"Baby, you're like lightning in a bottle, I can't let you go now that I've got you." I sang at the top of my lungs out of the car window.
"And Ahhlll I need is to be struck, by.." Mateo sang next to me, us making eye contact with one another, a small smile playing on my lips.
There was a buzz in my head from the alcohol, and somehow my heart felt a little bit lighter from hanging around with Arabella and Mateo. My mind had forgotten my father, the feeling of being pulled away from Chase, and all the rejection I had been feeling lately.
We parked outside of a stone brick mansion with people littering the lawn. There were red solo cups everywhere, and multi-colored lights. I got out of the car before Mateo fully parked, and began walking towards the big house. My steps a little bit faltered, and my heart beating fast anticipating the music.
"Ava, wait." Arabella said behind me. I paused and waited for them to catch up to me. I linked my arm between the two and pulled them towards the house. I could feel Arabella chuckle beside me, which made me smile.
A loud pop song began playing in the house, I immediately began dancing moving my hips to the beat. I grabbed Mateo and Arabella's hands and waved them next to me, soon enough we were all having an amazing time.
"I'm gonna get another drink!" I yelled over the music. I didn't wait for them to follow me, instead I found myself stumbling towards a large marble kitchen. A sea of bottles and snacks littered the counters and a couple making out in the corner. I grimaced hating PDA.
I filled up a red cup with a random bottle, I brought it to my lips and felt the sting of the drink going down my throat. I grimaced and decided it was better to set it down. "Ava knows what's up! Shots!!" Mateo said grabbing a bottle of tequila.
I laughed at him and Arabella readying the shots. "Or we could do body shots, up to you." Mateo continued, winking at me. I gagged and flipped him off. I snatched the tequila shot from him and waited for the others.
"On 3!" Arabella said. I completely ignored her and just took the shot. I stuck my tongue at them being too slow for me. "If you weren't drunk right now, I would totally smack you."
My mind was buzzing and I was ignoring their conversation. My head was bobbing to the upbeat music, and my sudden need for dancing was defeating my body. Mateo's hand was on my lower waist as he guided us out of the kitchen towards the large amount of people grinding on each other.
I scanned the room and saw my boyfriend leaning against a couch with a couple of guys and girls. My excitement to see him was beyond describable, "Guys! Look it's my boyfriend!" I slurred to no one in particular. I sauntered towards him and he looked at me with an alarming face. I pushed a girl that was in front of him out of the way and draped myself over Chase.
"Hi, boyfriend!" I placed a kiss on his cheek.
Chase looked at me, "What are you doing here?" he paused and looked at my state of condition "Have you been drinking?"
"Psht, only like this much." I pinched my fingers together.
He rolled his eyes at me, "Are you mad at me?" I pouted.
"You're supposed to be at home."
"And you were supposed to be at a dinner, but hey look at us! Now we're at the same party, kinda like we are soulmates, huh?" I looked around to the people around Chase and saw that I had all their attention.
A pale girl looked me up and down, then gave me a tight smile. Maybe she was being rude, or maybe she was being nice but I couldn't tell because of all the alcohol I had consumed. I removed myself from Chase and introduced myself to her, "Hi! I'm Ava, you kinda look like Barbie!"
"It's Cartia, but Barbie works too." she said smirking.
I turned to look at the four guys and hugged each of them as tight as I could, "Hello! I'm Ava Kendrick."
Chase grabbed me by the waist before I could get to the last blonde haired boy. "Ava, who the hell did you come with?"
I pouted, "Stop yelling at me."
"Who did you come with, why are you alone?" He gritted.
I turned around to look for Mateo and Arabella, but only saw one of them walking towards me. "There!"
"For fucks sake." Chase muttered.
Mateo stood next to me and I introduced him to everyone. "Hello new friends meet Mateo my other friend Arabella is MIA at the moment. They're super sweet and they're models, and now we are all best friends."
Cartia cut my rambling off, "Chase, when do you want to head out?"
The sudden tipsiness I was feeling wore off upon hearing her words, "Head out?" I asked slightly angry.
Chase looked at me then Cartia, "I'm uh-"
"He's my ride." Cartia cut us off once again. The nerve of this girl was unreal. She gave me the up-down and I suddenly felt insecure in my tube top upon seeing her perfect body in her tight jeans.
"You're joking?" I asked, my face dropping.
Chase grabbed me, "C'mon I'll take you home, her sorority is close to campus."
