I wake up the next morning and see that everyone is still at my house mostly asleep on the living room floor. Josh is the only one who is already awake and is sitting on the couch.
"Hey, I thought everyone would be back home getting ready for school by now."
"No, the girls brought their clothes last night and I have extra clothes in my car that Adam and Daniel can borrow for today. I thought I would wait until you woke up to wake everyone else up to get ready for school."
"Sounds like a good idea, we should probably go ahead and wake them all up to start getting ready though."
"Yeah, I agree."
One by one, we start waking everyone else up before I head to my room to get ready myself. I quickly pick out a pair of jeans and a black v-neck top right before I run a brush through my hair. Looking into the mirror, I seem to look okay enough so I head back down the stairs to where the others are waiting for me. I look around to see everyone is already dressed and ready to leave for school. We all hop into our cars and are to school within ten minutes. After stopping at our lockers, the bell rings and we all go our separate directions to our first period classes. I head straight to my seat and sit down as soon as I get to my classroom.
"How was your night?"
I glance over to see Damon already looking at me.
"What did you say," I ask.
"How did your night go? You said you had your friends over last night."
"Oh it was okay. We watched movies, ate pizza, and played truth or dare."
"That sounds like fun."
"Yeah, so how did you get my email address anyways?"
"I work in the office during second period. They wanted me to refile some paperwork in a new filing cabinet and one of them was yours. I saw your email address and decided to send you a message. I hope you are not mad."
"No, I am not mad at all. It is nice that you help out in the office. I actually help out in the library during second period."
"That makes a lot of sense," he says, smiling.
"What do you mean," I ask.
"Oh, just that I see you either reading or writing in your notebook. It makes sense to me that you would help out in the library because you love to read."
"Sounds like you were watching me yesterday," I accuse him.
"Actually you are the one who watches me," he replies back.
"I did no such thing. I might have thought about glancing over at you a couple of times but that is it."
A big smile appears on his face as he tries not to laugh.
"I know you glance over at me sometimes because I catch you doing it," he says.
"I do not; when did I glance at you yesterday?"
"Yesterday during this period, you glanced over at me more than once and you also glanced at me during lunch."
"Okay so maybe I did but that does not mean anything."
Miss Settles walks in then and I turn myself around in my chair to face the front of the classroom. She starts passing out a packet of notes that we have to fill out during her powerpoint.
'I am very glad that I am able to fill out my notes without getting distracted and looking over at Damon.'
When the bell rings for next period, I pick up my stuff and head out the door to the library. During second, third, and fourth period, all I can think about is Damon.
'There is still something so alluring about him that I find it hard to get him out of my mind. I have no idea why I am stuck on him but there is just something about him that I cannot put my finger on it right now. Maybe it is his looks or that he is the new guy in town that makes me think of him constantly. There is also the fact that he could help me to get people to stop talking about Josh and I. Although, I am actually shocked that he spoke to me during first period since he is new after all.'
Lauren and Stephanie are already at the lunch table waiting on me.
"Hey girl, how is your day going so far?"
"It is okay. First period is the best so far I guess," I say smiling.
I look over and see Damon at his table. He looks up and over at me as he smiles. I smile back at him.
"Hey, what are you looking at," Stephanie ask me.
The girls look over to where I am looking and see Damon already smiling over at us.
"Is he the reason your first class is the best so far today," Lauren ask.
"He might have been part of it."
"Well, I dare you to ask him if he wants to join us for lunch today."
I look over at Stephanie to see she has this wicked smile on her face.
"Okay I will," I say before getting up and walking over to the table Damon is sitting at.
"Hey Damon, how are you doing?"
"I am good, thank you for asking."
"I was wondering if maybe you would like to come over and have lunch with me and my friends."
"Will your friends get mad if I come over and have lunch with all of you?"
"No, trust me they will not."
"Okay then, sounds like a plan."
He gets up from his chair and follows me back over to my table and sits down beside me in a new chair.
"So Damon, I hear you made Audrey's first period class kind of fun this morning."
I gasp and look over at Lauren.
'What is she doing? Is she trying to start trouble right now? That was not what I meant when I said first period was alright this morning.'
"Well, I did talk to her this morning in our first period class."
Stephanie smiles, "well apparently you talking to her made the beginning of her day good."
I roll my eyes at the girl's comments and am just about to get up and walk away from the table, when the guys finally come and sit down to join us for lunch.
"Hey, what is everyone doing tonight," Adam immediately ask.
'Thank goodness I am saved by the guys interrupting our current conversation.'
"Well, I am not doing anything that I know of," I answer.
"Me either," Lauren says, chiming in.
