CHAPTER 28
Yoshi's kiss took me by surprise.
Not only because of the fact that I wasn't expecting it, but because the moment his lips touched mine, pleasant and new sensations invaded my body. His kiss is soft and slow, I can feel each touch of our lips in such detail that I press my hands to my sides. He tastes like vodka and something sweet. He sucks on my bottom lip, and then kisses me again, speeding up the kiss a bit. The thinking part of my brain goes down the drain and hormones take the wheel. I allow myself to enjoy this kiss, I am a single girl being kissed by a cute boy, there is nothing wrong with that.
Yoshi takes me by the waist, pulling me closer to him and I wrap my hands around his neck. I never imagined that Yoshi would kiss so well. Our breaths speed up as we heat it up.
Someone clears their throat.
And that's when I remember that we are in front of the house, in full view for everybody. I pull away from Yoshi, without removing my hands from his neck, and turn my head to look at the person who cleared his throat.
Marco.
My heart stops.
Because he's not alone.
Behind him, a few steps away, is Ares, his hands in his jeans' pockets, his eyes on me.
Oh shit.
His face bears an empty and indecipherable countenance. Is he angry? Disappointed? Surprised? Does he just not care? I will never know by his expression because it's cold and stoic.
My hands drop from Yoshi's neck and fall to my sides.
Marco gives me a teasing smile, "You don't stop surprising me."
Ares looks away and starts walking towards us, "Come on, we don't have all night." He says to Marco. His voice is neutral, it reminds me of the first time we spoke.
Ares heads in our direction and passes right next to me like nothing happened. He really doesn't care and why does that hurt so much?
Marco gives me one last smile and follows him. I see them heading to Ares's truck, which is parked on the street, to take out some boxes of what looks like beer.
Yoshi takes my hand, "Earth to Rachel."
I stop looking at the stupid Greek God and focus on my best friend, the boy I just kissed. Shit, what a night!
"I'm sorry, it's just..."
Yoshi just caresses my cheek, "You don't have to apologize, I know how you feel about him, I don't expect you to act like you don't care overnight." He adjusts his glasses, and I can't help the smile that fills my lips. Yoshi is so cute.
"We should go in." I don't want to face Ares again when he comes back with those boxes.
Yoshi nods, his hand playing with mine, "Yeah but first, I want you to know that this is not a one-night thing for me. I really care about you, and I want us to try."
"I care about you too, but I don't want to hurt you."
"I know," he says with a smile, "Let's just try it and if it doesn't work out, we can just be friends but at least we'll know we tried."
"Yoshi, I don't—"
"Just think about it, okay? You don't have to answer now."
I just nod and pull him to follow me, "Okay, now let's go, Casanova."
Yoshi laughs and together, we go inside the house again.
-
I always underestimate the ability of alcohol to get people drunk in a short period of time or that ability to cause people to be more daring and uninhibited about what they want, it is as if it gives them courage.
The first of the group to get drunk?
Carlos.
We were surprised?
Not a bit.
We are all quite happy, so to speak, but Carlos is past the point of no return. He is unconscious on one of the sofas in the house, snoring and drooling on a flowered cushion. Apollo —being the cute boy that he is— checks his breathing every so often in his worried innocence.
Carlos is not the only one in Drunkland, most of the people at the party are in the happy stage while others have already crossed the point of no return like my dear friend. There are many couples kissing in the dark corners of the house, as if no one sees them, when in reality we can all see them, but we just don't care, thanks to the alcohol flowing through our veins.
Apollo is the only sober one because after a round of rock, paper, or scissors, he's the designated driver so he has to drive Dani's car and get us all safely to our homes.
Yoshi took off his glasses two drinks ago. His eyes look so cute, exposed like that. We are all sitting on the living room floor, in front of a small table, chatting through music.
I'm having a great time, and at times, I manage to completely forget about Ares. But the more I drink, the more I think about him. I don't know if it's a side effect of alcohol, but I can't help it and it bothers me. I don't want to think about him, I don't want to scan the room from time to time to see if I see him, I don't want to wonder what he's doing and who he's with.
I don't care about him. I don't care about him.
I repeat in my head over and over again.
I arrange the cushion that I have on my legs, covering myself because I am sitting cross-legged on the floor and I'm wearing a skirt. Despite the semi-darkness of the place, I don't want to go around showing anything.
Dani kisses Apollo on the cheek, telling him that he is very cute and he just blushes, lowering his head. I shake my head and then I see him.
