A hand clamped over my mouth and muffled my scream. My hands gripped the arm that was attached to the hand on my mouth, trying to pry it away, but the person was too strong. I contemplated trying to stand up, but this person brought a hand down on my shoulder, forcing me to sit still. My heart was going crazy doing somersaults inside my chest but I told myself to remain calm. Well, as calm as I could possibly be as thoughts ran through my mind.
It was like a scene from a slasher movie. Any moment now I would feel something cool against my skin, and my attacker would force my head to look at the huge knife he was holding, right beside my neck. A shiver ran through my spine.
This was not happening. I tried my best to force myself not to think about those horrible thoughts. After all, the person behind me had not pulled out a knife yet. At that, I almost groaned in to the hand clasped over my mouth when I remembered the time when Colby scared the heck out of me hiding at the back of my truck. I had thought of a crazed axe murderer then, and now I thought about a slasher.
Great imagination, Kayla.
My eyes were wide as I tried to control the thoughts running through my head. They then immediately narrowed when I heard chuckling. The chuckles were very, very familiar. Then my heartbeat started to normalize, and my fear was quickly replaced with the urge to strangle someone.
A person standing behind me right now, in particular.
He spoke softly against my ear again, not releasing his hand on my mouth, and the one on my shoulder.
“You’re scared too easily.”
Amusement was clear in his voice, and I rolled my eyes and spoke in his mouth. My words were jumbled since his hand was still over my mouth, making it difficult to speak. Again, he spoke.
“What did you say? I can’t hear you.”
My hands clenched into fists, and he must’ve felt anger pouring out my pores because he let go of my mouth and my shoulder. Immediately I whirled around, and there stood Tyler, his hands up in surrender, but no way did I miss the playful smirk on his face.
“What the hell did you do that for?” I shouted, putting my hands up in the air in anger. I shot him a death glare as I stood up and in an instant the smile disappeared from his face and was replaced by an apologetic expression. If I wasn’t mad right now, I would’ve laughed at that abrupt change. There was still a hint of amusement on his face though, and that urge to strangle him rushed through my veins once again.
“Whoa I’m sorry,” Tyler said, but I could tell he wasn’t sorry at all because he was so obviously trying to hold back a laugh. “I had no idea you would react like that.”
Again, I rolled my eyes. Was he serious? Anyone would’ve screamed if someone suddenly sneaked up on them, while being in a place he or she had never been to before! Plus, this was a glass house in the middle of a huge garden. Who wouldn’t be scared when all of a sudden someone whispered in his or her ear?
“Yeah, right,” I grumbled, turning around so that my back was on him. “I would very much like to hurt you right now.”
“Aw, I’m sorry,” he repeated, and now I could hear the sincerity in his voice. I felt Tyler’s chin rest on the top of my head, and as much as I disliked him at that moment, I couldn’t help the small smile from appearing on my face. After all, it was a sweet gesture. He spoke again, and his chin started to move against my head.
“Am I forgiven?”
“No,” I muttered. The pressure on my head ceased and rustling sounds followed, before the bench underneath me dipped. Tyler’s arm suddenly went around my shoulders and he crushed me to his side, despite my struggle to get out of his grasp. I knew he wasn’t going to let go after a while though, so I stopped trashing about.
“Beautiful night, isn’t it?” Tyler said, his eyes darted upwards to the sky. I followed suit, and immediately I felt more relaxed. As I stared at the stars, my annoyance started to fade and I nodded in agreement.
Laying my head against Tyler’s arm, I sneaked a glance at him out of the corner of my eye and asked, “What are you doing out here anyway?”
I felt him shrug. “Looking for you. Making sure you came. Eliza told me she saw you walked out here,” he replied.
“And you left Maya?” I asked incredulously. From what I had seen when I met the girl, she wasn’t the kind to be left alone in a party where there would be tons of rowdy teenage boys.
Tyler straightened up, in the process pushing my head off his arm. I glared at him and he was glaring right back. My eyebrows scrunched and my icy glare turned into a confused one. Tyler cleared his throat and his expression softened, though there was still a bit of hardness in his voice when he spoke up.
“I didn’t left her, she was with Eliza when I came out to look for you,” he said. “I won’t left her alone in this party, Kayla.”
