She put the jug back in the ice chest and pointed at her friend. "She brings one too."
Her friend opened her mouth wide, as if Sarah had just snitched on her. Angel raised his eyebrows in exaggerated disbelief. "You too? But you're drinking beer. You don't need an ice chest."
Her friend smiled and tapped her bottle. "I can't drink beer unless it's ice cold."
"By the way, Angel, this is my cousin, Valerie," Sarah said.Angel nodded. "Yeah, I know Valerie."
Valerie's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"Sure," he acknowledged her surprise, glad that Sarah had said her name. That, he would've never remembered. "So, why don't you just put your drinks in the same ice chest?"
Valerie rolled her eyes at Sarah. "Sarah doesn't like her Precious to be disturbed."
"She's very fragile." Sarah held her cup close to her.
Angel nodded, and then put his hand up. "It's a she? Okay, well, now that makes sense."
Sarah smiled, as she took another quick sip of her wine. Valerie got pulled away by another girl. Angel took his last swig of beer and threw the empty bottle in a trashcan nearby.
"Are you out?" Sarah asked. "Yeah, that was my last one."
"Well, here." Sarah bent over to Valerie's ice chest. She giggled, pretending to be sneaky. "Let's steal one of Valerie's."
Angel turned to see if Valerie was watching. "No, it's cool. I don't wanna take her beer."
Sarah shook her head. "She's not gonna finish all this. She never does, and then we're gonna end up throwing it out later tonight."
"Throw out beer? Are you nuts?"
"Well, we can't take it home. My aunt would kill us."
"Oh, well, in that case, let me help the cause." He held out his hand.
Her finger brushed his hand as she passed him the bottle. That's all it took to ignite him. His hand trembled as he took a swig of his beer. He watched her the whole time. Her eyes were so big, her lashes so dark and heavy-everything seemed to slow down when she blinked. His insides smoldered, and he gulped his beer hard.
"So, are you here alone?" she asked.
He looked around. He had to. If he stared at her any longer, he was afraid he'd freak her out."Nah, my friends are here somewhere. We just got split up." He turned back to her. "How 'bout you? Is it just you and Valerie tonight?"
She sipped on her wine again. "Yeah, well, I came here with just Val, but we're supposed to meet up with friends later."
Angel took another swig of his beer and looked around casually. "Guys?"
"No, some of her girlfriends-they're not here yet though. That's why I'm here. I really don't like these kinds of parties, but none of her friends could get here until later, so she talked me into coming with her."
Angel smiled, unable to look away from her eyes. "I'll have to thank her later for that. So, where do you like to go?"
She held his gaze for a moment and then smiled, making Angel's legs weak. "I love the beach," she sighed. "I just moved out here a few months ago from Arizona, so the beach is new to me. I could spend every night there watching the sunset. I mean, don't get me wrong, the sunsets in Arizona are just as beautiful. It's just the newness of the cool salty air and watching while listening to waves crash and the birds ... quack?"
Angel jerked his head back puzzled. "Quack?"
She burst into laughter. "Squawk? You know what I mean!"
"God, you were doing so well," he teased, pretending to gaze out into the sky. "I mean, I could almost hear the waves crashing and everything."
Sarah still laughed. Angel wondered if she was getting tipsy, but he continued to tease her. He loved hearing her laugh. "I mean peep would've been closer, but quack? Really?"
Sarah's hand was over her mouth, but there was no muffling her laughter. "I got the point across, didn't I?"
"I'm just saying. The wind was blowing in my hair and everything. Look." He pretended to hold his hair down.
"Stop!" she squealed. He couldn't help laughing with her. It was such a cute laugh and so contagious. She was refreshing. It wasn't just that she was enjoying his jokes, but that she didn't mind laughing at herself. So many other girls would've been too busy trying to be seductive. She didn't even have to try. He could tell being seductive was the last thing on her mind.
She wiped the corners of her eyes. She'd literally laughed that hard. "Is my mascara all messed up?" She opened her eyes wide.
He stepped forward to get a better look. Her makeup had smeared slightly on the bottom corner of her right eye. "Hold still." He moved closer to her.
Using his pinky he very slowly and gently wiped the bottom corner of her eye . He was so close to her face he could smell the wine on her breath. She held her cup right in front of her, and he felt her tense up when his body touched her hand. He examined her other eye."Your eyes are amazing," he said without moving back.
Their eyes locked for just a second, and then she backed up slightly. "Thanks."
She turned away, and Angel watched as she took a very long sip of her wine. It surprised him how uncomfortable compliments made her. With eyes like those, you'd think she'd be used to them. Still, she broke the silence as only she could.
"Where's my Precious?" she said in a coddling voice then bent over and opened her ice chest.
Angel watched as she poured herself less than a quarter of a cup. He enjoyed teasing her. "Maybe if you'd fill the cup, you wouldn't have to refill so often."
