"Uh, not really." I say, laughing nervously. I settle back into Shawn, making sure that Kyle watches as Shawn kisses my neck. It doesn't seem to phase him, because he just resumes talking.
"Why not? Don't worry, I don't bite, unless you're into that." Kyle smirks. I frown, completely appalled at the fact that he's blatantly flirting with me right in front of Shawn.
"Yeah, because I was so worried about you biting me." I reply sarcastically. "Are we going to play a game or do something like we normally do?" I ask the group, trying to get Kyle to stop talking to me. Sebastian and I's eyes meet, my chest tightening. Sebastian looks at me, but unsurprisingly, he doesn't respond. Instead, he maintains eye contact with me while taking a swig out of his cup.
"I'm going to sit on the couch." I tell Shawn, who nods. I roll off of him and land on the ground, now sitting in between him and Julia. The space away from Kyle relives me, and I feel like I can breathe a little again.
"Helaina, you're so pretty." Julia perks up, looking at me. She grabs my hair and slowly pets it, staring at my face as if she's studying me.
"Thanks Jules." I laugh.
"You know, if I liked girls, I definitely would've dated you. Like, you're so nice and you're so pretty." she says, and tears start to build up in her eyes. "Helaina, you're so nice. I love you!"
Julia throws her arms around me, hugging me tightly as she starts crying. I rub her back, letting her cry until she starts to calm down. Once she does, I gently push her off and hold her by her shoulders.
"Julia, are you okay? Do you want to go home? You're really drunk." I say.
"No I'm not." she hiccups. I shake my head.
"Shawn, I'm going to bring Julia up to your room to sleep. Can I have the key?" I ask, and he hands it to me.
"Is she going to be out of it later for us?"he asks, and I glare at him.
"I think Julia's drunkenness is more important at the moment." I snap, standing up. I grab her arm, trying to help her up, but she's too heavy for me. "Shawn, can you help me?"
"I'll help you." Kyle offers, standing up.
"No!" I scream, both a little too quickly and a little too loudly. The people around us look at me, and I blush. "Shawn, why can't you just help me?"
"Baby, if Kyle wants to do help, then let him." Shawn says, and I suddenly begin to remember why I hate being around Shawn when he's drunk: he gets super annoying.
"Shawn." I whine, jutting my bottom lip out. "Please."
I know I'm being annoying, but I can't shake the feeling that if I'm left alone with Kyle, something bad is going to happen.
"For fuck's sake, Helaina." Shawn curses, but still, he stands up.
Together, Shawn and I lift Julia up off of the couch and help her walk through the frat house. We head upstairs, which is arguably the most challenging part of moving her. Shawn curses under his breath as we carry her, and I'm surprised that he's having such difficulty. I'm assuming the alcohol in his system must have had an affect on him, because normally, he could pick Julia up and carry her with one arm.
"Remind me why we can't leave her in Caleb's room?" Shawn says, holding onto Julia as I unlock the door to Shawn's room.
"Because she's my friend and I want to make sure she's safe." I say, pushing the door open.
"And why wouldn't she be safe in Caleb's room?" he asks, carrying her over to her bed.
"I don't trust him." I admit. Sure, Caleb is definitely high as a kite right now, but the fact that he didn't seem at all concerned that his girlfriend is blackout-drunk right now raises all kinds of red flags.
"What would he possibly do?" Shawn asks, and I raise an eyebrow.
"Seriously? You know exactly what I'm worried about." I say. I'd rather not have to say it aloud that I'm worried Caleb roofied her drink, and that's why he was acting so nonchalant about the whole thing. I'd rather not have to say it aloud that I'm worried Caleb could do something really stupid because he's under the influence and end up raping his girlfriend.
I walk over to her and adjust her body on the bed. I stare at her body, deciding she isn't covered enough. Without asking, I take one of Shawn's hoodies out of his dresser and put it on Julia.
"Helaina, what the fuck? You're the only person I let wear my clothes." Shawn complains.
"Consider it a loan." I say, and put her head on a pillow. I put a bunch of blankets on her and stare at her for a moment, feeling like there's something else I should do.
