The bonfire was like every other party I had been to here in Colorado. There were drinks everywhere, some people smoking, some people playing beer pong, and some people dancing, despite the freezing cold.
The only difference was that there was a huge fire with multiple other ones scattered around.
We were in the middle of the woods and people were scattered around everywhere. In between cars, at the fire, climbing trees. We were in a deeper part of the forest and I honestly don't even know how these people found this big clearing here.
We had already been here for about two hours though and needless to say, the bonfire had lived up to its reputation.
"Guys! Guys! Guys!" Wendy came running over to us, her phone in one hand and a red solo cup sloshing around beer in the other.
Nicole and I turned, laughing as she stumbled over.
"Wendy, it's not even nine yet." I laughed at her.
She waved her hand, "Oh don't worry, I'm still fine." she shook her head and grinned, "But guess what I just saw?"
"What?"
"Kevin McCraw just shotgunned three beers and started chugging the keg through the funnel." she squealed. Nicole and I exchanged a weird look.
"And how is this important to us?" Nicole arched a brow.
"Because right after he finished shotgunning, he turned to Kady Merrica and winked at her, while she was right next to her boyfriend!" she squealed, making Nicole quickly slap a hand over her mouth.
"Dude, chill. People are looking at us, you weirdo." Nicole scolded her. Wendy pushed her hand away, still smiling widely.
"I'm sorry but I just got excited. Look, I even caught it on video." she held out her phone to us and it was indeed a video of a guy shotgunning his beers, then winking at a blonde girl who already had an arm wrapped around her waist by another dude.
"Dang. Her boyfriend looks pretty pissed." I raised my brows.
"Didn't he graduate last year though? What's he even doing here?" Nicole crossed her arms.
"Don't know. Probably just her plus one." Wendy shrugged, pulling her phone back and beginning to type at an incredible speed. After a few seconds she smiled again, "It's posted! I'm already getting views."
I laughed at her, shaking my head, "How the hell are you so quick with it?"
She shrugged again, "It's a gift."
"But what do you do if you miss something big? What happens then?"
"People usually send in their videos and pictures and have stories they send in too. I keep it confidential where I get my sources from, I like to keep things professional." she answered, "I'm not the only one who enjoys a little bit of drama."
"And that's why you're gonna make it big someday in writing. You'll be with your own company. I can see it now." Nicole threw her arm around Wendy's shoulders, waving her hands around. "Wendy Writes. It has a ring to it, right?"
"Oooh yes!" Wendy stomped her feet happily, "I'm gonna use that for now on!"
We laughed again at her enthusiasm as she drank the rest of her cup.
"Dude, you better control yourself because I'm the one taking you home." Nicole gave her a look, but the smile on her face let us know that she was only joking. Just a little.
"I promise, I'll be fine! You two just need to catch up. Come on." she grabbed my hand and motioned for Nicole to follow as she led us to a keg.
There we found Ella, who was talking to Blake Zenner, a boy from the soccer team. When she saw us, she excused herself and quickly rushed over.
"There you guys are! I've been looking everywhere for the three of you." she crushed us into a group hug.
"You're the one that left not even five minutes into being here." I arched a brow as she pulled away.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry." she quickly apologized, then grinned, "But have you guys seen who I've been talking to?"
"Blake Zenner." Nicole nodded, looking over her shoulder at the boy who had began to talk to another guy beside him. "He's cute. How do you know him?"
"He's in my third period and I saw him here while I was getting a drink and he called me to talk to him." she squealed, "I didn't even think he knew my name and we've been talking all night."
"Good for you, El, I'm glad at least one of us is getting some action." Wendy sighed.
"Oh come on, you guys just haven't put yourselves out there." El insisted, "Nicky, I heard Brian Nelson mention something about you earlier. What do you think of him?"
Ella gestured behind us and we each turned, seeing a cute boy with a football in his hand. Nicole grinned.
"I'm not opposed to it."
We all laughed, but suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and I was suddenly face to face with Peter.
"Peter, hey." I smiled at the boy.
"Hey, I've been looking for you." he smiled back at me. Peter was wearing his lettered jacket with a hoodie underneath, a drink in his hand.
