Helens party's is at her house, and by house I mean three story mansion. By the time our Uber pulls up at the front gates the street is already filled with hundreds of cars and multiple people are outside. I hand our driver the money we owe before following Molly out of the car.
"This mansion is massive" Molly gushes as we walk up the driveway
"Tell me about it" I say "wait until we go inside, we'll never find each other"
The house is designed so that the front door is on the second level with a stairs that leads down into where the main party is being held. You can walk around the whole perimeter of the house with a balcony view of everything that's going on below.
We lean against the railing while Molly texts Sean to let him know that we're here
"They're in the games room" Molly shouts over the music "they said come and meet them"
I nod and shout back "I know where that is, follow me"
As promised I direct us to the games room which is on the second floor not far from where we were. The games room was huge and as you can probably guess full of games such as ping pong, basketball and pool.
"Fancy seeing you two here" Molly grins walking up to Ryder and Sean who were busy playing pool
Sean looks up from the table after missing his shot "wow, you look..... amazing" he says directing his compliment to Molly
I focus my attention to Ryder who's about to pot his last ball, which he does with ease. I take my opportunity to subtly check him out, he's wearing a black T-shirt and sweatpants with a matching black cap along with his usual silver chain and watch.
He smirks and walks over to me after putting his cue down. Sean's too focused on Molly to even notice he's lost the game. I lean against the pool table while he stands in front of me with his hand resting on the table beside me
"Well you came dressed to kill" he smirks "you haven't caused any trouble yet, have you? I'd hate to miss out"
I grin "me cause trouble? No way"
"Hey Talia, hey Ryder" Shay grins walking over to us. Ryder moves his hand from beside me, and instead stands beside me
"Hey" we both say
"Where are the others?" I ask "don't tell me there occupied for the night already"
She shakes her head "Loren's gone to get us some drinks and as for Dani she's not even here yet. You here long?"
I shake my head "literally just got here"
"I've heard Helen and Cammy are going to have a big arrival where they want everyone in the main room" Loren says after walking up to us and handing us all some drinks. Sean and Molly have also joined our little circle "that'll be.... fun"
"Like everyone's going to fit in there" Sean rolls his eyes
As if on que the music stops and an announcement is made for everyone to go to the main hall
"How extra can you get" I mutter
"Let's give everyone a minute" Ryder adds "I'm not going to be another one of their puppets and follow them around"
"That sounds like a good idea" Molly agrees
After a few minutes we leave the games room. Just as we make it into view of the stairs Cammy and Helen walk in and happy birthday starts playing. We all stop walking and stand in a group, having no intention to interrupt their big 'moment'
But Helen has other ideas
She must have spotted us while flicking her hair and once she does storms over "why does a slut like you think she can come to my birthday party" she shouts over the music directing her anger at me. Cammy has moved to stand beside her with her arms crossed.
Ryders hand rests on my waist and he gives it a reassuring squeeze. I shake my head "Don't ruin your big entrance because of your hatred of me Helen"
She smirks and any guilty feelings I have about ruining her birthday disappear "Oh sweetie publicly embarrassing you is the best birthday present I could ask for"
I roll me eyes "There's only one person your embarrassing right now and it isn't me"
She stamps her foot on the ground like a sulking child "watch your back tonight" she turns around and grabs Cammys arm before storming off
"That's them?" Molly asks shocked. When we all look at her confused she continues "I was expecting people you'd actually have to compete with, you know people on your beauty level"
I grin "that's so sweet"
"There's Dani" Shay shrieks "I better go see her before she's whisked away"
"I'm going to go find Jack" Loren starts to walk away before turning around to me "remember that joke Shay made in school?" She asks and I nod "you should make that a plan instead and I'm saying that for more then one reason" She winks before turning around and walking away
"I need a drink" I say and walk away to avoid Ryders intrigued stars
Once I get to the kitchen I grab a bottle of beer and use the bottle opener to snap the lid. I lean against the island and take a swig of the beer. I feel a presence beside me and the smell of Ryders well known aftershave surrounds me
"Joke?" Is all he asks and I look at him to see a smirk on his face
I shake my head but end of grinning anyway "you don't even know what it is yet you've that cocky smirk on your face"
"I call it good intuition"
I roll my eyes playfully "I'm still not telling you"
He grabs the bottle out of my hand and takes a drink from it "fine, how about a game of basketball"
"Basketball?" I ask arching my eyebrow
He nods "the courts outside and from what I can see it's empty. If I win you tell me the joke and if you win I drop it"
I cross my arms "your almost a foot taller than me" he grins and his dimples show "but your still going to lose"
He wraps his arm over my shoulders and directs us towards the court. True to his word the court was empty and there was a basketball lying in the middle of it
"You ready to lose?" Ryder asks and dribbles the ball but I quickly snatch it off him before throwing it from where I'm standing. The ball thankfully goes straight in the net
I turn around and smirk at him "still think I'm going to lose?"
"Oh it's on"
Ryder runs to get the ball and the game begins
Ten minutes of dribbling, shooting and scoring later it's down to the last run. I shoot the ball to hopefully score my winning point but Ryder jumps and catches it before running. I run after him but it becomes clear it's too late when he shoots and it goes straight in
He turns around with a winning smirks on his face
"I'm totally blaming the height" I say crossing my arms
He grins walking towards me so there's not much distance between us "oh the height is it?"
I nod looking up at him, uncrossing my arms and stepping closer "mhm"
"Mhm" he says his rough yet soft hand wraps around my waist
I grab his cap and put it backwards on my head "definitely the height" Suddenly we're both leaning closer to each other
"Hey you two!"
We jolt apart at the sound of Mollys voice "I've been looking for you everywhere. There's a game of truth or dare going on upstairs, I thought ye might want to join"
Great timing Molly