Chaotic (Imperfect Perfection) (2 page)

“Oh, thank god. I’m glad that is
finally over,” she replied with a wave of her hand. “I don’t think you
completely understand how difficult it was to cover up your little…indiscretion.
I guess you have your mother to thank for that one. Just think how your
reputation would have been ruined the minute anyone got air of
that
. So
I could only assume you were sniffing the nail polish while you were there,”
she added sarcastically and pointed at my eyes, which I could only guess were
bloodshot.

I pushed down the urge to roll my
eyes. If she had tried to cover up my little indiscretion, as she put it, it
was solely for her benefit. Whatever would her friends at the country club
think if they knew what her daughter had done? People would be gossiping about
it for years.

“Anyway, what exactly did you need
to talk to me about? I have some applications to fill out and then I need to
get ready for the day.”

“Oh please, don’t try and lie to
me. Do you think I’m stupid? I need to hear exactly what your plans are now
that you’ve finished up with that silly little community college you insisted
on attending. How do you think that made me look while everyone else’s children
were going off to Yale or Harvard, actually putting their private school
education to good use? Embarrassing.”

I took a deep breath to calm myself
down. I knew she was just trying to push my buttons and she knew exactly how to
do it. Yes, I hadn’t gone to a four-year college right away like everyone else,
but I really didn’t feel like I was ready. I had all ready gone through so
much, I just felt like I needed a bit of a breather.

 My mother snapped her fingers in
front of my face, and I quickly looked up at that scowl focused at me. “Really,
Adelaide, are you still high? Please pay attention. Don’t think I will allow
you to sit around on your pampered ass and spend all of Gerald’s money. That is
not going to happen. You need to figure out what you are doing, pronto.”

Wow. And what exactly did she do?
At least I actually cleaned up after myself. Most of the time. Our maid,
Belinda, basically had to trail behind my mother to answer to her every whim.

“You have got to be kidding me; you
know I need a little bit of time to figure things out. I’ve been going to my
therapy sessions like we agreed, and my grades weren’t that horrible, I’m sure
I’ll be able to be get in somewhere eventually.”

“Oh, I’m far from kidding,
Adelaide. Yes, you have been going to those little therapy sessions, but it
doesn’t seem as if they are helping in the least bit. You are still out of
control, and I just cannot handle you for much longer.” I rolled my eyes and
slammed the door in her face, the sound echoing through my room. Couldn’t
handle me for much longer? Really, when did she ever deal with me besides when
I got in really deep shit? Other than that I was basically on my own.

I had no clue what I wanted to do
with the rest of my life, and although the rest of my friends were going off to
their fancy schools, I just had no motivation to join them.

                                                                                     
**********

“The ladies are here, the party can
begin!” My lips curved into a smile the minute the three of us stepped through
the door and just like always we were greeted as if we were royalty. It felt
good having everyone back around for a little while. I hadn’t really made any real
friends at MCCC, so these people were the closest to friends that I had.

My stomach fluttered just a little,
knowing that after today this would all be gone again. Marley and Madison were
leaving first thing tomorrow to set up the house they would be sharing near
campus about four hours away. They had somehow braved out the dorms for two
years, and as their reward, Madison’s father had bought them a house close to
campus.

They had really started to get
excited lately and were constantly talking about decorating details and all the
hot parties they would be going to. It felt sort of weird to be excluded by them.
I had always been on top; people flocked to be my friend and were let down if I
rejected them. Now, I was the outsider.

The three of us found a seat and
were instantly handed drinks by the party’s host, Ian Jennings. Ian’s parties
were always epic, his parents were almost always gone and left him with no
supervision. Even my mother had never been that stupid. There was always some
maid or cook around to keep somewhat of a watchful eye on me, at home at least.

