Better Than Revenge (Sweet Secrets #1) (13 page)

To my surprise, Blake grabbed two beers off of the island and handed one to me with a sly smile on his face. “There’s a first time for everything right?”

I hesitantly took the beer from Blake’s hand. “Why not? One beer can’t really do much right?”

“Right,” he said producing a bottle opener from the counter and popping the cap off of the bottle with ease before doing the same for me.

The bottle hissed menacingly as the cap popped off and landed on the floor. It was cold against the palm of my hand, but with an encouraging look from Blake, I pressed the bottle to my lips and swiftly tilted my head back, chugging the beer quickly. The smell of sweaty socks filled my nostrils as the light beer ran smooth tracks down my throat. The bitter taste overwhelmed my taste buds and was generally displeasing to what I thought beer would taste like. I tilted my head down and spat the beer that was filling my mouth back into the bottle and handed it to Blake.

“No thank you.” I gagged.

Blake chuckled, pulling me away from the island where other party goers were beginning to crowd around as they reached for drinks.

“You already downed more than half of it. Mine as well drink the rest!” He held the bottle back out to me and laughed when I pushed it away again. “It can’t be that bad…” he trailed off.

“It tastes like piss!”

“How do you know what pee taste like?” Blake raised his eyebrows suggestively causing me to laugh at the way that they pulled together on his forehead.

“It’s what I expect pee to taste like!”

Blake gripped my bottle in his hand and pressed his bottle to his lips, taking a gulp before lowering it. “It’s not
that
bad. You were exaggerating.”

I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes playfully. “Whatever.”

Blake’s pale blue eyes pierced into mine as he leaned forward slowly. Going up on tippy-toes I tried to close the space between us by wrapping my arms around his neck. Blake snaked his arms around my waist, still gripping a beer in each hand and effectively ruined the mood by blowing his beer-breath gently across my lips.

Quickly leaning away, I shielded my nose from the awful smell and mumbled, “Your breath smells like sweaty-urine-covered-socks!”

Blake pulled away, feigning hurt. “Aw, Vi, why do you have to be so brutally honest all of the time?”

I smirked, snatching the beers from his hand and turning to run off. “That’s what you love about me!” I yelled over my shoulder as I dodged in and out of the crowd of teenagers dressed in costumes ranging from angels and firefighters to werewolves and vampires.

I made sure to drop both bottles into an open trash bag as I ran out into the back yard. The music seemed as if it was louder in this area than it was in the rest of the house. There was a throng of teenagers gyrating to some pop song I had never heard before in the center of the yard, opposite of the small kidney shaped pool that was covered up for the fall. Closest to the house was a crowd of people counting loudly while some girl did a keg stand. I turned my head to scan the rest of the back yard when I swiveled my head back to the direction of the keg stand, frowning thoughtfully. I knew I recognized those shorts from somewhere. They were Blake’s shorts; the one’s he had let Lena borrow for her costume.

A poke in my side caused me to jump spastically before turning to glare at Blake who in turn smiled sheepishly. He knows how ticklish I am, and yet he’s always poking or tickling me. Apparently when I jump around and act like an idiot he finds it “cute”.

“What? I can’t help it? You’re just too adorable.” I couldn’t help noticing the way that his blue eyes danced when they caught the light.

“Yeah yeah. You’re cuter though,” I teased, knowing that he hated when I called him cute.

“I am not cute. I’m manly,” he huffed, flexing his arm for emphasis.

I raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Sure cutie pie, whatever you say.”

Blake groaned, but before he could say anything I grabbed his hand and started pulling him across the lawn to where Lena was doing a keg stand. “I’m going to need you to use you manly muscles to help me out with Lena.”

As we neared the stand, I could hear the throng of people counting, “64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70!” Some muscle guy that I vaguely recognized yelled about how a girl had beaten his record, while others punched the air with their fists and encouraged Lena to go longer. When she hit eighty-six her body started to sway and at eighty-eight she was being placed right-side-up on her feet. The crowd had grown and people were going crazy about how Lena had set a new record.

A skinny boy with a Dumbledore beard on held Lena’s hand into the air in victory and asked if she had anything special to say to her “fans”.

Lena used her free hand to push back her hair and flash a large smile at everyone before throwing her hands up and yelling, “We’re all in this together!”

The crowd cheered, and if it weren’t for the support from Dumbledore, then I could have sworn that Lena would have fallen over sideways. When we were in touching distance of Lena, I thanked Dumbledore for holding her up and wrapped her arm around my shoulder.

Lena's weight caused me to slouch forward uncomfortably for a moment until Blake helped me bear some it. When I wrapped my arm around her waist to help hold her up, Lena let out a squeaky, high pitched chorus of giggles.

“Forrester, aren't you going to buy me dinner first?”

Choosing to ignore her comment, Blake said, “I can't believe she's drunk already. We haven't even been here for an hour yet.”

“Do you want to take her back to my house?”

Blake shook his head causing his black hair to spill over into his face. “We can't just leave her in your house by herself. What if your parents get back and see her? Or what if she drowns in her own vomit or something?”

“You can drown in your own vomit?” I asked amazed. “Whoa. That's pretty cool.”

Lena groaned and wrapped her arms tighter around our shoulders. “I wanna dance!” she whined.

Blake shook his head, “I think that's a bad idea.”

I shrugged, “If she wants to dance then I say we let her dance.”

“Vi, she can barely walk on her own. How would she be able to dance?”

I laughed to myself, “Oh yeah, I forgot.”

Lena's body swayed slightly as she urged, “Blake can dance with me!”

I nodded, “Yeah Blake, dance with her!”

Blake readjusted Lena so that he was able to walk with her over to the dancing area. “You should dance too. It shouldn't be hard for someone as cute as you are to get a dance partner.”