"Well you found me." I held up my hands. He chuckled and I swooned at his smile.
"Yeah, I'm glad I did." he nodded, then gestured to my friends behind me. "Hey, how are you guys?"
"Good."
"Great."
"Amazing." Ella said, clearing geeking at the sight of the varsity baseball player talking to her.
"These are my friends Wendy, Nicole and Ella." I pointed to the three girls, "Guys, this is Peter."
A quick note, all of my friends knew exactly who Peter was. Not just because he was a popular athlete but because I had talked about him numerous times over our lunch gossips.
"Nice to meet you, Peter." Nicole greeted, acting very believable to be her first time ever hearing about this man.
"You too. You're on band, right? And I've seen you two around at parties. You guys are sick." he looked at Nicole and Wendy.
"Thank you. It's a gift we share." Wendy nudged Nicole. I rolled my eyes.
"If they think being able to control their liquor like that is a gift, then yeah it is." I shook my head and everyone laughed.
"Well I was just wondering if it was okay to steal Y/n for awhile? If you guys don't mind." he said. The three girls glanced at each other, grins spreading on their faces.
"Nope. We definitely don't mind." Ella replied.
Peter turned to me, "Are you cool with that?"
I grinned, "Perfectly fine with me."
"Cool. We'll see you guys around." Peter nodded, taking a hold of my free hand. I gave each of them a look, smiling widely and trying to suppress a laugh as they made obnoxious sex faces.
The night dragged on and more and more people began to drink and dance and play beer pong, which had quickly became one of the main sources of entertainment here.
And more and more people were disappearing off to who knows where in pairs.
Peter and I wandered around together, jumping from group to group. I had talked to some of his baseball friends, some of them being from the huddle, and he had talked to some of my friends. The whole time I did not leave his side, and I was having a good time.
We had made our rounds with the Walters, talking to Danny and his group of friends for a little, making our way to Cole and Erin, then finding Jackie and Alex.
Nicole and Wendy had went off to play their drinking games, doing what they were known best as the infamous party duo here in town.
"Chug! Chug! Chug!" everyone chanted around me as Nicole shotgunned a beer between her and Brian Nelson.
Nicole slammed the empty cab on the ground, Brian following after her and the crowd cheered. I cheered too, raising my drink to congratulate her.
"Your friend is insane. She shotguns better than half of the guys on my team." Peter joked, his arm thrown around my shoulders. I laughed, leaning into him.
"Yeah. I have no idea where she learned to do that."
Peter and I had finally decided to settle down in front of a fire, sitting on a log. We sat there for awhile, talking aimlessly.
"You streaked in front of your entire freshman class?" I gasped.
"I'm telling you, it was for the baseball initiation. I had no choice!" he threw his hands up and I laughed more.
"I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have thrown you off the team if you refused to do it though."
"Probably not but it would've made it ten times harder for me to fit in with the older guys especially." he said.
"Well I would've probably paid million to see that."
He raised his brows, "Oh really?"
"Yeah." I grinned, "I could see it now. Little, shy Peter probably red in the face as everyone watched him."
He shook his head, "That's what you think but after that I had all the cheerleaders crushing on me."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
"I don't believe it."
He gasped, putting a hand over his heart dramatically, "So you think I'm lying?"
"Maybe." I smiled.
His job dropped, "Wow." he scoffed, shaking his head again. He then pointed at me, a smile playing on his lips, "I'm gonna remember that, Howard."
I laughed, knowing that he was just messing with me. He smiled back at me, laughing too.
Like I've said before, Peter was really cute, but sitting beside him in front of the fire, so close that our legs brushed against each other's, he looked so dreamy. Like the type of guy you see in a show or what you imagine reading a book.
Sitting this close to him, I could smell the alcohol on his breath and I was almost positive I was the same way. I didn't care though, not right now anyway.
"Yo, Peter!" someone suddenly yelled. We both turned, seeing Peter's friend Jesse standing beside a keg. He was surrounded by more boys I recognized from the baseball team. He looked at me and waved, to which I waved back politely, before he looked at Peter and waved him over.
