The Deal With The Bad Boy

Chapter Five

Staring at myself nervously in the mirror, my anxiety was getting the better of me, I had traded my signature glasses for my contacts, something I rarely do, and I was unsure if it had been a good idea.  Drumming my fingers against my crossed arms I tried to calm my fiercely beating heart.  Grabbing my phone for the seventeenth time, I brought up Jay’s number before throwing it back on the bed again.  There was no point even trying to cancel, he would still come and force me into the car.

Finally, a loud knock on the front door informed me that my best friend had arrived to take me to my doom. Checking the mirror for a last time, I patted my perfectly curled hair before grabbing my phone and dropping it into the small clutch handbag I was taking with me.

Making my way down the stairs in my black glittered heels, I opened to door to Jay who gave a low whistle as he took in my outfit, ‘girllllll you scrub up fiiiiine’ he gushed taking my hand and making me twirl on the doorstep.  Giving him a grin, I perused his outfit of black skinny jeans and a deep blue button up shirt that brought out his eyes. I turned back toward the living room and shouted out goodbye to my mum.

‘Home by eleven cupcake, have a good time!’ came my mum’s voice from her comfy chair as I closed the door behind me softly.

Linking his arm through mine, Jay guided me down the path to his car, opening the passenger side door with a low bow, ‘M’lady’ he intoned with a grin as I gave him a regal wave and clambered into the car giggling.

Shutting my door, he ran around the front of the car and slipped in behind the wheel, buckling his seatbelt before staring at me expectantly.

Sighing, I pulled on the belt, stretching it across my chest before clicking it in place.

Starting the engine, Jay grinned, ‘safety first baby girl’ he said smoothly as he pulled away from the curb.

Settling back in my seat, I stared nervously out of the passenger window as Jay fiddled with the radio, finding a station he liked and started to sing along with some obscure band I'd never heard before.

‘Excited?’ he called out over the music, drawing my attention to him.

‘Uh, yeah, I guess so’ I replied, trying to hide my growing dread.

‘Hey, it’ll be fine! You look amazing, all those guys are going to be floored when you walk in’ Jay grinned as he kept his eyes on the road.

Before long we were pulling up in front of one of the biggest houses I had ever seen, it was even bigger than Jay’s and that was saying something!  The driveway was littered with cars that had been parked haphazardly on the carefully maintained paving slabs.  Pulling up next to a jet-black muscle car, Jay cut the engine and turned to face me grinning like a Cheshire cat.

‘Ready?’ he asked happily, swallowing hard I nodded silently as he let out a mad squeal that would envy any drama queen and jumped out of the vehicle to run round and open my door for me.

Taking his hand, I slid out of the safety of the plush leather, self consciously smoothing down my dress as Jay linked his arm in mine and led me up the drive to the double front door that were thrown wide open, dance music blasting from within.

Stepping through the doors, I glanced nervously around, my eyes adjusting to the darkness, making out the grinding bodies of my class mates as they swayed to the music.  Cups of drink were held tightly in their hands, various couples, sprawled across furniture and up against walls, their lips locked together, hands roaming to places that I did not want to know about.

Clinging to Jay, I allowed him to steer me through the crowd toward a small gap at the back where a table was overloaded with drinks.  Wordlessly taking the cup that he thrust at me, I took a quick sip, grimacing as the overpowering taste of the alcohol burned my throat. Staring around me, I flinched internally, man the entire student body must be here!

‘Jay!’ came a drunken slur from our right, ‘Jay Jay! Jayster! J man!’ focusing on the swaying senior I recognised Dylan, Jays chemistry partner, line back for the football team.

‘Dylan!’ Jay greeted jovially, ‘you look like you are having a good time.’

Dylan nodded, a grin crawling across his face, ‘the best! You know, my mam gave me free reign tonight after I showed her our chem experiment grade? Dude! No curfew!’ he roared, slapping Jay on the back.

Dylan’s eyes finally focused on me, narrowing slightly as if he was trying to figure out who I was, ‘well now, who is this hottie you got with you Jay?’ he slurred, leaning toward me.

Jay threw his arm protectively around me, ‘this is my very best friend Cassidy’ he said as Dylan gave me a smirk.

‘Well Cassidy, Cassie, Cass Cass, Casablanca’ Dylan rambled, ‘your friend here is THE most awesome man ever, do you know that?’ he asked, his eyes losing focus slightly as he leaned against Jay’s arm. ‘No no no I mean it! He got saddled with my stupid ass for Chemistry and he managed to pull out an A plus girl! With me! i’m a D minus man, not a word of a lie and this dude’ he said poking Jay’s chest, ‘this dude right here, BAM! A plus’ he grinned.

‘He is brilliant’ I managed to answer with a shy smile.

Dylan, looked over my shoulder, his grin broadening as he raised his voice, ‘and there he is ladies and assholes! The man of the hour, the party king, the person who doesn’t give a fig that we’ll trash his house, the one, the only Archer Jones!’ The kids around me cheered as I spun round, my eyes searching the room until they climbed up the stairs to see him, my heart pounding loudly in my chest, Archer Jones stood there grinning down at us all.