"Nothing that I can think of," Stephanie speaks up.
"That is great. We were thinking about getting together and going to go see a movie," Daniel says.
"We girls will go with you but only if you guys buy us dinner."
I look over at Stephanie and laugh. She would say something like that to the guys. Stephanie is always thinking of food especially when it is free because she does not have to pay for it. Everyone else starts joining in and laughing around me at her comment.
"Anything for our girls," Adam says smiling.
"Oh, do you guys mind if I bring a date with me tonight then," Daniel ask suddenly.
I look over at him with a shocked expression.
'What? Does Daniel already have a girlfriend? Wow, that was kind of fast. I know I did not want to lead him on and told him I did not have the same feelings for him that he had for me, but how did he get over it and find someone so quickly.'
"Who is it," I ask with curiosity.
Michelle suddenly walks up and puts her arm around Daniel.
"I cannot wait to hangout with you guys tonight. It is going to be tons of fun. I will see you all later."
She plants a kiss on Daniel's cheek before walking off.
"When did you and Michelle start dating," Lauren ask with surprise in her tone.
"We got together the day after Adam's party. It is all thanks to Audrey honestly. If she had not have told me that Michelle thinks I am hot and likes me, then I would not have gotten the courage to hangout with her that night and eventually ask her out. By the way, thanks Audrey."
"It is no problem Daniel. I am just glad you are happy and of course she can come out with us tonight."
'I am happy he is not trying to date me anymore but I am happier that he has found someone else to help him be happy too.'
"Okay, now that we have figured that out, we have to go figure out our exact plan for tonight," Josh says.
The guys get up from their chairs and walk off, leaving only the girls, Damon, and me. I turn in my chair to look at Damon.
"Do you want to hang out with us tonight at the movie theatre?"
"Oh, I do not want to intrude on your fun."
"No, you will not be intruding at all. We would love to have you come out with us tonight."
"Yeah, it will be great," Lauren says.
"Yeah, you should come and hangout with us," Stephanie agrees.
"See, you should come."
He looks over at the girls and then back to me.
"Okay, I will come with you guys. Where should I meet you all?"
"You can just come over to my house and the guys can pick us up then."
"Okay, I already know where you live from your file so I will just meet you at your house by five."
"Sounds like a plan," I say smiling.
The bell abruptly rings and it is time to go to sixth period. I look up at Damon to see him smiling too.
"I will see you last period."
"Yeah, see you then."
I grab my stuff and head out the door to sixth period. It seems to be extremely hard to concentrate in sixth period with Damon being on my mind the whole class time.
'With the whole failed relationship thing with Josh still being talked about around the school, I feel like what I need is something to distract myself from it all; even if that means trying a new relationship with someone else even if it is still too soon. Maybe I can use Damon to this advantage to help get rid of this whole Josh thing once and for all but would it be wrong to do it even if I do not feel completely that way for him? I know we are not the only ones going tonight but would it be wrong to consider this as a first date with Damon? It kind of feels like it is but at the same time, it might just be worth all the trouble in the first place. Hopefully I do not get cold feet about this whole situation and end up not going tonight at all.'
To get Damon out of my mind, I start writing in my notebook on a short story I have been working on for a while now. It helps a little at first but after reading what I just wrote during class, I realize that I have just written about a guy and described him exactly like Damon himself. The next couple hours seem to go by fast as my mind fights itself with different thoughts running around in my head. I cannot even remember being in my last period class before I realize the day is completely over and I am already at home sitting on the edge of my bed.
My head is too busy thinking about what I am going to do tonight, let alone what I am going to wear. My phone buzzes beside me and I pick it up to see a text from Lauren come upon the screen. She is asking what time the guys, Stephanie, and she should come pick up Damon and me. Assuming Damon will be at my house sometime soon, I text her back to just come get us whatever time they want to before exiting my messages and heading over to my closet. I quickly get dressed in a flowing summer dress then head down the stairs to wait on the guys. After ten minutes, the doorbell finally rings and I go to answer the door. Damon is standing on the other side of it, standing on my front porch with his back to me.
"Hi."
"Hey," he says as he turns around towards me.
"What are you doing here," I ask.
"I was supposed to come over to your house so then the guys could come pick us up together."
"Oh yeah, that is right. Sorry, I just forgot. Come on in.
He walks in to stand in the middle of the living room, scanning his new surroundings.
"You can go ahead and sit down if you want. They should be here any minute," I say walking over to the couch and sitting down. He follows and sits down beside me.
"So what was up with you last period today," he ask.
"What do you mean?"
"You seemed like you were not even there."
"Well, to be honest, I do not even remember last period or even coming home. I think I was too stressed out."
