“Brian canceled!” Stephanie screeches the second I open my front door and seconds later, she barges in with a panicked look on her face. “What are we going to do?!”
I, however, frown at her in confusion. “Who’s Brian?”
She wails, “The guy who was supposed to throw the party tonight! You know, with the frat boys and basketball players.”
Recognition dawns on my blank expression as I shut the door behind her and follow her into the kitchen. Luke was sitting at the counter eating cereal but straightened up when he caught sight of Stephanie’s distress. She marched over to the counter and grabbed an apple from the produce basket before biting into it angrily.
“Hey Stephanie,” Luke greets happily. “What’s wrong?”
As Stephanie is chewing, she glances over at me with sad eyes and silently asks me to explain. So I look to Luke and say, “Our plans fell through for tonight.”
Luke’s brow furrowed. “Brett isn’t having his party?”
I open my mouth to explain further, but Stephanie’s exasperated voice cries, “Brian!”
“Who the hell is Brian?” Luke asks in confusion.
“Stephanie’s friend from Drexel,” I explain quickly, seeing as she became dramatic again as she took another angry bite into the apple. “There were going to be frat boys or something.” And then I pause. “Did you just say Brett’s having a party?”
Luke nods encouragingly. “Yeah, all the guys on the team are going to be there. That’s where I’m headed tonight.”
At the mention of Brett’s party, I vaguely remember a text from Brett on Christmas night, right before I passed out in bed. I pull my phone from my pocket to confirm my suspicions and see his invitation in my message inbox. I felt bad that I didn’t answer him but looked up at Stephanie with an encouraging smile.
“We could go,” I nudge her shoulder. “He invited us, anyway.”
I leave out the part about not answering his invitation and decide to text him later. Relief flooded Stephanie’s face as she considered the option, and Luke nodded again quickly.
“It’s going to be better than some stupid college party with frat douchebags,” Luke points out begrudgingly.
I can’t help but roll my eyes at my little brother and instead tell her, “Justin will probably be there.”
Stephanie grins. “Alright, then it’s settled. We’re going to Brett’s.”
At the mention of Justin, Luke scrunches his nose in disgust. “Justin Jones? Are you hooking up with that idiot again?”
“Who’s hooking up with Justin Jones?” I turn to see Cole standing in the doorway with a heavy jacket still covering his body and a gray beanie firmly on his head. His cheeks were red from the cold but his eyes were narrowed as they darted back and forth between Luke and I for an answer.
“Nobody!” Stephanie throws her hands up in the air in exasperation. “We’ve just been talking. That’s all.”
“Good,” Luke and Cole huff in unison.
I smirk at the both of them. While Luke had a crush on Stephanie, Cole has always had a little crush on me. It was harmless, of course, but sometimes they acted like overprotective boyfriends trying to make sure no harm comes to their girl. Stephanie and I exchange a look as she shakes her head in mock disapproval.
“We’ve got some overprotective ones, huh?” Stephanie jokes with a slight smirk on her lips, and I swear I see Luke blush.
I nod and let out a dramatic sigh. “Apparently so.”
“Anyway,” Steph stretches the word deliberately and ignores the two boys again. “I think going to Brett’s is a good idea. Thank God we have a back up plan.”
A smile grows on my lips. “Who needs frat boys, am I right?”
“Yeah, high school boys are way hotter,” Luke chimes in and Cole nods his head feverishly beside him.
“Besides,” I say slowly, a smirk forming on my lips as I give Stephanie an innocent look. “Justin wouldn’t be at Brian’s, anyway.”
She rolls her eyes at me before she hops off of the counter to throw her apple core away as Luke frowns again at the mention of Justin Jones. Unlike last time, Cole seems unaffected, and I wanted to laugh at them. They were adorable.
“Well now that we have a party to go to,” Stephanie starts. “We should get ready.”
I glance at the clock warily and then back at her. “Steph, it’s only seven.”
