~* Chapter Eight *~
Not too much later we arrived at the party. I called shotgun because I wasn't planning on getting plastered, but if I knew my brother, he definitely would, and I was starting to get the feeling that at least two out of the other three boys would as well. If they were drunk I wanted to be as far away from them as possible, even if that was only in the front seat. As soon as we got in the car, Drew's blockbuster, song of the summer hit, Gotta Be You began playing through the speakers on the radio. I groaned and beat my forehead on the dash. Asher chuckled and Drew snickered smugly. He knew how sick of the song I was.
"Hey, Rosie, it's your favorite song." He taunted. I reached back and flipped him off without even turning around.
Luckily the car we were taking had GPS, so I didn't have to navigate. We drove and all chatted, agreeing to leave by 1:30. According the the GPS, our time of arrival was supposed to be 10:30, which gave us three hours. Drew and Jase were talking about how they were planning on banging at least two girls each (which we all know isn't going to happen) while Max and Aaron were going to do keg stands and other extreme things involving alcohol.
"You must be so proud of your brothers." I said, glancing away from the window to look at Asher. "Keg stands, beer pong, body shots, the works."
"Please, yours is making a bet with my other brother about how many girls he can bang." He scoffed, looking quickly at me then back at the road as he drove. I chuckled.
"Touche. So tell me, if you weren't the DD, which conversation would you be a part of?" I asked curiously, now turning in my seat so I was mostly facing him.
"Neither. I for one feel like the ultimate douchebag for having casual sex, so as a rule I don't do it, and I'm also not a huge fan of giant hangovers." Asher replied, flashing me a quick grin. "I'm more of the 'too busy dancing to do anything else,' type. Give me a couple beers, set me on the dance floor, and I'm a happy man."
"Huh, save a dance for me then?" I asked smiling. I like to dance at parties too. It's easiest to stay out of trouble that way.
"It would be my pleasure." He replied, smiling back at me. "Okay, I have a new joke for you."
"Hit me." I replied, feeling a little giddy. I guess bad jokes are our thing now. Oh my god, Asher Siebel and I have a thing.
"Since you and your brother are from LA and you're in college up north, I thought you'd appreciate this. How many Northern Californians does it take to screw in a light bulb?" He asked, a twinkle in his eyes.
"How many?" I asked back with a raised eyebrow.
"Hella." I started laughing and shaking my head.
"Only Northern Californians. I'm telling you." I replied, making him smile like he was proud of himself. "Okay, uh, I've got one. It's a traffic joke. When you're driving through fog, what should you use?"
"What?"
"Your steering wheel." I replied cheekily. He liked that one and started laughing.
"Good one. Alright, who has the right of way when four cars approach a four-way stop sign at the same time?"
"Hm?"
"The pickup truck with the gun rack and bumper sign saying 'Guns don't kill people, I do.'" He replied, waiting to see my reaction. I chuckled shamelessly.
"Ouch. Nice one. If you want an offensive one, I've got a dumb blonde joke for you. What does a blonde do if she isn't in bed by 10:00?"
"I don't know Rosie, what does she do?" He asked in a cheesy game show host voice.
"She goes home." It took him a minute to get it, but when he did, he just started to howl.
"I'm totally going to steal that one." He replied. We pulled up to a very nice looking house right as he said that and all climbed out of the car. Once we got inside, I managed to lose all five of the boys at the same time. I went and found the bar and grabbed a beer before finding somewhere to hang out away from the couples dry humping and eating each other's faces on the couches.
I managed to spot Jase chatting up a girl in a corner of the room and going in for a not so gentle kiss, then looked at the spiral staircase just in time to find Drew following a girl in Come Fuck Me pumps up to I'm assuming the bedrooms. Looks like someone's getting lucky. I was trying to locate Aaron and Max but that wasn't as successful. Here's the thing nobody realizes about celebrity parties. Obviously there are the Paris Hilton parties that give out diamond flasks as party favors, but really, the majority of them are just like frat parties. Except that fewer people wake up on the lawn the next morning, and instead of drinking cheap alcohol and spiked punch, you get the good stuff.
"Hello there, gorgeous." Someone said from behind me. I turned around and widened my eyes at him. There are few men I've ever seen more attractive than this one. He had sandy blond hair and tan skin that looked as soft as a baby's ass. His features were chiseled and strong. He was pretty much your average definition of a jock, but sexier. He also happened to be Hollywood's teen heartthrob. His name was Caleb Riles.