I jerked myself away from him, "I think I'm okay."
I could feel the eyes of the people nearby watching us, and I was beginning to feel bad for the little scene I was causing. However, this was something I wasn't going to pretend to be okay with. His football friends looked at me smug and were laughing amongst themselves, probably because their "boy" had been called out.
Chase reached for me again, but I took a step back. I was hurt at the sneaky lie. Was he even at the dinner? Why did he hide his friend from me? I was beyond angry. "Ava, please." Chase pleaded with me.
"Mateo's taking me home." I said pulling on Mateo's arm, walking away from Chase and his friends. I felt bad because I used Mateo to make Chase mad, but I couldn't help it. I was embarrassed at the fact she said that out loud. I felt like an idiot. Seeing Chase's hurt expression killed me, I knew he deserved it. A small part of me felt like I shouldn't have said anything.
I didn't bother to turn back and I leaded us towards the back patio, where it was quieter. I was silent. "Can I have my arm back?" Mateo joked.
I let a small laugh, realizing while I was in my head, I had his arm held hostage. "Sorry."
"It's fine, I should be asking if you're okay though." Mateo said. I looked at him confused, he was asking if I was okay? I basically used him.
"I'd be lying if I said yes. I just- I don't know what's going on with him. He's never been like this before. Oh, and don't even get me started on Cartia, or whatever her name is."
Mateo engulfed me in a hug, which surprised me. I was tense and it took me a few moments before I could actually return the hug. I did, however, and it instantly made me feel a little bit better. I pulled away from him suddenly remembering we were missing one friend.
"Hey, where's Arabella?"
"Pftt, she saw a guy and ended up going home with him. She wanted me to find you so we could go home." Mateo said to me laughing.
I shrugged my shoulders, "Well, if she's getting some, I'm happy for her."
"Speaking of getting some.." Mateo trailed off, causing me to glare at him. "Ha ha, just kidding... What do you say we get you home?"
"Best thing you've said all night."
***
My car roared into life, and stared at the dashboard. My mind completely out of it, and my heart feeling heavy. I still couldn't believe Ava saw me at the party, and left me in the dust. I could see at first she was too drunk to even comprehend what was going on, but then once Cartia mentioned me taking her home she lost it. Which was something I completely understood, I'd flip off it was the opposite. I seriously didn't know what was getting in to me.
I felt Cartia put her hand on my thigh, "Hey, are you okay?"
I looked at her hand placement then at her, "Uh, I'm good."
I didn't trust her enough to let her into my life just like that. We had just met a couple hours a go anyway. My mind flashed back to the dinner and how quickly Cartia and I became fast friends, my judgement of her was wrong. She was very nice and even had invited me to have dinner with her father who was on the boosters for the UCLA football team. That could open up a lot of opportunities for me. I just hoped Ava wouldn't flip out.
"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"
"I just met you." I reasoned.
"I know it's about Ava." It felt wrong talking about my relationship problems with any other girl, but somehow I ended up spilling my heart out to Cartia in the parking lot outside the party.
"I just know I should've texted Ava I was going, if only my stupid phone hadn't died. Now she's pissed at me, and I'm not sure how to even bring it up to her." I breathed out.
Cartia gave me a small smile, "If she can't understand you're in college and wanting to have a good time out with your friends then she's crazy! You don't have to check in for everything Chase."
Maybe she was right, I was her boyfriend not the kid she was supposed to be babysitting. I stayed silent after and decided to drive Cartia home quickly. I knew that if I just let Ava sit upset like this, it would kill me. Who knows what capability Mateo would do to get his grubby hands on my girl any chance he could get.
As I arrived at Cartia's sorority, she opened the door but stayed in the car. "Are you going to be okay?"
I nodded my head at her and she stepped out of the car giving me another smile, "I'll talk to my dad about the dinner, and text you the info."
"Sounds good, the other guys too, right?"
Something flashed in Cartia's eyes but I couldn't quite decipher it, "Yep."
Cartia got into her home, and I was speeding towards the dorm rooms. I looked at the clock and saw it was nearing two in the morning, I hoped she hadn't fallen asleep, since this was late for her. I tried checking my phone for battery but sadly it was still dead, so I couldn't text her. Hopefully Arabella would let me in or something, I needed to talk to Ava. My mind was all over the place.