"Ah, to deal with lower society," she smirked. "This isn't beer, Angel. You sip, so if I fill it, by the time I'm halfway through, it'll be warm. I don't like warm wine, okay?"
"Oh no, you didn't just call me lower society!"
"Oh, yes, I did."
Angel held his pointer finger up in front of her, and she began to giggle again. "One word."
"Bring it." She took a sip.
"Quack!"
She covered her mouth with the cup to avoid spitting and turned her back on him, so he couldn't see it leak out the side of her mouth. She turned back to face him and kept laughing. "You had to go there." She wiped around her cleavage.
His eyes were fixated on her hands. "I had to." Gulping hard, he watched her continue to wipe the wine from the front of her blouse. "I can help you with that."
She smiled at him, half rolling her eyes. "That's okay." She returned her attention to her blouse, and he couldn't look away. He was still standing there gaping when he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Eric. "Hey, dude, you ready?"
Angel turned around. Eric was holding Romero up. "Damn, is he that wasted?"
Eric shot him a sarcastic look. Angel turned to Sarah. "This is my ride."
She glanced over at Eric holding Romero up and giggled a little. Angel could see she was lightheaded from the wine. She seemed so small and delicate and incredibly vulnerable. "I won't leave though. Where's Valerie?"
She smiled at him. "Go ahead. I'm fine."
Like hell. "Yeah, you are fine. But I'm not leaving you until Valerie gets back."
The party was beginning to end and Valerie, Sarah's ride, was nowhere in sight. Sarah had tried calling her several times on her cell, but the call wouldn't go through. Angel grabbed Sarah's hand in his and both their ice chests in his other. "Come on, let's go look for Valerie."
As they walked through the party, one of Dana's friends tried to stop him. "Hey, Angel, where's Dana?" Her eyebrows were arched, and she peered at Sarah. Angel kept walking, ignoring hear.
"Is Dana your girlfriend?" He could feel Sarah try to let go of his hand, but he only tightened the grip.
Angel pressed his lips for a second. "Nope."
Eric was right outside, looking a little irritated. Angel knew how Romero could get when he was drunk, and Eric had been on his own with him all night, so he understood his frustration. "Dude, are you ready to go?" Eric asked.
Angel still held Sarah's hand. He looked at Eric apologetically. "Give me a sec. She needs to find her friend."
Sarah was calling Valerie on her cell again, but she wasn't answering. When they got to the car, she looked at him. "I can't leave Valerie."
"Okay." He pulled her closer to him out of the way of oncoming cars that still cruised past the party. She leaned against him, and he put his arm around her waist. He'd burned to touch her all night, and now all he wanted was to take care of her. He examined her face, smiling tenderly. "How you feeling?"
She smiled, finally looking in his eyes. "Better now." It took all the willpower he could muster to not lean over and kiss her, but the last thing he wanted was for anything to happen tonight that she could dismiss tomorrow and blame on the wine.He turned to see Eric adjusting Romero in the front seat. Romero was totally out.
Angel motioned toward him. "By the way, meet my friend, Romero."
Sarah laughed. "Is that really his name?"
"Well, his last name. His first name is Ramon, but he doesn't like it."
Eric walked over and leaned on the car next to Angel and Sarah. He looked exhausted. Sarah rested her head on Angel's shoulder.
"Oh, hey," Angel said looking at Eric. "This is Sarah. Sarah, this is my friend, Eric."
Sarah held her head up just long enough to say hello. Angel knew Eric assumed she was just another girl he'd picked up.
Sarah moved off of Angel and leaned against the car now, but he still held her hand. "Where could she be?" Sarah grimaced.
They all stood there watching the driveway of the house where the party had been. There were people still walking out and standing around the front of the house. A car pulled up, and someone got out of the back seat. It was Jesse Strickland. The car that had dropped him off drove right past them and up the street.
Sarah didn't see him at first, but when she did, she straightened out. Angel noticed and his muscles tensed. "Something wrong?"
"Can we leave?" Her eyes were still on Jesse.
Jesse walked in a hurry to the back yard. Eric and Angel exchanged glances.
"What about Valerie?" Angel asked.
"We'll come back for her," she said, "I just don't wanna be here right this minute."
Angel stared at her for a second. "Sure."
He let go of her hand to gather up the ice chests. Sarah tried Valerie again on her phone. For whatever reason, Jesse made Sarah nervous, and Angel didn't like it. He grabbed the ice chests and threw them in the trunk then walked Sarah around and into the car. He sat down next to her and reached for her hand immediately. Eric eyed him through the rear view mirror.
"Let's drop off this guy first," Eric said, motioning toward Romero. "Then if you want, you can drop me off and take my car. I'll pick it up in the morning."
Angel smiled. Suddenly he was relieved he'd only had two beers. He wasn't ready to say goodnight to Sarah yet. He could always count on Eric to understand.
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