Ares walks through the room holding the hand of a tall brunette with a slim body and wavy hair. He doesn't even look around, he just makes his way through the people until he reaches the stairs and begins to climb them, the girl smiling at him as he glances at her over his shoulder.
I feel an emptiness in my stomach, as if all the air has left my body and it hurts. I know what people go upstairs to do in those rooms, and from the look the brunette is giving him, she really wants to. Jealousy gnaws at me, and then I realize that he doesn't really care about me, because just seeing him with that girl feels like my heart is going to explode, imagining him kissing her makes my stomach turn. He saw me kissing Yoshi and he didn't care; he didn't even look surprised.
That is the big difference between him and me.
I feel everything and he feels nothing.
This love is one-sided, it's always been that way with him.
What am I doing torturing myself this way? I must get him out of my mind, out of my heart, I need to forget him. I no longer want to feel this way, I no longer want to feel hurt, disappointed. I take Yoshi's glass and drink the whole thing until the glass is completely empty. They all look at me in surprise.
So much alcohol in one hit makes me dizzy for a second, I grab Dani's glass and do the same, but she stops me mid-air, "Hey, calm down, no rush!"
I hand her glass back, breathing hard after drinking so much in one go, "Sorry, I got carried away."
She gives me a skeptical look, "Are you okay?"
A forced smile fills my lips, the image of Ares with the girl plastered in my mind, "I'm super good."
My ears get hot as well as my face, do you remember the qualities of alcohol? Feeling brave, I take Yoshi's hand and stand up, forcing him to get up with me.
"Hey, what's up?" Yoshi says surprised.
"We'll be right back," I say to Dani and Apollo, pulling Yoshi behind me.
Climbing the stairs is more difficult than it sounds, especially if the world is spinning around you. I hold on tight to the railing, and with the other hand I keep pulling Yoshi who chuckles, confused.
"Where are we going, Rochi?" He asks me when we reach the end of the stairs and we find a dark corridor full of doors on both sides.
"To have fun, like him, like everyone," I fix it quickly, and Yoshi is so drunk he doesn't notice it.
Inevitably, I imagine Ares behind one of those doors, making out with that brunette, his hands touching her, making her reach a delicious orgasm. My stomach churns.
I stumble across the hall with Yoshi following me. I choose a door at random because I know that fate will not be so cruel as to make me enter the room that Ares is in.
It's a small room with a single bed, I don't bother turning on the light. The clarity outside is bright enough to see everything. I grab Yoshi by the shirt and throw him on the bed.
I close the door, giggling, playing with the hem of my shirt, "Yoshi..."
Yoshi just mumbles, "What are you doing, Rochi?"
"What do you think?" I try to move seductively towards the bed but I wobble so much that I have to hold onto the wall.
Yoshi just lifts his hand from the bed to wave his finger as a sign of no, "No, Rochi, you're drunk, not like this."
"You're drunk too, silly."
"That doesn't make it okay." he whispers.
I focus on trying to pull my shirt over my head, but it doesn't go past my neck, I get tangled up and hit the wall, and I fall.
I get up as fast as I can, still wobbly, "I'm fine!"
But Yoshi doesn't answer me, I just hear a loud snore, I give him a deadly look, lowering my shirt into place, "Are you serious?" I growl in frustration, and pinch his leg, "Yoshi? Come on! Yoshi!"
Another who fell into unconsciousness. Drunkland must be full tonight.
Frustrated and with no boy to seduce, I leave the room and lean against the door. My stupid intoxicated brain comes across the idea of looking for Ares but just imagining him having sex with that girl makes me cancel the idea outright.
I see a light at the end of the hall, and no, I'm not dead. But still, I follow the light.
To say that I heard all kinds of things while crossing that corridor is an understatement. From moans to indecent requests, I block those sounds from my mind because I know one of those could be Ares. I find myself in front of a door with white frames with squares of glass, and I open it because the light comes from there.
It is a balcony.
And it's empty.
Or so I think until I close the door behind me and I can see someone leaning on the balcony railing to my right, cigarette smoke rising above him. I can only see his back, but I know it's him, and my heart knows it too and beats like the masochistic idiot that it is.
Ares.
I don't move, my mouth is dry, my tongue feels heavy. I think that is from the alcohol. He looks at me over his shoulder and he doesn't look surprised to see me, no expression on his face same as when he saw me with Yoshi.
Squeezing my hands to my sides, I face the stupid Greek God who has haunted my thoughts all night.
-
Double update. Keep reading :D