The next morning, my head hurt. Probably from all the crying I did as I layed in bed last night. I looked at my clock to see I slept in an hour more than what I was planning to. I sighed and rolled out of bed.
"You've got that party tonight, right?" My father asked as I came into the kitchen. I nodded and took out the toaster. "Brooke." My father's voice said behind me. I turned to look at him.
My father was probably the sweetest man I've ever come to know. He would never hurt a fly, or act like he doesn't care, because he does. So, I knew where the conversation was going.
"So, you've never been to highschool party before," He said. "So I'm just letting you know I trust you and your judgement. Sometimes, or at least what I remember from high school, these kinds of things get kind of crazy-"
"Dad. I know," I interrupted. "Don't worry. I don't think my inentions for tonight are to get drunk and do drugs. And I don't think those are my friends' intentions, either."
"Alright, just making sure." My dad finished. I smiled and got out the peanut butter to put on my toast. "I'll be going to the office this morning, you can have the day off so you can get ready for your party."
I offered to go with him for the morning, but then I decided I should probably just chill for the day; who knows how late I'll get home tonight.
I spent the rest of the day doing some homework and watching TV. Jessie, Abby, and Amanda were all sending me pictures of what they were wearing in a group chat. They all seemed to be wearing the same things: tight black dresses, which I didn't own.
What do I do? I typed.
Ask Nick! Jessie repiled almost instantly.
I sighed, but texted Nick. Hey, I hope I'm not being a bother, but what do I wear to the party tonight?
I knew that even though he said it was a Halloween party, no one will be wearing costumes. Thats just a given.
Anything! Nick replied a couple minutes later. Just wear jeans and a shirt, no worries :)
i thanked him, and quickly dove upstairs to looked through my closet. I soon found a pair of neatly folded blue jeans ad I pink haulter top. I decided to wear my white converse with it and I'l let my hair dry naturally (it was naturally straight anyway). I layed my outfit out and told my friends they could come over to my house around 4:30 to get ready with me. Before I knew it, the door bell rang.
I ran down stairs, almost toppling over my little brother on the way down. I opened the door to see Abby and Jessie. They were both still in their pajamas, as was I. "Hi!" I greeted, letting them in. My mom came into the living room and introduced herself.
"Wow this place is awesome!" Jessie said, looking around. "Oh! and Annie and Amanda will be over in like an hour. They both had dance class." I nodded and showed them around my house. "Wow can I live here?" Abby said. I tilted my head in confusion. I always thought my house was the normal size, but I guess I stand corrected.
"C'mon guys," I laughed. "Lets get ready."
I led them upstairs to my room. Jessie threw her bag down onto my bed and pulled out her tight black dress. I turned on music and we all got ready.
"Hey what are you wearing?" Abby asked. I showed them my jeans and shirt, which they approved of. I went into my bathroom and changed quickly. I came back to see foundation brushes, lipsticks caes, and eye liner tubes all over the floor.
"Getting carried away?" I laughed. I decided then that I'll just put on mascara and a little bit of light pink lip stick for my makeup.
"Hey do you have a curling iron?" Abby asked.
"Oh, yeah!" I said. "I'll get that for you."
I quickly went into my bathroom and got out my curling iron.
"Brooke," Jessie said. "You should curl your hair. "It would look so pretty!"
I thought about it, and decided why not? I never curl my hair, and it would probably be good to do something with my hair that I never really do.
"Nick will diffidently dig it." Abby winked. I rolled my eyes and laughed. I took my hair out of its temporary bun and brushed it out.
Unfortunately, memories from last night flooded back into my mind. What Ashton said about Nick never really left my thoughts, even though I knew it wasn't true. I quickly shook my head to get ride of the negativeness.
Within a couple hours, Annie and Amanda had showed up, and we were all ready to go. I was the odd one out, wearing jeans and a shirt, but it was alright. We all walked down stairs and my mom came running out of the kitchen, smiling.
"Wow you guys are beautiful!" she beamed. We all said our thank yous and I gave my mom a quick hug. "I'll text you!" I said as I opened the front door.
"Good luck with that boy!" my mom called out. Jessie giggled as we followed Abby to her car.
"Ready?" She said as we all piled into her Honda, me and Jessie in the way back.
"Do you know where it is?" I asked. Abby nodded and pulled out of my driveway.
My eyes widened as we pulled up to- what? A castle?- way off of from the main road we took. Nick's house was absoutely extravagent. It was surrounded by cars and teenagers, a golf course to the right and a tennis court to the left. This house looked to be about 6 times the size of my house.
"Holy shit." Jessie breathed. Amen to that.
"This is amazing!" Annie cheered.
"So many hot guys." Jessie said, looking out the window. Abby drove a little down the road until we found an empty spot along the curb.
"How does this guy have so much money?" I asked as I hoped out of the car behing Jessie.
"I think his dad owns the country club." Annie said. I nodded and kept quiet the rest of the walk over, too busy looking at the massive mansion.
