III
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"Yasss girl," Ali snapped with her right hand, hyping up my outfit for the party. I laughed at her reaction.
I was wearing a shiny silver, spaghetti-strapped bodysuit with black short-shorts.. nothing too special, but it did flatter me pretty well. The fact that I was willing to admit that was saying a lot.
Ali was wearing a cheetah-print bandeau with black, high-waisted leather shorts. And damn did she pull it off. Paired with gold hoops and and a gold choker, she looked badass. After telling her this, I picked up my phone to see where everyone was.
"Oooo they're almost here," I told her excitedly and finished applying my makeup. I had applied a smokey eye with silver accents and dark lipstick. Not gonna lie... I was feeling myself.
"This is gonna be so fun," she replied, just as excited. We were playing music to get in the mood.. and if I said we hadn't pregamed a little bit I would be lying. Not too much later, there was a knock on the door.
I shot her an excited smile and ran over to the door, opening it up to reveal none other than Kevin. When he saw me, he immediately picked me up in a hug and twirled me around. I let out a surprised squeal and a laugh as he did this.
"Crys!! What the hell is up my dude??" He put me back down.
"I missed you," I smiled and hugged him back briefly before leading him into the room.
"Back at ya Crys, it's been more than a whole wee- ohh hello there," he said, immediately noticing Ali and not even hiding the fact that he was checking her out.
"Lemme guess, Kevin?" She asked, biting back a smile at his Kevin-ness.
"The one and only.. and what's your name? Or can I call you mine," he said and winked. I lightly slapped him on the arm and sat down on my desk chair to finish curling my hair.
"I'm Alison, but you can call me Ali," she responded, matching his bold energy as she introduced herself.
"Our ship name is Kali, that's pretty sick," Kevin commented matter-of-factly, falling back into my bed. Ali let out a laugh and agreed, amusement filling her expression.
"I kind of like Alvin," she replied, and his eyes lit up.
"Like Alvin and the Chipmunks!" He exclaimed.
"Exactly," she chuckled, "a true classic."
"I love it. Alright it's decided- our ship name is Alvin," Kevin finished and relaxed back on my bed again. I chuckled and rolled my eyes at them.
"You guys are something else," I mumbled. A few moments later, after I had just finished curling my hair, there was another knock on the door.
"Heyy!!!" Scarlett, Savanah, and I all exclaimed at the same time but in our own distinct ways. We immediately brought each other in for a hug.
"You look SO GOOD!" Scarlett gushed as they came in to the dorm.
"Oh please, I woke up like this," I joked and they laughed before noticing Ali. They seemed to hit it off right away, which didn't surprise me in the slightest. There was another knock on the door, and it was Eli this time.
We greeted each other excitedly and I gave him a hug before he walked over to Scarlett and tased her waist from behind. Her startled reaction made us all laugh.
"Do that one more time and you'll be single," she threatened, making him chuckle and put his arms around her.
"I saw Ashton parking, I stole his spot in front of him," Eli looked over to tell me and grinned proudly at his actions. I rolled my eyes and laughed at them before making my way over to the door. I stepped out right as Ashton was a little bit down the hall from me
"Damn my girlfriend's hot," he said as he looked me up and down, taking in my appearance. "Although I prefer you with nothing on," he joked, stepping up to me and taking me into a hug to greet me. I chuckled at his crudeness and hugged him back tightly.
"And there's that sweet greeting that I love so much," I said sarcastically as we pulled away, looking up into his eyes.
"I missed you," he told me with a grin, lifting my chin and bringing his lips to mine. I kissed him back for a few moments before pulling away with a smile.
"We should probably all get going soon," I told him, opening the door and leading him inside.
"AYEEE Ashton's here!" Kevin exclaimed, pointing over at him enthusiastically. Ashton nodded at him in response and greeted everyone else afterwards.
"This man already has lipstick on him," Kevin said in reference to Ashton and started belly laughing.
"Shut up, Kev," Ashton laughed and threw one of my decorative pillows at Kevin, who caught it when it was in front of his face, still belly laughing.
I quickly reached up with my hand and wiped the small amount of lipstick off of Ashton, laughing at the causally violated look that he sent my way.
"Is the Uber almost here?" Ali asked me.
"Yeah, but two of us will have to walk there or something- the size that would fit all of us was wayyy too expensive for some reason, sorryy," I said and looked around the room. "I volunteer me and Ashton to walk back if other people can walk there," I offered.
"Oh, thanks for that," Ashton said sarcastically and I looked at him, shrugging with a grin.
Eli and Scarlett left soon after to get a head start, since they were the victims who had volunteered to walk there. We all knew that about a hundred steps in Scarlett would make him give her a piggyback ride the rest of the way, though.
