The Echo of Abuse and Love

Chapter Four

Luke

Can't wait to see you tonight bb! x - Tiffany

I type back a quick reply letting her know we will be leaving soon and I'll see her at the party. I scroll through social media absently, getting irritated. I'm regretting my choice to wait outside by the car for the girls. It's been almost ten minutes since Eva said she and Shea would be out in five minutes. Now that it was after six the air had an uncomfortable chill to it. I run my fingers through my hair in annoyance, looking back to the house again. Where the hell are they? Why does it have to take girls so damn long to get ready? 

Just then all of my irritation melts away as the front door opens and Shea and my sister step out. I feel an uncomfortable tightness form in my chest when Shea smiles at me shily. She is dressed in the same clothes she wore to school today, but I can tell my sister has gotten to her face. I couldn't tell you what she did to her, but I can't seem to pull my eyes away from her mouth. Her lips look unbelievably kissable.

"Close your mouth, Lucas," Eva smirks at me as they step up to the car. 

"Shut up Evangaline." I throw her full name back at her and she rolls her eyes. I remember as a child being annoyed that my twin sister received such an uncommonly beautiful name while mine was so common there were 3 kids in our first-grade class that shared it with me. "Took you two long enough." I pull the drivers' side door open, hopping in without another word. I was ready to get going. The drive ahead of us was close to an hour long and by the time we got there, everything would be in full swing. 

"Where's Tiffany?" Eva asks, climbing into the passenger seat while Shea settles herself in the back seat. 

"She's going with some friends. I told her I'd meet her there." The answer seemed to satisfy Eva because she didn't ask anything else. 

I backed out of the driveway and started for the main stretch of road. The car ride was mostly silent, Eva and Shea talked casually about school stuff, and plans for graduation while Eva plugged her phone into the AUX and started playing music. I kept to myself, listening absently to their conversations as I drove. Once I snuck a glance in the rearview mirror and the tight feeling in my chest resurfaced when I caught Shea looking at me through her dark lashes. 

I didn't look again. Something about her was different tonight. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. But f**k she was beautiful. When Eva first brought her back to our house last spring I remember hearing them laugh from the basement. I went down to investigate because it was rare that my sister brought people back to our house. I remember the look on Shea's face when I walked into the small living room in the basement and the way she averted her eyes when I smiled at her. I didn't know what I had done wrong, maybe they had been talking about something private right before I intruded, but something about the way she shrank away from me didn't sit well. I asked Eva about it before, but she didn't know what I was talking about. 

"Wow, there are a lot of people here tonight," Eva said excitedly. "Come on Shea!"

I've barely had time to stop the car before they're both hopping out and Eva is pulling Shea behind her into the crowded house. As I take my time getting out of the car Shea throws a look over her shoulder at me, and something that I don't understand flashes across her face. 

I walk slowly to the house, taking my time to pass the cars parked in the yard. I know Tiffany and her friends are in there somewhere, but I really have no desire to find them quickly. Tiffany and I have been talking for a while now, but I honestly hate the way she can be at parties like this. There is nothing wrong with having a beer and dancing a bit, but she loves to go all out. And I cannot stand her friends. 

By the time I reach the front door the music is practically threatening to burst my eardrums. I'm not much of the party type, but I like hanging out with my friends so every now and then I hang out somewhere like this. The music is downright deafening inside of the house, I momentarily want to pull back from the assault on my nervous system. There are people everywhere, standing, sitting, dancing, playing drinking games, I don't even know where to go. Up ahead I can see my sister and Shea weaving their way through the throng of people to the kitchen where I'm assuming the drinks are being kept. 

I however head deeper into the house, looking for familiar faces. I already want to leave, but I pull out my phone, looking for a message from Tiffany, but there were none. I sent her a quick text letting her know I was here and heading to the basement, and then started wandering through the house. Typically at a house party like this, the basements were where my friends would hide. Moments later Tiffany texted back saying she was already down there and I made my way to her. 

Even the stairwell was packed with people mingling. There was barely any space to walk. I pressed my way in between people's conversations, apologizing as I went. 

