It was really cold as I stepped out of the car, the sky now black, starry and cloudless. I felt a bit nervous, since I didn’t really know anyone except for Ryan, Kyle, James and Scott. Well, this was also a time to meet new friends, since Ryan was finally letting me see them. I had a nasty feeling that this party wasn’t going to be like any party I’ve been to before. They were gangsters, after all. They weren’t going to act the same way my friends did at parties, were they? Or was I just being stereotypical? Ryan noticed I was shivering and wrapped his jacket around me.
‘Maybe I should have bought you a coat, too,’ he laughed, walking us up to the front door of Scott’s house. I could even hear the music from outside. Was it really that loud? Maybe I should have brought earplugs. Yeah, in front of a big group of gangsters. Real smart.
‘Ryan?’ I whispered.
‘Yeah?’ he responded, just as quietly.
‘You know the way you said that you don’t want me involved in any gang stuff? Isn’t this party not full of people from your gang? Don’t you think it might be … dangerous, or risky?’
Ryan frowned for a moment, thinking, and then ran a hand through his shaggy hair. ‘I really hate to say this, but you’re already involved enough as it is. If I thought it would make a difference, I wouldn’t bring you here. I’m sorry, Laura.’
I was involved. Was I in danger? Gangs were dangerous, as far as I knew, which was the reason why they were illegal. I really needed to start reading books about gangs. Even if I was in danger, I had Ryan to protect me. he promised himself. ‘Don’t be sorry. This is all Trav’s fault. Don’t feel guilty because you’re not the jerk.’
He laughed. ‘I am a jerk.’
‘Well, not to me. Oh, will there be any girls here?’ I asked, as we waited for someone to open the front door. They were taking forever! I didn’t really know how anyone would be able to hear the front door with the volume of ‘Bass Down Low’ pumping inside. I loved that song, so I eventually started tapping my foot in line with the beat. If you wanna get with me, there’s some things you gotta know. I like my beats fast and my bass down low. Oh, the song was just too good! I was going to start singing along to it if they didn’t answer the door soon.
Ryan raised his eyebrows. ‘Are you trying to tell me something?’
‘No!’ I laughed. ‘I just don’t really want to be the only girl in a big bunch of lads.’
‘Don’t worry, Laura. There’ll be a good few girls. You might not like them, though.’
‘Why not?’
‘Sluts.’
My mouth dropped open. ‘Like real prostitutes? Ew, Ryan! I don’t want to go in there!’
He laughed. ‘No, no. They just dress like sluts. You know, belts for skirts … bras for tops. They try to be attractive. You, on the other hand, don’t need to try. You’re gorgeous.’
‘I’m not sure I want to go inside now,’ I said nervously, blushing. ‘Why don’t we have our own party out here? That sounds good. We can even hear the music from in there. You can just run in for a second, grab some food and drink, and then come out to dance with me. We’ll show them how to party properly.’
Ryan chuckled. ‘You wanted to meet my friends, so you’re going to meet my friends. This’ll also be a good way for you to get to know what I was like before I met you.’
‘Will I be able to get out when I want to?’
‘No, we’re going to tie you to a chair,’ Ryan said sarcastically. ‘You’ll be trapped in here forever in the darkness, listening to Bass Down Low. That’s a good song.’
I smiled. ‘I love that song, too.’
‘Why didn’t you sing it in the shower this morning, then?’ Ryan laughed, leaning down to kiss me.
Just then, the door opened, interrupting our kiss. Kyle bounded towards us, but instead of going for Ryan, he picked me up and squeezed me in his arms. I screamed my heart out. The smell of alcohol off him was disgusting. Great – a party full of drunk people. I wondered if Ryan drank. I never tried alcohol before, despite the constant attempts of my other friends to drink some at their parties. I didn’t really know if I wanted to try it tonight. I didn’t really know if Ryan would let me, either.
‘Let her down, Kyle,’ Ryan growled.
Kyle placed me back on the ground, grinning madly. ‘I didn’t think we’d see you two here! This is going to be the best party ever! Oh, come on, Laura, I have to introduce you to everyone! They’re all dying to see you –’
‘Kyle, would you mind giving my girlfriend back?’ Ryan sighed, watching as Kyle steered me away and into the house. ‘Why are you drinking?’
Kyle frowned and let me go. ‘It’s just one night.’
‘Yeah, and it took you “just one night” to get hooked on all of those d-’
‘Can we not talk about that? For crying out loud, you just have to ruin the party mood!’ Kyle hissed, glaring at Ryan. He didn’t give him time to reply, as he stormed off into the house. Poor Kyle.