Regret washed over me for even thinking that Ty could leave his girlfriend alone in a party like this. I knew he wasn’t the type to do it, so when he told me that he came out to look for me, I was surprised that he left Maya’s side to do just that. I felt like a bad person now, not even thinking of Ty leaving Maya with someone he knew. Tugging at my ponytail, I used my free hand to grab Ty’s arm.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I know you wouldn’t leave Maya alone,” I said while gently shaking his arm.
He looked at me out of the corner of one eye and the moment he rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, I knew I was forgiven. Fighting the urge to roll my own eyes (after all, I did bruise his feelings a little bit), I released his arm and leaned back against the bench.
“You’re forgiven,” he announced using that theatrical voice of his.
“Thanks,” I replied back sweetly. I heard him chuckle and I knew he was shaking his head.
“See how easily I had forgiven you? You didn’t even say you forgive me yet for scaring you a couple minutes ago.”
A hint of a teasing tone crept in his voice again, making me smile for real.
“Well,” I breathed while stretching my arms over my head, “you’ve already seen me, and I didn’t break my promise.” I looked at him and air quoted the word promise as I said it, making Tyler roll his eyes. I stuck my tongue out at him and waved my hand in a shooing motion.
“Go back and be lovey dovey with your girlfriend now, and leave me in peace.”
Tyler chuckled again, and scratched the back of his head then shot me a lopsided smile. “Well, I am glad you came. It’s not so bad right?”
I nodded in agreement. It wasn’t so bad, it was actually pretty cool so far and I was having fun. Minus the whole scaring-the-crap-out-of-me part, of course. Other than that though, I had to admit that this was one of the few parties I didn’t feel the need to get out of immediately.
Tyler’s hands push against the bench seat as he hauled himself up. He looked down at me and asked in a playful voice, “You sure you’ll be okay here? There might be a creeper somewhere just waiting to sneak up on you…” He trailed off in a low voice, making me punch his arm. Hard.
“Ouch!” He yelped, but he was laughing. I wrinkled my nose at his delight of a scared me. Some friend he was.
The laughing ceased after a few minutes and Tyler tugged at my ponytail gently before saying bye. He stepped out of the glass house and waved goofily before disappearing in to the garden. I smiled and slouched back on the bench, and for a while of admiring the flowers and the stars, I decided to go back to the party. It was nice out yes, but there are a couple bugs bothering me, and it was just a slightly warm night—I could use a jacket. Speaking of which, I left mine inside the house by the bar. I groaned as I hoped that it was still in a good condition.
I stood up from the bench, and began to walk to the opening of the glass house leading to the garden. It was tempting to pick a flower from one of the beds, but for all I know there might be an alarm around the house somewhere, so I restrained myself. Stuffing my hands inside my pockets, I proceeded to walk out of the glass house. As I stepped into the massive garden, I was once again struck at how lovely everything was in here. Only then did I notice the lampposts that lined the walkway in the garden. I smiled. Flowers and lights, under the stars. Three of my most favorite things. It was really lovely.
Sounds from my chucks hitting the stepping stones embedded on the grass covered area echoed slightly in the air as I made my way back to the house. It was noticeable that there were no more people outside; they probably all went inside to enjoy the party, or decided to go home. The watch strapped on my arm said that it was quarter to eleven. I guessed now was the time that the party was truly reaching its peak, although I’d have to say the dance did by the basketball team was pretty much a highlight.
A smile formed on my lips as I recalled Kyle’s dancing. He was incredibly good, and the dancing made him so much more… appealing. I was smiling still (probably like an idiot) while I neared the glass door leading inside the house. As my gaze hit the glass door, my breath caught inside my throat and I froze.
Standing right behind me was a hooded figure, and even the lights provided by the lampposts didn’t give me any idea who it might be. It was definitely a guy, though. Briefly I considered it to be Tyler, but the figure was a little taller and bulkier than Ty. Plus, he left me a while ago—I would’ve noticed if he came back.
The thoughts came rushing back, but this time they were much worse. There was a possibility that this guy might be drunk from the party, and had malicious and evil thoughts running through his head. He was also a teen, as far as I could tell.
Teenage boys meant raging hormones.
I swallowed hard.
Drunk teenage boys were worse.
This time, real fear trickled down my spine. My breath was starting to get ragged, and I felt myself shiver. I wanted to hug myself, but I couldn’t really move. My mind was screaming for me to go inside, but my feet stayed glued on the spot. I kept thinking that if I run, this person behind me would be angered and would just pin me to the ground and strangle me to death or something.
I should really try to control my imagination.
