Chaotic (Imperfect Perfection) (7 page)

“A beer for me would be good,” Zoey
instantly replied, twirling a curl around her finger as her eyes wandered. “Me
too.”

Drew left pretty reluctantly and
headed towards the bar that wrapped around one side of the pub. “So, have you
seen Nash yet?” Callie asked, leaning into me without ever taking her eyes off
of Drew.

“No,” I glanced at my phone seeing
that it was just a little past nine and figured he would show up sooner or
later, at least I was hoping. “Not a big deal if he doesn’t.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Zoey
replied with a snort. “Mariah doesn’t let him out of her sight very often. I
still can’t believe he actually talked to you, let alone made plans with you.”

“Whatever.” I smiled at Drew as he
sat glasses in front of all of us and a full pitcher of beer. I took a slight
sip before setting it back down and running my fingers across the rim. Beer
really wasn’t my thing; normally I tended to go for the harder liquor.

Zoey and I made small talk between ourselves
while Callie and Drew talked quietly together like they were in their own
little bubble. I really had no clue why Callie had needed us here for support, but
I was having fun.

“Hey.” I jumped when I felt a set
of hands dig into my hips and turned around to find an amused looking Nash
standing behind me. “That was so not funny. You scared the shit out of me.”

“I know,” he smirked, pulling his
hat on backwards as he sat down next to me. “One thing that hasn’t changed. It’s
so easy to do, I just couldn’t help myself.” He grabbed the glass in front of me
and took a big gulp before setting it back down.

 “Help yourself,” I commented dryly
as I took in his laid back appearance. He had a form fitting black t-shirt on
with the name of some band that clung to his body nicely and a pair of faded
jeans that hung low on his hips. A pair of black Converse that looked to be the
exact same pair he wore when we were younger, except for probably a few sizes
bigger now, completed his casual outfit and I suddenly felt overdressed. Why
did I take so much time getting ready for tonight again?

“Sorry, I hit the gym before I
headed over here and then ran home to change real quickly. I promise to refill
that for you.”

“No problem,” I replied with a
shake of my head. “It’s been sitting there almost all night anyway. I’m glad
you could make it though, you could have called if you didn’t have time to stop
by.”

“Well, first of all, I would need
your number.” He held out his hand expectantly and I slid my phone towards him
so he could put his number in.

“There, now I can always get a hold
of you, and trust me, I wasn’t planning on blowing you off. I told you I wanted
to catch up and that was the truth. I missed my Della.” A warm sensation
fluttered through my stomach when his brown eyes stared back at me intently. My
Della? I really wasn’t sure how I was supposed to take that exactly.

“Well, I missed you too.” I cleared
my throat and looked around the table, realizing that Callie and Zoey had
abandoned me. “So, how are your parents and your sister doing? I didn’t see anyone
around when I was staying with my grandparents. I always loved your mom.”

“My mom loved you too. She’s
actually been asking when I’m going to bring you over for dinner so we can all
catch up. You down for that?”

“Of course, that would be awesome.”
Donna had been more of a mom to me during the summers than my own mother ever
had. She was always tending to our cuts and scratches from the adventures we
went on and making picnic lunches for us when we would spend all day at the
lake.

“What about your dad? How is he?”

I watched as Nash’s face
transformed into a cold blank stare, and he poured another beer for himself,
downing it and slamming it on the table. “No clue and I could care less. My
dad’s an asshole, Della. My mom kicked him out a few years ago, and we haven’t
heard from him since. Hopefully it stays that way.”

Shock must have covered my face
because he reached out a hand to grab mine. The last time I had seen Nash, his
dad had been like a hero to him. He had always looked up to him, and to know that
their relationship had changed that drastically, surprised me.

“He used to beat the shit out of
me,” he said in a quiet voice without looking me in the eyes. “Those summers we
spent together were like my escape from him. He tended to leave me alone since
I was never really home.”

“But you seemed to look up to him
so much. How-”

He cut me off with a sharp shake of
his head. “No, you just mistook that for fear whenever he was around. I was
constantly tiptoeing around him to make sure I didn’t do something to set him
off. The simplest things did it.”