"Why were you so stressed out?"
"I really do not remember anymore."
'I do remember but I just do not want to let him know it was because of tonight and not knowing how to move further on with my plan.'
Before he can do anything else, there is a honk suddenly from outside. I get up from the window to see the guys pull up with Lauren and Stephanie in a Honda pilot that I do not recognize.
"They are here," I say to Damon as I open the door and walk out.
He follows me out the door and climbs into the car to sit down beside me once more in the back seat of the pilot. To our advantage, there is no one in line when we arrive at the movie theatre.
"What movie do you guys want to see," Adam ask everyone.
"I want to see an action movie with stunts in it," Daniel answers.
"You guys always get to pick the movie we all watch. Let us pick the movie this time," Stephanie complains.
"We should get to pick," Lauren says, agreeing with Stephanie.
"Okay then, what movie do you guys want to see," Josh asks.
"How about the new adventure movie," Stephanie recommends.
Damon looks over at me and smiles, "what movie would you like to see Audrey?"
"I would really like to see the new romantic comedy and love story."
The guys groan, "I do not want to see that dumb movie."
I frown at Josh.
'What in the world is his problem? Is it so bad that I happen to be a hopeless romantic that believes in true love and destiny?'
While the rest of us continue to argue over which movie to see, Lauren walks away and comes back a couple more minutes later.
"Here, we are all going to go see the new adventure movie," she says while handing everyone a ticket.
I frown, "you bought us all tickets instead of discussing this with us?"
"Yeah, you were all bugging me with the arguing so I thought I would just solve the problem by buying the tickets. Come on, we do not want to miss the movie. It is about to start."
We all hurry inside into the movie theatre and go to sit down in the chairs. The guys decide they want to sit in the very last row of the theatre. Instead of sitting with them, the girls and I sit in the middle of the theatre to get a better and closer view of the movie screen. When the movie starts, I feel someone hit my right arm. I look over to the right to see Lauren who is smiling at me. She nods her head for me to look over on the other side of me. I turn to the left side and see Damon standing there.
"Is it okay if I sit next to you," he ask.
"Of course you may."
I turn back to Lauren and shrug at her as she smiles and winks at me. We sit in quiet silence as the movie continues on the screen. Everyone cries at the sad parts and aches with passion when the good parts come on. I try to pay attention to the movie but keep getting distracted by the person who is sitting to my left.
'I am very surprised he wanted to sit down with us girls instead of just sitting with the guys in the back. Maybe this is a good thing and I can hold his hand or flirt with him to start my plan of distracting everyone from the whole Josh fiasco.'
As I am trying to think of how to start my plan exactly, Lauren bumps my arm again and I look over at her to see her smiling.
She winks at me.
"Are you having trouble paying attention to the movie?"
"No, I am paying attention to the movie just fine," I whisper back to her.
"I sure would not be able to pay attention if he was sitting by me," she admits.
My face starts to turn red at her comment. I try to turn back around in my chair to pay attention to the movie, but my mind and eyes keep going back to Damon.
"Hey, did you just throw something at me?"
I look over at Damon and frown.
"No, I did not throw anything at you. Why would I do that?"
We both turn around to catch the guys' eyes.
"Do you guys want some popcorn," Daniel ask as he throws a handful at us.
"Those guys are so immature that it is not funny," Lauren says.
"Yeah, they are going to get us into so much trouble if they do not stop," Stephanie replies.
Instead of agreeing with the girls, I grab my bag of popcorn and throw a handful at the guys.
"Hey, that was not nice," Josh pipes up.
I turn around to see if they are going to throw more, when Adam stands up.
"Popcorn fight," he yells across the whole theatre.
Laughing, we all get up and run to the opposite side of the theatre and start throwing popcorn everywhere in every direction. I am in the front of the theatre when I feel someone grab me from behind and pull me through the exit door in the corner. When we are in the lobby, I finally turn around to the culprit.
"Hey, why did you do that? You scared the crap out of me."
"I just did not want us to get in trouble. The manager was coming in to tell us off and kick us all out. Lauren and Stephanie told me to grab you and follow them out the door."
I look from the frown on Damon's face to Lauren and Stephanie who are standing behind him.
"Maybe we should get out of here before we all get into trouble," I suggest.
"You are probably right. The other guys can meet us outside in the car."
The girls, Damon and I walk out the movie theatre doors and get in the honda pilot we drove here in. Ten minutes later Adam, Josh, and Daniel finally walk out and join us in the car.
"How much trouble did you guys get into," Stephanie ask.
"None, we actually ended up sneaking out at the last minute while someone else was blamed for the mess we made," Adam replies.
