Agony (7 page)

“I’ll be fine!” she said with a laugh.

“I kind of have to agree with Neve on this one,” Arsen said seriously. “Hey I have an idea! Why don’t we have a cookout tonight at my place! We can go to the liquor store and get some stuff to drink. I have plenty of food and I’ve been dying for a reason to use my grill. You can invite them over and I’ll call some friends. It’ll be fun!”

What kind of friends?

“Okay, I’ll let them know!” she said excitedly running off to tell her harem.

“What do you think, Neve? Sound like a good idea?” Arsen asked me.

“Um. Yeah,” I mumbled. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing. I agree, it’ll be a good time,” I replied forcing a smile.

“Awesome, let’s get Addie and go home. I can start calling some people when we get there and start pulling food out of the freezer,” he said happily.

Arsen took me by the hand again and we went over to pick up our towels. Adesynne ran over to tell us that her harem were game. I decided I would send Matt a message and tell him to bring Drew, the other sub shop kid, to come to Arsen’s tonight.

We walked back to his place laughing and talking. Or rather they were, I was silent most of the way.

When we climbed the stairs to his doorway, I hesitated and Addie blew out her breath impatiently.

“Be careful in there, Cuz. You don’t want to trip on the dildos inside.”

I rolled my eyes and let Arsen lead me inside. I kept my eyes straight ahead at first because I didn’t know what to expect.

I glanced around the living room and smiled at a picture he had next to his huge flat screen television. I let go of his hand and walked over to it. I picked it up and my smile widened a little when I saw that he had his arm around an older woman who was smiling his exact smile.

“That’s my mom,” he said appearing next to me.

“You have her smile,” I remarked setting the picture back down.

“Yeah. She’s a good woman,” he replied.

I stepped away from the picture and looked around the opulent room. It really wasn’t what I expected. There was no sex paraphernalia anywhere and there were no signs that he was anything other than an ordinary guy. Pictures of his family and friends were scattered all over the living room.

Arsen left me in the room to look around. I noticed Addie was sitting on the obviously expensive leather couch smiling at me.

“I’m proud of you kid. You’ve been out here for four months, and you’re already growing up on me.”

I blushed at her praise. I knew what she meant. My answer to being Arsen’s girl was a big decision for me and she was probably expecting me to say no which is why she answered for me.

“I like him,” I finally admitted.

“I knew that already. You wouldn’t have had a “pajama party” with him if you hadn’t,” she said grinning and making air quotes. “You just need a push, is all.”

“Thanks Addie,” I said softly.

“Hey, that’s what I’m here for!” she said with a laugh.

“You guys ready to hit the liquor store?” Arsen asked reappearing.

“Let’s do it!” Addie said.

We walked out of the house after I pulled on my denim shorts. We piled into Arsen’s car and he backed out of the driveway.

“I told everyone to start showing up around seven so we’ve got two hours,” he said as he put the car in drive and made his way toward the liquor store.

“Perfect, I told the boys eight,” Addie said from the backseat.

I reached into my purse and grabbed my phone. I sent Matt a message, giving him Arsen’s address and telling him to bring Drew.

He replied with a “hell yes” and I smiled.

“Matt’s in. And he’s bringing Drew,” I said to Arsen.

“Cool! I hope they have a good time,” he replied with a grin.

We pulled into the liquor store parking lot and got out of the car. Addie was walking around in her two piece bathing suit and I stuck close to her, feeling completely protective. Eventually we all found our way back to the front of the store and at the cash register. Arsen picked up the three hundred dollar bill and we all walked back out to the car.

“Mind dropping me off at home? I wanna change,” I said to him.

“Yeah, let me just take this stuff home first,” he replied.

I waited in the car while him and Addie unloaded the car and took everything into the house.

They came back out and we were off to my place. I climbed out of the car when we arrived and was suddenly struck with the realization of how small my place really was. After being in Arsen’s living room, I was sure it was bigger than my entire damn apartment.

I unlocked the door and the three of us went in.

“I’m gonna take a shower quick,” I called back to them as I disappeared into the bedroom.

