Haze Bois

Chapter 4

“Party Time,” Auntie Mel cried, circling the room with her arms raised. Jay followed her into the kitchen and pretended to be impressed with her hand-drawn ‘welcome home’ banner. He looked different. Older, obviously... and sadder.

Katie would talk to him later on after he had spent all of his false bravado on the other guests. When she could coax a real conversation out of him. Their relationship had always been that way. She watched him smiling and joking with his friends. Katie didn’t know how many people Mel invited, but so far only a handful of people had turned up. A few of Jay’s close friends surrounded him on the sofa, filling him in on all the gossip he’d missed. They laughed and talked loudly while crunching on the snacks and sipping warm beer because the fridge was too full of ‘bargains’.

Cal and his friends were messing with some new speaker, trying to set it up despite the fact they already had music blaring from the television. Cal looked up as Jade entered, face full of thunder.

‘Shit.’

Katie dashed over to Cal, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him away from his task. It seemed like Jamie had it under control anyway.

“What is she doing here?” Cal asked.

“I’m sorry. I forgot to tell her she wasn’t invited,” Katie whispered so Jade wouldn’t overhear. She genuinely had forgotten—probably because her brainpower was re-routing toward plans to seduce his friend.

Jade was already moving in on Jay, hugging him and kissing his cheek.

“It’s too late to tell her now. Can you just let it go?” Katie asked, flashing her most winning smile.

“Do I look like an ice princess?” Cal asked.

It took a while for the joke to relay in Katie’s brain. She was concentrating more intensely on her peripheral vision of Jamie than the current conversation she was involved in. She did that a lot though, so people had come to expect her spacey demeanor.

Katie laughed. “Come on, Jay might like some female company... if you get what I mean?” She nudged her cousin in the ribs a few times.

Cal rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

He grabbed his cigarettes from the coffee table and his mates followed him outside. He was angry but he’d get over it. Katie shrugged as she returned to her friends. Haley was desperately checking her phone, her lips tight in a grimace, and the guys were discussing something boring.

From the start of the party till the present moment Katie had been doing an excellent job of impersonating someone who was definately not a stalker. Yet, the entire time she had been keeping tabs on the location of her target. Waiting for him to fall out of the pack.

When the moment finally arrived, Katie almost lost her nerve.

He returned from the front garden alone and began to rifle through the kitchen drawers.

“What are you looking for?” Katie asked.

He jumped a little, rattling the contents of the drawer. “Erm, bottle opener?” He waved the bottle in his hand as though showing evidence.

“There is literally nothing of use in any of these drawers,” Katie smiled apologetically. “There’s fifty rubber bands, brackets for appliances that broke five years ago, every colour of wall plug... and this guy.”

Katie picked up a random plastic item and made a face. She genuinely didn’t know what it was for and hoped he didn’t either.

Jamie laughed. She was relieved the laughter sounded more genuine than polite.

“I’ve got one next door if you want it?” Katie asked, her heart rate picking up. She had to take a few deep breaths to calm down. The alcohol and nerves were making her feel ill.

“Thanks,” he said as he followed her out of the back door and through the gate. Her own house sat in darkness since its only occupants were at the party next door; her mother and herself.

“You live next door to your cousin? That’s...”

“It’s weird,” Katie finished his sentence as she searched for a bottle opener. “But a complete coincidence. This house just happened to pop up on the council list at the time we had to leave our old place.”

“It’s convenient though, right?” Jamie smiled.

“Yeah, for my Aunt Mel. She ends up borrowing half our stuff and losing it in her junk piles. How can anyone have so much stuff and yet have nothing of any use?”

Jamie laughed and picked up a bottle opener. “Convenient for me too.”

He popped off the cap and took a sip.

“So how did you meet Cal and the others?” Katie asked. She was interested to know how he ended up falling in with that crowd, and she also wanted to keep him talking, away from the others.

“Well, they surrounded me at the cashpoint on my first night here. I thought they were going to rob me. Cal accused me of something... I can't remember what.”

“Hah, sounds like him,” Katie scoffed.

“Well, I panicked, almost started blubbering and explained it was literally my first night in town. He was super nice after that. Said he would look after me and you know...” Jamie trailed off.

“Well, that doesn’t sound like Cal.”

Jamie looked around the kitchen then back at Katie. She could feel his eyes sizing her up as she pretended to search the fridge for something to drink. She bent over, accentuating her rear and chest as he slyly checked her out. She grabbed a fruit cider and turned. Her intention was to smile but his eyes and expression caught her off guard.

‘His eyes are so beautiful.’

They squinted as he leaned in.

‘He’s going to kiss me...’

She closed her eyes and opened her mouth as she moved in for the kiss.

“What are you doing?” Jamie pulled away.

“Oh my god. I’m sorry. I thought...” Katie stuttered. She felt the heat rising in her cheeks and willed it away.

“Don’t be!” Jamie cried. “It’s my fault. I was going to—” he tentatively pulled a long pink thread from her hair. It had probably come from one of Mel’s junk drawers.

“s**t. I feel like such a twat.” Katie wasn’t exaggerating. She felt like the most stupid person to have ever lived. Tears welled up in her eyes, and though she knew crying would make this situation ten times worse, she couldn’t push them down.

“Don’t feel bad,” he said, taking her hand. He had one of those of awful, pitying smiles. “Honestly, you are probably the most gorgeous girl I’ve ever met. I would most definitely kiss you... but you know... Caleb would kill me.”

***

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. Who is your favorite character so far? xx