“I’m sorry, Nash.” I really had no
clue what else to say. I felt partially responsible for not coming back during
the summers after I had moved away.

Had it gotten worse when I didn’t
come back? Guilt coursed through me as all of the different scenarios ran
through my head, but a slight squeeze to my hand brought me back to reality.
“Don’t worry about it, Della. It’s done and over with now. I’ve moved on and we
don’t need to dwell on it.” I bit my lip trying to squash down all of the
questions I had, but I really didn’t want to bring back any of those memories
if he really didn’t want to talk about it.

“Okay, fine, moving on then. So
what are you majoring in? Still set on becoming an astronaut?”

“Nah,” he answered with a loud
laugh. “That was definitely one of those kid dreams before you really enter the
real world. Actually, I’m in the accounting program, I only have about a year
left, and I’ll be completely done.”

“Wow, Nash Griffin sitting behind a
computer all day, crunching numbers. Who would have thought?” I responded
sarcastically.

“Well, people change, Della. What
about you?”

I shook my head, looking down at
our intertwined hands. “I have no idea. I just finished up my first two years
at a community college and basically got sent here by my mother. She cut me off,
so I basically didn’t have a choice.”

“Cut you off? That’s pretty harsh;
you must have been one bad girl for that to happen. That really doesn’t
surprise me much though.”

“Funny,” I replied.

“Uh-oh,” he quickly dropped my hand
and scooted away from me several inches. I looked around the crowded bar but
couldn’t tell who had freaked him out. He muttered something to himself before
shaking his head and giving me a crooked smile. “What was that all about?”

“Don’t worry about it, we still
have lots of catching up to do.”

We sat there for what felt like
hours just talking. It was so comfortable being around him, like we had never
been apart. Callie and Zoey stopped by every once in awhile, but for the most
part, seemed to be giving us the privacy that I think we needed.

“Nash! What are you doing here? I’m
so glad I ran into you.” A high pitched voice that I’m pretty sure pierced my
ear drums filtered up from behind me. Nash stiffened slightly, but turned
around with a small smile. “Hey babe, how’s it going?”

The girl that I instantly
recognized as Mariah let out a squeal and hopped onto his lap, wrapping an arm
around his neck. “So much better now that I ran into you. I thought you were
meeting up with a friend tonight,” she eyed me suspiciously but somehow managed
to paste a fake smile on her lips.

“Well, I was. Mariah, this is
Della. I’m sure I’ve told you about her before. We were just catching up,” I
watched Nash squirm under Mariah’s glare before she turned back to me, her nose
scrunched in distaste.

“Oh,
you’re
Della? With the
way Nash has talked about you I was picturing someone much…different.” I wasn’t
sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult. I really didn’t care
either way, so I just shrugged my shoulders. “Yup, that’s me I guess. And you
are?”

“Mariah, Nash’s girlfriend. He
hasn’t mentioned me?” She stiffened on Nash’s lap and I felt a kick under the
table, which I could only assume was from Nash. Oops. He really hadn’t
mentioned her though, it’s not like I was lying.

“No, actually he hasn’t. We were
just catching up on all the good times we used to have together. Hopefully,
we’ll be able to hang out some more, I’m sure you can tag along.” She stuttered
with a response as I stood up and grabbed my clutch. “I’ll be back in a minute,
I have to use the restroom.” I spun on my heel and walked quickly away but not
before I heard Nash getting an earful. Payback was a bitch for all of those
times he used to throw worms down my shirt.

I dabbed on some lip-gloss in the
dingy bathroom mirror and fluffed out my curls. I really wasn’t looking forward
to going back to the table, since I figured Mariah was still there. There was
no way in hell she was going to leave Nash alone with me now.

I made my way out of the bathroom
and instantly felt like I crashed into a brick wall. The last thought that ran
through my head was that I was going to look like a complete idiot landing flat
on my ass before a pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist, and I was
pulled against a very hard chest.

 “Whoa, if you wanted me that badly
you didn’t need to throw yourself at me, sweetheart. I’d be pretty willing.”

