Chapter Nine

Derek, Ari and I are in the middle of a round of Beerio Kart when John shows up.

Ari greets him with a hug but he pulls her into make-out sesh instead. His kiss is aggressive and forceful. His hands shamelessly grope her body. She pushes at his chest and jerks away from him. He finally lets her go. Then he grins and grabs her hand.

My eyes trail down to their interlocked fingers. She once told me that she hated holding hands. I'm expecting her to pull away any moment now.

Any moment...

She doesn't. She lets him hold it.

Her eyes flick to me.

I avert my attention back to the game. Or I pretend to. I'm too frustrated at her terrible choice in boys to care about the stupid childish game. Who came up with it anyway? I haven't won a single round.

I spike the gaming controller like a football.

"Hey!" Derek groans.

I mouth an embarrassed apology.

He's a tool. John, not Derek. I've only met him the one time at the college party, but I can't stand him. She deserves better.

And they're still holding hands.

I search the room for James to see how he's taking it, but he is nowhere in sight. Instead, Dechlan is glaring from across the room. The stark difference between James's jealously and Dechlan is night and day. James always looked hurt, while Dechlan looked downright murderous.

A beer bottle is hovering in the air halfway to his mouth and for a moment I think he might throw it at John.

I hope he does.

Ari offers to get the tool a drink and they head towards the kitchen. Dechlan closely follows them in.

I get up in search of Cameron. I'm upset. He has a way of calming me. I find him sitting with his fraternity brothers and I walk over to introduce myself. He surprises me by grabbing me and pulling me down on his lap. He kisses me deeply and roughly. It's unlike him but feels good enough to shift my mood.

His mouth tastes like a mix of several alcohols. He's trashed. I've never seen him this drunk before. Then his hands start to roam between my legs, and I pull his hands from me before he goes too far up.

"Behave." I chide in his ear.

He grins at me, then turns to his friends and says. "This is my girl."

I smile at them, but I'm still flustered by his kiss and his hands. They aren't looking at my face. Their eyes hungrily run up and down my body. Even in my drunken state, I feel uncomfortable. The hairs on the back of my neck rise and I have the urge to shrink away. Cameron's hands start sliding up my thigh again. I leap up from his lap.

"Nice meeting you. I need water." I kiss Cameron on the forehead and get far away from his friends.

I head for the kitchen but then the doorbell rings. I walk over to the front door and open it. And to my delight, it's Kris and Katie.

I exclaim in excitement, "Kris, Katie!"

Then I throw my arms around them in a giant bear hug. It throws them off guard because they both gasp. I'm a happy drunk. Any problems we might've of had don't exist in my drunken brain.

"I'm so happy to see you guys."

I open the door wide for them to enter.

"Hey." Both Kris and Katie say.

They step through the threshold timidly as if they'd ventured into an unknown world. And I guess they have. I don't believe either of the two, I mean three, had gone to such a party before. Katie's boyfriend follows end behind them.

Their eyes are wide, and they remain silent. I continue to talk excitedly anyways.

"I'm happy you made it. I wasn't sure you were coming. Is anyone else coming?"

I'm happy to see them. I know a lot of people at the party, but I still feel isolated. And I want so badly for them to mix in with my new life and friends. No one at the party felt real to me but they seem solid.

Kris is the first to speak up. "No. Only us, they couldn't make it, but they told us to say hi."

I nod in understanding. I get it, I didn't think they were going to come anyway. Kris and Katie being here was bonus enough.

"Can I get you guys a drink...?" I ask helpfully.

There's a loud commotion from the kitchen. My attention is pulled away. There's smoke coming out of the room and loud shouting. I run over to the sound of chaos. Ari and Dechlan are both standing in front of the stove shouting at each other.

"You asshole!" Ari shouts.

She pushes at Dechlan's bare chest. Or attempts to he is a stone wall and doesn't budge an inch. I look at the stove and at first, I'm confused. Ari's antique of a cellphone is melting on a frying pan. It's smoking and sparking.

Why would someone fry Ari's phone? I shove them aside, pull the pan off the burner, and turn off the stove top. Neither Ari or Dechlan seem to notice I've intervened.

Dechlan laughs. "It's a crappy phone. I'll get you a new one."

You've got to be kidding me. He'd thought cooking Ari's phone was funny. He's like a five-year-old sticking gum in the hair of the girls he likes. The phone is no longer sparking but is a melty mess. I've never seen anyone have such bad luck with phones. Seriously death by frying pan? No wonder Ari chose to carry around the clunkers she did.

I want to laugh but I hold it in because of Ari's pure expression of rage.

She growls than storms out of the kitchen. Dechlan trails her. I follow both of them, I don't trust Dechlan and want to make sure I have Ari's back. He reaches for her hands. She yanks it back and then gets into his face.

She yells, "It's not the point!"

He doesn't yell back but reaches over to brush her hair behind her ear.

"I'm sorry." He says softly.

The dramatic shift in his attitude momentarily stuns Ari. Her mouth opens as if she about to yell at him again. His hand falls from her hair and he caresses her chin. They stare into each other eyes. For a brief second, I believe he is going to kiss her. Perhaps he was but Ari takes a step back. Then walks away. This time Dechlan doesn't follow.

