Chapter 10
I had been to plenty of parties in my lifetime: premiere parties, dinner parties, after parties, but nothing could have prepared me for a teenage, high school party. The house was buzzing with a different kind of excitement I wasn't use to.
The music was so loud that I could have been at a concert and I wouldn't have known the difference. There were cars lined up down the long drive way and teenagers milling around everywhere you looked.
Luckily, it was kinda early in the night so there weren't really any couples outside being gross.
Apparently, I wasn't the only one who was awestruck because when I glanced over at the girls, they were all staring at the house in amazement. Except for Jo. She just had a smug smile on her face as if saying 'I told you so'.
"I take it Jo is the only one who has been to a party before."
Kallie nodded her head and Lou's face turned red as she looked at the ground.
"I've been to a party before," Grace said offhandedly.
"Yeah. And then you called me after five minutes to tell me you were going back home," Jo retorted.
Grace stuck her tongue out at Jo and turned back to face the house.
"Okay. Are we ready to face the beast that is a high school party?"
I took a nervous glance at the others as they nodded their heads.
Jo rolled her eyes at us and walked to where her back was to the house and she was facing us.
"Honestly, y'all are acting like the hunger games is about to start. Parties are fun. You just have to relax and go with the flow. If you're too tense, people will pick up on that and you will be the outcast of the party. Just have fun...and flirt. Do lots of that," she finished, winking at me, before turning to face the house.
"Just follow my lead."
She started walking towards the entrance, slightly swaying her hips, and soon enough, guys were coming up to her offering to get her a drink. We all looked at each other a bit dazed, but scrambled (as graciously as possible) to catch up with her. I could feel eyes following my every step, but I didn't know if it was because I had actually managed to look walking in heels in this grass or if it was because of my title.
We made it to the door just when Beau walked out and bumped into Grace. She stumbled in her heels (which we barely convinced her to wear) straight into his chest.
"I'm so sorry. I...," Beau trailed off as he looked into Grace's eyes. We all exchanged mischievious looks and scooted out of the way and into the house to give them a chance to have a 'moment'.
We all started laughing as soon as we were out of earshot. "If that wasn't the cheesiest thing I've ever seen," Lou laughed.
"It was like we were standing in the middle of one of Jack Card's movies. He was always a sucker for cheesy moments like that," I reminisced.
"You worked with Jack Card?"
Suddenly, all the girls' eyes were on me as I tried to shrug off the situation.
"Uhh, yeah. We worked together for a few months," I said vaguely. "So Jo, where is the birthday boy normally at?"
I try to act casual when I ask about Noland, but it becomes hard when my heart starts exessively pounding at the mere thought of him.
The girls all look at each other with smrks and then look back at me. I groan and put my hand on my forehead because I know the teasing is about to start.
"Now Rory, don't you think it's a little early in the night to be getting with Noland, if you know what I mean," Kallie teased.
"Oh my gosh, stop," I cried, absolutely mortified.
"Okay. I would keep going, but he's walking this way," Jo said, with a nod to something behind me.
"What," I exclaimed, whipping my head around.
Walking towards me, in all his wonderful glory, was Noland. His hair looked messier, but styled all at the same time. He had on khakis and a blue button up shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows and, holy mother of all that is good, glasses! They weren't the little square ones, but the hipster I'm-about-to-drool-all-over-myself kind. I quickly shut my mouth and gave him a small wave once I realized I was staring.
His smile widened when he saw me wave and soon enough he was standing in front of me.
"Hi," I said when no other words came to my mind.
"Hi," He grinned back at me.
We probably would have stayed like that all night, but someone behind me cleared their throat. Noland's eyes darted behind me when he realized I wasn't alone. He cleared his throat and addressed my friends.
"Hello ladies. I'm glad to see you could make it to the party."
Jo, ever the flirt, giggled and winked at me. "We are so glad you invited us. Everything looks so great and the music is awesome."
He smiled a genuine smile and looked back at me. "Is it okay if I steal Rory away from you guys?"
Although he was addressing the group, he never took his eyes off of me. I tried to hide the blush that was ever growing on my face as all the girls giggled this time.
"Please, take her. The only reason she came was for you anyway," Kallie teased.
Noland raised an eyebrow at this as I quickly denied her statement.
"Well not suprisingly, you're not the only one," he winked at me.
"Shut up," I grumbled, folding my arms over my chest.
"We'll let y'all go and have fun, then," Jo responded, pulling the girls towards a table with drinks.
I watched them walk away, then turned back to Noland. Apparently, I caught him staring at me because he quickly looked away and the top of his ears turned red.
"So you decided to let your inner nerd out," I joked, motioning to his glasses.
"Actually, I woke up this morning and went to put my contacts on, but my dog had taken the container to who knows where. I looked all over my house, but they were no where to be found. Now here I am, stuck with these bad boys," he wiggled his glasses with his fingers.