As I put my key card into the building, I sprinted to the third floor and saw room 203. I knocked once, no answer. Decided to know twice and again, there was no answer. Maybe she hadn't gotten in yet, and was still on her way home. I hoped.
I sat down on the opposite side of the wall, and waited for what felt like hours. Until I heard noises coming towards the room.
"Wanna see my robot dance." Ava yelled from the entrance of the hallway. I wasn't sure if she was drunk or just herself. She was already a wild cannon.
I heard a deep chuckle, which caused my heart to drop. I saw Mateo accompanying Ava to her room, looking at her the same way I do. I stood up and clenched my fists, I was pissed. Was this how she felt when she saw Cartia and I together?
Finally, the two noticed me standing there. Ava had her keys to her dorm in her hand, and she was looking at me with sadness in her eyes. That face killed me, I wanted to make her happy. It seemed like I was just letting her down lately.
"Chase?" she asked in disbelief.
I looked at her then at Mateo, "Can we talk, please?"
Mateo stood behind Ava, protectingly. That was what I did and I just wanted to rip his head apart. "Do you really think she wants to talk to you right now? After what you did?"
"I don't remember asking for your input, but maybe you should back off. She's my girlfriend." I spat.
He dryly laughed, causing me to take a step forward. "Oh please, the way you treated her tonight means she needs to think about her other options."
"How about I rearrange your face?" I threatened him.
"Would you both stop! I can handle myself." Ava quietly yelled. "Mateo, I appreciate the help but I can speak for myself, okay?"
Mateo waved his hands in surrender, causing me to smirk. "Thanks for the ride, I'll talk to you soon."
Hold up, what? Over my dead body. "Fine, be safe Aves."
That was my nickname for her.
Ava unlocked the door, and we both stepped in. She turned the lights on and sat on her bed, hugging a pillow close to her body. I sat next to her reaching to grab her hands, but she pulled away from me. That hurt. A lot.
"So, Cartia huh?" Ava said picking at her nails, avoiding eye contact with me.
"It wasn't like that I promise." I said to her. Ava met my eyes, her big brown eyes looking watery.
"I-.." she paused taking a deep breath, "Why didn't you tell me.?
"I promise that party was last minute, I wanted to tell you but my phone died. Cartia asked me for a ride there and home, and I couldn't say no because I'm having dinner with her dad."
Ava's eyes widened, and fury took over her face. "Wait! No, that sounded bad. Her dads a booster for the football team, it's just business. The boys are going too."
Her angry expression softened, "She just- the way she just brought up the fact that you were taking her home, made me feel like shit to be honest."
I sighed, from what I knew about Cartia, she wasn't necessarily like that. "Do you think she meant it intentionally?"
Ava shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, I was kinda drunk too. I don't want to be torn apart from you Chase."
"Ava, I want you to know there is nothing that will tear me apart from you okay? I love you more than anything in this world, please don't let my idiot moves break this up."
Ava scrunched her face together, "Baby, I would never break up with you.. again.." Ava said the last part hiding her face from me. I could tell she was trying hard not to laugh, at the quick breakup we had our senior year of school.
I grabbed her hands removing them from her face, "Oh, so you think it's funny?"
She giggled, sticking her tongue out at me. I grabbed her and began placing kisses all over her, she began squirming moving underneath me. "Chase! Stop!" She said in between laughs.
I finally stopped by kissing her on her lips, "I'm sorry Aves."
She gave me a small smile, and hugged me. "It's okay, I'm sorry too.."
"For what?"
She sheepishly smiled, "For using Mateo to get back at you, I wanted to make you jealous."
"All good, I will admit though, I almost beat the shit out of him. Consider your plan effective."
"Oh my god, I saw! He's just a friend though, we set the boundaries already."
I rolled my eyes and clenched my jaw, "He likes you Ava, can't you see that."
"No way, we spoke about it. He's just affectionate." Ava said like it was nothing.
I envisioned a million different scenarios with Ava and Mateo being "affectionate" and it made me sick to my stomach. Seeing him embrace her or feed her fries grossed me out and I felt the sudden urgency of killing him.
"Um, Chase. Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." Ava grabbed my hand and squeezed it.
"Oh yep, just dandy. Please tell me there's no way you and Mateo would ever feed each other fries."
"Uh.."
"Just say it!"
"Okay, um.. there's no way I'm feeding Mateo fries?"
"Ah, that's more like it." I said grabbing Ava and cuddling her.
"You big weirdo."
"Correction, your weirdo."
"Always."
***