"Hi." I replied, giving him a moderately flirtatious smile. I'm not planning on hooking up with this guy because I just don't do that kind of shit, but it couldn't hurt to flirt with him a little.
"Haven't seen you before." He said, flashing me a very sexy grin. I don't know if it was intentionally sexy, but I bet everything he does is sexy.
"I'm Drew Daily's sister, Rosie." I introduced myself, offering him my hand. We shook hands, but when he stepped closer to me, I could smell alcohol on his breath.
"Caleb. It's nice to meet you, Rosie." He replied. "Drew never mentioned having such a beautiful sister."
Caleb and I chatted for a few more minutes before he started to get a little handsy. I just chalked it up to the alcohol and ignored it and kept talking with him. The whole conversation felt weird and stiff. Like he was trying too hard and I wasn't into him at all. I was just trying to come up with an excuse to leave when he asked me to dance.
"Uh, you know, it's been great talking to you, but I think I have to, er, go..." I stuttered, starting to get nervous as he kept coming closer to me.
"Really? I think we should dance." He drawled, leaning down so he was talking right in my ear as he wrapped one arm around my waist and gripped my wrist with his other hand.
"No, I really have to go." I said firmly, trying to gain some confidence. My eyes darted around, looking past him, hoping to find someone I knew that could help me. Then, I found Asher and I swear I was overcome with the most explosive feeling of relief. "My friend is over there. I need to meet up with him."
"What? Is he better than me? Huh?" He asked, getting angry now, the grip he had on my wrist tightening to the point where it was uncomfortable.
"No, no, it's not that at all. I just, uh, promised I'd meet up with him. Now. Right now." I replied shakily, trying with everything in me to will Asher to look at me.
"Come on, baby, he can wait." Caleb said, starting to roughly kiss my neck. I squirmed and tried to pull away, but nothing worked. I was backed up against a wall (literally) and Caleb is much bigger than I am. Having him pressed up against me made me feel dirty and gross and I had no way to escape. Finally, when I was starting to give up, Asher glanced over at me. I gave him a pleading look and he sprung into action, pushing his way through the crowd towards me.
"Hey, Rosie, there you are." He said as he stopped next to Caleb, who finally decided to pry his face away from my neck. "I've been looking for you."
"Yeah, I was just on my way to find you." I started to say, shocked that he was already behind the story I was telling Caleb as to why I needed to leave before I'd even told him.
"Dude, we're busy. Scram." Caleb growled, grabbing me again, making me breath in sharply. I was so beyond the point of uncomfortable now that when he went for me again I shut my eyes tightly and waited for it to be over. All of a sudden, the weight of his body was lifted from mine. I opened my eyes to find Asher standing between Caleb and I.
"Something tells me that you're more into her than she is to you." Asher responded, staying level headed, but judging from how ridged his entire body was, the word calm wouldn't be one appropriate to describe him.
"Just back off, man. Go find your own." Caleb replied, advancing on Asher. I swallowed hard as he came closer. Asher's hand reached around behind him and his fingers wrapped around my wrist. Caleb kept coming closer and Asher pulled me up behind him, his body tensing further.
"Come on, Caleb. Don't be a dick." Asher tried to reason with him, but Caleb was undeterred.
"You're the one being a dick. Can somebody say cock-block?" Caleb replied, making me cringe as he sloppily moved to take a swing at Asher, which he easily deflected. He is so fucking drunk. Oh, Hollywood, if only you knew what your golden boy was really like. He made another grab for me and I whimpered, trying to duck away and grabbing a handful of Asher's shirt. For some reason it was a little bit comforting. Asher blocked him and stayed in front of me.
"I really don't want to hit you, but I swear if you try to touch her again, I will." Asher stated, in an eerily calm voice. It sounded a little bit like some lame ass line from a movie, but it still seemed to do the trick.
"You know what, fuck it. You can have her." Caleb said, shaking his head and walking away. I let out a huge sigh of relief and watched the muscles in Asher's body relaxed. He turned around to look at me.
"You okay?" He asked, not releasing my wrist, but running his thumb over the top of my hand. I blushed a little, nodded, and pushed his shoulders down to my height so I could give him a hug.