Ashton's hand rested on my thigh the whole Uber ride there. It was crazy that even though we had been dating for as long as we had, this simple action made the butterflies in my stomach light on fire.
* * *
About an hour into the party, those of us who drank were all pretty tipsy. I couldn't stop laughing my ass off at something Savanah had said, but we didn't even remember what it was.
The pounding of the music rattled my chest as I let myself move my hips to the beat, letting my arms up above my head. I grabbed Ashton's hand and tried to pull him up off of the chair to dance, but he instead pulled me down onto him. His face was lit with the rapidly changing colors in the darkness of the party.
I found myself straddling him and leaned in, bringing my lips to his. His hands traveled down my back and to my butt, making me let out a drunken giggle. I pulled away to laugh and he began kissing my neck. My hands went up to the sides of his face and I returned my lips to his.
Feeling extra confident for some reason, I stood up and brought myself in between his legs, turning to face away from him and leaning down into his lap, moving my hips against his front. I reached behind my head to hold the side of his as he reacted to me, and let out another giggle when he reached to my front and pulled me in tighter into him. I kept moving my hips in circles on top of him as he moved to grip my waist and kiss my neck.
This went on for a few more minutes before I told him I was going to get another drink. He got up to find Eli as I walked in to the kitchen area. After grabbing a drink, I made my way into the next room over. There, I found Ali, Scarlett, Savanah, and Kevin sitting on a couch laughing.
"Ayeee Crys!" Kevin yelled over to me as I approached them, the other three echoing him right after. I waved exaggeratedly as I approached them.
"What's up guys!" I yelled back over the music coming in from the other room. Scarlett was sitting with Savanah, and Kevin and Ali were next to each other. A few moments later, Ali looked behind me with her eyes wide.
"Shit my ex is here," she told us worriedly. "He's coming over here." She looked around for something to do, before her eyes landed on Kevin.
"Can you pretend to kiss me?" She asked urgently. His face lit up.
"Duh, but like how do you pretend to-" she cut him off by reaching up and grabbing the sides of his face, planting her lips on his. He quickly kissed back, leaning into her and pulling her closer to him. The rest of us looked at each other in surprise.
I held back a laugh as they continued the kiss, obviously no longer just putting on a show for her ex. Kevin leaned further into her, and I finally let out my chuckle, looking away like everyone else.
When they finally pulled apart, we could tell that neither of them had wanted to. I took a sip of my drink to hold back my laugher.
"Thanks," she said to him, slightly taken aback by the sequence of events.
"Any freakin time," Kevin responded, also a bit taken aback.
"I'm gonna go find Ashton and Eli- they're probably together being boring somewhere," I told them, turning around and walking out of the room with a slight stumble in my steps.
People and lights swirled around me as my vision slowly spun. I felt like I was walking in circles in the same place. However, I tried my hardest to push aside my dizziness to kept looking around for Ashton.
I didn't like being alone at parties, not after all the shit that happened. I took another sip of my drink in an effort to get rid of the subtle anxiety I had started feeling.
After what felt like an eternity later, I finally found the two of them. Eli was drunkenly rambling to Ashton about something, which I cut short.
"You guys are boringgg," I complained, grabbing both of their hands and trying to pull them over to the dancing crowd.
"Aye Crystal what's up?" Eli greeted me with a smile. "Where's Scarlett at?"
"She's with the gang in that room," I told him with a hiccup. He walked away to go find them.
"You did not just say 'the gang'," Ashton judged me.
"I did actually, you got a problem with that?" I looked up at him defiantly and he chuckled.
"What if I did?" He replied with a smirk.
"Well then I'd have to punish you," I told him. He raised an eyebrow. "By forcing you to dance with me."
I ignored his protests as I grabbed both of his hands and pulled him with me over to the dancing area. The music was booming and the lasers were flying around the otherwise dark room. I wasn't sure when I had put down my drink, but I didn't have it with me any more as we mixed into the crowd.
I let myself move to the music. I took one of his hands in mine and spun myself around so that my back was against his chest. He slipped his hands from my waist down to to front of my hips, pulling me tighter into him as we moved.
I felt his lips on my neck, and I spun back around to face him, bringing my lips to his before feeling my hands under his shirt and continuing to move to the music.
We danced for what felt like hours before we decided to go find the others. He held onto the belt loops on the back of my shorts as I led the way. When we eventually found them, we all decided to leave. As they ordered an Uber, Ashton and I started walking back.
"It's pretty cold," he commented as we walked down the quiet street.
"I'm hot as hell," I countered, not understanding how he was cold.
"You're not wrong," he grinned over at me.
"AHAHA- I see what you did there," I chuckled. "So how's college treatin you? There aren't any girl's trying to catch a case, are there?" I asked him, half-kidding as he wrapped an arm around me casually.
"I mean, I am irresistible," he joked, before continuing.