We pushed through the people by the door. One handed me a red cup. I sniffed it, recognized the alcohol, and set it down on the table near the door. "Can we try and find Nick?" I asked, straining my voice over the loud music. There was so many people here, it was rediculous.
"Stay near by," Jessie said to me. "There's way too many people in here." I nodded and kept my eyes on Jessie's head infront of me. We finally stopped at an empty spot in the huge living room.
"Text Nick." Abby said. I nodded and sent a quick messgae to Nick
Where are you? We're in the living room. I said.
I know. there's a lot of people here. Hold on, I'll be there in a sec. He replied.
We waited, until I felt a hand on my back. I spun around to see Nick, a huge smile crept onto my face. "Hey!" I said, giving him a hug.
"Glad you guys could make it," He smiled. "How do you like it?"
"This place is incredible!" I said. He smiled at my compliment and took my hand in his. Just then, a blonde haired boy showed up by Nick and I's side.
"Oh, Brooke, this is Luke. He's my best friend."
I said hello to Luke, who did the same. I looked over to Jessie, who was completely staring at Luke, affection in her eyes.. She looked over to me, and I jokingly cocked my eyebrows at her. She laughed and looked away.
By now, Amanda, Abby, and Annie had all dissapeared into the crowd of people. Jessie and I made sure to stay close by Nick and Luke.
"Do you guys want anything to drink?" Nick asked. "We've got budlite."
A part fo me cringed at the fact that Nick just offered me alcohol. but I shook it off and told him no thankyou.
Just then, Nick's phone lit up in his hand. He didn't seem to notice, though. My curious eyes wandered down to the screen to see a text from some girl named "Christine".
Where are you? I'm ready. x
My heart dropped, and I looked back up to Jessie with wide eyes. Ashton's words echoed in my head.
I bet he's got tons of other girls on the phone, just waiting for their turn to be used by him.
Jessie shot me a confused look, but I shot one back as if to say everything was fine. I told myself not to worry, but I was getting a very bad feeling in my stomach. Nick looked down to his phone, finally. His eyes lit up, and he let go of my hand.
"Hey, uh," He said. "i have to go check on something. I'll be right back."
With that, he pretty much bolted up the stairs to the second floor of his house. I sighed, but stayed with Jessie and Luke, who seemed to be going at it, talking and laughing.
"Do you know what he had to go do?" I asked Luke.
"Not a clue," Luke replied. "No worries! He'll be back."
I nodded and stayed with them. Minutes passed, and Nick had not returned. I began to grow very, very anxious. The music seemed to be getting louder and l was starting to feel more and more sick to my stomach. Finally, I decided to go and see what was up.
"Which room is Nick's?" I asked Luke.
"Go up these stairs," Lue replied. "Take a left, 3rd one down."
"Thanks," I said, looking to Jessie. "I'll be right back."
Jessie nodded and I instantly turned on my heels. I huried through the crowd of people, letting out a couple "Sorry,"s and "Oops, excuse me."
I finally got to the grand staircase and climbed up slowly. My heart was pounding and I kept telling myself nothing bad was going on. Once again, I heard Ashton's voice in my head.
He's a player, Brooke.
"He's not a player, Ashton." I said quietly to myself. I got up to the second floor, there were just as many people up here than downstairs. I sighed and pushed through until I found the third door to the left. Nick's room.
I stopped, my hand on the door handle. I took a deep breathe and pushed the door open. I looked around the huge room, until my eyes came onto the bed.
There, sitting on the bed, with some girl on his lap, was Nick.
She was throwig herself at him, and he was throwing himself at her. His hands were on her hips as she was leaving a trail of kisses down his neck. My heart. I could feel it break. I watched in pure shock and dismay for about 10 seconds. They had no idea I was right there. I could feel the tears coming to the edge of my eyes, and I let them stream down my cheek. I slowly and quietly closed the door, and just kinda stood there.
I raced down the stairs, not stopping to say "sorry" or "excuse me" as I bumped into a bunch of people. I ran right passed the living room, and right out the door. And no, I didn't stop there. I kept running, and running, and running, I passed Abby's car, and I didn't stop. Tears were stinging my cheeks and my eyes, but I didn't care. A couple of cries escaped my mouth as I ran harder, with no sense of direction as to where I was going. Finally, I stopped and sat down on the side of the road about half a mile from Nick's house.
I couldn't believe what an idiot I was. I was so caught up in the fact that a boy actually liked me to realize it was all fake. Ashton was right. I was so, very, incredibly, wrong. I buried my face in my hands and sobbed for a while.
Finally, wiping my eyes for the first time since I started crying, I picked up my phone.
At this point, I couldn't control my hands. My fingers tapped in my password and I instantly went to my contacts. I scrolled passed Jessie, Abby, Annie, and Amanda's numbers. I tapped on the person I wanted to call, and I put the phone up to my ear, my hands starting to shake from the cold, desert night air.
"Hello?" A familiar voice said on the other line. I sighed.
"Hey, Ashton." I said. "So um, about what you said about hanging out tonight..."