He turns to face me and shouts. "What?!"

My heart thuds in panic. But I realize he's not talking to me. His gaze is locked on someone much taller behind me. James. How much had he seen? His dejected expression said enough. James just walks away. Finally, Dechlan eyes reach mine.

"I'll get her a new phone. A better one with a screen."

He walks towards me and I take a step back. Dechlan stops in his tracks. He analyzes me and his face goes blank, then he walks out of the kitchen. I exhale a breath.

"Oh shirt!" I groan.

Kris and Katie. I grab some beers and look for them. I find them by the pool. They both have their phones out and they are taking pictures. When they see me approach, they hurriedly put their phones away. Kris hides his behind his back.

I know what they are doing. I'm too grateful they're at the party to care. If they want to post some pictures of drunk teens on the Dirty by all means, go at it.

I go to hand them each a beer, but they already have red cups. I sit next to them. "So, tell me. What's going on with you guys? We haven't talked in forever." It'd been one day since I talked to Katie, but who was counting.

They look between each other and hold a silent conversation. Katie opens her mouth to speak. Then Courtney comes barreling from behind me and wraps her arms around me.

"Come on!" She says excitedly. "We want to do a dance routine. We need you!" She pleads then press her cheek against mine.

"Can you do it without me," I say. And I motion towards Kris and Katie. I'm too drunk to dance. Besides who did a dance routine at a party? It seemed fake and contrived.

"Puhllleaseee. There's only a few of us here from the dance team. There won't be enough for it to look like anything." Courtney pleads again.

She turns to Kris and Katie. She gives them her most charming smiles and in sugar sweet tone says. "You guys don't mind if I borrow her, do ya?"

Kris and Katie open their mouths to respond but Courtney doesn't give them the chance.

"Perfect!" She says then she grabs my arm.

I smile at them apologetically then follow her into the house. There are three other people from the dance team along with James and Courtney. Ari has her laptop out and changes the music.

It's one of my favorite songs produced by a dubstep female violinist. It sounds like a strange combination, but it works great with this routine. James and I had choreographed it together, a mix of urban dance and classical ballet.

And we dance. Normally I'd be embarrassed, but alcohol has a way of making you fearless. Afterward everyone claps and cheers. Ari is the loudest. Then everyone starts dancing. Well...not everyone.

Dechlan, Cameron, and his two fraternity brothers stood in the kitchen laughing. I want to dance with Cameron, but he isn't really the dancing type.

At some point, James brings a round of drinks. They gladly accept the drinks he's offering. I decline it. They're clearly more equipped to handle the night then I am. It's only about six but it feels but much later. I'm already tired and ready to start sobering up.

Kris, Katie, and I'd never partied this hard. Once we'd snuck a bottle of Boudreaux from Kris's parents. Kris and Katie. Oops, oh shoot!

I separate from the dance circle and head for where I'd last seen them. There are people playing in the pool and a couple making out on the lounge chairs, but I don't see my friends. They might've already left. Disappointed, I go back inside to look. I spot them from across the room. They're by the entrance and on their phones. They're clearly conspiring.

"Hey, guys," I say.

Kris and Katie smile innocently. It was a smile that said they had a shared secret I didn't know. It felt like old times. Ignore it, though there is an old itch to ask them what they're up to. I'd already messed up twice with them this evening. I decide to stay blissfully ignorant of their schemes.

"Can I get you guys a drink? I've been wanting..."

Katie cuts me off, "Actually, we're leaving now."

"Oh." I look between the two of them. Kris smiles apologetically but nods in agreement.

"We parked down the street, we're waiting for my boyfriend to bring the car."

"Are you sure you can drive?"

Drinking and driving is never okay. I only had a couple of friends, I didn't want to lose the few I had. "It's a three-hour drive back. You sure you don't want to stay?"

Kris answers. "Katie's bf is the DD. And we aren't driving back to town." He pauses guilty and says. "I have family up here. We're staying with them for the weekend."

"Oh, okay," I say disappointedly. "Then...."

There's a loud crash. Not again. I turn to see what the communion is about. One of the frat boys Dechlan had brought with him is sprawled on the ground. The guy is sitting in a splinter of wood. He'd crashed into a wooden table. Drops of blood spill from his mouth.

He lunges up from the ground, grabbing Dechlan by the waist, and shoves him back into the kitchen counter. Several half-full bottles and red cups topple over. Liquids splashes and spills onto the floor.

Dechlan groans and throws the guy down to the floor. They thrash around in the mess. Then Dechlan gets the upper hand and straddles the guys. He starts pummeling him with his fist, one strike after another. 

TBC...Chapter Nine continued.

A couple of you (I won't tag names, you know who you are) have requested a smutty explicit one-shot Nameless spin-off...dirty minds I tell ya.

I wrote it last night. After some editing and testing...I should have it up either Tuesday or Wednesday. I'll probably only keep it up temporarily...It will be a giant spoiler to this story...so Spoiler Alert!

As always thanks for reading, Lovelies.