"Do you have a pen?" I ask.
"What? Why?"
"Just answer the question."
"In the drawer." he points at his desk. I walk over and pull open the drawer, grabbing a black pen. I head back over to Julia, grabbing her hand and beginning to write on it.
If you don't wake up before I get back, Shawn and I carried you up to his room so you could sleep safely in a locked room. -Helaina
I put the pen back and Shawn grabs a blanket that he carries with him out of the room. I don't bother to ask him about the blanket, instead making sure to double-check that the room is locked before heading down the hallway with Shawn.
"What do you know about Kyle?" I blurt out.
"Why do you care about him?" Shawn asks, looking annoyed with the question.
"I don't." I pause before continuing. "Something about him is just a little... off. I think he's been flirting with me."
"It's because you're hot as fuck, baby girl." Shawn says, his mood suddenly changing. He grabs my ass, and I feel adrenaline rush through my veins.
"He knows we're dating, though. He's supposed to be your friend." I remind him.
"So then I'll go down there and beat his ass if he's making you uncomfortable." he offers, his tone and expression dear serious.
"Uh, no." I shake my head. "You can't you just threaten to fight anyone who hits on me."
"It's not a threat if I actually do it." he says, and I laugh.
"How much did you have to drink?" I ask as we walk back downstairs.
"Only one beer."
"Really? That's it?" I raise my eyebrows skeptically.
"And maybe three shots." he admits, and I laugh.
"That makes more sense." I say, and Shawn smiles at me.
Once we weave our way through the crowd, we return back to the group and sit down on the couch. As soon as I sit down next to Shawn, I look across from me and see Alex and the girl with the eyebrow piercing making out. It catches me off guard, especially since I didn't think Alex was out. I guess I kind of outed her last week with my little show, regardless of whether she was ready or not.
Judging by the way their lips are feverishly moving against one another, I think it's safe to say that she's okay with it, at least in the moment anyway.
I'm broken away from the love-fest going on in front of me by Shawn putting the blanket on top of me. I look at him, and he adjusts it so that it's covering him too.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"I'm cold." he says, but I can tell by the devious twinkle in his eyes that there's more to this than he's letting on.
Shawn scoots over so that he's closer to me than before. Our legs are touching now, and he pulls the blanket up so that it covers both of our chests.
"Shawn." I say quietly.
"Yes baby?" He licks his lips.
"What are you actually doing?"
"You look cold." he says, and leans in and starts kissing me.
I hesitate a little at first, half because of everyone around us and half because Shawn's drunk and I'm sober. I relax a little and decide to kiss him back, closing my eyes. We stay like that for a few minutes, kissing each other. It isn't sloppy and fast and needy, but it isn't slow and boring either. It's lingering yet still hungry, caring but still heavy. The deeper we kiss and the more Shawn bites down on my bottom lip, the more I wish he wasn't drunk right now so we could go upstairs and do something.
"Baby," Shawn whispers into my mouth in between a kiss.
"Yes?" I ask, but rather than getting a verbal response I get a physical one.
Shawn's already-hidden-under-the-blanket hand shoots down to my inner thigh and begins to rub it.
"No." I say quietly, opening my eyes so he can look at me. I pull my head back just enough so that our lips are no longer touching, but if one of us were to move even just an inch, everything would change.
"You really want me to stop?" he asks, looking me deep in my eyes.
I think for a minute before shaking my head and responding, "No."
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AN: so we're almost at 100k reads on this!!! that's absolutely insane & i can't even believe it at all. thank you guys so much for continuing to read my stuff and i really hope you're enjoying it
okay so i'm slowly starting to finish this book up, i would say there's gonna be maybe another 10-15 chapters at minimum, but that number could change for obvious reasons bc i never actually know how long the chapters will be or what will happen until i actually type them. but yeah as i've said before there will be a third and final book. but omg i don't even wanna think about ever ending this bc the thought makes me really sad bc i've grown so attached to these characters :(
anyways, as always don't forget to comment/vote/follow me!! hope you enjoyed