The Heaven I Found In Hell (35 page)

"Why are you leaving?" he asked, pouting.

"I didn't like the way they were looking at me," she answered, wearing a slightly scared expression.

Anthony let out a small sigh before he placed his hand on Riley's mop of hair.

"They just thought you looked different."

"Anthony, stay with them if you want to," Riley said, knowing all too well how much guys wanted to let loose from time to time with their friends. "Alex is probably here already, so I'm going to go look for her."

Anthony started to worry with the thought of leaving his girlfriend alone in this kind of party. He'd been to wilder gigs, but this could already be considered hardcore. Numerous teenagers were pissed drunk, while others didn't care if they were reaching third base in front of everyone. People were dancing on tabletops, while others were taking a drag outside on the balcony. He was starting to get paranoid with the ideas that were starting to cloud his brain. What if a guy just came up to her and started…shit.

"No, no," he said to himself, before he turned his head, and met Riley's eyes. "I'm going where you're going."

Riley had to smile with what Anthony said. She hadn’t known that he cared for her this much. But as much as she wanted to spend the whole night with him, she didn't want to be clingy in the eyes of everyone. She knew a lot of people, and she was a social butterfly. She didn't need to be with Anthony all the time, and so she told him to just go and have fun.

"It's okay. Go to your friends, and enjoy! I'll meet you later," she said, remembering the suite Cindy booked them in.

Anthony seemed hesitant to leave her, but when he saw her eyes, and the way they told him that saying no wasn't an option, he had no choice but to kiss her goodbye and leave. He bent his head down, until he caught her lips with his own, before he hugged her tightly, and told her,

"I'll see you later. I love you."

Anthony turned his back against her, as he started to make his way back to his soccer buddies.

"I love you too."

She placed her finger over her lips, and suddenly felt a sensation she could only experience whenever Anthony did something to her. She smiled to herself, turned her heels, and started to walk. It was only when she reached the drinks table did she find a familiar face. The person apparently saw her too, and immediately, they engaged in a conversation.

For Dylan, it was a relief for one of Alex's friends to spot him and actually start small talk with him.  Ever since he had arrived at the party, all the people he crossed paths with just wanted to ask him for autographs and pictures. He knew this would happen, but it wasn't like he could escape from it.

The moment Riley gave him a small smile, he immediately went to her, and greeted her with a small hug. The embrace was returned, and when they pulled away, they started talking.

"It's a good thing you found me," Dylan started, the smile not leaving his face. "I was starting to want to go home."

Riley gave him a pout, before she spoke up.

"I've been going around, and still I haven't found Alex and the rest, how about you?"

"Neither have I," he answered, and after that, they didn't know what to say to each other.

Riley was happy she had found Dylan alone, since she was expecting him to be in the middle of some big crowd considering the fact that he was an A-list actor at such a young age. Add to that the reality that he was so friendly and sociable that she just couldn't help it but enjoy his company. She surveyed her surroundings, until her eyes landed on the dance floor, with that, Dylan followed her gaze, and immediately, he knew what to say or ask next.

"Do you want to dance?"

Riley definitely enjoyed dancing, but she wanted to do it with Anthony, who was probably getting drunk off his ass at the moment. With the high possibility of her boyfriend finding her dancing hips-to-hips with a guy she just recently met, she didn't know what to do since she had no idea how Anthony was going to react if ever he saw Dylan and her grooving to some beat.

"I don't know."

Dylan saw the worry on Riley's face with the way her lips curved down, and in that instance, he wanted to remove the pout on her face. He knew she was taken, and hated being in the company of sad people. And seeing as how Anthony wasn't really like Blake, who'd probably beat him up if he saw him dancing with his girlfriend; Dylan tried to force Riley to dance.

"Oh come on, you see that empty space in the middle?" Dylan asked, pointing to the very center of the floor. "No one's there because that's our space."

Riley let out a small amused laugh. She was pleased with Dylan's tactics in trying to get her to dance. She knew rejecting his invitation was the better of the two choices, but her insides were just forcing her to let go and let loose. Soon enough, the two made their way to 'their space' and started moving to the beat.

The song ended, and a new one came on, and this time, it was of a much slower pace. Instinctively and not thinking at the moment, Riley put her hands on Dylan's shoulders as the Hollywood actor placed his own on the girl's hips. They started swaying in sync, and throughout the whole duration of the dance, neither cared if a certain pair of jealous eyes saw them.

Anthony didn't know what the hell he was going to do now. He was thinking of walking up to the two, and start acting like the jealous boyfriend found in movies, but he knew that it was going to start a commotion, and he hated being talked about especially when it involved his love life. He inhaled and exhaled repeatedly, and it was only when Brad, a footballer, patted him on the shoulder did he stop acting intoxicated.

"Should I go to them?" he asked the group, and all of them nodded their heads in unison.