"Thank you so much." I said into his neck, feeling his arms wrap around my waist, squeezing me to him. I could feel his heart beating against my chest and I smiled. I could totally get used to this. With Luke, everything was about ripping off clothes as fast as possible, this, even though it's not like Asher and I are together, is so much sweeter than anything Luke ever did. "Honestly, I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't made it over here. Well, I mean, I kinda do, but, you know..."
"Let's not think about it." He replied softly. I nodded. We pulled apart and shared a small smile. The way he was looking at me almost made me think that maybe, possibly, he might like me a little bit. I felt myself starting to blush and knew that if I let this cute little staring match Asher and I were having go on any longer, I'd go tomato red. That's a bad look on anyone.
"Hey, what's the difference between a blonde and a brick?" I asked him with an evil grin. This might be my favorite blonde joke in the history of...ever.
"I don't know. What?" He replied, a real smile finally returning to his face. He finally stopped looking at me like I was going to spontaneously combust after what happened with Caleb and was back to normal.
"When you lay a brick it doesn't follow you around whining for two weeks." I replied smugly. He let out a loud bark of laughter before putting a hand over his mouth and continuing to laugh, but trying to look moderately civilized doing so.
"If we're back to telling blonde jokes, it's on." He challenged me.
"Bring it." I quipped back, throwing him a wink as he set into a blonde joke of his own.
~*~*~*~
"What do a blonde and a 747 have in common?" Asher asked me. I had my blonde moment (even though I'm a brunette) of the night when I had to ask what a 747 was. For those of you wondering like myself, it's a plane. I know, I was surprised too.
"I dunno, what?"
"They both have big cockpits." He replied, waiting for it to sink in. I started laughing so hard that sound wasn't even being emitted from my vocal chords. It wasn't even that funny (I mean, it kinda was,) but it was more the combination of all of the blonde jokes we'd been telling for the last half an hour that made it so funny.
"That is so bad. So bad." I replied, still chuckling and shaking my head. Asher was smiling broadly at me, his eyes crinkling. I was about to tell another joke when one of my absolute favorite songs came on. "Oh my god, I love this song!" I exclaimed excitedly.
"This is that song by The Royal Concept, right?" He asked. I nodded emphatically.
"D-D-Dance. Come dance with me!" I called, grabbing Asher's hand and pulling him on to the dance floor behind me. He laughed but followed me anyways. We both danced pretty awkwardly because it was a weird song to dance to if you weren't home alone like in Risky Business, and neither of us were sure exactly how to act with each other. We stepped on each other's toes a couple times, but once the first chorus hit, we were both totally into it. It was fun despite the initial awkwardness and when the next song came on (Where Them Girls At by David Guetta and Nicki Minaj) we started to dance a little more like the other couples there.
I had my back to Asher and he had his hands on my hips as we both moved to the music. I was kinda grinding on him, but compared to the rest of the people dancing, we were being modest, so I thought it was fine. He was moving with me, running his hands up and down my sides as I leaned my head back into his shoulder. As we were moving to the beat of the music I could feel his hot breath on my neck and the warmth of his body seeping into my skin.
It felt so good to go have fun and not feel like a charity case. I turned around to face him and gave him a big smile, feeling even happier when he returned it and wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled my hips against his while we continued to move our hips to the beat. I wrapped my arms around his neck and we danced like that and laughed at each other for the next five songs. When we finally stopped, we were both sweating, but I hadn't had as much fun as I did dancing with Asher in a long time.
"Hey, what time is it?" I asked him as we both made our way to the kitchen, loosely holding hands so we didn't lose each other in the crowd. We each got a bottle of water and hung out in there for a little.
"It is...wow. It's ten after midnight." He replied, raising his eyebrows. "You know what. We have over an hour to kill and I saw a diner on the way here. Wanna go get dessert?"
"Dessert actually sounds really good." I replied smiling. We both headed towards the door and left. We got in the car we drove here in and started driving in the direction Asher thought the diner was in. We'd been driving in silence for a couple minutes now, but it wasn't out of discomfort, at least I didn't think so. It was just kinda like that phase in a friendship when you don't know someone really well, but you've run out of break-the-ice questions. So maybe it was a little awkward.
I glanced over at him and I couldn't help but stare a little. He was staring at the road and the headlights coming in the opposite direction in the other lane framed his face perfectly. Strong features, bright eyes, dark hair, soft lips. He's perfect. Even the little scar above his right eyebrow is perfect. I caught a glance at myself in the mirror by my door and frowned.