"That is terrible. You let someone else take the blame and get in trouble for your mess?"
"You guys are so lucky you did not get caught," Lauren says.
"We know. So what should we do now then?"
"We can all go back to my house and hangout," I chime in.
"Hey, that sounds like a good idea to me."
We all leave the movie theatre behind and head over to my house to hang out some more and continue the fun we are having. When we get to my house, we all pile into the living room and sit down on the couch and floor.
"So what do you guys want to do now," I ask.
"Well, we can always invite people over and have a small party. After all, the guys do owe us dinner and the cheapest thing to buy is pizza."
Josh frowns, "we agreed to buy you girls lunch; not you girls and a whole house full of other people."
"Oh come on, if all four of you chip in then it will not be that expensive at all."
Adams is the one to speak up then.
"Okay, I guess it sounds like a plan. Come on Josh, we can go order the pizza while everyone else sets things up."
I look from Lauren to everyone else standing around me.
"Do you guys want to have a party here then?"
"I think it would be fun, as long as you are okay with having a ton of people over in your house," Damon says.
"It is okay with me, it is not like my parents will know about me having a party on a weekday while they are away. They are gone too much to find something like this out or even care about it."
"Okay then, since the guys are ordering pizza. We girls can start texting and calling everyone,"
Damon looks over at me.
"Hey, since we are having a party here, should we get some bowls for chips and maybe grab some games we can all play later?"
"Yeah, I think they are all still up in the attic, I will be right back."
"I can come up there with you to help if you would like," he says following me up the stairs.
We continue to walk up the first flight of stairs then the second flight before finally coming to the attic. Before I open the attic door, I turn back to Damon.
"I have not been up here at all so I am not sure what all we will find up here. My parents never let me go into the attic when I was growing up, they said it was forbidden."
"It is okay but it is strange they never let you come up here. What possibly could be up here that you were not allowed to be around."
"I have no idea but I guess we will find out now."
I turn back around to face the door and twist the knob to open it. Except for a few boxes by the wall, the attic seems to be quite bare.
"I am going to guess they should be over here," I say as I walk over to the shelves that are lined up along the wall.
"Wow, that is a lot of games. Why do you have so many?"
"My parents were never around when I was growing up. They use to leave me with games and let me invite friends over almost every night so I would not be alone but they did not realize that I still felt alone no matter who I was with. It was tough growing up barely seeing my parents, but now I understand it's because they have very important jobs and have to travel for them. I guess they kept these up here in case I ever wanted or needed them again."
"How long has it been since you last saw them?"
I frown, "I see them during the summers now but this summer, they had only stayed for a week before they had to leave once again. I think they are in Rome right now for work. It does not really bother me that much anymore because I get to do whatever I want."
"Luckily for you, you have tons of friends that want to have fun and hangout with you."
There is a sudden honking noise and Damon walks over to the window to investigate and see who it came from.
"Well, it looks like people are already arriving, maybe we should take these and head back downstairs."
"Yeah, I agree."
I grab a couple games from the shelves and start to walk to the door when Damon speaks up suddenly.
"Hey, what is that," he ask.
I turn toward where he is looking at the moment to see a random mauve colored curtain hanging by the corner on the opposite side of the attic.
"I have no idea. I have never been up here so I have never seen this curtain before. I wonder what is behind it."
"Maybe we should go ahead and look behind it to see."
I watch as he walks over to pull the curtain aside. Right behind it is a secret hidden door. Noticing the dust on the door knob, I figured it has not been opened in a very long time. He reaches out to put his hand on the door knob to get ready to open it when a voice abruptly appears from behind us.
"What is taking you guys so long? Everyone is wondering where you two are at right now."
I turn around to look and see Josh who is suddenly standing in the attic doorway.
"We are on our way now. Come on Damon, we will check it out later."
"Okay, We should go down to the party anyways."
He takes his hand away from the door and grabs the games before following me down the stairs to join the party. The living room is completely packed by the time we get back down the stairs.
'Apparently news travels around super fast in this town, especially when it has something to do with a party.'
Damon and I sit the games down on the dining room table when Lauren comes up to us.
"What took you guys so long," she ask.
"We did not know how many games we should bring down."
"Well, I am going to go talk to the guys. I will see you in a little bit."
I watch as Damon walks away to go join the other guys.
"Hey, so what were you guys really doing up there?"
"We went up to the attic to grab the games for tonight and Damon found a random door up there."
"What was behind it?"
"We did not get to open it because Josh came up and told us to hurry up and get back down here."
"Oh, well maybe later on we can go back up there and check it out. I was going to ask you if I could stay over tonight anyways. You could use the help cleaning up the big mess that is going to be left behind by everyone."