‘Don’t mind him,’ Ryan muttered, grabbing my hand. ‘He always gets angry when we talk about that time …’
‘When he was on drugs?’
Ryan nodded, pursing his beautiful lips. ‘Now, let’s go inside. It’s time to party!’
‘You sound so cheesy,’ I laughed.
‘Well, maybe I like cheesy. I love chocolate, too.’
‘What?’
Ryan shrugged. ‘I actually don’t know. Come on, baby.’
He dragged me into Scott’s house. I looked around us constantly, eager to find out what Ryan’s life was like before he met me. Or, before we fell in love. What I saw, however, wasn’t too nice. Ryan was right about the girls. They were all over the guys, making out against the walls, or grinding their bodies against them like their lives depended on it. We passed by a room full of people sitting on couches. I could see a weird smoke floating up above their heads, and there was a strange smell coming out of the room, causing me to wrinkle up my nose. Were there drugs? I wanted to go home.
‘Ryan, c-can we go home? I don’t feel too good,’ I lied, looking down at the ground so I didn’t have to see anything else. I also didn’t want to let Ryan see my face. I was a bad liar – my face was always the giveaway.
But Ryan didn’t even get time to answer me, because he was cut off by someone else, who was blocking our way through the hallway. ‘This the girlfriend?’
I looked up to see who it was. He was really good-looking, but not as much as Ryan, of course. He had brown-blond hair, dark blue eyes and was really tanned. His shirt was unbuttoned, too, showing off his abs that would probably make a model jealous. That’s just wonderful, Laura, checking another guy out in front of your boyfriend? You should be so ashamed of yourself.
Ryan groaned. ‘I thought you weren’t coming, Sam? I thought you didn’t bother about Scott’s parties … You know, because they’re always shit.’
‘Well, when I heard about all the ladies and the free drink I just couldn’t give it a miss,’ Sam winked, and then turned to me. ‘What’s your name, honey?’
I looked up at Ryan for help, speechless. How could this guy just come up to me and flirt with me in front of my own boyfriend, who I presumed was his friend? Why was he flirting with me, anyways? Or was he flirting with me? People never usually call me ‘honey’ … Maybe Sam was just drunk.
Ryan was glaring at him, his eyes almost burning through Sam’s. ‘Back off. Laura’s mine.’
‘Laura? That’s a lovely name. Suits your body,’ Sam winked again, looking me up and down. I blushed furiously. He was definitely flirting. I couldn’t believe he just said that.
Ryan shoved Sam out of the way. He nearly went flying. ‘What the hell was that for?’
‘Don’t you dare flirt with my girlfriend!’ Ryan yelled, raising a fist. I took his hand and began dragging him away from Sam. He looked like he could have ripped Sam’s head off. I didn’t want that. I brought us into the kitchen, which was overcrowded with people, too. This was just one big nightmare. I felt like I was going to get lost. The house seemed too small to fit everyone …
James and Scott found us then, and they began manoeuvring their way through everyone just to get over to us. I rested my head against Ryan’s chest, regretting ever wanting to meet the rest of his friends. Why couldn’t he have picked some other time for me to meet them? This was stupid, and the loudness of the music was giving me a headache. Why couldn’t we have all just met up in Roseville Shopping Mall, or something?
‘You okay, Laura?’ James said, smiling.
I shook my head. ‘I think I need to go home. I don’t feel well.’
‘Awh, don’t bail out already!’ Scott grinned, holding a bottle of alcohol in his hand. ‘You’ve only got here! The fun hasn’t even started!’
James rolled his eyes. ‘Scott, she doesn’t feel well. Laura’s obviously not in the mood for fun.’
‘I bet she is with Ryan,’ he said, wagging his eyebrows. ‘May I say, Laura, you look stunning. Any chance I could have a dance?’
‘Scott, go away,’ Ryan sighed. ‘Oh, look, there’s a lovely lady over there. Why don’t you chat her up? I heard she’s easy. It’d take you less than a second to get her into bed.’ And with that, Scott went floating over to a girl who was wearing what looked to be underwear for clothes. Didn’t they have any respect for themselves? I didn’t have the confidence to wear anything like that, and I was very grateful.
‘Ryan, I think you should bring her home. She doesn’t look too good, either,’ James said, frowning. Was I really getting that much of a liar? I was impressed. ‘Why did you bring her here, anyway? This isn’t the best place for her …’
‘She wanted to meet all of my friends,’ Ryan shrugged. ‘I thought she’d be interested in seeing what my life used to be like.’
James laughed. ‘Are you trying to get her to hate you?’