“Lauren, do you not understand how important New Year’s Eve is?” She asks me incredulously. “If you don’t look good by midnight, then you won’t get a New Years kiss, and the rest of your year is doomed. Do you want the rest of your new year to be doomed?”
I didn’t quite understand the logic, but I still mumbled, “I guess not.”
Stephanie brightened. “Good, then it’s settled. I have to get my stuff from my car, I’ll be back in a minute.”
As she walks out the front door and toward her car, Luke smirks at Cole and announces, “She’s totally going to kiss me at midnight.”
I can’t help but laugh at him and Cole laughs with me. Luke doesn’t deflate, of course, and instead seems rather proud of himself. When Stephanie comes back, we go up to my bedroom to begin the grueling process of getting ready. She brought the dress that she took from Cara and lays it on my bed carefully with the plastic cover still over it.
Before I could inspect the dress, Stephanie beckoned me over to the vanity and began on my makeup. As she’s brushing my eyelids with shadow and lining my waterline with eyeliner, I sit patiently and begin to think about her words. The question wasn’t so much if I needed to kiss someone at midnight, but even if I did, who would it be?
Nathan’s face came into mind and my heart skipped a beat as I considered it. But quickly, I pushed the thought away, and silently scolded myself for thinking of kissing him. Kissing Nathan Rhodes was a dangerous thought and I couldn’t let myself go there. Instead, I preoccupied myself thinking about what Cara’s dress could look like.
Once my makeup was done and the ends of my hair curled, Stephanie finally let me catch a glimpse of the dress. She pulled the cover off of it and revealed a gold dress with a low neckline and dainty straps. The back was open and the dress didn’t look like it would cover much of anything, but still, Steph instructed me to get in it.
I changed into the dress and realized that I was right: the material ended mid thigh and exposed a good amount of my tanned skin. Stephanie changed into her little black dress before she pulled me over to the full length mirror to examine ourselves. We stood side by side, Stephanie with a stupid smile on her face, and me with a surprised expression.
I drank in my curled blonde hair that looked wavy and messy yet good at the same time. My bright green eyes looked bright and big thanks to the way Stephanie had done my makeup. The dress, although short, fit me perfectly. The material wrapped around my hips and waist in a flattering way and my legs somehow looked miles long.
“Wow,” I say breathlessly because, well, I actually like what I see as I look at myself in the mirror.
“Wow is right,” Stephanie smiles wider. “We look great.”
By ten o’clock, Stephanie, Cole, Luke and I were walking toward Brett’s front door. I could hear the loud music from outside and knew that the second we walked in, most of the school would be here. All eyes were on us as we passed and I could hear the murmurs just like I could feel the stares. Fortunately, though, it wasn’t anything I wasn’t already used to.
I was more than delighted that a path cleared for us as we made our way to the kitchen so I wasn’t forced to squeeze through the bodies. Luke and Cole had gotten lost sometime between the front door and the kitchen, so just Stephanie and I entered the not-as-crowded kitchen. Some guys in the corner glanced our way, but someone else caught my attention.
I smirk at Stephanie and tell her, “There’s Justin,” And nod to where he stood beside the keg.
Steph glances at him before she turns to me and smirks challengingly. “Do you want me to go find Nathan?”
I bite my lip and look away to ignore her victorious smirk. We walk over to Justin, who was surrounded by a crowd of people, and again a path was made for us to walk over. Justin looked up in the middle of talking to Joe and his eyes widened as they looked Stephanie up and down. My smirk returned as he stopped mid-sentence to stare at my best friend.
“Steph,” Justin says as we make our way into the circle. “You look…” His eyes trail all over her once again before he meets her gaze. “Wow.”
Some of the people who were standing around began to drift away until it was just the three of us. I smirked wider when I saw Stephanie’s cheeks turn red- which was completely uncharacteristic of her, seeing as she’s never embarrassed- and look around to find a familiar face to go talk to so I could leave them alone.
