*Flashback* Oakley at sixteen years old
The ground beneath me was hard, and the gravel was scraping against my legs as I was being dragged. It was a long driveway, rocky, and unforgiving to my already bruised skin. My desperate, ear piercing screams had died into small, incoherent noises, and I allowed myself to shed the tears that pricked in the corners of my eyes. Sobs racked my body, and we neared closer and closest to what looked like a makeshift cabin, more like a shed though. There was no use in fighting a man that was twice my size when I was tied up, my abilities were of no use, my neck had been pricked with a needle, and I could feel the St. John's Wort make its way through my veins. There wouldn't be much time before I knocked out, and I needed to memorize my surroundings before it was too late.
*End of Flashback*
I gasped and my head shot up from the desk beneath me. My laptop was still open, but the screen was black, and the charger was unplugged. My heartbeat quickened and I made sure that it didn't die in the middle of my assignments. I was relieved to see it still had some charge, and my assignments had already been saved and submitted to the corresponding folders. I exhaled slowly, turning off my computer, and shaking off the horrid memory.
There weren't a lot of students left in the library, and I saw that outside the sun had set. I quickly put my laptop away, and made my way out of the building to my dorm. I'd leave my backpack there and head over to meet Ainsley at the party.
I looked in the mirror when I arrived at my dorm, and it showed me that I looked worse than I thought. I could hardly focus on anything besides what I had said to Cooper, and it was eating me apart.
I craved an escape at any means necessary, and it just so happened that if I wanted to escape, I would have to risk seeing Cooper at his own party. He wasn't the only one who lived there, I knew Trey, Alex, and a few others shared that large house, but it was still his home for the time being.
It was a few minutes before I actually left my dorm and made my way down the dimly lit streets on campus. I made my plan, and went over it about fifteen thousand times before approaching the obvious party.
Loud music, and drunken shouts were attacking my ears from all directions, and I forced myself to ignore the pounding in my head. I would simply go in, say hi to Ainsley, sneak a bottle of nectar, and make my way to the safest tree for the night.
I made my way through the front lawn, occasionally bumping into a few stumbling bodies. I only shook my head with laughter, and kept walking. Their drunkenness ceased to be entertaining, even with my mood so sour.
When I walked through the front door, it wasn't hard to spot her, she was dancing with a few of her friends, Irene and Astrid, in the living room right to the left of the door. They were both werewolves, and their genes were spectacular, because they had not one flaw in either of their features.
I smiled and made my way over to her, resisting the urge to cover my ears, and tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned around, there was no doubt in my mind she was gone, but she smiled brightly and pulled me into a suffocating hug before releasing me.
"Oakley, you made it! I'm so happy, I fell in love with Trey, and I don't know what to do. We were supposed to be casual, at least that's what I think he wants. But, I -hic- caught the feelings." That took me by surprise, and I held both of her shoulders and looked into her eyes.
"Since when have you guys been doing this, Ainsley?" I was curious, because I never really saw them together until recently, so I was curious as to why I didn't witness anything.
"Oh, Oakwood -hic- we've been on the down low for like a month or so." Wait, what?
"Really? Oh, Ainsley, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were doing the whole casual thing? I thought you liked to date." I wanted to get to the bottom of this to see if I needed to have a talk with Trey boy.
"Oh I did, but with graduation coming, and not knowing where I was going to move to, I thought a casual thing would be fun for a while, but I caught feelings, and he's with another girl somewhere in the kitchen." She let out a small sob, and I pulled her into a gentle hug.
"You don't need him, if you want to tell him how you feel, do it. It may work out, but if it doesn't, you are a bad bitch, okay?" I whispered in her ear, and pulled away.
Instantly, her mood shifted, and she was swaying happily to the beat yelling that she was a bad bitch. I laughed, and turned in the direction of the kitchen.
I saw exactly what Ainsley was talking about. Trey had his arms around a drunk blonde. He was laughing and talking to a few of his friends, right by the nectar. I was contemplating how to go about accomplishing my mission when I heard his loud, obnoxious voice call my name. I tried to turn around and abort the mission completely when he called my name again.
"Get over here! I know you can see me! Hey, little one, how are you?" I ran my hand down my face and turned around.
"I'm… Good Trey, how are you? Finding that blonde sufficient enough?" I couldn't hold back the venom in my voice, and to my surprise, Trey only looked remorseful at my question.
"Look, Oakley-" He tried to reason with me, but I merely stomped up to him, swiped a bottle of nectar from behind him, and took a large gulp. The fun thing was that for nymphs, nectar tasted like straight honey. There was no burning in the back of your throat like there was when you drank liquor.
"Listen, I'm going to be honest with you, I don't particularly care that you're strung up on another woman, or multiple to your heart's content. I care that you are playing games with my friend. I'm not one to judge," I looked to the floor. "Goddess knows I can't be one to judge." Then my eyes snapped back up to his and I pointed my finger in his face.
"But so help me, if I find her crying over you again, I will personally encapsulate you in the toughest, thorniest, vines I can conjure up, and sink your body into the bottom of the lake. That's a promise." I made sure that my voice was loud and clear enough to catch his drunken attention over the loud music.
He seemed to understand my words, and nodded stiffly before one of his friends caught his attention again. I sighed, and tucked the bottle of nectar under my arm, and headed out the back door.
I don't know how long I spent looking for a tree to perch on, but it had to be a while since the bottle was gone, and I was stumbling towards a gorgeous, sturdy looking tree. My mind was getting fuzier by the second, and I had tried to summon a staircase of vines, but they appeared in a tangled mess, and I just stared at it and laughed.
"Tangled vines." I blurted out in my fit of laughter. It wasn't even that funny, but in my mind, at that moment, it was the funniest thing I had ever seen.
"Oakley?"
I whipped my head around, clutching my stomach, doubled over with laughter. When I wiped the tears that had sprung in my eyes, I saw that it was Ainsley.
"Oh, hey Ainsley. How are you? I made tangled vines to get in the tree." I don't know if I was making any sense to her, or if she had sobered a bit, but she looked at me with concern.
"Are you okay? Oh, you're drunk off nectar, huh? Well, c'mon, I need you with me right now. They're playing drinking games in the basement and I need some emotional support, because Trey's been sucking face with that blonde, and I am about to snap." I didn't really have time to protest as she grabbed my arm and tugged me back towards the house. I also could hardly understand what she was saying till it was too late, due to the fact that my mind was still hung up on the tangled vines.