I smiled brightly and raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Oh yeah?”

He nodded and laced his fingers in mine as we started walking at a slow pace so that he could help Lena along.

As we neared the throng of dancing teens, Blake lifted our intertwined hands up and pressed his lips gently to the back of my hand for a moment before letting go. I watched as Blake and Lena moved farther into the crowd until I lost sight of them.

The loud music echoed in my head as I walked over to an empty lounge chair and took a seat. Stretching my legs out, I rested my arms under my head and sighed contentedly. The party wasn't as fun as I had expected it to be, but it was nice to be able to say that I have been to one before. My feet hurt a little in the one-size too small pair of boots that I was wearing. They were platform boots that effectively closed the gap in the height difference between Blake and I, and they were all black with spikes on the heel. They were a perfect completion to my “goth-girl” outfit. The only downside was that my mom had worn them when she was my age―apparently she had gone through a phase―and her feet were smaller than mine are now so my feet were a bit squished inside. By the end of the night I knew that they would be aching unbearably, but it’s not like I have a long walk home or anything. If worse came to worst, I could just walk barefoot.

Sighing, I stretched my arms up above my head and ran my fingers through my hair. It felt silky between my fingers as I used the hair tie on my wrist to pull it up into a high ponytail. Although it was chilly outside, the crowded and brightly lit backyard of the Richardson home seemed to be a few degrees warmer. Relaxing, I crossed my arms under my head and observed my peers.

In the lawn chair a few down from mine was a boy that I recognized as Liam from my history class and a girl that looked vaguely familiar. Her face was turned so that I was only able to see the side of her head, but the way that her cheekbones were so prominent as she smiled seemed familiar. Her hair was a honey colored brown and two little pink ears sat on top of her head. She spoke animatedly to Liam, slightly bouncing as she talked. She reminded of one of Brianna’s friends that really annoyed me. Not because she was rude and thought that the world revolved around her like most of Brianna’s friends did, but because she was just so peppy and overtly nice. She was the type of person who killed you with kindness. Whenever I was around that girl she would talk nonstop about things that I couldn’t care less about.

Turning away from the now lip locked pair, my eyes scanned around the rest of the yard. There were people dancing, kissing, drinking, playing games, and laughing like there was no tomorrow. Most of the upperclassmen were here, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. I could see Ella dancing around in a Marilyn Monroe styled dress. Her ginger locks were pinned up neatly and paled in comparison to the vibrant red lipstick that decorated her slightly down turned lips. Although she seemed to be having fun, dancing around with some upperclassmen, her face still had a permanent scowl on it. It’s hard to believe that someone as fun-loving and cool like Lena could be related to someone who’s such a brat.

From the corner of my eye I could see a figure moving toward me. Swiveling my head back to the couple that I had been watching at first, I saw the girl with the pink ears walking over to me with a smile on her face.

“Violet? Is that you?”

Still trying to remember who this girl was, I nodded and said, “Yeah, and I bet you twenty bucks that I’m the only Violet here too.”

Taking a seat in the empty chair next to mine, the girl set her water glass down on the table in between our chairs and smiled brightly. “I wouldn’t have expected to see you here! You just seem like you’d be too cool to ever come to a party like this.”

“What makes you say that?”

She shrugged, furrowing her eyebrows thoughtfully. “A Halloween party at the girl you hate’s house just doesn’t seem like something you would be interested in.”

“I guess.” The condensation on her glass trailed down the cup and onto the plastic table counter. I was more interested in watching the water droplets than talking to this girl with the familiar face and unknown name.

“So, are you here alone?”

“Nope,” I said popping the ‘p’. “I’m here with Blake and Lena.”

“Oh yeah?” she questioned, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “I thought you and Blake broke up?”

“Who told you that?” Now my interest was piqued. Who told her that Blake and I had broken up? And how did this girl know so much about me when I could hardly remember her name?

“Ella said that Blake broke up with you.”

“Well, Ella was wrong. I don’t know why she would say that.”

She flicked her hair back gently to toss her bangs out of her eyes. “It was probably just some rumor that she heard.”

“Or started.”

“I doubt it. Ella doesn’t start rumors. She just spreads them. Brianna usually starts the rumors. That’s why they work so well together. Oh, and because they both dislike you. I honestly don’t see why they hate you so much. You’re such a nice person.” She rolled her eyes and shrugged as if to say, “Whatever, it’s none of my business anyway.”

“Anya!” screamed a voice that seemed close to us, and yet still far enough away from the pounding music that it could actually be understood.

Looking up and toward where someone had spoken her name, Anya and I spotted Ella marching toward us. Stopping at the end of Anya’s chair, Ella reached down and grabbed her friend’s bony arm; yanking her up into a standing position next to her. “Brianna specifically told you not to talk to her,” she growled, pointing her finger in my direction. Someone should tell her that it’s rude to point at people.

“Hi!” I waved obnoxiously at Ella and smiled a wide toothy smile. “I like your costume.” Actually, I found it kind of ironic that she was dressed as Marilyn Monroe, when the costume would have been better suited for Brianna; a curvy blonde with a promiscuous reputation.

Ella rolled her eyes and parted her lips in what I assumed was supposed to be a smile but looked more like a grimace. “Hey. Are you enjoying the party?” she asked, clearly uninterested in my answer.

“I was, until you came over here.”

“Well that’s nice. You can always leave. It’s not like you were actually invited to the party anyway. This is probably your first party that doesn’t have a clown and balloon animals.”

I nodded. “It is.”

Not expecting that response, Ella’s eyes widened in surprise before she let out a bark of forced laughter. “That is so pathetic. I don’t know why my sister hangs out with you. You’re such a geek.”

“I prefer dweeb. It’s unique since most people don’t get called dweebs anymore.”