Peter nodded, holding up his hand. He then turned to me, "You mind if I head over there for a bit? It'll be quick and I'll come right back."
I shook my head, "No it's okay, I don't mind. I'm actually gonna..." I paused, looking around until my eyes landed on Nathan strumming his guitar across the fire, "I'm gonna go say hi to some more people."
"Cool. I'll find you later." he nodded. He gave me another smile before getting up and walking away. Once he left, I stood, making my way over to Nathan.
As I got closer, I suddenly realized there was a girl I had never met beside him, and Isaac sitting across from him. Nathan looked up once he noticed me coming along, his hands stopping across his guitar.
"Y/n, hey."
The girl and Isaac both quickly looked at me and I smiled, "Hey. Is this where you guys have been this whole time?"
"Me mostly, yeah." Nathan nodded, then gestured to the girl beside him, "This is Kiley. Kiley, this is Y/n."
The girl smiled at me, "Nice to meet you. You're Jackie's sister, right?"
"Yeah, that's me." I nodded, not surprised I had somehow managed to earn the title of just being my younger sister's sister. Jackie always seemed to be known even when she didn't try to be, exactly how it was in New York.
"Well I haven't been here for long. I just got here, like, five minutes ago." Isaac said as I took a seat beside Nathan.
"Oh really? Did you get tired of your lady game yet?" I arched a brow.
"No, they actually can't get enough of me." he answered smugly. "No, I just sat here because someone's complaining about his love life."
He shot Nathan a look of annoyance and Nathan put his head down.
"Hey, leave him alone. He's clearly stressing out." Kiley put a comforting hand on Nathan's shoulder.
I furrowed my brows, "I'm sorry. What are we talking about?"
Nathan sighed, looking at me, "Yesterday I gave Skylar a demo of a song I wrote him and he still hasn't said anything about it."
"Well maybe he just hasn't listened to it-"
"That's exactly what I said, Converse!" Isaac threw his hands up.
Nathan ignored him, "I'm trying to just be chill about it but I can't help it." he sighed again, "I just really like him and I don't wanna mess anything up."
He looked away at that point and I followed his gaze, seeing Skylar and Grace talking across the other side of the fire.
I looked at Kiley, then at Isaac, who looked back at me and shrugged.
"Look, Nathan, I definitely agree that you should just relax over it." I said, "If he wants to listen to it, he will, but if not he's not worth the time."
"I agree." Isaac nodded, giving me a look, "And I know that it's hard to imagine I could do such a thing with you so just remember, this is a once in a lifetime thing."
He reached over to poke my cheek but I swatted his hand away. He smiled annoyingly, "Or he could do what I always do."
"And what's that?" Kiley tilted her head.
"If I'm really into a girl, I just plant the seed and let her come to me." he answered.
"And that works?" I crossed my arms.
"Obviously." he said smugly, and I rolled my eyes at his cockiness.
Nathan nodded beside me, "Yeah. You're right."
He looked and me, smiling and I smiled back. I looked at Isaac, who looked back and me grinning evilly. I furrowed my brows as he stood up, grabbing my wrist.
"Converse, you mind?" he said, pulling me up to stand.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Nathan asked, reaching to grab my free hand. Isaac pushed his hand off of mine.
"Planting the seed." he said, pulling me away before I could get a word in.
I furrowed my brows, looking at him, "What are we doing?"
"Helping out Nathan." he said casually. He led me over to Grace and Skylar, who looked over at us as we approached them.
"Hey, guys." I said awkwardly, Isaac's hand still on my wrist.
"Hey." Grace greeted us, obviously not expecting for us to talk to them, let alone Isaac and I together after going through a whole painting war the first time we met her.
"You care if we join you?" Isaac asked, gesturing between me, him and Nathan.
Grace and Skylar shared a look, and Skylar looked uneasy at the sight of Nathan.
I'm not sure if Isaac's plan was to purposefully pull us into an awkward situation, but here we were and the night still had a long way to go.