I grabbed a sundress that I had specially made when I lived in New York. It was lightweight and had vertical white strips toward the bottom. The rest of it was black with a giant white skull in front. I knew what Addie was going to say.
Don’t you wear anything besides black and white skulls?

I turned on the water, hopped in, and washed myself up in record timing. I blow dried my hair and reached for some mouse. I had been thinking about flat ironing my hair but decided I’d rather accentuate the natural waves.

When I was done, I gave myself one last look over in the full length mirror on the door and blew a kiss.  The dress hugged me in all the right places without being too tight.

Hopefully he thought I looked as hot as I felt.

“I’m ready!” I said cheerfully walking into the living room.

“
Wow
,” Arsen said appreciatively.

“Not bad, Neve!” Addie agreed with a nod.

Arsen stood up and came over to where I was standing. He took one of my hands and raised my arm, looking me up and down.

“
Very nice
,” he said with a grin.

“Let’s get going guys! We’ve got a party to host!” Arsen said leading the way out of my apartment.

I
t was nine pm and the cookout was in full swing. Addie had opted to go in a yellow halter top and white flair skirt. She wore white flip flops and looked absolutely amazing.

I was standing next to Arsen who was happily grilling away with a beer in his hand, looking around at a
lot
of familiar faces.

I had seen most of the people that were here have sex and I was feeling highly uncomfortable.

That was only deepened when Jess came over to chat with me.

“You look hot!” she exclaimed.

“Thanks, Jess,” I mumbled looking down.

The truth was so did she. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a sleek bun and she was wearing a black tube top and electric blue denim jeans. On her feet, she work clunky sandals that made her a bit taller than me.

“So Arsen tells me that you guys are a hanging out a lot,” she said with a friendly smile.

“Did I?” he asked, glancing over at her.

“Yeah.”

“And when did I say that?” he inquired.

“Um ... a little while ago. I thought you said ...,” her voice trailed off into a giggle. She gave him a playful shove and he laughed before he turned his attention back to his grill.

“It’s awesome that you’re cool with what he does,” she said with a kind smile.

I swallowed hard.

The truth was that I wasn’t. And I never would be. I only hoped he wouldn’t feel lonely enough to go back to fucking random girls.

“Hey Jess, wanna go inside and grab something for me?” Arsen said.

“What do you need?” she asked him.

“I don’t care. Just
go
and grab anything,” he replied meaningfully.

Jess looked confused for a minute, but when she saw the sullen look on my face, she understood and gave my arm a quick rub before leaving.

“Sorry about that,” Arsen mumbled.  “Jessie’s a good girl, she just talks too damn much.”

I just shrugged and looked at the ground.

“Neve,” Arsen said putting his spatula down, “You don’t have anything to worry about. From
anyone
here. If you could see the look on your face right now, you’d know why I’m saying that.”

I glanced up at him and nodded. I believed him but it was still hard not knowing if he’d slept with most of the women here.

“Neve!” Addie yelled jogging toward me.

“What’s up?” I asked her.

She grabbed me by the arm and dragged me away from Arsen’s side, “These boys over here are bragging about their beer pong skills. It’s time that we show them how it’s done.”

“Hold on. I can’t do this in a dress.”

I walked back to Arsen and asked him if he had some shorts that I could borrow and possibly a muscle shirt of some sort.

“Is this a game I should be betting on?” he asked mischievously as I followed him into his house.

“You might want too. I hate beer; can’t stand the taste. It makes me a great player,” I explained with a laugh.

Arsen led me up the stairs and into his bedroom where he handed me a pair of black basketball shorts and a white muscle shirt.

“I feel like we should put some shoe polish under your eyes,” he said with a laugh when I walked out.

“Maybe a sweatband too?” I asked, sticking out my tongue. “Got anything that I can tie my hair up with?”

“Yeah actually; check the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. The last time my sister was here she forgot a bunch of those hair tie things,” he said, pointing to a door.

I went into the bathroom and opened the mirror. I grabbed a black, elastic hair tie and looped my hair into a tight ponytail.

“Hey, Arsen?”

“Yeah?”