I looked up, meaning to tell off
the arrogant asshole who thought I would actually throw myself at someone, but
all words ceased to exist when I looked up into a pair of startling gray eyes.
He pulled me closer when I failed to say anything and pushed me lightly against
the wall so our bodies were flush with each others.

I caught the glint of a lip ring as
he turned to stare down at me with an intense gaze that set my body on fire. He
wasn’t the normal type of guy I went for. One arm was covered in an array of
colorful tattoo’s and from what I could tell, he had multiple piercings. Who
knew how many others there were under the tight gray V-neck and black shorts he
had on? For some reason, I really wanted to find out.

“You don’t look familiar. What’s
your name, sweetheart?”

“Della,” I managed to whisper out.
Why in the hell was I so nervous around this guy? I had no reason to be, he was
the one who should be worshipping at my feet. Right?

“Della.” My name rolled off of his
tongue before he ran a thumb over my cheek and dropped his hand down to his
side. “I like it. The name’s Justin and I think you and I were meant to be.
Want to get out of here?” Whatever fog had been cluttering my mind, suddenly
cleared, and I shook my head, pushing at his chest as I stood up taller, even
though he still had to look down as he towered over me.

“Seriously? That was about the
lamest pick up line I’ve ever heard. No thanks.” I turned to walk away, but he
jumped in front of me and held up a finger. “Wait, that didn’t come out right.
I don’t know what the fuck is wrong me, normally I’m a whole lot smoother at
this.”

“So normally you pick up girls a
lot easier? Good for you.” I crossed my arms over my chest and let out a loud
sigh when he still didn’t move.

“C’mon, Della. Let me buy you a
drink at least, I’m really not that bad of a guy. Give me a chance?” His
eyebrows knitted together as he waited for my response, and I was just about to
tell him where he could stick that drink when I caught site of the table where
Nash and Mariah were looking awfully cuddly. Apparently they had made up. It
made my stomach coil just at the thought of having to sit there and watch the
two of them together.

 “Fine, follow me.” Surprisingly,
he did and by the time we got back to the table with the drink he had promised
me, Callie, Drew, and Zoey were also back, looking slightly uncomfortable by Mariah’s
presence. 

Callie’s eyes widened as Justin
situated himself next to me and she kept looking back and forth between the two
of us in utter confusion. I introduced Justin to everyone, and he stood up to
shake everyone’s hand before sitting back down next to me and leaning in,
brushing his lips against my ear. “Can you say awkward? Want to dance?”

 I stood up right away, wanting to
get away from the glare of Nash and Mariah’s icy smile. Sure, Justin seemed
like an arrogant asshole, but tonight, he was my lifesaver. Justin led me to
the center of the dance floor and I couldn’t help but notice all of the death
glares I was getting from almost every single girl around me.

We were all ready just inches from
each other, but he put his hands on my hips to pull me even closer against his
hard, muscular body, moving the both of us to the music. I had never in my life
danced with a guy like this. Chris had always just kind of stood there while I
grinded against him and enjoyed the show. Justin on the other hand, moved every
time I did.

I let out a gasp when he twirled my
body around and pulled my back tightly against his chest. My body tingled
everywhere at the sudden contact. At first, I was hesitant to be dancing with
this guy I had just met, but his hands all over me gave me the confidence to
move right along with him.

I slid my body up and down his to
the music, and he played right along, pulling me even closer and grinding
against me. I felt his hands lock onto both of my wrists, and he moved them to
wrap around his neck as his hands explored the sides of my body through the
clingy material of my dress. My body hummed at the warmness of his hands, and I
moaned when his lips brushed against my neck. I actually moaned.

I abruptly pulled away and turned
towards him, pushing into his chest. “What in the hell was that for? I did not
give you permission to touch me like that.”

“Really?” he replied with a smirk,
sucking that stupid lip ring into his mouth. “Because you really seemed to be
enjoying it. And I was too,” he added.

I shook my head sharply, rolling my
eyes before turning on my heel. “Whatever, just leave me the fuck alone. I
really don’t need to be another notch on your bedpost.” I stormed off,
returning to the table where now just Callie and Zoey sat, waiting expectantly.
“Are you two ready to get out of here?”