A shiver went up my spine again, and this time I shook noticeably. From the glass door, I saw the figure move closer to me. My heart was pounding, and at that moment I couldn’t help but wish that I didn’t go outside the house and leave the party at all. Or for the people outside a few moments ago to have never went back inside.
As he moved closer, my eyes widened and the fear was reflected from the glass door. I watched every step he took towards me, and when I felt the warmth coming from his body as he stood really close to me and saw him raise his hand, my eyes immediately clamped shut as I braced for whatever impact that might come. I should’ve screamed, like I did when Tyler whispered in my ear, but it seemed like I couldn’t do anything right now.
A warmth suddenly enveloped me as I felt something covered my shoulders. My eyebrows scrunched in confusion. Wasn’t this guy supposed to do something really bad to me? I opened one eye and took a peek at the hooded figure. A pair of clear green eyes stared back at me, and they were twinkling. My eyes shot open and I whirled around to see Colby standing close, his arms snug inside his hoodie, and a smirk on his face. Around my shoulders was my black jacket. A shuddering breath of relief left my body, and I momentarily leaned gently against the glass door.
Colby’s smile widened as he tilted his head to one side. He then said, “Nice to see you here, Kayla.”
I let out one more breath before looking up at Colby as my heart began to return to its normal pace. It was so my night, getting scared by two of the most infuriating guys on the planet. And one of them was standing in front of me, with a stupid but totally adorable smile on his face. If that wasn’t annoying, I didn’t know what was.
Slowly I lifted my back off the glass door, but was jerked forward when Colby suddenly grabbed my jacket’s lapels and adjusted it around my shoulders, making me grip his arms in the process. I rolled my eyes and when they returned back to him, the smile was still lighting up his face. I blinked up at Colby, and a small, sweet smile began to form on my lips as well. Colby’s eyebrows rose, and his smile faltered a little, probably due to the confusion of my sudden reaction change. Releasing his arms from my hands made them drop to his side.
Without warning, I raised a fist and punched his shoulder.
And for the second time that night, I hissed, “What the hell did you do that for?!”
*****
“There’s Orion,” I exclaimed, pointing up to the sky.
“Big dipper is much cooler,” Colby replied lazily.
My head, which was perched on Colby’s jacket laid out on the grass, turned towards him. His eyes were closed and his arms were under his head. With a wrinkled nose I said, “No, no way. Big dipper is boring. Orion’s got a belt and a sword and everything.”
His only reply was a grunt. I guessed he was still sulking over the whole punching thing. Complete surprise flooded his face after I had punched him, and he asked back my question while rubbing his shoulder. He actually thought I would be glad that he brought me my jacket. Right, what joy that he had to sneak up on me looking like a serial killer with that hood on, just to bring me my jacket.
“You come up behind me, looking like a criminal, and you expect me to be happy?” I had asked incredulously. He just shrugged and pulled the hood off of his head, then proceeded to rub his shoulder.
“You didn’t have to punch me for it,” he had muttered, still rubbing his shoulder.
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be a baby,” I said.
“Don’t be such a violence junkie,” he had retorted right back.
Colby then proceeded to tell me that his only intention was to bring me my jacket. He had asked Tyler where I was. Turned out he was at the party for a while now, and had heard from Maya that I was here, too. My eyebrows rose at the mention of Tyler’s girlfriend.
Colby shrugged. “She was left alone for a while and I recognized her from Bowl-o-Rama, so I went over and said hi. She recognized me as well and told me you were here.”
A bit of my annoyance was stripped off when that little bit of information left Colby’s mouth. I had a feeling that he went over to Maya mainly because she was left alone. He didn’t knew Maya at all, but he recognized her, and went over to keep her company for a little while. It was a sweet gesture. I just nodded in response and wrapped the jacket tighter around me.
“Just then Tyler appeared with your jacket, and I asked where you were to take the jacket to you.”
He had then walked over to the middle of the garden, where a large grassy area was, and sat near next to a small drinking fountain made of white, smooth stone. I followed suit, and that was what lead us to now, side by side, laying on the grass, with Colby’s jacket perched on our heads, and mine still wrapped around my shoulders. We spent the time pointing out constellations. Colby’s favorite was the Big Dipper.
What a boring choice. Orion’s much, much cooler.
I turned my gaze back to the sky. “Don’t tell me you’re still sulking about the punch?”
Another grunt.
Closing my eyes, I let a breath out of my nose. “You forgot how to talk now?”
