"So do you like someone?" I said to Jeremy, surprised. "Why didn't I know about this?"
"Why are you asking me so accusingly? It's because of reactions like this that Leo thinks we are dating," Jeremy complained.
"I don't want to be a party pooper, but you're ruining my Saturday," Oliver interrupted coldly. "Why don't you and Leo go upstairs and settle your differences? Let my friends enjoy the party down here. Lily let me serve you a drink."
"No one's going anywhere," Lily said firmly. "Leo, take Dad's car and go with Jeremy to his house right now. I don't want either of you here."
Brandy, who had been silent until this point, spoke up. "I think I should go with Leo too, just to make sure everything's okay."
Oliver immediately cut her off. "You're not going anywhere."
"Why are you talking to my girlfriend like that?" Leo became defensive.
"Because you're visibly upset, and I don't want her to miss the party because you're acting like a child. She's already mad at you for abandoning her here alone. I'm just being a good friend, which you clearly don't know how to be."
Everyone started arguing again, voices rising, and the blood from my nose was starting to make me dizzy. I stood up, wiping my face with my hands, and decided to be the adult that I was in the room.
"Everyone shut up!" I said loudly and authoritatively. By some miracle, everyone actually listened to me.
"Leo, take your dad's car keys and take Jeremy home," I commanded, looking directly at him. "This isn't a suggestion or an invitation, it's an order. And you don't want to know what happens if you disobey it."
I turned to Brandy. "You stay here at the party and make sure Oliver calms down." I needed Oliver to be completely distracted so he wouldn't do anything reckless.
"And Lily, please, I need you to treat me to this bruise, and then I can take you home. I don't want anyone to argue or refuse to do what I said, or things could get worse, and that's not something any of us wants."
Everyone nodded reluctantly, and I could finally breathe again.
CHAPTER 32
Lily
Lily is calling you…
Kyle: FOUND IT! It was under the chair.
Lily: Now come to the bathroom so I can heal you.
Kyle: Why did that sound so nasty?
Lily: STOP
After makingsure my brother and Jeremy had left Oliver's house, I went upstairs to the bathroom to get a first-aid kit to stop Kyle's nosebleed. My heart was beating extremely fast, and I had so many things on my mind that I couldn't think in peace.
What would have happened if I hadn't noticed Leo had left the house? Or if I hadn't arrived on time and Oliver had convinced my brother to go upstairs to settle his differenceswith Jeremy?
The same thing as last time, probably.
Leo and Jeremy would have gone upstairs to the bathroom to fight, and Oliver would have recorded them kissing, and then something more. Then he'd use it to blackmail Leo, but when my brother refused to break up with Brandy, Oliver would have spread the video throughout the school so everyone would bully my poor brother even more than they already did.
But that didn't happen. We'd stopped it. So I needed to calm down.
I took a deep breath in front of the mirror. My hands were still trembling with residual adrenaline that my body still had as I turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on my face, hoping the shock of it would ground me back in reality.
"Getting ready for me?" Kyle said behind me. The voice he used was the same tone as when he spoke authoritatively a few moments ago downstairs, it sounded deep, more manly and intense, reminding me of the man he was ten years later.
"Don't even try to be funny. I'm mad at you."
I splashed the water from my hands at him, but he grabbed my wrists to stop me. The sudden contact made me gasp in surprise. I looked up at his face, and the playfulness was completely gone. He was serious now, his eyes dark and intense, studying me like he was trying to memorize every detail of my expression as if he wasn't in the mood for games either. As if he understood that we were both barely holding it together and that levity was just another wall we were hiding behind.
