Chapter Twenty: "The Search For Nathan"
"You know Ashely, that's a lot of food for a little girl like you." Andrew commented as I chucked another plate of steak down my throat. Well, I didn't literally throw it down my throat but you get what I mean.
"Little?" I raised an eyebrow as I let out a dry laugh. "You should of seen how big I used to be."
"What?" Andrew asked as I let out a sigh.
"I used to be a bit heavy on the edges." I muttered, not wanting to say it louder in case the crowd of college kids around heard.
"Oh." Is all Andrew said, pursing his lips. "Nothing's wrong with that."
"Yeah, you're right." I nodded, furrowing my eyes brows once I realized Nathan was gone. "Where's Nathan?
"You just noticed? He said he was going for a drinks awhile ago and never came back." Andrew shrugged, "I just assumed he got distracted and is up stairs doing the dirty with some hussy."
"Andrew!" My eyes widened as he said the last part.
"Oh sorry, I forgot you guy's had a thing." Andrew chuckled lightly as I began to blush profusely for the one thousandth time tonight.
"No no, we don't." I shook my head in denial as he broke out into a lopsided grin, patting me on the shoulder.
"Yet, Ashely. Yet."
Me and Andrew had just met tonight but we felt like long term friends. It's weird how someone can enter your life randomly and it just feels like you've known them forever. I guess this friendship was just bound to happen.
"Well should we go look for him or...?" I trailed off, trying to change the subject as I raised an eyebrow at Andrew.
"Uh, we should let him finish his business in the bedroom, I really don't want to walk in on anything." Andrew scratched back of his neck as I widened my eyes even more.
"Andrew! He isn't doing that!" I frowned as he began to laugh.
"I'm just kidding Ashely." Andrew smirked as he held out his hand for me to take. "Come on, let's go find your knight in shining armor."
"Andrew your too much sometimes." I rolled my eyes playfully as I took his hand.
We began to look around for him. I didn't want to get lost again like I did at home coming, especially at a college party. The guys here were rowdy.
"Don't see him in here." Andrew sighed as we exited the dance room, now entering the drink room where Nathan claimed to be going. I watched Andrew as he towered over the crowd, his tall frame glancing around the room for Nathan.
"Let me guess... Not here?" I frowned at Andrew as he nodded.
So then we made our way to the next room.... The basement... It was full of dirty dancing and smokers. God I hope Nathan is not in this one. It was sort of foggy down there, probably from the smoke so it was hard to just glance around like we had done before. We actually had to go into the crowd and check which I was not excited for. Andrew's grip tightened around my hand as he pulled me through a bunch of couples dancing and over to a corner full of smokers.
Ah, deja vu at its finest.
"Hey, I remember you..." One of the smokers squinted his eyes at me as he put his cigarette out in an ash tray, pointing his index finger at me as if he was trying to recognize where he knew me from.
"You do?" I raised an eyebrow in confusion. I glanced over to Andrew who looked amused at the unusual exchange of conversation.
"Yeah... James party." His confused look turned into an amused one. "Hey... That party was kind of a blur for me but how could I forget a face like yours."
"How could you remember me from Noah's party?" I asked in disbelief. I don't remember doing anything too crazy. If I did someone would of mentioned it.
"You're the girl who drank the apple tini thinking it was like apple juice!" The boy started laughing as he remembered the incident. "I remember now, Chris was posting all about it on his snap."
"Chris..." I huffed through gritted teeth. Of course he was gloating about how I was drunk off my ass. What better things does he have to do?
"Yeah, nice to meet ya, the names Jonathan." The guy introduced himself. I was about to open my mouth as well to introduce myself to him but he beat me to it, "Save the introduction, I already know your name Ashely. You're basically famous thanks to Chris. Well actually infamous but you know, to-mae-toe to-ma-toe am I righ-
"I think you should stop talking now." Andrew cut him off, giving him a fake smile as he took my hand and pulled me back to the floor where the couples were grinding.
Disgusting.
But that's when it happened. It all went by so quickly. One second Andrew was dragging me out of the basement and the next second I was knocked off my feet, literally. I fell backwards and stumbled onto my butt, leaving my head near dancing peoples smelly shoes. Whatever I bumped into must of been stronger than a steel wall. I spotted Andrew making his way back to get me, pushing through the teens but someone else beat him to my rescue, sticking their arm out for me to grab. I happily took it but al the color drained from my face when I saw who it was.
