Chapter 16
• • •
Saturday came around extremely fast.
"Omg I'm freaking out!" Scarlett complained as she dug through her closet.
"I have absolutely nothing to wear!"
"I liked the first one that you had on," I pointed out. She picked it back up and looked at it questionably.
It was a blue bikini. The bottoms were small and were tied together with rings on the side. The top was strapless and crossed over itself in the front.
The bathing suit that I was wearing, was a simple black string bikini.. it was pretty boring but fit me pretty comfortably.
"Okay, yeah, I guess..." she said and went in her bathroom to change. "Do you thing Mason will be there?" She called out from the bathroom.
"Probably," I called back. Mason had been Scarlett's crush since apparently second grade.
"I hope so," she came out of the bathroom looking stunning. "Its senior year. So it's now, or never," she said as she was brushing her beautiful wavy hair.
I had simply brushed out my hair and braided it to the side. Scarlett asked me to french braid hers, so I got up off of her comfy bed and started to braid it.
"Sooo what's going on with you and Ashton?" I stopped braiding for a second, but then I regathered myself and continued.
"Nothing is going on between us," I spoke firmly.
"Well you like him, don't you?"
"No,"
"And he obviously likes you,"
"Nooo he doesn't.. girl what are you on tonight?" I chuckled.
"You've seen the way he looks at you right??" I finished and she turned to face me. She doesn't understand that he's just curious about my past.
"No I haven't," I said and grabbed my cover up from off of the bed.
"Well then your blind." She chuckled. "And besides, just the fact that he looks at you for more than 2 seconds tells you something... I mean, the boy just doesn't like people. So you must be special to him," she said. I decided just to let it go.
"Yeah I guess," I dismissed the subject, not wanting to discuss it any further. "What are you doing for makeup?"
"Waterproof mascara," she answered, digging through her makeup drawer. I had only put on waterproof mascara as well.
When it was time to leave, I looked in the mirror, then at her.
"Do you think that George will be there?" I asked sheepishly.
"Hell no." She replied. "There might be unnoticed party crashers, but George would definitely be noticed and kicked out, trust me." She finished putting all of her stuff in her bag, and grabbed her car keys.
"Okay, yeah. You're right." I responded and slipped my black and gold sunglasses on. Scarlett turned her car on and smiled at me with her gorgeous smile.
"I'm so excited," she turned her gaze to her driveway and backed out.
• • •
When we got to the party, loads of people were already out back. We could hear the loud dance music blasting through giant speakers before we even pulled up to his house. When we got out, we smiled at each other and started up the driveway.
"Vanah's inside," Scarlett informed me. When we got to the front door, Eli whipped it open and a huge smile spread across his face.
"Come on in!" He yelled over the music and we entered. The atmosphere quickly changed from Californian outdoors to a house filled with partying teenagers and alcohol. The music was blasting and there were lasers flying around the room.
"Everyone's outside mostly," he yelled over the music and I looked at him in disbelief.
"Mostly??" I yelled. He chuckled and grabbed my hand, dragging me out back. When we got outside, the music calmed down just a little bit.
There was an enormous pool, with about 20 people in it. Despite this many people being in the pool, it wasn't even halfway filled with people. There were two hot tubs- one on each side of the pool.
There were patios lined up all around the pool, and there were extra tables set up with alcohol stacked up.
I looked at Eli in awe... how godamn big was his house?? He chuckled again and led me over to a table that was farther away from the pool. Scarlett stayed right with us.
Sitting at the table was Kevin, Savanah, Ashton, a girl, and a boy.
The girl was sitting with Kevin, and wasn't doing to much to hide that fact that she was swooning over him. He was talking with her and laughing.
The boy was sitting with Savanah, and it was the opposite with them. The boy was obviously head over heels for her, and she was playing it off as the cool one.
When everyone noticed that we had arrived, they all looked up and smiled.
"Hey Crys!!" Kevin shouted. I smiled back.
Scarlett and I sat down, and she made sure that I was forced to take the seat that was next to Ashton. Who, by the way, looked more amazing than ever.
He was wearing a bathing suit, and a muscle shirt that barely covered him. His muscles were perfectly visible now, and I could partially see his chest and back muscles.
I tried with all of my might to look away from him, but it was just too impossible with his perfect face, hair, muscles, eyes,-
"Take a picture. It'll last longer," Ashton broke my silence, and just then I realized that I had been full on checking him out. I rolled my eyes and turned around to face Scarlett.
"Let's go in the pool while people are still arriving," she suggested.
"Sure!" I said and got up.
"We're going in the pool, wanna join?" Scarlett asked the table. Eli, Kevin, the girl, and surprisingly Ashton said that they would go.
Scarlett took off her coverup, and Eli whistled. Scarlett hit him on the arm and they laughed. I took mine off and noticed Ashton's eyes quickly flicker up and down my body. I turned to him with a smug smile.
"Take a picture... It'll last longer," I snarked and walked off with Scarlett.