Here's this totally awesome guy that literally has everything good in the world going for him. He's gorgeous, talented, seems smart, super funny, and probably the nicest person I've ever met. I've been spending the last hour thinking that he might be into me, but let's really think about that. I'm...just me. Honestly, there's nothing special about me, I'm good at a few things (most of them useless) and really bad at a lot more of them too. When you add them all together, they kind of even themselves out. I'm the girl that gets cheated on, not the one celebrities crush on.
When I glanced back over at Asher, I saw that he was already looking at me. He smiled at me and that brought me right out of my little pity party. I also noticed that the car wasn't moving. And that there was a giant lit up sign for Dannie's 24 Hour Diner.
"You ready to go in now, or do you wanna sit here some more?" Asher asked teasingly, I face palmed and let out a small giggle. I blushed and looked back at him and smiled embarrassedly.
"How long have we been sitting here?" I asked, keeping a playful grin on my face. Of course I would space out in a parked car next to Asher Siebel. Only me.
"Not that long. Ten minutes tops." Asher replied, an absolutely dashing expression on his face. I rolled my eyes and gave his shoulder a light shove and got out of the car. I walked ahead with a smirk on my face and waited for Asher to follow. I heard him chuckle and jog after me.
"Okay, let's play a game." Asher suggested once we'd sat down and had taken a minute to look at the menu. I peered up at him over the top of my menu and raised my eyebrow.
"A game?" I asked, his eyes watching me from over the top of his menu too. "What kind of game?"
"The dessert game."
"What's that?" I questioned, returning my gaze back to my menu and continuing to browse the desserts section. Cheese cake, ice cream, root beer float, so many choices. The best part was that the menu had pictures on it, so I didn't have to read much.
"From now on, everytime we go out, we'll each get a desert. Whoever orders the better dessert gets a point. The person with the most points at the end of the tour wins." He explained, setting his menu down and smirking at me.
"Oh, so you think we'll do this again?" I asked him with a challenging expression. His eyebrows shot up and he started to sputter, trying to form a complete sentence.
"I, well, uh, I mean, I was, um...I, uh, yeah..."
"I was kidding!" I exclaimed, giggles escaping from my lips. Asher looked a mix between shocked, relieved, and annoyed. It was actually pretty cute.
"That was mean." He scowled at me playfully. I just kept laughing and eventually, Asher started to laugh too, his smile reaching his eyes and making me smile even brighter. When the waitress came over, we each ordered a cup of coffee and a desert. After fifteen minutes of chatting, our waitress, Annie, came back with the deserts, having already brought over the coffee.
"Okay, I have an apple pie." Annie said, setting the plate down in front of me. I smiled and thanked her. "And the coke float." She set the tall glass down in front of Asher and left. I could tell she'd recognized Asher as soon as we'd walked in, but she'd been totally chill about it, which is really cool because that doesn't always happen.
"Alright, are you ready for this?" Asher asked, challenging me.
"Oh, I'm so ready." I replied, shooting him a goofy wink. He laughed before we both took a bite of our deserts. "Oh my god, this is so awesome." I gushed, feeling the perfectly flakey pie crust melt in my mouth, the apples still warm, but the ice cream cold. With the spice from the cinnamon flavor coming from the apples and the sweetness of the ice cream, it was the most perfect combination ever.
"Yeah?" Asher asked, raising an eyebrow. I nodded and nudged the plate towards him.
"You've gotta try this." I moaned, taking another bite. Asher chuckled at me, but took a bite and went completely silent.
"Holy god. That's fantastic. You win." He replied, closing his eyes in bliss. I smiled triumphantly.
"That's what I like to hear."
Hi!! I know this'll sound like a pretty small accomplishment, but as of 12/07/16 Throw Down Your Heart has over 115 reads. I'm just really excited that people are reading the story. I actually spent the last day reading through the sequel (or what I have written of it) to this story and it made me so happy to go back and read it and remember it. Unfortunately reading it makes some of the flaws in the writing of this story more apparent, but I suppose that's how we learn.
The good news is that, at least in my opinion, this story gets a lot better starting from right around here, so hopefully you guys will stick with me. Anyways, it would really mean a ton to me if you guys would keep reading, tell your friends about the story, let me know what you think, or anything else you can think of.
Much love and appreciation and happy reading : )