‘I’ll never hate him,’ I muttered. ‘Can we go outside, or something? I think I need some air …’
‘Sure,’ said James. ‘Follow me. I think the back door’s this way …’
James had to unlock the back door so we could get out. Much to my surprise, I found an empty swimming pool in Scott’s back garden. Of course it was empty, the back door was locked. Why weren’t people allowed out in the pool? Now I was liking this party. I told James to lock the door again so no one could follow us out.
‘How on earth does Scott have a pool?’ I asked, sitting down beside it with Ryan and James. I took off my heels and put my feet into the water. It felt so good, and the water was the perfect temperature.
‘This is his big brother’s house,’ James explained, unbuttoning his shirt. Obviously being a gangster meant you had perfect abs. That was one advantage in the huge bubble of disadvantages.
‘W-what are you doing?’ I stammered, blushing.
Now he was taking off his trousers. ‘Getting in. Wanna come in, too?’
‘I will if Ryan does,’ I grinned. The pool really did seem like a good idea. I was feeling too warm after being in that crowded house, anyway. Ryan wanted me to have fun. The indoor part of the party certainly was not fun, but the pool was fun. Very fun.
‘No chance,’ Ryan laughed.
‘Oh, Ryan, please,’ I begged, trying to use puppy-dog eyes. It was such a fail.
‘You’ll ruin your dress! Do you know how much that cost?’
‘I’ll take it off, then.’
James chuckled. ‘I’d like to see that. Come on, Ryan, get in.’
Ryan scowled at me. ‘You’re not stripping off tonight.’
~*~
I knew I never should have tried alcohol. It didn’t have the best effect on me, or the way I thought. I went from mature to mental after about four cans, and that was quite humiliating but I didn’t really care. Ryan drank, too, but he tried his best to stop me from drinking. I couldn’t blame him – I was getting crazier by the second. We stayed outside beside the pool and James and I finally persuaded Ryan to get in. Slightly swaying on the spot, I unzipped my dress.
I didn’t care that I was only in my underwear, or the fact that the frigid autumn air was nipping at my skin. I wanted to get into the pool. I felt … weird, but I didn’t care at all. I threw myself into the water, and was luckily caught in Ryan’s strong arms. His skin felt so soft against mine, and before I could get too caught up in his eyes, I kicked my legs madly. James was then drowned in water. He shouted at me to stop, and then our mini splashing fight commenced.
I was having so much fun, it was unreal. I didn’t even know why I hadn’t drank before. I felt alive, and I didn’t care about the many people staring out the windows and down at the three of us on our own in the pool. It was well past midnight when Scott came out with a few other lads. These, I presumed, were Ryan’s other friends. When Kyle saw me, he looked like he was about to faint, which made me giggle madly. All of the others were gone home, and I was now the only girl left, so I began stupidly singing ‘Only Girl in the World’ by Rihanna, substituting the word ‘pool’ instead of ‘world’.
Ryan followed me around the pool, and, laughing my head off, I began to play chasing with him. Of course, he caught me in no time, lifting me up and out of the pool. I was absolutely freezing. Scott ran upstairs to get some towels and we all dried ourselves, except for Sam who was too busy being trapped under the water by Kyle. Ryan carefully helped me slip into my dress and I decided to carry my heels instead of walk in them, as I was doing a good enough job in falling all over the place without them.
James offered to drive us home, as Ryan couldn’t because he drank. I was surprised to know that James didn’t drink. The drive back to Ryan’s house was quick, and I kept winding down the window to stick my head out of the car like a dog. It felt so cool! James, who was starting to get annoyed at how drunk I was, kept having to pull me back in. Eventually he child-locked the window, much to my amusement. To annoy him even more, I began messing with the various buttons on the dashboard, or whatever it was called. Ryan was busy crying with laughter in the back of his car. It was amazing what alcohol did to people.
‘Goodnight, you two,’ James sighed, waving as he parked Ryan’s car in the parking lot.
I frowned. ‘Where are you going?’
‘I can’t understand you, Laura. You’re way too drunk,’ he chuckled. ‘Go on, go to bed and make sure you have lots of Tylenol and a glass of water ready for you in the morning.’
‘What are you talking about? Where are you going?’ I repeated, rolling my eyes.
‘Where am I going? Oh, um, my house is around the corner. I’ll walk. Night-night.’
‘Don’t let the bedbugs bite!’ I yelled down the street at James as he walked his way home. Ryan put a hand around my waist and we stumbled up to his apartment.
