It’s filled with swaying bodies and flailing limbs of girls and boys, some dressed in masks, others not.
My head reclines and I track the black painted wall across the room. Large, paneled windows open the space to the view of the inky wooded forest outside, and I notice how the ceilings sit abnormally high.
I’m thinking about how it would require some kind of crane, or machine to complete the simple task of switching out a blown light bulb when someone shouts, then laughter erupts, and I’m dropping my chin, shooting my eyes from one side of the space to the other. The subtle harmony of spiced wood, deep forest green indoor plants and textured concrete flooring compliment the shadowy elegance perfectly, only it feels cheapened when a light machine works to bounce a sequence of blue, red, yellow and green off the expensive walls.
“One for you.” Some random guy with mousy-brown hair says, grabbing my arm and lifting it, slipping a red plastic Solo cup into my hand. “And one for you.” He does the same for Jade.
Jade and I grin mischievously at each other as he walks away singing to “Someone To Die With” by Pyrrhic.
We tap the flimsy plastic together, guiding the drinks toward our mouths when the boys intercept. Chase is snatching Jade’s away and Harlen is reefing mine right out of my sweaty palm.
“What the—” Jade protests, and Chase gives her a look that instantly clips her off.
Chase dumps the red liquid into the potted plant beside us, taking the one Harlen holds out to him and doing the same, then he spins and looks at Jade before flicking his dark eyes to mine, oscillating between the both of us.
“At these parties, you only take drinks fromus.” He is flicking his thumb back and forth between himself and Harlen.
Jade crosses her arms over her chest, raises her chin. Defiance painted across her flushed face. “Oh yeah, and what happens if you’re off doing…” she stumbles over her words for a moment, deciphering what to say before settling on, “God knows what?” She throws her arms out with a huff.
Harlen steps in. “Then find a sealed bottle, J.”
A smile quirks the corner of my mouth, then I shrug. “Sounds like more fun anyway.”
I can feel Chase’s eyes burning through my temple and I choose to avoid his gaze because something in my gut tells me he has something more to say.
However, the weight of them presses away when Bryce grabs his shoulder, pulling him in for one of those guy hugs. The kind that brings them together until the front panels of their shoulders tap and a hand falls down on the other’s deltoid.
“My man!” Bryce says.
Harlen greets him the same way, and I watch Bryce’s emerald gaze flick over the boys shoulders, landing on me and Jade.
I hadn’t met Bryce before, seen him around though. His eyes are glistening, his pupils dilated, bugging out of his head. He’s high on something.
He wets his full, pillowy lips and bites into his bottom one, sliding the silver ball of his tongue ring, when Chase warns, “Don’t even think about it.”
It makes me want to punch Chase in the throat. I love to hate that he wants to have a say over who we get to know.
“They’re my sisters,” he adds.
I try not to snort at that, but there’s a stabbing pain in my stomach that only makes me angry. I am not his sister; and I never will be.
I shove past him and extend my hand toward Bryce, taking matters into my own hands.
“Laiken.” I turn over my shoulder and stare at Chase. “And I’mnothis sister.”
Bryce takes my hand and laughs, asking with a tilted brow, “Ahhh, Campbell, right?”
“That’s right,” I confirm confidently, and when his eyes flick back and forth between mine, recognition tinkering in his mind, I instantly regret not following Chase’s lead.
“Given Up” by Linkin Park had started through the speakers, and I hadn’t noticed that someone had slipped up behind Bryce until I felt Chase press closer, Harlen too.
Jade taps against my side, her cool fingers crawling into my sweaty palm.
A guy's pale arm drapes around Bryce’s shoulders, a ski mask covering his face before he rips it off and shoves it into the back pocket of his light denim jeans.
Colton James presses his too-handsome face close to Bryce’s neck, a bottle of vodka tapping against Bryce’s chest.
“Her granddaddy, and daddy, liked to break girlies bones,” he coos the words out, then laughs, like what he just said isn’t harmful.