—
The conversation flowed pretty nicely and soon Kiley came to join us. I had talked to Kiley about music, which I found we had very similar taste that made us click instantly, and Grace, Isaac and Skylar talked about some field trip coming up while Nathan awkwardly stood to the side.
I lowered my voice, whispering to Kiley, "You think it was a good idea coming over here?"
She looked at Nathan and shrugged, whispering back, "I think he's just really nervous."
"I could tell." I replied and she giggled.
"Converse, are you whispering stuff about me?" Isaac suddenly said. Kiley gave me an amused look before turning to Grace, Skylar and Nathan.
I looked at Isaac and rolled my eyes, "Yes I was. I was just saying how ironic it is that I haven't seen you once tonight with any girls. I thought you were spitting game."
"Spitting game? Converse, please do not say that again, you sound like a grandma."
"Hey!" I hit his arm and he laughed.
"Okay well I'll have you know that I have been 'spitting game,' you just haven't seen it."
"Really? With who?"
"Your favorite girl in the whole world." he replied. I furrowed my brows but he gestured behind me, making me turn and my eyes fell on Monica standing beside a car with a group surrounding her.
I rolled my eyes, "Monica is not my favorite girl in the world and I have nothing against her."
"Are you sure? Because if I recall you weren't the biggest fan of her cookies."
"Yeah her cookies, but I like Monica, she's...sweet." I plastered a smile. And it was the truth. I really did like Monica and she has always been sweet to me.
But at the same time, I couldn't help but get annoyed from her being too nice. I mean, who could ever really be that nice? And the fact that Isaac just absolutely praised her was just the cherry on top.
"Really? I could tell when you're lying, babe." he grinned, nudging my arm. I shook my head.
"I'm not lying. She's really nice. I honestly thought you guys were dating when I first got here." I said.
He shook his head, "Yeah well I'm surprised you and Peter haven't gotten together yet. You guys seemed cozy earlier."
"Oh were you stalking us?"
"More like you were stalking me." he sassed, "Everywhere I went I kept seeing you guys all over each other."
"Oh like you're not all over Monica." I scoffed.
"Really? You think I'm all over Monica?"
"I know you're all over Monica. I can see it everyday in second period."
"Well I see you all over Peter everyday after school."
"Okay and what does it matter to you?"
"It doesn't. Why do you care about Monica?"
"I don't."
"Fine."
"Fine."
We both stared intensely at each other. My jaw was clenched tightly and his nostrils were flared out. I couldn't understand why he always had to bring up Monica and how amazing she is, and how he always bashed on Peter. What was his deal?
"Who wants to play beer pong?" Kiley suddenly asked, ripping us away from our intense stare down.
"Definitely me!" Grace replied enthusiastically, rushing over to hook her arm through Kiley's.
Isaac stood beside me, who looked smugly at Nathan. He quickly leaned in to him and whispered, "Told you." he leaned back, looking at me. "Converse, what do you say we team up?"
I looked at him, my eyebrow slightly raised. "Why would I do that?"
He gave me a look, silently gesturing to Skylar and Nathan beside us. I raised my brows, my mouth going into an 'o' shape as I nodded.
"Look, we didn't come here to fight, right? I thought we've made a truce."
"Yeah...I guess we have." I said, looking at Nathan and Skylar. "We can wait a round though. I don't mind."
Skylar looked at Nathan, then turned to me quickly, "Actually I was gonna team up with Grace and Kiley. You know, three vs three."
Then, without waiting for us to answer, he quickly moved past us and followed Grace and Kiley to a table.
I shook my head in disbelief. Nathan sighed and I quickly turned to him. He stared down at the ground, his guitar in his hand.
"Nathan-"
"It's fine, I'm not good at this game anyways. I'll just watch." he shook his head, then went to follow Skylar to the table. I frowned, watching him go.
Isaac sighed beside me. "I feel really bad now. I shouldn't have walked over here."
I looked at him, "Hey, you couldn't have known, right? Can't control everything."
I nudged his arm, making him look down at me. His nose was slightly red and his breath fogged up a bit at his face.
"Yeah. I guess." he nodded, holding his arm out, "You wanna lead the way this time?"
I grinned, "Sure."