His black shirt was untucked from his waist, showing off his muscular frame, his blue jeans hugged his legs, stretching slightly as he made his way down the steps toward the crowd who were calling out to him.

Spinning back to Jay I hissed at him, ‘Archer Jones? This is Archer Jones’ party?’

Jay nodded with a huge smile, ‘yup!’ A frown forming on his face, he muttered, ’did I forget to mention that?’  Staring down at my outfit, anxiety crashed over me, I was at the house of my secret crush, surrounded by girls in thousands of dollars’ worth of clothing, I didn’t belong here.

‘I think I want to go home Jay’ I mumbled self consciously.

Jay’s eyes widened, ‘Cassie! No! Come on! Stay, just for a little bit and if you really hate it, I promise to take you home’ he said, ‘please Cassie? Please? Please? Pretty please?’ he wheedled until I sighed and nodded.

‘Yes!’ he shouted before grabbing my hand and dragging me toward the gyrating bodies of the other guests.

Standing in front of him, I moved around awkwardly, trying not to let Jay’s over exuberance rub off on me as he jumped around without any care of who was watching him.  A blonde girl with that hour glass figure girls like me dream of, suddenly appeared beside us, ‘Jay? Dance with me!’ she squealed pulling at his arm. Looking at me hesitantly, he grinned in acceptance at the girl as I gave a small nod to say i’d be fine before watching him disappear into the crowd.

Making my way through the sweaty drunken bodies, I managed to stumble out by the drinks, pouring myself another large cup of a random purple concoction that I didn’t bother to read the label of.

Taking a large gulp, I scanned the dance floor, just making out Jay’s hair cut in the middle of the grinding bodies, jumping around madly as blondie held onto him like he might disappear from her sight if she let go.

‘This doesn’t seem the kind of place for a girl like you’ came the soft tones from beside me.  Jumping, I look to my right to see Wade staring at me, a cup of beer in his hand as his eyes travelled over my body making me shiver involuntarily.

‘Jay asked me to come with him’ I replied trying to sound tough and unbothered by his presence, but the smirk crawling across his face made me think that I wasn’t doing a very good job at pretending.

‘Nice dress’ Wade commented, his eyes roaming my curves, stopping for a moment at the slit that was flashing just the hint of skin.

‘Um thanks’ I replied nervously, ‘why are you here? I thought you and Archer hated each other’ I added, before widening my eyes at my own forwardness

Wade shrugged as he scanned the room, ‘my mate wanted to come, talked me into it’ was his guarded reply as his eyes scanned the room, narrowing with a hooded emotion as they spotted someone I couldn’t see.

Turning away from him, I downed the rest of my drink before pouring myself another generous measure and starting on that too, trying to drown out my nerves. Turning back again I found the space next to me empty, heaving a sigh of relief I continued to empty my cup.

Downing the rest of my drink I poured a third, then a fourth, looking around me and realising that I couldn’t see straight.  The room was swaying happily in front of me, making me want to giggle, feeling the need to use the rest room, I took a tentative step forward, bumping into someone.

As they turned around, I tried to focus on their face, waiting until it swam into view, ‘well who are you?’ came a deep sexy voice.

‘Cassie’ I replied with a drunken giggle.

‘Well Cassie, i’m Brad’ came the deep smooth voice, ‘and you look like you’ve had a little bit too much to drink’ he added with a chuckle.

I nodded, giggling, ‘I may have’ I replied coyly, ‘I was trying to find the bathroom, but I haven’t gotten far’ I mumbled, hanging on to Brad’s jacket to stop myself falling over.

Grinning down at me, Brad placed his arm around my waist and supported me toward the stairs, leading me up them before opening a door to the right and helping me into the room.  ‘This is Archer’s room, there is a bathroom adjoined to it, he won’t mind if you use it’ Brad said as I let go of the football player and staggered over to the bathroom door.

‘Thank you!’ I slurred as Brad laughed, stepping back outside of the door and closing it gently behind him.

Stumbling into the bathroom, I did my business, before sinking to the floor behind the bathroom door, holding my head in my hands as the room spun around me. Suddenly I realised that I was about to revisit the drinks I had drunk earlier. Crawling over to the toilet, I proceeded to bring up everything in my stomach for a good five minutes before I fell to the floor moaning and cursing to myself.

I don’t drink, I mean never! I had one margherita when I was sixteen with my mum and that’s it, what was I thinking?  Using the sink to climb up, I wiped my mouth with tissue before flushing the toilet again and rummaging on the shelf till I found a bottle of mouth wash.  Swilling my mouth twice for good measure, I stumbled out of the bathroom in a drunken haze and fell onto the bed in the next room.  It was so comfortable, and so big! When did I get such a big bed? Never mind, I just needed to rest, just for a few minutes and then I could go ask mum when she bought me a new bed and say thank you.

Drifting off, I smiled at the delicious scent that was suddenly swirling around me from somewhere I couldn’t pinpoint. Snuggling into one of the pillows as I breathed in the heady smell with a soft moan of appreciation, man mum must have splashed out on one of those really pricey diffuser thingys, wonder if it was on sale.