"In all seriousness, though," he paused. "I honestly feel really bad about leaving Jake and Layla back at home. I mean, Layla insisted I go but.. I don't know it just feels wrong leaving them by themselves like this, for so many reasons," he finished. He had gotten to the point where vulnerability was still difficult for him, but he never felt like he had to avoid it when he was with me.
"Layla is the strongest girl I know," I told him reassuringly. "Her and Jake got this. They're not alone if they have each other and Eli's family. They'd much rather you be at college than stuck with them your whole life."
"Yeah, you're right, I guess," he responded, obviously still unconvinced. Suddenly, I turned to look at him, excited.
"Hey- look at me! I'm not completely shit-faced!," I said with a smile, and he chuckled.
"I noticed," he replied.
"Like sure I'm a little drunk but I successfully controlled my alcohol intake," I added, barely slurring. "I don't wanna be like my mom, Ash."
He looked over at me, slight confusion lining his brows. My expression was sadder than I had expected it to be.
"Why do you think you ever would?" He asked.
"Well like, we were learning about addiction running in families and whatnot in my class and I was like woah," I stopped for dramatic affect, "that could be me." He chuckled at the way I was telling the story.
"You're not your mom, Crystal," he said as I remembered something.
"You never told me why you don't drink," I told him. "You're secretive as hell," I slurred.
"Thanks, I try," he chuckled. "That's a conversation for another time."
"You say that every time," I frowned up at him. "It's okay, Ash, there's nothing you can't tell me."
"No-I know.. We just should just talk about it when we're both sober," he said nonchalantly, and I realized he was right.
"That's not right now," I slightly slurred and giggled. He laced his fingers through mine as we walked.
"By the way, I'm pretty sure that simply not-blacking-out when you drink doesn't necessarily prevent an addiction," he said, our arms swinging slightly between us.
"I'm good, Ash. I don't feel like I need any subtances to be happy," I told him honestly, "especially when I have you." I leaned up and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"You should make you happy, too, though," he said as my dorm building appeared in the distance.
"I do make me happy. I'm cool and all," I complimented myself, making him chuckle. When we got to the entrance of my dorm building, we stopped walking and faced each other.
"I'm tired," I complained, wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my cheek on his chest. "I don't want you to go, either."
"Like I said, it'll just make the next moment better," he rubbed my back. He knew I tended to be more emotional when drunk, so he usually got cheesier to compensate.
"You're the best boyfriend ever, you know that?" I slurred out, leaning away and putting my hand on his chest.
"Obviously," he replied, smug as usual. He leaned down and gave me a kiss on the lips. I savored the moment for as long as it lasted before we pulled away and he started making his way over to his car. I watched as he drove away and then turned around on my heels, walking into the building.
Ali and I had put a whiteboard on our door when we moved into the dorm. As I approached the door, I noticed a largely written "KNOCK PLEASE" on it. Wth..
I knocked on the door, probably too loud, and leaned up against it, craving my bed. I heard rustling on the other side.
"Just a second!" I heard Ali say. It sounded like she was with someone else. I swear to god if it's her cheating-ass ex boyfriend I'll beat his a-
My thoughts were interrupted when the door abruptly opened. A flustered and disheveled Kevin stood in front of me awkwardly. It was the first time I had ever seen him at all flustered. My mouth dropped as he stepped out and closed the door behind him.
"What's up Crys?" He tried to play it cool by flashing his usual Kevin smile.
"Get it, Kev," I whispered and gave him a pound-it. He laughed and left after we said goodbye. I walked into the dorm and collapsed on my bed, looking over at Ali with mischievous eyes.
"So you and Kevin, huh?" I teased. She smiled and rolled her eyes.
"I mean, he is a really good guy. It's hard to find good guys these days," she said, sinking into her pillow.
"Yeah, well, sometimes they try to act like assholes," I added, letting myself close my eyes for a second. "Even though they never had you fooled."
I was still pretty drunk while I brushed my teeth and showered. Side note- showering while drunk isn't really the best idea. It was surprisingly insanely difficult to accomplish.
As I fell asleep, I thought about something Ali had said to me right before she fell asleep...
"You're pretty lucky to have someone like Ashton.. I swear, whenever he looks at you, the only thing I see in his eyes is pure love. Homeboy really has my girl's back."
Yeah, I thought, a smile making its way into my face.. He does.
• • •
HEY GUYS!!
I hope you enjoyed this happy-ass chapter.
It might be the last you get for a little while... muahaha
I'm just kidding lol
Or am I?
QOTD: If you could marry anyone in the world, who would it be??
>>> Oh god I can't pick just one, but I'm also not a bigamist, so either Tom Holland or Dylan O'Brien?? Bruh idk
Be safe and wash yo hands!!
Stay beautiful,
Briella<3