"I like them. They make you look very smart," I said slightly swaying to the music.
"Do they make me look macho? Maybe like a Clark Kent? Ordinary man by day, superhero by night," he put his fists on his hips and puffed out his chest.
I laughed at goofiness and soon enough we were both laughing at nothing. I was about to suggest going to get some drinks when someone stumbled into me and knocked me into Nol. He easily caught me, but before I could get too caught up in those gorgeous eyes (yum!), I heard her dreaded voice behind me.
"I am so sorry. I didn't even see you there."
Brittany stood there in the tightest, skimpiest red dress I've ever seen and believe me, I've seen some creative dresses.
Nol helped me to gain my balance once more and then let go of me. My arms and waist were tingling where his hands had touched me, but I knew I needed to shake it off so I could concentrate in schooling Brittany.
"Well I think everyone knows where you are. We can practicaly smell you from a mile away."
I hadn't registered the awful smell coming from her until I said it. She was clearly drunk, now that I got a good look at her and the smell was undeniably alcohol. She looked like she was about to fall over and she couldn't stay focused on one point for more than a few seconds.
"Haha," she responded in a dull tone. Suddenly, her eyes filled with lust and I saw they were directed at Nol.
"Nolly, I haven't seen you all night," she walked up to him and laid a manicured hand on his chest. "We should hang out, like old times," she said with a promiscuous undertone.
"I think I should drive you home. You seem like you've had a little too much fun already," he observed, taking her hand off his chest and helping her to keep standing.
"We don't need to go to my house to have fun. We can just go to your bedroom. I still remember the way," she slipped the only strap on her dress off her shoulder as Nol sighed and shot me and apologetic smile.
"I'm going to take her to one of the guest bedrooms so she doesn't hurt herself. Will you be okay by yourself for a few minutes?"
He looked genuinely upset about leaving me so I put on a brave smile and nodded. He sent me another apologetic smile before practically dragging Brittany through the crowd.
I sighed and looked around the crowd for anyone I might know. I decided the best way to waste time was to go grab me a drink. I had at least three guys hit on me in the short time span it took me to get from the living room to the kitchen. Of course, I rejected each of them with a big, fat no. I didn't feel too bad about it because as soon as I walked past I would hear them using the same line on a different girl.
Idiots.
I reached the drink table and grabbed me a soda. I would like to stay aware of my surroundings thank you very much.
I took out my phone and saw Lou had sent me a picture of Grace and Beau danicng together. Grace had her head back, as if she were laughing and Beau had a big smile on his face. At least thsi night was working out for one person.
I saw someone making their way over to me and was ready to reject yet another guy, but saw it was Nol. I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at his crooked glasses.
"I'm really sorry about that," he said once he weaved his way through the crowd. "I just didn't want to see her get hurt or worse hurt someone else. The good news is, however, before I even left the room, she was asleep so she shouldn't be bothering anymore."
I laughed and responded, "well, that's a relief. I was afraid I was going to have to protect you all night from her claws that couldn't seem to stay away from you."
He gave and easy laugh, but quickly turned the tables on me.
"Aww. Are you a little jealous that you don't get all this," he motioned to his body then started doing a weird dance.
My eyes widened and when I couldn't take it any longer I burst out laughing.
"That," gasp, "is so," gasp, "ridiculous."
He started laughing as well, but grasped my hands and made me dance with him.
"I am not doing that," I said when he tried to make me do his weird dance.
"Oh come on. It's a lot of fun. All you need to do is move the hips and your already halfway there."
He started his ridiculous dance again, this time pulling me along with him. I noticed people were starting to stare at us, either with envy or amusement, but soon gave into his persistent requests. I started trying to do his dance then it was his turn to laugh. He threw back his head and let out a loud, boisterous laugh.
"What," I cried. "This is exactly what you were doing."
"I know," he choked out. "But now I'm seeing how crazy I looked while doing it."
"Shut up," I laughed.
"That was a job well done though. Congrats," he let go of my hands and started clapping.
I did a mock bow, then noticed his glasses were still crooked.
"Come here," I groaned, pulling him towards me.
A confused look crossed his face, but he obeyed so I could adjust his glasses.
"There," I delcared, pulling back from him. I didn't even get to take a step back before a felt his arm wrap around my back, trapping me close to him.
I let out a slight gasp and stood there a bit dumb founded as he stepped closer.
"Do you want to get out of here," he asked, staring into my eyes with a different intensity than before.
"That depends. What did you have in mind?"
****
There you go. Chapter 10. It's been fun getting to write a scene with Rory and Nol that's longer than three paragraphs. Expect more of them in the next chapter. :)
The picture is what I picture Nol wearing for his party.
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