“Thanks,” Stephanie smiles at him. “You look pretty wow yourself.”
He grinned at her and finally his eyes shifted to me. “Hey Lauren, it’s good to see you.”
I smile at him too. “Hey Justin.” I look around once more before I turn my attention to Justin again. “Hey, have you seen Brett by any chance? I wanted to go talk to him.”
Justin’s grin turned into a secretive smirk. “He’s out back by the pool.”
I nodded and grinned at Steph, who I was sure knew exactly what I was up to. “Alright. I’m going to go find him. Have fun, you two.”
I wink at Stephanie and take pleasure as her face flushes all over again before heading back into the crowd. I’ve never been fond of the party scene. I didn’t know what was so fun about teenagers walking around with beer cans in their hand as they slurred their words to each other and told one another things they probably wouldn’t say sober.
As I walked toward the back door, I almost felt suffocated by the amount of people inside. The hallways were narrow because of the guys leaning against the wall, smirking as I walked past, blatantly checking me out. The rooms felt smaller from all the girls looking at me with disgust on their features as they gossiped obviously.
When I finally pushed myself out the back door and got outside, I let out a breath of relief. There were substantially less people out here and I only saw a few groups standing around the pool to talk. While it seemed like people managed to hang out in every crevice of the house inside, there was actually room to move around out here.
“Lauren?” I hear Vincent’s voice to my left and do a double take to see him sitting on top of a hot tub cover. “Hey, I thought that was you.”
I smile at him even though his face is barely illuminated by the porch light. “Hey Vincent.”
I wanted to ask him if everyone else was here, too, but the glimmering water from the pool caught my gaze from the corner of my eye. I excused myself and waved to Vincent before heading toward the pool when I saw a person standing alone facing the water. As I walked over, I realized that the person was Brett, and smiled to myself.
I try to be quiet as to not completely disturb his peace, considering that he was just looking at the water thoughtfully, but he turns to me the second I settle next to him. “Lauren,” Brett greets with a smile as he pulls me into a hug. “I didn’t think you’d come.”
My mind caught up to his actions as I remembered that he was a hugger. I hugged him back quickly before pulling away with a sheepish expression. “I’m sorry I never answered your text. But I swear I had a really good reason.”
Brett looks at me with an amused smile. “Okay, let’s hear it.”
“I was really tired,” I deflate as I recognize that my reason was, in fact, poor. “And fell asleep.”
Fortunately though, Brett laughed and accepted my excuse, which proved once again how easygoing he was. I smiled to myself and looked back to the pool, which had underwater lights to illuminate the water a soft shimmering blue.
“Well hey,” Brett says with a lopsided grin. “At least you came.”
I refocus my attention on him and add with a cheeky smile, “I even brought a guest. Steph came with me.”
Brett chuckled. “I’m sure Justin’s happy about that.”
My smile grew as I realize that he recognizes their chemistry, too. “She certainly was. I decided it was better for my wellbeing to leave them alone, so here I am.”
“Here you are,” Brett grins as he turns to me. “Let’s get you a drink, shall we? Our night shouldn’t suffer because of their embarrassing attraction to each other.”
I agree with him easily and we walk back into the house to raid the kitchen for drinks. Drinks turn into a drinking game, which turns into another, until I’ve surpassed tipsy and moved onto drunk. We play several rounds of flip cup together with a few other guys and I take immense pride in the fact that I was on the winning team every time.
“Who knew you were a flip cup champion?” Brett asks after the seventh round with a wide smile on his face.
A small smile graced my lips. “I guess there’s a lot you don’t know about me. For instance, I have a lot of skill and I’m good at everything.”
He chuckled. “Humble, too.”
“My humbleness is my strongest attribute,” I continued cheekily and then took another long sip. “So, what other games can we play?”