"Miss me sweet cheeks?" The slender fit man slurred as he placed a smoke in between his lips with his free hand.
"Romano?!" I asked in shock. I never thought I'd see his face again.
"You got it right honey, the one and only! South side reppin' ova here!" Romano hollered as I just stared at him in confusion.
"What are you doing here?" I questioned, anxiety coursing through my veins.
"That man who you were talking to is a bad man..."
Oliver's words about Romano from the previous week played in my head like a record stuck on repeat.
"I'm just chillin boo." Romano winked at me. I glanced behind Romano to see Andrew giving us cautious looks. He was ready to strike if anything happened but he didn't want to interrupt my conversation by the looks of it. "Besides, I never miss a single one of Vince Nguyen's parties."
"Oh." I gave him a tight fake smile before I started to walk off towards Andrew.
"Where do you think your going?" Romano stopped me as he made his way towards me.
"I need to talk to my friend Andrew." I informed him as I gnawed at my bottom lip nervously.
"Is he your...." Romano began as he leaned closer, his lips making way to my ear. "Boyfriend?" He finished, chuckling as he backed away, sending a shiver down my spine.
"No..." I replied, the nervousness in my voice showing.
"Oh yeah, I forgot, you're dating little Noah James." He then began to laugh hysterically. My eyes widened as I remembered the little white lie the boys had told him back at the alley on that cold night.
"You're drunk Romano, I'm leaving." I sighed as I began to walk towards Andrew once again who was know noticing my struggle.
"See you later sweet cheeks!" He yelled out as I took Andrew's hand once again, still a little shaky.
"You okay?" Andrew asked, concern lacing the tone in his voice.
"I'm fine..." I assured him, giving a tight smile. His hand tightened around mine.
"You didn't look happy talking to that guy, I wanted to tell him to back away but I couldn't tell if you were just having a deep conversation or something." Andrew shrugged causing me to nod.
"Let's just go find Nathan." I said, letting out a very deep sigh as we exited the steamy basement.
-
"Welcome to the wild part of the party. Ya know, the place where things tend to get rowdy." Andrew winked as we stood at the end of the upstairs hall. I stared down it spotting couples making out, some entering bedrooms and some exiting bedrooms.
"Are you sure you and Vince live here alone?" I raised an eyebrow at Andrew. The house was way too big for the two roommates to be living there alone.
"Well yeah we do but usually we have a shit load of chicks over or we're throwing a party." Andrew smirked as I scrunched up my face in disgust.
"How could you get chicks?" I asked as I looked him in the eye.
"Well it's mostly what Vince calls "his asian charm"." Andrew chuckled. "It gets him a ton of girls every time and he brings them back here usually and they just so happen to fall for my charm as well."
"Well Vince is pretty hot, you however..." I trailed off giving him a funny look. "Are ugly."
"Hey! That's bullying." Andrew frowned causing me to laugh.
"I'm kidding Andrew... You're pretty cute but you don't cut the hot'o'meter for me." I smirked as I took his hand again and dragged him down the hall way in attempt to find Nathan. Andrew was still in shock from what I said.
"Hey, at least I'm cute." He muttered as I knocked on the first bedroom door.
"In use!" A female called out in a high pitched tone.
"Ugh, looking for him will do us no good. Can you just call his phone one last time?" I begged Andrew as he sighed, taking out his phone. I could hear the ringing as he began to call Nathan but then the ringing stopped, signaling somebody answered the call. I watched as Andrew put his phone on speaker for me to hear.
"Nathan?" Andrew's voice boomed through the halls as he spoke into the phone.
"Uh... I'll go get him." A unfamiliar voice announced causing me and Andrew to share a confused look.
"You're not Nathan... Are you?" I dead panned, my face dropping of all emotion.
"No shit! Last time I checked Nathan was a boy and I'm clearly not."
A/N: Oh meh gosh, two new updates in a night. So damn lit right now. I got writing on a roll for once in my life. But anyway, who the fuck is that bitch think she is answering Nathan's phone for him. Until next time guys <3