If She Would Have Stayed Home

Ravens POV There’s music going, I have a drink in my hand, everyone is having a good time but here I stand alone in a room full of people. My best friend, Belle is off talking to a group of guys. Her beautiful, curly red hair that falls just off her shoulder blades is being curled between her fingers as she flirts with the fifth different guy at this party who glanced her way or that she “accidentally” bumped into while dancing. She was a dark social butterfly. Always wore black, dark makeup and always had heavy metal on her playlist but yet she loved to be in a room full of people. But I on the other hand hate every moment of being here. My skin tight black dress that Belle insisted I wear to this thing won’t stay down, I have more makeup on my face than I’ve worn in my entire life, my black hair pinned back to be out of my face. Belle says it’s so the boys can see the emeralds I had for eyes. But I have a boyfriend so why do boys need to see my eyes? I walk outside on the balcony. People are either smoking weed or cigarettes and the smell disgusts me but I needed to breathe air that wasn’t shared with three hundred other people. This was the biggest party of the year at my high school. The college students who attend the university in my town always through a big bash for us to hope we’d stay home and attend school here. Most high schoolers took it as a chance to just party with no intention of going here but I knew, even as a sophomore, that this is where I was going but it had nothing to do with the parties. I wanted to attend and get my teaching in performing arts degree. I’m a band kid and I also sing, luckily this school has that program and I could stay home in the security of my little town. I wouldn’t doubt that more than 100,000 people attend this college but during school breaks, my town becomes a ghost town and I enjoy the quiet. As people start to head inside, I hear the band announce they’re taking a break and the pop music begins. Luckily there’s a bar on the balcony so I don’t have to go inside and hear that crap pound my ear drums. I have a music taste from classical to heavy metal but pop music could honestly be a form of torture to me. I sit in a seat in the corner of the balcony and watch the moon. I check my phone, Ray, my boyfriend should have been here by now. Ray attends another high school where he is a senior and is attending a college mixer tonight but he said he would give belle and I a ride home and I was ready to leave. Of course though, he hasn’t said a word to me about being done. Things have been weird with Ray and I. Ever since the day he came in my room and saw me undressing, he screamed and shut the door. I cried and made him leave. Ray is religious and doesn’t believe in s*x before marriage and I totally respect it but the way that boy screamed when he saw me, really did a number on my self esteem. As I’m sitting there contemplating my life and why in the world I let Belle talk me into this party, a man walks out to the front of the balcony. He’s tall with dark hair, muscular in build and I couldn’t help but stare. He lit a cigarette and I rolled my eyes. Of course the gorgeous man in front of me has to have a nasty habit, but I continued to stare at him. He was older, the lead singer of the band, his one hand gripped the side of the balcony as he began to hum my favorite song. I smiled and began singing while he hummed until he stopped and started staring at me. In the moonlight I could see the scar that ran over the entire right side of his face. His face told a story and once my green eyes met his deep ocean blue eyes, I wanted to know every word and hold on to it like I needed it to live. “Your a little young to sing like that.” said the mystery man in front of me. “singing like that, you’ve must have been hurt in your life, there’s passion in that voice.” I looked at him puzzled, I have some dark secrets that even Ray didn’t know about me but how can this man tell this just hearing me sing a verse? I studied him as he came and sat beside me in another chair. “Like the scar? You should have seen the other guy.” He laughed as he handed me a cigarette and when I denied it, he laughed again. His laugh was pure heaven to my ears, it sounded in perfect pitch and I wanted more. “I must have been mistaken or you have other ways to kill the darkness inside you.” He puffed on his smoke. “Or I’ve learned how to manage my darkness and live with it and not kill it. “ I say as I look at those blue eyes of his. “Then life hasn’t been to unkind to you yet but one day, you’ll light one of these and think of me.” The mystery man said as he checked his phone. “Your band sounds pretty great in there, have you guys been performing together long? I asked him, trying to change the subject. “Been with those boys for three years, it’s been a heck of a ride and hopefully one day we’ll finally make it.” He said with a smile “What’s your name?” I asked him “Liam Matthews, pleased to meet you.” He smiled at me and I smiled back. “A girl with a pretty smile all alone by herself? I don’t see how there’s not more guys out here, waiting to get a chance to talk to you. I laughed at him. I’ve never been one to look at and some guy isn’t going to just sweep me off my feet with a couple of smooth lines. “My name is Raven Maine and I have a boyfriend.” He laughed at me “where is he then? “He’ll be here.l I said, looking away from him “Well till he gets here, why don’t I stay with you till he shows.” In that moment, my life would change in a big way and it’d have everything to do with Liam and the decision I made to stay with him,