I downed the shot, letting the
burning liquid wash down my throat, before handing the empty glass back to Ian.
It was nice not having to worry about the cameras around anymore. Of course,
the show hadn’t condoned underage drinking, they tended just to show the after
effects and the drama that sometimes followed getting completely shit-faced.
The producers of the show had followed different groups around at school,
wanting to get a diversified feeling, but they seemed to find ours the most
appealing and show worthy.

“Nice, Adelaide. Getting started early,
huh? This should be a fun night, it’s time for a celebration.” Ian smirked at
me before standing up and heading back towards the kitchen, presumably to get
me another drink if he knew what was good for him.

“Uh-oh Adelaide, I think someone
wants to hook up,” Marley sang out, her eyes following Ian until he disappeared
through the crowd of people gathered around. I watched as her lower lip
trembled and had to roll my eyes.

She had a total thing for Ian but
had never done anything about it for whatever reason. Maybe because I hadn’t
ever dated him. I should leave her with a nice parting gift and pull Ian into
one of the extra bedrooms. Soon enough, she would be gone though and would
probably forget about Ian
and
me.

As expected, Ian returned with
another drink, and Marley and Madison both stood up to leave us alone. He sat
down next to me, totally invading my personal space, and I quickly drained
another shot, knowing I would need it for sure.

“You’re looking fucking sexy
tonight, Adelaide. That dress should be illegal.” Ian whispered into my ear,
his warm breath blowing onto my face and I could only guess how much he had to
drink before we got there.

 Ian wasn’t a bad looking guy, he
looked like the All-American with his closely cut blond hair, deep-brown eyes,
and bleached-white teeth. But he wanted one thing, just like the rest of them,
and that made me cringe. But it also offered me an escape, one that oddly
seemed to fill the hole in my chest.

“Oh this? Just something I threw on,
I’m glad you like it.” I fingered the clingy red material that was cut short
and just covered all of the goods. With my lightly tanned skin, I knew it was
the perfect color for me. I had a nice body, after years of working with a
trainer at my mother’s insistence, and you could see every inch of that with
this dress on.

His hand moved to my bare thigh and
I instantly stiffened, but pasted a fake smile on my face. “You want to get out
of here and go up to my room? I think we could make things a whole lot more
interesting with a private party, don’t you think?”

“Mmm hmm,” I murmured as he tugged
me up, and I followed behind him, waving at people as I went. I was abruptly
stopped as soon as we entered the hallway, and twirled around, instantly
meeting a set of familiar robin-egg blue eyes. I hadn’t seen him in almost a
year but he still gave me that gut wrenching feeling every time.

Chris.

Great.

“Could I talk to you for a second,
Addy? Please?” He ran a nervous hand through his perfectly gelled blond hair
and watched me intently, as I wagered in my head what exactly to do.

Ian stood stiffly behind me,
obviously pissed that we had gotten interrupted but backed up quickly when
Chris turned and glared his way. Chris had a few good inches on Ian and could
easily take him if it came to that.

What a winner you are, Ian.

Chris and I had started dating at the
end of our sophomore year. Our relationship had been different, unlike any
other one I had before, and I truthfully thought, like some stupid teenager,
that we would be together forever.  

He was a jock, not someone that I
would normally date. Did I really want to be put on the back burner when it
came to sports? Don’t think so. But Chris was always sweet, surprising me with
odd dates that I would never expect and always being a perfect gentleman.

We had a lot in common, when it
came to our parents, and they were all overjoyed that we were dating, often
going out as families to the country clubs. Things started to change during the
summer though.

While the whole school thought I
was far from a virgin, they all guessed wrong. Chris, at first, was fine with
things going slow, but after awhile started to pressure me. We had ended
things, well more like me, right at the end of our senior year, and I had been
avoiding him ever since as much as I could. It turned out to be pretty easy
since he had gone away for school but he always came back every summer.

I figured I might as well get this
over with. After tomorrow I wouldn’t have to see him or anyone else for a while.
“Fine, Chris.” I huffed out. “Ian, I’ll meet you in a minute, ‘kay?” I gave him
a sweet smile before turning an angry glare back to Chris. “Okay, you have like
two minutes. I’m a little busy if you couldn’t tell, so get on with it.”