We both walked over to the rest of our friends as they set up the new game. It was our turn first, and Isaac and I were getting ready.
"You sure you've played this before, Converse?" Isaac asked as I dropped the ball in a cup to get it wet before picking it back up.
"Nope, but I think I'll manage." I replied.
"Well let me show you how it's done so you have some guidance." he said, before pulling his arm back and tossing the small ping pong ball across the table. It soared through the air, before hitting the rim of a cup and falling to the side of the table.
I snickered, pushing him aside softly, "Let me show you how it's done." I pulled my hand back, tossing the ball into a cup on the other end of the table perfectly.
Grace, Skylar, and Kylie all cheered and oohed and I threw my hands up, laughing.
"In your face, Timber!" I pointed mockingly at him. He shook his head, grinning.
"Whatever. That was just a warm up."
We kept playing and Isaac actually was pretty good. We won the first game, then the second and the third and more games after that. New people started to join in but we dominated each of them.
Quickly, a crowd started to form, chanting us on as we kept playing. People were even going around placing bets, which I thought was ridiculous.
"YES!" Isaac and I cheered as we won yet another game. He looked at me, the both of us high-fiving and interlocking our fingers, which had become our little sign of victory.
Everyone cheered, going to reset the table for the next round.
Isaac dropped our hands, smiling down at me, "You know you're pretty good, Converse."
I raised my brows, "Is this a compliment I'm hearing? From thee Isaac Garcia?"
He laughed, shaking his head, "Yes, and it'll probably never happen again so don't get used to it."
I laughed back, "Whatever. You're just mad that I've made more shots than you."
He scoffed, "Please. No you haven't."
"Oh really? Because I'm pretty sure I've carried almost every game we've played."
"You're exaggerating, babe. I'm definitely a better player than you."
"In your dreams." I crossed my arms.
We were both slurring our words a bit, having been drinking the whole time we've been here. I was a little worse than him, but we were still not thinking clearly.
He smirked, his stupid annoying smirk I hated to see, "Fine then. Let's put that to the test, yeah?"
"How?"
"You and me, let's play right now. Against each other." he gestured to the table, "Different partners of our choice."
I narrowed my eyes at him, knowing that he was once against giving me a tempting challenge that I couldn't refuse. I smirked back, "Deal. Anyone we want?"
"Yeah, anyone." he nodded, his grin turning evil as he looked away from me and around the crowd. His eyes landed on a spot behind me, before he cupped his hands around his mouth, "Monica!"
I turned, seeing the beautiful blonde girl a few feet away. She looked up, her eyes lighting up at the sight of Isaac as she pushed through the crowd.
"Isaac, hey. I haven't seen you since earlier. I'm not surprised you're playing again." she smiled at the boy next to me. She turned to me, holding out her arm. "Y/n, oh my gosh, I didn't see you. How are you?"
She pulled me into a hug and I grudgingly bit back a sarcastic comment, "I'm good. You enjoying the party?"
"Yes! It's been amazing." she squealed pulling away. Isaac smiled, putting a hand around her waist and pulling her close to him.
"You down to play a game against Y/n?" he asked her. She looked at him, smiling back.
"Yeah, let's play."
I narrowed my eyes again, my jaw clenching as I looked at him.
So this is how he wants to play? Fine by me.
I plastered on a fake smile, turning to look around the crowd. I stood on my tiptoes, my eyes landing on a dirty blonde haired boy in his lettered jacket.
"Peter!" I called him. All heads turned the boy as he turned to look at me, smiling once he saw me. I waved my hand for him to come over and he pushed his way through the crowd.
"Hey, I saw you playing. I didn't know you were so good." he greeted me. I shrugged.
"I'm a woman of many talents. You wanna join in on this round though?" I asked, stepping closer to him.
Peter looked at me then behind me to Isaac and Monica, before he let a grin spread across his face, "Oh they don't know what they're getting themselves into."
The crowd cheered at his response as he stepped over to sling his arm across the shoulders and led me to the opposite end of the table.
We had the balls first, but when I looked at Isaac he had his nostrils flared and he stared right at me.