"Ohemgee! Luke! Yhew made it!" Tiffany's slurred words practically hit me in the face. She came rushing over to me, throwing her arms around my neck in a sloppy hug. She pulled back, giggling at me, and the smell of strong alcohol drifted up from her mouth. "I was beginning to think you were never going to show!" She said pouting slightly. Tiffany's dark eyes are drooepd and shining with intoxication, and the one of the straps of her small dress is sliding off of her shoulder. Everything about her is smooth and beautiful, but in this moment seems hasily thrown together. Something about the look in her eyes tells me she has less of her wits about her than she is letting on. 

"Sorry, my sister and her friend were taking forever to get ready." I offer back as explanation. I slide the strap of her dress back onto her shoulder absently, taking her small smooth arm in my hand as she sways slightly. 

"Ev is here? We should go finddd hur!" She jumps and grabs my hand. "I luuv your sister soo much!"

I try and squelch the annoyance that is bubbling up in my chest at Tiffany's slurred words. "How much have you had to drink tonight?" I hear myself ask without meaning to. 

She shrugs, giving me a lopsided smile. "Not enough!" She jokes, but somehow I think that is probably the farthest thing from the truth.

We move back up the stairs and through the house, Tiffany stops multiple times to hug random people and have small conversations with the people we pass. I hang back, along for the ride, but feeling utterly disintersted in any type of conversation with the people at this party. 

"Oh! I love this song!" Tiffany squals, pulling me toward the middle of the big living room where couples are dancing all over each other. 

"I thought we were looking for my sister?" I say as Tiffany turns her back into me, pulling my front to her back and pressing her ass into my hips. She lulls her head back to my chest, swaying her hips into me to the beat of the music. I catch a wiff of her perfume and my hands come to rest on her hips almost mechanically. 

"We will in a minute." She says, taking one of my hands and moving it higher on her torso until my fingers graze the bottom of her breast where it connects to her ribs. "Dance with me!" She commands, and I have always been known to follow directions, so I match her rythem with my own, pulling her closer to me, relishing the heat of her body against mine.

 In the heat of the moment I wrap one of my arms tighter around her, burying my face in her hair, breathing in her scent. I feel her respond to my touch, snaking one of her hands up around the back of my neck as my body stiffens against her touch. Her hips grind a little more intensely on me and I allow myself to be swept in the sensation of her ass rubbing against my jeans. Tiffany pulls my head closer to her neck, and without thinking I place my mouth on the soft spot just behind her ear. She moans audibly, tightening her hand in my hair sending heat down my spine, I close my eyes, and Shea's face flashes behind my eyelids. 

For the briefest of moments I let myself imagine it's her in my arms tonight. I don't like to admit it, but over the last few months she has become a fixture in my fantasies. I don't know when it started, and I can't seem to control when she pops into my head, but recently it seems to be even more frequent. 

As if by fate, my eyes open, and from across the room I meet her gaze. Shea's grey eyes are fixed on me, and suddenly it feels like the oxygen has been pulled from my lungs. Tiffany takes my hand and moves it across her chest, but I am transfixed on the girl watching me from across the dance floor. Her expression is unreadable and unwavering. But my mind seems to be playing tricks on me, because all I can feel under my hands is Shea's body. 

Suddently my brain catched up to the rest of me and registers that Tiffany is in fact trying to get me to feel her up on the dance floor. I move my body incrementally, signalling that I want to be done, and she turns to face me, her eyes glazed with lust that sends shivers up my arms. 

I point in the direction that Shea is standing, where I now see my sister has joined her. "Eva is over there, lets go say hi." More than anything I want to be done with this dance, my face feels hot and there's and uneasiness settling in my stomach. 

Tiffany turns and jumps up and down when she sees my sister, waving frantically as she pushes through the crowd of people. When I look back to where my sister is standing I notice that Shea has disappeared. I look around as casually as possible, wondering where she has gone. The uneasiness I felt a moment ago settles itself in my chest and tightness takes a hold of my lungs. I think I need fresh air or something. I feel hazy and disoriented. I am starting to regret my choice to come here tonight.