Silence.
Feeling the frustration and irritation slowly building up inside me, I turned my head to face Colby again with a frown. My eyes narrowed slightly as I took in the small smirk lifting up the corner of his mouth. If he wanted to irritate me more, he certainly was doing a very good job at it. One eye popped open and peeked at me, then closed again. Colby then let out a sigh, and adjusted his position on the grass, seemingly to get more comfortable.
I was really tempted to punch his shoulder again, but I restrained myself. Rolling my eyes, I shifted to my side and turned my back on Colby. I felt the jacket move underneath my head, and I assumed Colby moved as well. Then a soft chuckle echoed around us, and I felt Colby poke my shoulder. Pointedly I ignored him, and another poke came. Then another, and another. I took my deep calming breaths, but when another poke came yet again, I lost my cool.
“Stop it!” I exclaimed, inching my head slightly towards him while my back remained turned. I moved away from him as much as I could without my head falling out of the makeshift pillow, but there wasn’t much room.
“Aw come on Kayla, I was just playing,” Colby said in a pouty voice, though I could still hear a hint of playfulness in it.
I didn’t respond, and I just continued staring at the lamppost standing a few feet away. A couple of insects were circling the light. Moths, maybe. I watched as they danced, captivated by the light coming from the lamp.
Colby sighed audibly, and said, “Okay, I’m sorry for scaring you, I’m sorry for the teasing, and yes, Orion is the best constellation ever!”
He said it with much conviction that a giggle almost escaped me, but I managed to hold it in. When I still didn’t acknowledge him, I felt a gentle tug at my ponytail, and a light poke on my shoulder yet again, making me roll my eyes, but at the same time, for some weird reason, made me want to smile.
Slowly I turned to face Colby, and saw him now laying on his side, head perched against one hand. The Cleopatra pose. At that thought, I had to suppress a giggle. Instead, I adopted a still serious and solemn expression. I copied Colby’s pose, and looked in to his eyes.
“Say that Orion is much better than Big Dipper,” I said in a serious voice.
Colby’s eyebrows rose and amusement flickered in his eyes, before the mock seriousness took over. He placed his free hand over his chest and said, “As much as it pains me to say this—“ he paused and closed his eyes, as if he was feeling immense pain. My mouth twitched at the sight (he looked ridiculous), but again, I managed to keep my laughter down. He opened his eyes and looked at me before continuing, “Orion is way better than Big Dipper.”
With that he collapsed on his back and put his hands over his face. He let out a groan, and said in a dramatic voice, “I’m sorry Big Dipper! I have betrayed you!”
That did it. A roar of laughter rose up from my chest, and I fell in to a pit of hysterics. Rolling over on my back, I continued laughing while Colby still had his hands covering his face. When I managed a glance at him, I saw that he had removed his hands and had turned to look at me with a sour expression. That made me laugh even more that tears started to form in my eyes. I guess the sight of me crying out of laughter was amusing to Colby, that he started to shake from light chuckles as well.
As I was wiping away tears, Colby turned to his side again and perched his head on his hand. “Now you say you forgive me.”
I glanced at him out the corner of my eye and gave him a small nod. “I forgive you.”
We stayed silent for a while, and then a mischievous smile slowly appeared on my face. I turned my head to look at Colby. He was staring at the sky while still in his Cleopatra pose. I reached over and poked his arm, making him look down at me with questioning eyes.
“You sure rock the Cleopatra pose,” I said teasingly. Colby raised an eyebrow and smirked.
“I know I do,” he agreed, then wiggled his eyebrows at me. He puffed his chest out and crossed one leg over the other.
“Do I look pretty enough?” He asked while blinking rapidly.
Cue another round of laughter here.
*****
Colby and I decided to check the party out again. It was already 1 AM, but there were still relatively a lot of people inside Cynthia’s house. We had to dodge a couple of people dancing along the hallways. It sort of reminded me of school, whenever the bell rang and people would just flood out on to the hallways and had to dodge each other. Well, there was no dancing of course, but you get my point. Colby was leading the way, his hand wrapped around my wrist as we walked to find a place where it was less crowded.
“I’m hungry,” Colby shouted over his shoulder at me.
“Kitchen!” I shouted back. After all, I was a little hungry too.
A few moments later, we were in the kitchen—Colby was raiding the fridge, getting us something to eat and drink. I was sitting on one of the stools surrounding the bar when I heard someone call my name. Turning to the direction of the voice, I saw Kyle walking towards me.