I pulled my hand back, landing the first ball right into a cup and Peter did the same thing.
I squealed, Peter looking at me and giving me a high five before his hand rested upon my waist. I looked back at the opposing team, seeing them get ready for their game.
They both made it, cheering after and interlocking their hands. Isaac looked back at me, smiling smugly with his eyes trained intensely.
I clenched my jaw again, getting ready for our second round.
The game went back and forth, both teams doing surprisingly good. Peter kept high-fiving me, his arm never leaving my waist and I leaned into him.
The whole time, I kept drinking, downing more and more beers and leaning onto Peter more and more.
Peter and drinking were both a good distraction, especially since Isaac was doing the same things to Monica. Every time one of us did something, we looked at each other, daring the other to try and come up with something harder.
Peter and Monica didn't seem to notice the intense rivalry. No body did. No body noticed how we secretly were challenging each other, getting more annoyed at the other by the second.
Finally, we had made it to the final round. Each of us had two cups left, and if Peter and I made these two shots and they didn't, we would win the game.
"Ready to lose, Garcia?" Peter called from across the table. He had been playfully trash talking the opposing team the whole game, but I couldn't tell if Isaac was being serious or not.
"We'll see about that." Isaac mumbled, tipping his cup back to let another gulp of beer go down his throat. His other hand was tight around Monica's waist still as she laughed, her head on his side.
"Yeah, you guys are going down!" she laughed, a big, oblivious smile on her face. Idiot.
"Whatever." I grumbled, taking one of the ping balls. Peter, who had his arm around my own waist, loosened his grip as I stepped forward. I pulled my arm back and aimed, tossing the ball straight into the cup.
The crowd oohed and I squealed, just as Peter bent down to pull me into a hug. I embraced him, pulling my arms around his neck.
"All you, Peter!"
"Pete, man!"
"Go, Pete!"
People began to cheer from around us, chanting Peter's name. Peter took the other ball, dunking it in water before pulling his hand back and shooting.
It soared through the air, going straight for the last remaining cup that could win us the game, before it hit the rim of the cup and bounced right off the table.
"No!" I groaned, the crowd doing the same. Peter dropped his hand, looking at me.
"Sorry." he said, fiddling his hands nervously. I looked up at him, seeing his eyes casted down, knowing that he had messed up.
I put a hand on his arm, "Hey, it's okay. It's not a big deal."
He looked down at me, a grin spreading across his face as he pulled me in for a bear hug. I wrapped my arms around him, laughing as my face went into his chest.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Games not over yet." Isaac called, banging his hand on the table. We pulled away, Peter's arm still wrapped around my shoulders.
Monica picked up a ball, shooting it straight into one of the two cups on their side. The crowd cheered as she and Isaac high-fived.
Isaac picked up his ball, looking at me as he did so. He smirked, his stupid annoying smirk, his eyes on mine as he licked his lips. He pulled back his arm, shooting the ball straight into the last cup.
"YES!" Monica cheered, the crowd following with her. Some people groaned, handing over their money to the people beside them. Some people were immediately calling dibs on the next game.
I kept my eyes on Monica and Isaac the whole time. Isaac looked at her, his arms going around her waist as he picked her up and spun her around. She laughed, her arms around his neck.
When he stopped spinning, he set her down and she reached up, planting a kiss on his cheek.
I felt a pang of some sort shoot through my chest. What was it? Anger that he has beat me in something? Anger that he made me feel stupid in front of all these people? Angry that he had chose Monica to be his partner? Perfect, sweet Monica?
"Hey." Peter lightly tapped his hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him, seeing him smile down at me. He leaned in closer to my ear, "You wanna go somewhere else?"
I looked away from him, my eyes landing back on the annoying boy across the table from me. He had his arm around Monica's waist as he was high-fiving the people around him.
I tore my eyes away from him, before I had the chance to make a comment, "Yeah. Let's go."
Peter nodded, taking my hand as he led me through the crowd. I followed him, going past all the yelling people. I kept my hand in his, staying close to not get separated.
Eventually we made it out of the crowd and through the rest of the bonfire. People were still around, playing more games of beer pong, drinking, dancing, talking.
