My mind automatically perked up when I heard the doorbell ring. I had been waiting patiently for Flora and James to get here since Flora was going to help me with my hair and make up. Plus, she was also bringing me an outfit to wear.
I sprinted downstairs to the door, wanting to get it before anyone else could. Then again, Clara and Kylie had the radio on loud enough in the kitchen that I would be surprised if they even heard it. And I couldn't imagine Caleb bothering to come and get it.
"Hey!" I said, opening the door to James and Flora and leading them inside. They both stood in awe at the house, like I did when I first saw it. "This place is huge," Flora said to me, admiring the huge interior of the mansion-like house.
I led Flora and James upstairs and into the room I was staying in. I didn't want to have to interact with Caleb until it came to actually leaving for the party.
However, that wasn't the case when I saw Caleb's long and muscular body sprawled out across my bed, looking like he had been there the whole time. He was reading something on his phone as he called out to my presence in the room.
"Is your friend and halfwit boyfriend here yet?" He asked, not realising that they were right behind me when we walked through the door. I coughed loudly as he turned and smirked to see the three of us.
"Thanks," James said sarcastically, sitting on the bed, but with a good distance between the two of them. After a long silence, Flora finally spoke up to avoid awkwardness.
As soon as possible, Flora began on my make up. I kept stealing glances at James and Caleb, but they had yet to rip each other's heads off with their natural hatred towards each other. They both stared intently at their phones as they waited for us to finish.
I straightened my hair shortly after Flora finished my make up, with Flora having done her hair earlier. I smiled at myself in the mirror, admiring the painted colours on my eyelids, which I could never master.
Flora finally finished and shoved James and Caleb into the next room for us to get changed. "They are very likely to kill each other, you do know that?" I asked Flora as she laughed.
"That's fine, as long as they don't get blood anywhere," she replied before throwing two dresses onto the bed. One was black and one was red, but they both had a similar style.
"Choose one," Flora said to me, admiring the beautiful dresses, "I prefer the red one, but it's your choice," she said quickly, signalling which dress she wanted to wear so I didn't have much choice in the matter.
"I'll wear the black one then," she jumped up and down as I laughed and picked up the dress. It was tight fitting and crossed over at the front, meaning that cleavage would have to be out, whether I liked it or not. "I knew you'd prefer this one." I pulled the dress on and looked at myself in the mirror.
Luckily, Flora and I were similar sizes, with her being slightly skinner, meaning that it was even tighter than I had initially thought. However, I couldn't deny that I liked how it looked. I slipped on some black heels she had brought with her, knowing that I would still probably look like a monkey on a tightrope trying to walk.
"Ready!" Flora called to the boys after we were finally ready. They both walked in, not seeming to like each other any more than before, until they looked up at us, their eyes naturally widening. "Don't gawk you two." Flora said to them with a small grin on her face, happy that her work had not gone unnoticed.
Caleb was continuing to stare at me, where as James had began to pick some drinks that they had brought with them. I stared at him until he noticed me and looked away. I shrugged to myself and focused my attention on the drinks.
"How about a little game of never have I ever before we leave?" Caleb asked before we all nodded and sat down in a small circle on my floor. I had made sure I put both my legs to the side so nobody could see under my dress. Especially since Caleb was sitting directly opposite me.
"Never have I ever had sex," Flora said as Caleb placed shots of vodka in front of us. We all drank minus Flora, but she didn't care. She had always preached about her virginity being sacred, and that she was waiting for the right person.
The vodka burned my throat, seizing up my chest before the abhorrent taste finally disappeared. It was beyond me how anybody could ever enjoy the taste of it. Unless people love the flavour of nail polish remover.
"Sucks for me," Flora said as we all laughed as she kept a full shot held in her hand. I looked over at Caleb, as it was his turn for a question. He sat with a knowing smirk, looking directing at me, "never have I ever lost my virginity to someone I love."
Caleb didn't drink, of course. James drank his quickly and looked back at me for me to take my shot. For some stupid reason, I hesitated, and I knew James noticed it. Caleb sat back as he kept the smirk on his face, as if he had just accomplished something
However, I quickly pulled the shot up and drank it, hoping that James would forgive my quick lapse in judgement. It wasn't that I didn't love James. I had just never said it to him. I wasn't of fan of saying it, and I sure I never would, not for a long time.
The words 'I love you' were too binding. I knew at one point in my first three years of life, my father would have said those exact three words to me. And he ended up hurting us.
The awkwardness quickly died down as I coughed and said my question, "never have I ever been arrested," Caleb drank as soon as the words left my lips.
"It's no surprise is it?" Caleb questioned, but only Flora let out a small laugh. That was before she brought her glass to her lips and drank, making me want a drink to be able to spit out in response.
"It was over a year ago, I was drunk and I just got too friendly with a cop," Flora said almost as a whisper. We all burst out laughing, not wanting to question exactly what she did. After Flora had let her cheeks grow red, we agreed to get going, seeing as we were edging past fashionably late.
Noah's house was apparently only a five-minute walk away, so we began walking down Caleb's street with my hand locked with James'. He smiled before kissing me lightly on the cheek. Caleb and Flora walked closely behind, probably talking about their new common criminal record.