We spent the next hour or so playing games with his other friends. At one point, Justin and Stephanie even joined us in a game of beer pong but they left once they lost. It turns out that Brett and I are an ideal drinking game duo. We even came up with a secret handshake to seal the deal. Around eleven thirty or so, I had had a few too many cups of beer; I began swaying instead of standing still, slurring my words, and leaning on Brett for support. My head was dizzy and my thoughts jumbled, but I didn’t mind. Because I was actually having fun.
But I realized, as I listened to Brett and Charlie’s drunken conversation about football, that I would rather find an empty bathroom and be alone for a few minutes. Following my random train of thought, I told Brett I would be right back and stumbled to the staircase before hauling myself up the flight of stairs. Once at the top, I walked down the crowded hallway and opened the doors cautiously. Finally, I found the bathroom, and was pleased to see that it was empty. Quickly, I slipped inside, and shut the door.
I almost automatically fell onto the edge of the tub, sitting down happily. It felt good to be off of my feet and-
My thoughts were cut off by the bathroom door swinging open, and Tess- the girl who sat at the lunch table with Asher, Vincent, and Nathan- burst into the bathroom with Nathan hot on her heels. “I’m not sleeping at your house again.”
“My bed is more comfortable than you give it credit for,” Nathan’s voice was light and teasing.
“Vincent’s going to kill me if I don’t go over.” Tess reasoned in a ‘duh’ tone, a strong sense of finality in her words.
My eyes were wide as I stared at them. Nathan looked relaxed and playful which is rare in itself. Tess was smiling at him and it suddenly bothered me how beautiful she was. The thought struck me unexpectedly and I found myself unable to say anything; I was rooted to the spot. Were they dating? Why would she stay at his house? In his bed? Before Tess responds, her eyes flicker towards me, and then widen as she takes a step back.
“I’m so sorry,” She says immediately, and Nathan looks confused before turning to me. “I didn’t think anyone was in here.”
I tried to smile at her, but instead I just stood up with a blank expression. “It’s okay.”
“Lauren, right?” Tess asks next.
My eyes flicker to Nathan as I nod and I notice that he looks surprised to see me. His emotions are quickly covered, masked by his classic observant stare and indifferent expression “Yeah.”
She smiles kindly at me. “I’m Tess. I know we sit at the same lunch table, but it’s hard to get a word in edge wise between those guys sometimes.”
I laugh, but it sounds foreign to my ears, and I just feel uncomfortable. I continue to inch towards the bathroom door, smiling a tight smile at the two of them. “It was good to see you. I’ll leave you two alone.”
And then I dashed out the bathroom door, the idea of solitude long forgotten. My head was still spinning, but this time with thoughts about what I had just heard. And for some reason, it made me angry. Why was Tess sleeping at Nathan’s house? And more importantly, why did she have to be so nice? I fumbled to find the railing before stepping carefully down the steps. At the bottom of the staircase, I saw Asher standing there talking to a girl I vaguely remember from school.
He didn’t even notice me, nor did I exactly stop to say hi to him, so I walked past him and hoped to find Stephanie.
Unfortunately, though, leaning against the wall beside the staircase was none other than Holden. He reached a hand out and grabbed my wrist to stop me from moving, and when I turned to him, he had that gross smirk on his lips. His eyes raked up and down my body, no doubt mentally undressing me, and I squirmed under his gaze.
“Hey Lauren,” His breath smelled heavy with booze. “You look hot as hell tonight.”
“Subtle compliment,” I muttered, the alcohol in my system influencing me to be sassy. After all, Nathan told me to beware.
But since when do I heed Nathan’s warnings, anyway?
“I call it how it is,” Holden’s eyes dip to my neckline. “You know, I have an idea about how to make your new year very special.”
I smile an overly fake smile. “I think I’ll pass on those ideas. My new year will be just fine without them.”
His smirk stretched. “There’s the infamous feistiness.”