Peter kept walking though, going into the trees and to where more cars were parked. As we walked by, I noticed some cars were turned on, some had foggy windows. The music wasn't so loud out here in the open and I noticed there were more couples out here, leaning on their cars, some making out.
I stumbled a bit as I followed him, making him put his arm around me to help me stay up. I giggled the whole time, letting him lead me away.
We finally got a truck, to which Peter went straight to the bed and opened it. He jumped onto the landing, spilling his drink in his hand in the process.
I looked at him funnily, trying to contain a smile. He looked at me, smiling back, "What?"
"Is this yours?" I asked him.
"Yeah. Who else would it be?" he replied. He then patted the spot next to him, "Come on."
I looked around nervously. There were obviously people hooking up here. I mean, this was thee bonfire. I wasn't stupid, I knew what was happening.
But still I smiled shyly, taking a seat beside the guy, so close that our thighs were touching.
He smiled, his hand finding his drink and tipping it back into his mouth. I did the same with mine, looking at him.
"Why are you smiling?" I asked him, a grin on my face.
He shook his head, his words layering a bit, "You're just pretty, is all."
I felt my cheeks heat up a bit, not that it was noticeable. It was fairly dark away from all the fires and the trees kept away most of the moonlight.
I shook my head back, "Thank you but I hope you know that it's gonna take a lot more to win me over. I'm still mad you caused us the game."
He laughed at this, "Wow. You're really blaming me?"
"Who else is there to blame? The bonfire ghost?"
He laughed again, which made a smile spread across my face. "You know, I didn't know you were so competitive."
"Yeah, I guess I am." I shrugged. He nodded, putting his drink down.
"Is that something they teach you in New York or something?"
"Kind of. Right after our rat training class so we know what to do in the subway." I joked, making us both laugh again.
Peter shook his head, his eyes on mine. He put his drink down to the side, his hair in his face. This close I could still smell the alcohol on his breath, even more intensely this time.
His eyes flickered to my lips then back to my eyes. He leaned in, his eyes closing as I did the same.
Our lips touched and for a moment, I didn't move. I hadn't been kissed in a year and while I did like Peter, I didn't think he would be my first kiss here in Colorado.
But I ignored that when I found myself kissing him back. It started off so slow, just a simple kiss before he pulled away.
He looked at me, a smile spreading across his freckled skin. I smiled back as he leaned in again, this time his hand went up to cup my face. His other hand went to put my drink down to the side, allowing me to move my hands to his hair.
I opened my mouth, allowing him to kiss me harder and I pulled at the bottom of his dirty blonde hair. I kissed him so hard, putting in all the anger I had after losing that stupid game. All the anger I had built up over the annoying people here was going into this kiss and he didn't stop.
Slowly my jacket came off, the cool air caressing me and I felt him pushing me back, letting me lay down on my back as he slowly moved next to me. I kept pulling at his hair as he started to trail kisses down my neck.
I sucked in a breath, letting him kiss my skin. One hand laid on my waist, his thumb slowly moving back and forth while the other rested on my thigh.
I felt him groan against my skin and I pulled his hair even harder.
Peter was so kind to me. He never made me feel stupid. He never called me stupid nicknames. He never got under my skin. He never stole my things or snooped around my room. If I had to be with anyone tonight, I'm one thousand percent glad that it was with Peter. Nothing could ruin this right now.
But that very thought suddenly was interrupted as a bright light shined down on my head. I squinted my eyes putting my hand up to shield them from the light. Peter immediately stopped, pulling his hands away as he stopped kissing me.
"What the fuck?" Peter said, getting off of me and hopping down from the truck. I sat up, my vision suddenly swaying but I kept looking at the source of the light as I fixed my shirt.
My eyes landed on Isaac, holding up a flashlight. I couldn't make out his face much, all I could see was his leather jacket.
"Let's go, party's over." he said. Peter scoffed.
"No way. It's not even midnight yet."
"Oh I'm sorry, I mean the party's over for us." Isaac said sarcastically, gesturing to me and him. He looked at me, and this time I could make out a bit of his face. His nostrils were flared, his lips tight, "Let's go."