As soon as we walked in, the smell of smoke and alcohol engulfed my nose making my face immediately scrunch up. "Drink?" James asked me as I nodded and we edged closer to the kitchen where the drinks would hopefully be.
"Ooh, me too!" Flora shouted as she placed her arms around our shoulders and walked with us. "Where's Caleb?" I asked her, seeing that he had disappeared from where he once was standing next to her.
We all grabbed a red solo cup each and poured in some spare vodka and any soda that had been left around. Without a second thought, we all downed the drinks and refilled.
With Flora being the obvious lightweight, she flicked her hair and waved at us before leaving to relocate to where the main part of the party was. "Um, Gabby?" I heard James ask as I nodded and brought my ear closer to him so that I could hear his voice over the music.
"Why did you delay in answering Caleb's question earlier?" he asked as I pulled my mouth closed. I hadn't realised that had had caught on to it. It was only three seconds of stalling, if it was even that, but he had still noticed.
I swallowed hard before answering him, "I didn't hear him properly," I lied, knowing how incredibly pathetic my excuse was. It was the first time he had properly questioned my use of those very three words, and he chooses now to do it. At a high school party.
"Is there something going on between you and Caleb?" He asked. My face automatically scrunched up into an immediate look of disgust and confusion. "Why the hell would you think that?" I shouted this time, seeming more annoyed than I should've been.
"Because he told me when you were in the other room that you were undecided about me recently," he shouted back over the music. I didn't know what to think. I didn't know whether to be angrier at what Caleb had said, or angrier that James had stupidly believed him.
I looked at him with more anger this time, "James, you have known me for almost all of my life," I started ranting, "We have been dating for two years," he gave me a soft look before replacing it with annoyance again. "Are you really going to believe someone you have known for less than a week?"
"I don't know what to believe," that was the only thing he could reply as he took a swig of vodka from the bottle before taking it with him. He crossed the room and walked out, leaving me pathetically standing there with my hand tightening around the red cup I was holding.
Tears burned in my eyes as I tried to keep them in. This was all Caleb's fault. The reason that James is so angry with me is because of him. And it was about something that wasn't even true.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" I heard Caleb's loud voice shout from the other room. His tone was easily heard over the music, and the music dimmed down in response to what was happening. Out of curiosity, I walked into the other room, still feeling the same anger when I saw James standing next to Flora, only a few metres away from me.
"Here to see you, of course."
Caleb and his family were new to this town, so I wasn't quite sure who would be looking for him here. A man in his early twenties was standing over Caleb. He had dark hair, exactly like Caleb's and he was a lot taller which meant he towered over him immensely.
The man smirked before walking closer to Caleb, "I just came to say that if you ever come looking for me or Annabelle ever again," the man said with a menacing tone, "I will kill you," he shouted back, his eyes filled with rage and looking like he was already going to kill him.
Caleb stood his ground but his shoulders had gone weak, I had never seen him look like this, he always seemed like he would knock out anyone who tried to confront him. But something was different about this guy. And how he knew Caleb was here was beyond me.
With that, a fist came thundering towards Caleb's face before I could even think. Caleb looked back at me, a pleading emotion flashed across his face before it was replaced to anger as he pulled himself up and punched the man back.
Then, as quick as the fight started, it was over as they both stared intently at each other. That was before the man walked heavily towards him and mumbled something in his ear, not allowing anyone to hear.
What happened next scared me more than anything I could imagine. The man looked up at me and smirked, the same exact way that Caleb did. The man walked straight back out after that, and the music blasted out again, as if nothing had happened.
Caleb rushed off to the kitchen before I could say anything to him.
"What the hell was that?" I shouted at him as I rushed over, only to see that he was holding a whole bottle of whiskey, and was drinking as much of it as he could. I stared at him in disbelief. It only made me want to find out more about the mysterious man.
"Don't you worry about me princess," he spoke with venom laced within his voice, "go over to your bitch of a boyfriend, and leave me alone." His words hurt me as I grabbed onto him to stop him from stumbling over, despite already being a little tipsy.
I knocked into a few people on the way out who gave me strange looks, as I couldn't really steady a boy who's got the muscle mass of nearly two times my weight. "Let's get you home," I said as I threw his drunken arm around my shoulders.
I don't know why I was being so nice to him, whether it was my personality, or that I just really wanted to get out of this party.
I turned around to see James staring back at me with a mix of hurt and anger in his eyes. He's just going to have to deal with the fact that he's been a jerk to me and has believed everything this jerk I was helping had told him.
The walk home was more excruciating that having to watching the fighting match at the party earlier. He weighed more than I expected, and would slur his words ever so often. My thighs were weak as I supported him through the door and up to his bedroom.
I was definitely going to feel the burn in the morning. "Do you want to know who that guy was?" Caleb mumbled out as he threw himself onto his bed. Although I was tired, I was too intrigued to leave.
I had sobered up on the walk home as I had him to carry and look after. "Who?" I questioned, not betting on an answer, as he would probably fall asleep before he could give it.
"Someone you should stay away from." He whispered as he pulled me into his grasp and fell asleep. I was trapped within his arms with no way of getting out.
However, with alcohol still swimming around my body and anger still present for James, my eyes shut themselves and I slept, not truly thinking about the consequences of this in the morning.