The mirrorball hanging up in the middle reflected the disco light all over the hall and so could the faces of the couples dancing underneath it.
If only one could look at it with a bit of too much focus. And even though it seemed a tedious job to keep one distracted, Della was having a hard time continuing.
Her mind was still trapped in that Maserati with him. She could see the streetlights going behind as they moved forward, reflecting on the glass.
It felt indescribable. The feelings she got when she tilted her neck to look at him and he was already staring at her. For how long...she had no idea.
"Look at the front!"
She playfully pointed to the front and he smirked at her.
It was reckless but still, her face curved into a smile.
"We will crash!"
He did not say one word and only pressed the accelerator more, increasing the speed of the vehicle.
It made her eyes look at him with disbelief.
"Do you trust me, Adella?"
He had asked, as he geared the Maserati to its maximum speed. She did not know what to say.
He was crazy, mad, perhaps lost his mind somewhere, unreasonable and she should have only asked him to stop...yet she did not.
On the highway, as they moved at a thrilling speed, she held onto the dashboard, looking back and forth at him and then the road in the front.
He only increased the speed more. She knew that he wanted a reaction out of her. It had always been like that.
Growing up together, spending every summer together until the last one, she knew him like the back of her hand.
And before things could go further, they heard the siren behind them. He cursed out.
"Shit!"
She turned around to check and it was following them.
"Is it after us?"
She nodded her head and turned around to the front and he knew that getting caught would mean bidding farewell to the Maserati.
His father was a very legal man and did not tolerate any kind of activities that had the probability of tarnishing the name of the Randalls.
The last time he was grounded for an entire week and if it was not for his mother taking his side, the deadline could have been extended.
Kian only came around after he won the inter-school soccer finals. He started to warm back to his son.
Things had been smooth since then and he had no intention of ruining it. And the situation they were in, at that moment could jinx it.
Her laughter caught his attention, as the thoughts in the back of his head applied a brake.
She could not help but find it funny how he wanted to be adventurous and transformed into a scared kitten right away, worried about the reaction of his father.
He did not say anything and just took a few turns from the main road to get the cops to miss them.
She analyzed the circumstances in confusion, not exactly knowing where he was driving to but after a few minutes of cat and mouse chase, they finally lost the cops.
And he applied brakes, parking it near a dark alley, screaming out in sheer victory, tapping on the steering wheel.
It made her amazed, a bit taken aback too as she kept staring at him, with no words to utter out in a static mode.
And then it happened...something that she was not at all expecting in the evening.
He looked at her and in a fluid motion, unhooked his seat belt, she could not even tell when.
He moved closer to her and pulled her to him, holding onto the strap of her dress, she gasped out, and a second later, his lips were on hers.
Her mind exploded, the noises in the background deemed down, went almost negligent as he pressed his lips more on her unmoving ones.
His eyes were closed and she could see him...so close, almost breathing the same air.
The banging on the door on his side went almost unnoticed when he let go of her.
It was his friend, one of those soccer mates from the last party three years ago.
She did not know he had parked by their destination. Not saying another word, he had got out.
"What were you doing bruh!?"
It was him as Shawn pushed him to the side. Still recovering from what had happened, the only sound she could hear was her heartbeat.
She saw him calling out to her, to get out. She just gave him a plain stare. She was trying to process everything that had occurred in the shortest period.
"She will get out on her own. Let's go inside, bro. You are already late!"
He said and Shawn gave in. Sparing one last look at her, he had turned around, walking away with his friend.
All of it projecting itself in her head like a cycle. The feel of his lips...she could not help but touch herself to sense it, eyes still stuck at the mirror ball hanging up on the ceiling.
She had not seen him after that. She had thought that they would be together, that he would keep her company at the party...but he was missing the entire time since he left her in the car to get out on her own.
Although it was he who invited her to the party, she knew no one there. She felt like an alien if not for Mapples joining her a few minutes later.
Her father had only let her come after her mother had insisted on it. Tinsley wanted her children to have all the fun, from school night parties to camping, and everything, things that she was forbidden from doing it growing up.
Della often compared Tinsley to her mother, who would have never allowed her to come to a teenage party at fourteen.
"Uhmm Della, you need to see this."
It was Mapples, who tapped on her shoulder. She turned around to face her. She did not think that Mapples would be back so quickly from getting drinks for them, considering the crowd.
But what was she insisting she see?