“Shoe polish me?”

I heard his loud laughter as he approached the door and knocked before coming in.

“Step aside, woman,” he said in a fake macho voice.

I rolled my eyes and giggled as he produced the shoe polish from his a different cabinet and uncapped it. He placed his thumb in it and with two quick, firm swipes, gave me some war paint.

I leaned over to look in the mirror and flexed, making a fake game face. He laughed again as he gently moved me so he could wash his hands in the sink.

“Come on,” I said to him cheerfully as I walked out of his bathroom, through his bedroom, and down the stairs to the main floor.

Once we got outside, I ran over to the set up table where Addie was standing and nudged her. She laughed and we high fived.

This game was going to be fun.

“Ladies first,” one of the guys said. I eyed him for a moment. His body had a similar build to Arsen’s so it was obvious what
he
did for a living. I didn’t know his name, but his long blonde hair and crystal blue eyes reminded me of someone.

“Give it here, Tarzan,” I said dryly.

He laughed good-naturedly and tossed the ping pong ball toward me. I caught it with ease and looked at Adesynne.

“How do you want to do this? Quick and painless or slow and make them suffer?” I asked loudly.

“How about you just toss the ball and try not to get hurt,” Tarzan asked with a grin.

I raised an eyebrow at him, sized up the cups, and let the ball fly through the air.

Plop!

It landed in the middle cup in the last row. Everyone was quiet for a moment; everyone except for Addie who was giggling wickedly.

“Drink up, Blondie,” I said casually.

I put my hands on his hips as he fished out the ball and drank. He tossed the cup aside and blew me a kiss. Then he let the ball fly and did the same thing that I had just done.

Oh shit. This might not have been a good idea after all.

I looked at Addie who was staring at the cup with the same expression I was.

“This made be harder than I thought,” she mumbled, reaching for the cup.

“Um, excuse me! I believe that cup belongs to her,” he said to Addie.

“There’s no designation here,” Addie called back.

“Well, if she can’t handle it, then maybe she shouldn’t play,” he replied simply.

I shot him a dirty look and snatched the cup from Addie. The smell of the beer alone was making my stomach turn. I fished out the ball and stared at the red cup’s contents.

Arsen suddenly snatched the cup out of my hand and drank down the beer.

“Hey man! What gives?” Tarzan yelled to him.

“I was thirsty,” he replied with a shrug. He gave me a secret smirk and walked back to the spot that he had been watching the game from.

Tarzan rolled his eyes. Addie grabbed the ball and let it fly. She sunk it easily and Tarzan’s partner, with the short black hair and big brown eyes laughed as he fished out the ball and drank.

“I have a feeling I’m going to be seriously drunk at the end of this,” she grumbled as Brown Eyes sunk his shot.

Three hours and more than enough games of Beer Pong later, mostly everyone was starting to leave. Tarzan and Brown Eyes were passed under the table and I couldn’t find Adesynne anywhere. I became frantic until Jess assured me that she was safely passed out in the living room alone.

“I guess I should grab her and get going,” I said to Arsen after I helped him clean up.

“Nah. Let her sleep. We can go upstairs and hang out on the balcony,” he said with a smile.

“Are you sure? I mean, what about them?” I asked pointing to my adversaries.

“They’ll be okay. Trust me. It’s not the first time they’ve ‘slept’ there,” he replied laughing.

I nodded, “Okay, then let’s go.”

After we checked on Addie, we walked up the stairs and back into Arsen’s bedroom. He led the way to the balcony doors and sat down in one of the folding chairs that were there.

“Did you have a good time, Neve?” he asked, glancing at me.

I nodded shyly.

“Good. I was hoping that you did.”

He took one of my hands and held it in his lap, while he looked out into the night sky. My body was trembling so hard in that moment, that I was sure he could feel it. When he chuckled, I knew I was right. Arsen gave my hand a gentle squeeze and sighed. I didn’t know what the sigh meant, but he reached over and moved my chair closer to his. I glanced at him and he gave me a small smile.  I held his gaze for a few precious seconds before I looked away shyly.

“Hey,” he said quietly.