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."
We walk back into the living room to join the rest of the people who came for the party. Everyone is already swaying and dancing to the beat of the music as it echoes around the room. I walk away to refill the coolers the guys laid out when Josh suddenly comes up behind me.
"Having fun," he ask.
"A little bit, I do not really know any of these people but as long as everyone is having a good time, I am okay with it."
"So what took you and Damon so long to grab the games from the attic?"
There is something weird about his tone, almost like he is accusing me of something in particular.
"We did not know how many games we should bring down and then we were very curious about this door we found up there but we did not get to open it."
"So you guys were not doing anything else then?"
"No, why do you ask?"
"No reason, I am just being curious is all."
'Is he jealous of the attention I am getting from other people right now? Is he jealous of Damon? This is not going to go well if he is, I wanted this fiasco to be behind me. Having Josh jealous is the last thing I need when I am trying to get everyone's mind off of us finally never being a couple. Maybe I went a little too far trying to use Damon to distract everyone else but now what am I going to do. Am I too far into this plan to let it go now?'
"Look Josh, it is kind of hot in here with all these people, I am going to go outside to get some fresh air for a little bit. I will see you in a few."
I turn around to walk out the sliding glass doors leading out to the back yard and patio. Thankfully for me, no one is out here so I am all alone. I can finally be all by myself and get some fresh air.
'Why is Josh wondering what Damon and I were doing. We were just getting games and even if we were doing something, it would be none of his business anyways. He is the one that wanted to give us a shot and took me out on a date then completely act like nothing happened the next day. I am not upset about the fact that we are not going to be a couple more than I am actually upset that he would treat me like this after all the years we have known each other. We are friends and I would hate to lose my friend because he is uncomfortable with the fact that everyone wants us to date no matter how much we should not do it and just stay friends. Maybe I should stop this whole using Damon thing and just focus on myself.'
"Hey, are you okay?"
"I am okay, I just wanted to be alone and get some fresh air."
I turn around to see who has joined me in my solitude and gasp at what I see standing right behind me. Standing behind me is the most drop dead gorgeous guy with dark brown hair and hazel colored eyes that I have ever seen in my whole life. My eyes scan over him to notice the blue jeans and solid navy blue t-shirt he is wearing. I do not know what it is that makes me seem so mysterious yet alluring at the same time to me.
"Hi, I am sorry but I do not think I have seen you around before now," I say.
"I know, but I thought I could stop by with your party going on and maybe I would get the chance to talk to you."
"With me? Why would you want to talk to me and what about? I am nobody, honestly."
"My name is Alexander Sangre but you can call me Alex if you wish. I have been waiting an awfully long time to meet you Miss Dragomir. I hear you throw quite a fun party."
I scoff and roll my eyes at him, "actually this is the first party I have ever thrown to be honest. I am not very popular so I do not usually throw parties but I have been to quite a few of my friends' parties in the past."
"Well that cannot be right at all, a girl of your descendant should be one of the most popular girls in school."
"Um, thank you, I think? Do not mind me but you have an accent, yes?"
"Yes I do have an accent and it is because I am not originally from around here."
"Wow really, may I ask where you are from?"
"Yes you may, I am from Spain."
"Well that is quite amazing. What is Spain like?"
He laughs, "it is definitely different than being here. The culture is so much more energetic and the colors are so bright and vivid."
"I wish I could visit, I have always wanted to travel the world and see new places."
"You would love Spain and everything it has. Maybe you will visit my homeland one day, you never know what will happen in the future."
"Well I wish I could stay and sit here talking to you all night but I should probably get back to the party and my friends, if you do not mind. Please stay and enjoy yourself. I hope to see you again."
He smiles, "oh I am quite positive we will meet again real soon."
Walking back toward the sliding glass doors to the house, I get a sudden cold chill running down my spine and turn back around. Alexander is still looking at me with such a curious expression on his face. I turn back around to walk into the house and see Stephanie right in front of me in the dining room.
"Hey, how is it going," she ask as I walk up to her.
"Okay I guess, do you know anyone by the name of Alexander Sangre?"
"No, not that I know of, why?"
"No reason, I was just wondering?"
I can still feel the cold chill in the air even after he is gone. By the time everyone leaves, it is eleven o'clock and I am completely exhausted.
"We should probably clean this house up real quick before we head off to bed," Lauren suggest.
"Okay, let us hurry though, I do not know how much more I can stay awake right now."
We walk around the house gathering up all the trash that is left behind, trying to clean the place up as much as we can. After we are completely finish, we grab a couple blankets and fall asleep on the carpet rug on the floor of my bedroom upstairs.