“Addy, why do you have to be like
this? And why the hell do you have to do it with that asshole of all people?”
He was one of the few people that were allowed to get away with a nickname for
me. My mother thought they weren’t proper and quickly corrected anyone who
tried to give me one. Chris was one of the exceptions.

He reached up a hand to place on my
cheek, but I quickly knocked it away and remained silent. “Fine.” He stuffed
his hands into his pockets and looked down at the floor. “I just wanted to see
how you were doing. I know things ended on kind of a bad note and I really don’t
understand why they needed to. I’ve been really torn up about it.”

“Gee, I don’t know, Chris. It might
have had something to do with that one night we were both shit-faced and you
did whatever the fuck you wanted to do with me. Do you really understand what I
went through after that? So don’t go telling me about how torn up you’ve been,
because we all know that’s one big lie. All of the skanky girls that you’ve
been with since certainly proves it.” Did he not think I heard the gossip even
if he had been away at school? I turned on my heel, but his hand gripped
tightly onto my forearm, and I squirmed to get out of his hold.

“You and I both know how much you
wanted it, Adelaide,” he hissed into my ear, before letting go of my arm. “You
haven’t really been helping your case much by all of the guys
you’ve
been
with. So don’t even try and pull that pathetic ass shit with me. As for what
you had to deal with afterwards, well that was your own fault,” he smirked.
“You could have come to me instead of turning to that bitch of a mother of
yours. That was your entire fault.” My mouth gaped open at him, but no sound
came out.
My fault?
My
fault? How could I have ever thought that
Chris was my soul mate or some stupid shit like that?

I was done. Completely done with
men, well that is, besides to use them. My heart was being guarded by an iron
cage from now on. But one thing was for sure. I would, at least, never have to
see that asshole again.

The sound of my alarm broke through
the blackness, and I groaned when I saw the time. Why in the hell did I go out
last night? Well, I guess it was kind of expected since the summer was almost
over. The parties to choose from were endless.

I clicked on the bedside lamp, the
low light casting an orange glow across the room that hopefully wouldn’t wake
anyone. “Adelaide, what the fuck? It’s like eight in the morning. Get that fine
ass back over here.” An arm snaked around my bare waist and I was pulled back
onto the bed.

“Ian, I need to get going. I have
to meet my mother for brunch at Millers Bistro. She’ll be pissed if I’m late.” 
I heard a muffled groan from underneath his pillow and then both hands
immediately gripped my hips, placing me on top so I was straddling him.

“Since when does Adelaide McGregor
follow any kind of rules? You know we had a good time last night. We could
continue that for the rest of the day.” His hands reached up to run along my
sides and he tugged me closer, wiggling his eyebrows at me. I circled my hips
around, earning a loud grunt from his lips that made me chuckle, and leaned
down to brush my lips across the side of his neck. “Sorry, Ian. Maybe later.”
Yeah, like that was going to happen.

I gave one final push with my hips
before jumping off the bed and hunting around for the bag I had stashed in his
room the night before. I figured I would end up here since we had been flirting
back and forth for about the past week and had yet to actually hook up. “You’re
such a tease. You better be back here in like two hours or I’m going to come
hunt your ass down. That was the best night of my life.”

I had to bite back a laugh at his
dreamy expression. Well, at least it was for someone. I guess in a way it had
been fulfilling for me too. It definitely beat sitting at home doing nothing.
When that happened, my brain tended to think too much and when it did that it
was hard to turn off. That didn’t need to happen. All I would feel was guilt
and hatred. I had already let that take over my life once, and I wasn’t going
to let it happen again.

I dabbed a little bit of foundation
on after a quick shower and brushed some lip-gloss across my lips. I still
looked like shit, but hopefully the makeup and the navy scoop neck dress I had
brought for brunch would please my mother enough.