When we got to the pool, we turned around to see if they were coming yet. A couple seconds later, we saw them walking toward us.
Without shirts on...
I gulped and tried not to look at their toned abs for too long, realizing that I had probably already looked like a creep from accidentally staring at Ashton for too long.
When they got to us, they were still talking to each other. I have to say... as much of an ass he was, Ashton was honestly the hottest person I had ever laid eyes on.
I looked away at anything other than him, afraid that I would embarrass myself by gawking at him. My thoughts were interrupted when I felt someone's arms around my waist, and I got pulled into someone's body.
I felt toned muscles and soft skin as I was lifted up off of the ground. I squealed, unable to process what was happening... for it was all happening so fast.
All of a sudden I felt myself get consumed by cool, refreshing water. I was still being hugged tight to the body that held me as we plunged into the water.
When we resurfaced, and caught my breath and looked for my attacker.
I saw Eli right in front of me, cracking up so hard that he couldn't even stay afloat. He swam over to the edge and hung off of it, unable to catch his breath over all of the laughing.
Scarlett and Kevin were cracking up also. I didn't know where the girl went. Ashton was most certainly not laughing. If anything, he looked annoyed.
I, on the contrary to Eli, was pissed.
I swam over the Eli and dragged him back under water with me, his laughing getting cut off by him plunging down into the water.
I resurfaced, keeping my hands pressing down on his head to keep him under. Eli, being much stronger than me, pushed his way back up, and pushed me under once again.
Eventually, we both gave up and turned to our friends, who were already in the pool. They were all talking to each other with a beer in their hand. Well, except for Ashton, who was beerless.
We all talked and hung out for a while, and when we eventually got out of the pool, Kevin grabbed some towels for us- while Ashton continued getting on my last nerve.
"You know, the universe really said to itself 'jee, I wonder how much moron I can put in one person', and then decided to test it out and make you," I glared at him, and he narrowed his eyes in response.
"Takes one to know one," he replied, and I clenched my jaw.
"Settle down, kiddos," Kevin interjected when he handed us each towels.
"Tell your friend to stop being a prick, please," I said up to him.
"Oh I've tried, it doesn't work," he replied, and I cracked a grin at that.
"Can you never just shut up?" Ashton cut back in, and I shot him a sarcastic smile.
"Can you never just grow up?" I responded with feigned sweetness, and he rolled his eyes.
"She's got ya there, pal," Kevin patted him in the shoulder, but Ashton just glared back down at me and went to walk past me, purposely bumping into my shoulder... which made me not be able to help myself..
Without a second thought, I spun around and shoved him as hard as I could towards the pool. Caught off guard, he fell into the water, and a satisfied grin spread on my lips as the rest of the group burst into laughter. But when he resurfaced, I didn't quite hear all the profanities he began slewing my way as Kevin attempted to push me in, as well.
I was too quick for that, though, dodging his hands and lunging for him instead. He ran away when I started chasing after him, but I quickly ran out of breath, and watched as Kevin quickly became preoccupied by the group of girls he had passed.
I turned back around to see Ashton lifting himself out of the pool with a scowl on his face. He ripped the dry towel from Eli's hands to use, but Eli didn't even care as he kept laughing and Ashton sarcastically laughed back at him. I walked off with Scarlett and Savanah, still grinning from the look on his face.
A little while later I found myself longing for a drink of water, so I made my way into the house and went to the kitchen. Being alone in the kitchen was nice, and the water was refreshing. However, yet again, my serenity was short lived.
"Ugh, you're everywhere," I heard Ashton's voice from behind me, and spun around to glare.
"What is your fucking problem with me?" I finally snapped. "I mean, I also have a problem with you, but you started it by having a problem with me first."
"Have you met you?" He answered, entering the kitchen and grabbing some water for himself.
"Yes I have, actually, and I'm rather great," I responded, and he rolled his eyes.
"Well at least you have one person that thinks that, then," he muttered under his breath, and I got closer to him, taking the water out of his hands and putting it down on the counter next to me. He grunted in anticipation of whatever I was about to say.
"Listen up, dickwad, I'm getting really sick of your stupid little attitude. Do you think you're cool or something?" I crossed my arms again.
"I'm not asking you to spend any time with me, so, by all means rid yourself of that attitude," he replied, but I just got closer as he backed up until we were right next to the fridge.
"I like your friends, and your friends like me, so just suck it up, and get over it," I uncrossed my arms, and I couldn't help but immediately take note of the fact that we were both still only in our bathing suits as he then backed me up against the fridge, his arms on either side of my head as he burned his gaze down into mine, our bodies close to touching. I kept my chin up high, not letting my subtle butterflies be shown on my features, and his eyes glanced over my face for a moment before he responded.
"You can't tell me what to do," his voice was a low rumble, and something in me fluttered at it, despite my utter annoyance.
"I just did," I replied, and he burned his gaze into me a little more before I put my hands on his bare chest to push him back, walking out of the room without so much as a second glance.
Stupid, sexy, obnoxious, ridiculous asshole..