“I call it how it is,” I mock his own words, drunk off of my momentary confidence and courage.
Holden’s eyes finally move from my chest to my gaze. “You and I should head some place quieter, don’t you think?”
I moved carefully out of his grasp and shook my head. “I’m going to go. Bye, Holden.”
And then I walk- or stumble- away from him, toward the kitchen. I hadn’t seen Justin or Stephanie since we played beer pong, but that felt like ages ago. They couldn’t have gone far, right? I was looking around frantically, searching for them, so caught up in my own hunt that I didn’t bother to look where I was going. I bumped into a few people by the living room, and into one girl in front of the kitchen all because I was caught up in finding Steph.
While walking through the kitchen, my head was swiveling around the room to catch sight of my best friend. I couldn’t find her anywhere I looked. Abruptly, I bump into something, and then feel hands grab my waist to steady me as I teeter backwards. My hands reach forward and grab someone on instinct, hoping to catch myself from falling. When I turn my head forward, my gaze locks with a familiar greyish blue eyes.
“What is it this time?”
I blink at him, confused, still frozen in my spot with his hands on my waist and mine grabbing his very strong bicep, which apparently I had blindly grabbed. “What do you mean?”
Nathan rolls his eyes. “I know that look. What are you trying to figure out? Where has your curiosity gotten you?”
I stare at him for a moment, unsure if I should tell him. After all, the last time we actually talked, he had been a rude dick to me. And the last time I saw him was a few minutes ago, where he and Tess went to talk about sleeping at his house, in his bed. For some reason, it made me annoyed, and I just wanted to be mean to him rather than answer his question. But because I’m a little drunk and my thoughts are a little irrational, I instead sound like a five year old.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say slowly, hoping that the slower I say it, the more sober I sound.
Nathan rolls his eyes at me. “You’re bad at lying.”
He was so close to me that I suddenly found it difficult to focus on anything else. So I took a step back, effectively making his hands drop off of my waist. It felt cold there now. I didn’t know what to say, because quite honestly, I couldn’t stop staring at his face. He looked amused as he looked at me, and I couldn’t help but think about how sexy he looked when he let himself relax. Nathan’s jaw was sharp in the dim lighting of the room, his eyes piercing into me.
My thoughts overwhelmed me, so I took another few steps back to distance us. Accidentally, I felt myself bump into someone again, and turned to see that my luck failed me. I turned to see Thomas: his lips curled into a smirk when he looked down at me, no doubt remembering that the last time we saw each other he kissed me. My feet felt rooted to the spot, and I was still absolutely shocked that of all people, I bumped into him.
“Ten, nine, eight…” The crowd begins cheering and I slowly realize that it’s about to be midnight.
Thomas notices my drunk state and starts inching toward me. Like he noticed I was frozen and he could take advantage of it. Like he’s going to be my midnight kiss. My mind was hazy and I was getting more and more nervous as the crowd of teenagers begin counting down. I didn’t want Thomas to be kissing me by the time they all screamed ‘one’, but I couldn’t get my feet to move. I was frowning, frozen to the spot as I stared at Thomas blankly.
“Seven… six…. five…”
His hand reached out to wrap around my waist but it was then that I gained mobility again. I took a step away from him, and his hand fell, unable to touch me. Thankfully my sense of movement returned at the perfect time, and I didn’t have to feel his gross lips on mine, because at least I gained the ability to run away. He frowned at me.
“Four…. three…”
And then a hand closed around my upper arm and spun me around, pulling me directly into a strong chest. Stronger arms wrapped around my waist, holding me there tightly, and I recognized the scent before the person. I looked up and saw Nathan glaring at Thomas. His expression was murderous before he looked back down at me and it softened, a predatory look in his eye. Nathan was pulling me closer against him so there was little to no space in between our bodies.
“Two… one…”
Nathan’s lips were on mine, kissing me with an underlying urgency that I didn’t expect.
“Happy new year!”