“Hey,” Kyle breathed when he reached where I was sitting. “Been looking for you!”
I smiled up at him. “Well, here I am.”
Kyle smiled back and took the stool next to mine. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you for over an hour.” His eyebrows scrunched slightly as he looked at me questioningly.
“I’ve went outside, looked at the garden,” I replied, shrugging.
“Ah,” Kyle nodded in understanding. His smile got wider. “You’ve seen the glass house, then?”
My eyes lit up at the mention of the glass house. “Yup!”
Just then two Snickers bar and two cans of Coke appeared on the table in front of me and Kyle. Colby plopped down on the seat on my left side, making me in the middle of him and Kyle. He nodded his greeting at Kyle, and Kyle said hey. Colby smiled, before looking at me with a pout, making me raise my eyebrows.
“How come you didn’t show me the glass house?” Colby asked as he grabbed the Snickers bar and handed it to me. I shrugged as I took the chocolate. I loved Snickers.
“I figured you might have already seen it,” I replied, tearing the wrapper off the bar and releasing the yummy goodness inside. I turned to Kyle and offered the bar to him, but he smiled and shook his head.
Colby took a bite of his Snickers and grumbled, “Well I didn’t.”
“Not my problem,” I sang, taking a bite of my Snickers as well. I closed my eyes and almost swooned at the yumminess.
Colby grumbled a few more incoherent words, but I didn’t care. All I cared about right now was the sugar rush from my beloved Snickers bar. I took another bite, then reached over for my Coke.
Kyle cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked at me with raised eyebrows.
“So, you guys were together outside?” He asked.
“I was alone for the most part,” I answered. I popped my Coke can open, and held on to the can with my free hand. “But Colby here sneaked up on me with a hood on, looking like a serial killer—“
“Hey!” Colby butted in defensively. “I did not look like a serial killer!”
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” I muttered, then took a swig of my Coke.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kyle watching the exchange. He had this expression on his face, one I couldn’t recognize. His normally warm brown eyes were tainted dark, and his lips were set on a straight line. I placed the Coke back on the table, my eyebrows scrunched together slightly, wondering what Kyle was thinking about.
Colby was about to speak again, judging that his mouth was open, but Kyle cut in.
"Colby, man, you can always go outside and look at the glass house. I mean, if you really want to.”
Colby’s mouth shut at Kyle’s slightly off tone. He blinked twice, and then seemingly snapping back to reality, he managed a small smile. He shrugged.
“It could wait.”
It was safe to say that I was a bit stunned as well. Kyle had never used that tone before. Also, for some reason, I suddenly felt a sense of awkwardness being in the presence of these two together. The last time we had an encounter was during that lunch, before Cynthia’s bowling invitation, where Colby and Kyle joked with each other. I knew they talk sometimes, like that whole Cynthia thing, and maybe they consider themselves to be sort of friends. I didn’t really know, but right now, it was like there some sort of tension coming from both guys.
And I was stuck right in the middle.
I looked at Colby and saw him watching me intently. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he tilted his head slightly and raised the corner of his mouth, as if saying he could handle this. I felt some of the unease melting and I carefully turned to Kyle. He was sitting a bit rigidly, and still had that unrecognizable expression as he looked at Colby. What was up with him anyway?
Kyle must’ve noticed me looking at him, because his head turned towards me. That was the only time I had noticed how dark his eyes were. My own eyes widened slightly, and Kyle’s turned soft. His expression also changed, and the Kyle I knew came back. His face immediately turned apologetic, and he let out a breath before turning to Colby.
“Yeah, yeah of course. Sorry about that,” he said.
Colby shrugged again. “No biggie.”
Kyle turned to me after that, but just then Carl appeared out of nowhere and slapped Kyle gently on the shoulder. I had never been so glad to see Carl my entire life.
“Eric’s puking,” Carl said with a groan. Kyle wrinkled his nose at the information, and then quickly looked at me, before turning back to Carl.
“That dumbass,” Kyle muttered. He let out another breath and leaned over close to me, until his mouth was next to my ear.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, then immediately stood up and walked away with Carl in tow.
I watched him leave, an unexplainable feeling swimming in the pit of my stomach.
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Extremely sorry for the long wait! I've been sick for the whole week last week :( And work's crazy busy!
Anyway, thank you to the new fans! :) And YOU, for reading, you are awesome!
Comment/vote! :)