I wasn’t ready to go to sleep yet. It was such a fun night that I didn’t want to end it. In fact, I had never ever had this much fun in my life. I didn’t want to go asleep ever again. What were we going to do? Television sounded really boring. I wasn’t hungry and Ryan never had any time to get the groceries, so Ryan couldn’t cook me anything. I was too dizzy to concentrate on a board game. Maybe we could …? It was worth a try. As far as I knew, I was the one stopping Ryan, not the other way around. Maybe I could let him for tonight …
I walked into Ryan’s bedroom without even waiting for Ryan to take off his jacket. Clumsily placing my new blue heels down beside his bed, I flopped back onto it. The bed had never been this soft and nice-smelling. Randomly, I wondered what he washed his bedclothes in. I made a mental note to ask him later on. I knew I’d probably forget in the morning.
For the first time ever, as Ryan appeared in the doorway of his bedroom, I watched him hesitate. Did being drunk somehow make you turn completely opposite to normal? I didn’t care. It was delightful.
‘Come here, Ryan, I need to tell you a secret …’ I told him, trying to be seductive. My cheeks didn’t even bother to blush. If I was sober, my face would be blazing in embarrassment. The seventeen-year-old virgin trying to seduce a gangster. What next?
Ryan frowned for a moment, before smirking at me. He made his way over to his bed and sat beside me. I didn’t even know what I was doing, or going to do. But, of course, I didn’t care! I moved my leg over his so I was sitting on his lap and kissed him like never before. I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. He soon understood what I was trying to do.
He gained dominance and reached for the zip of my dress. Excitement pulsed through my veins as I reached for the buttons on his shirt. I wished he had picked something easier to undo, but I wasn’t going to complain. I was getting what I wanted, and so was he. Ryan rolled us over, so he was pinning me down onto the bed. I didn’t care that his body was now nearly crushing mine, too enchanted to even notice. Somehow, we managed to get both of ourselves just in our underwear.
But, as Ryan reached for the clasp of my bra … his phone rang! Whoever it was had perfect timing. I felt like murdering them. This was my time with Ryan. Being over-emotional, tears welled up in my eyes. Then I giggled at how stupid I was being. Was I suffering schizophrenia? Hey, at least I wasn’t fighting with a streetlamp like I’d watched another man do before. It was apparently ‘constantly getting in its way’. I would’ve gotten angry if that happened to me, though.
Ryan propped himself up on his elbow to have a look at who was calling him, obviously debating whether to answer it or not. Frowning, he flipped open his phone.
‘Hello?’ he mumbled. I leaned up on the bed nosily, wondering who would be calling him at this very time of night. Immediately I found out who it was.
‘Hi, Ryan! It’s Sinead! Um, is Laura with you? She won’t answer her phone, and I know you already texted me, but my boyfriend said that he saw her out in someone’s back garden. I just got a bit freaked out because I know you live in an apartment and, you know, they don’t have back gardens! I don’t know if it’s true or not, because he’s been coming up with a lot of strange things lately. I really don’t know what to believe anymore!’ Sinead paused for a minute to catch her breath. ‘So, is she there?’
‘Yeah. Well, she’s actually asleep right now,’ Ryan lied, ruffling up my hair. ‘She didn’t leave me tonight so I don’t know how he thought she was in someone’s back garden. I wouldn’t let her, anyways. I’ll tell her to text you in the morning?’
‘Oh, okay! Thanks Ryan! By the way, I’m sorry if I woke you up. I just can’t sleep too well … Goodnight, Ryan!’ Sinead chirped, before she hung up the phone.
‘Trust Travis to try and get you into trouble,’ Ryan sighed, his eyes trailing down my body. It took him a moment to talk again. ‘Eh … Laura?’
‘Yeah?’ I said, staring at Ryan’s perfect chest. He was too gorgeous. I wished I was as gorgeous as him. It wasn’t fair. I was getting so vain!
‘Are you sure you know what you’re doing?’ he said, frowning. ‘I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do …’
I shook my head, and then nodded. The movement was making my head feel like it was spinning. ‘I think I’m ready.’
‘You think?’
I gulped nervously. ‘No. I am ready.’
And with that, I had the best night of my life.
*********
Yeah, this chapter is quite embarrassing, especially considering some of my friends are actually reading this book right now. It took me ages to think about this chapter. I was like will I let them do it, or not? I don’t really know if it’s too soon, but this is fiction – so I don’t care! Well, I hope you liked this chapter. You know what to do if you did! Oh, and thanks to all my new fans! It means the world to me. Thanks again to all those who are trying to get my book more popular! You guys are such stars! Thanks for reading! See you next chapter :D