He knew he wasn't supposed to listen to them since they were the guys who didn't take relationships seriously. He loved Riley so much, and was willing to go to the ends of the Earth just for her, but he didn't want to look like an idiot and follow her every word. After building up the courage inside him, he marched over to where the two were. Before he could finally get to them, Riley saw him, and immediately pulled away from Dylan's arms.

She started stuttering.

"I didn't mean to," she said quickly. "We were just dancing. Nothing has happened."

Riley knew this was going to happen, but she still did not stop herself from doing what was wrong. She slow danced with some other hot guy when she had a boyfriend, but in her defense, he wasn't there when she wanted him.

"I don't know why I came here," Anthony replied, scratching his head in confusion.

Anthony wasn't the kind of guy who would shout at a girl, curse at her and start a rage of jealousy just because he saw her dancing with some other guy, and thanks to his apathy, he had learned to control his emotions well. He admitted to himself the envy he felt, but he didn't know why he just couldn't tell his girlfriend that.

"I'm sorry, dude," Dylan said in a tone of nonchalance. "I didn't mean to take your girl. It was just that she was the only one I knew, and I haven't found the others yet."

Anthony nodded in acknowledgement, and told the person he was jealous of that it was no problem. But the three of them knew all too well, that Anthony was just faking what he was saying. Riley saw through his eyes, and realized how much of a great boyfriend he truly was.

"Dylan and I didn't know what to say to each other, so we decided to just break the ice by dancing," she said, trying to get Anthony to forgive her.

Before the serious talk could go on any longer, a smashed Cindy walked up to the three, pulling Dylan away from Anthony and Riley.

"I've been looking for you," Cindy said, slurring.

Cindy, who had already had more than a dozen drinks, was drunk to her limit. Meaning, she wasn't in her right mind, and so she didn't care if her definition of 'fun' would be given a whole new, much worse meaning. She was in for some of it, and she had picked Dylan as the right person to give her what she wanted.

"You have?" Dylan said, feeling flattered, but immediately after that came the thought of Scott seeing them together.

"No," he said firmly. "I'm in enough couple trouble."

Cindy donned her ever-famous pout, before she leaned her whole body onto Dylan. He, on the other hand, didn't want to leave her alone for fear that she would get into trouble, and so he supported her and carried her to the nearest couch. The two sat there in awkward silence, but after a few minutes, Cindy tried to make a move on the superstar, as she leaned her face closer to his. Not knowing what he was getting himself into, he followed the way her head moved, and only when his lips brushed against hers did he realize his mistake. He immediately pulled his whole body back, before he stood up, and held his hands in front of Cindy's face.

"We've got to find Scott," Dylan said in a tone of worry, for fear that he'd end up having a few bruises and a black eye by the end of the night.

He tried to get Cindy to stand up, but the blonde wouldn't follow. Tired, and a little bit annoyed at how immature she was acting, he left her. And that was when she finally decided to join him.

"Why didn't you kiss me?" Cindy asked when she was already beside Dylan.

"Because you have Scott to make out with."

Dylan was starting to find Cindy freaky. For real. She was drunk, and the best thing he could do for her as a friend was just to get her out of trouble, but he knew he'd be the one getting into some sort of dilemma if he continued staying with the party animal. They walked side by side, arms brushing, until they landed on the dance floor. Cindy smiled a mischievous one at him, before she got his hand, and led the way to nearest empty space. Unlike what had happened earlier, when he danced with Riley, he felt reluctant now.

A new song started to play, and with it, they started moving. Cindy didn't really know what was happening at the moment, and she was too wasted to even realize that she wasn't dancing with her boyfriend. But nonetheless, the guy was hot, and that was more than enough for her. After a few minutes, another tune blasted off from the speakers, and this was where Dylan decided to stop his risky escapade.

"I'm tired now, so I'm just going to sit," he said, hoping the blonde wouldn't follow him.

Cindy was one of the hottest girls he had ever met, but Alex was much prettier, and more importantly, he didn't like Cindy the way he loved Alex. He saw through her skin and realized how unkind her aura was, but he felt his self-control weakening. If he didn't get away from her soon, well, he'd end up dead, probably by the end of the night.

"Okay, I'll come with you," she answered, taking his hand in hers, as she led the way to the nearest sofa.

They plopped down on the black leather couch which sat at one of the corners of the room surrounded by other teenagers who were messing up. One of them was Scott, playing baseball, and was in second base with some girl who looked familiar in Cindy's eyes. Natalie. Blake's girlfriend or ex. She didn't know. No one was able to keep up with Blake's conquests. Her eyes widened for a minute, before she screamed Scott's name in her normally high pitched voice. He pulled his lips away from the lower part of Natalie's neck, and turned to Cindy. He was caught. She was caught. They were going to break up.