"No." I shook my head, "Why do we have to leave already?"
"Alex punched Cole. I think that's enough said. Let's go." he said sternly. I crossed my arms.
"You guys go. I'll catch a ride with Nicole or something."
"Nice try. Are you forgetting the rules? Uncle G would never let that happen." he shook his head, then looked at the cups thrown the sides, "Plus, you're drunk."
"Am not."
"Really? Stand up."
I shrugged, pushing myself off the bed of the truck. My feet landed on the ground and I raised my hands triumphantly, before I suddenly felt dizzy and stumbled.
"Whoa, I got you." Peter said, his hands going to my waist. I giggled, leaning into him. Maybe I was more intoxicated than I thought.
Isaac scoffed, "See? Now let's go before they start calling me."
"Look, man, if it's any help, I can take her home. I know there's a lot of people already with you guys-"
"When are you gonna learn to mind your business, Thompson?" Isaac cut him off.
"Isaac." I gave him a sharp look. He looked at me. his eyes so harsh that I momentarily froze. Finally, he scoffed, reaching over to grab my jacket. He held it out for me.
"Come on, we're leaving."
I stared at him, hopefully finding a way to make him change his mind.
But after a few seconds, I realized that he wouldn't budge, not now.
I sighed, turning to Peter. "I'm sorry. Thank you for the nice night though."
He gave me a half smile, "It's cool. I'm just glad I saw you."
I smiled at him, reaching up to place a kiss on his cheek. When I turned around, Isaac was looking away, tapping his finger on my jacket impatiently. I took a shaky step towards him, pulling my arms through my jacket.
He took my arm then, turning me around and walking me away and back to the bonfire. He moved one of my arms around his shoulder, his own arm going around my waist as he helped me walk.
The whole time he didn't say a word to me and deep down I wanted him to.
—
When we got home, the house was quiet. Lee and the rest of the kids had gone off to bed and George wasn't in the yard at all.
When Danny parked the car, Cole immediately jumped out, slamming the door behind him. The rest of us followed after him in silence.
The car ride had been pretty awkward. Cole sat in the passenger seat this time and I sat between him and Danny at the wheel.
Alex and Jackie still sat behind us, but Jackie was sitting as far away from him as possible. Nathan was staring out the window in silence and Isaac had his earphones in.
You could say there was just a bit of tension.
The whole ride, Danny had given me water, allowing me to sober up just a bit. I couldn't walk all that great yet, but I was manageable, enough to hopefully make it past Katherine and George without them noticing.
We walked in after Cole, who Katherine had just asked about his bruised face. The rest of us came in after him, me following behind Jackie and Isaac behind me.
Katherine turned to us, stopping us with her hands up, "Hang on. Hang on. Whoa. What happened to your brother?"
The door closed and not one of us said a word. Katherine raised her hands, her brows raised as she waited, "Hello?"
"Uh, I plead twin." Danny blurted.
"I plead no snitching." Isaac said.
"Yeah, I second that." I added in, my arm clinging onto Jackie's to maintain my balance.
"Seriously?" Katherine dropped her hands, "Someone's gotta tell me something."
Just then, George came into the kitchen, saving us all, "Hey, guys. Can you give your mom and I a second?"
The six of us quickly retreated out of the room, ignoring Katherine's objections as we headed upstairs.
Jackie subtly helped me up to our room, leaning me against the stair rail at the top. As she went to go open our door, Isaac came up beside me, his shoulder breezing by mine.
I watched him as he went to his room, opening the door. The room was dark, Lee's snores softly pouring out. He turned, his eyes going to mine and I couldn't describe the feeling he had in them.
He shook his head, and wordlessly closed the door, leaving me alone.
—
hi everyone! i hope you enjoyed this chapter! sorry it's a bit on the late side, I had a hectic weekend and y'all i'm still processing it. so much drama and i'm a little conflicted.
but i hope you like this chapter. i'm not sure if i like it, the tea was tea-ing but i don't know if i like how i played it out. let me know what you guys thought in the comments and don't forget to vote!
until next week babes, stay well fed xx
nessa