Chapter Eighteen - The Foam Party
1014 Words
The lecture hall was packed, yet an unexpected quiet had fallen over the students the moment Nick Reed strode in.
Nick’s phone buzzed once. He glanced at it mid-lecture, barely missing a beat in his sentence—until he saw the name on the screen. His hand stilled. For a moment, he didn’t say anything. The silence stretched, just long enough for the students to shift in their seats.
Then he cleared his throat and shut the book.
“I’m sorry, I have to cut this short. It’s an emergency. Something urgent came up—I need to get to the airport. Please review Chapter 7 on your own, and I’ll see you all on Thursday.”
Murmurs swept through the room as he gathered his notes and slipped out, leaving his drink half-finished on the desk. Chairs scraped and students rose, bewildered by the abrupt end. Olivia Blake remained seated until the last of her classmates filed past. She watched the door swing shut behind him, the sound echoing in the suddenly cavernous space.
Her friend Mia, perched on the front row of seats behind her, leaned forward. “What was that about? He looked pissed.”
Olivia shook her head, tucking her hair behind an ear. “No idea. He just… left.”
Mia rolled her eyes. “Typical Nick. Disappears when things get weird. Hey—on a completely different note, I just got invited to a foam party tonight. Ellie canceled last minute. I have an extra ticket—want to come?”
Olivia blinked, still stuck on Nick’s sudden exit. “Uh, I’m not sure—”
“Come on. It’ll be fun. You haven’t gone out in weeks. And you can always ditch early if you’re bored.”
“I’ll let you know before 9,” Olivia finally said.
The rest of the day dragged like molasses. She kept expecting to hear that distinct knock on her dorm door. Maybe he’d come late. Maybe he’d pretend the kiss meant nothing again—but he’d come. He always did.
She didn’t get any knock.
At 8:43 p.m., she gave in and sent the text:
Are you free?
She stared at the message until the typing bubble appeared—and vanished.
Exactly twenty-three minutes later, her phone buzzed:
Nope. Busy today.
Her chest tightened. He didn’t say where he was. Didn’t ask why she texted. Just a blunt reply.
Fine. She wouldn’t wait anymore.
She opened her closet and pulled out the red dress she’d bought weeks ago but never dared to wear. The back dipped low, exposing the delicate curve of her spine. It clung to her hips, her thighs, like a second skin. She didn’t feel like herself in it—but maybe that was the point.
She messaged Mia:
I’m in. Be ready in 10.
The music pulsed through the floor of the club, bass echoing like a heartbeat that didn’t belong to Olivia. Neon lights flashed across slick skin and soap bubbles, spraying the crowd with a thin mist. The foam had risen knee-high on the dance floor, lit up in hues of purple and electric blue. People danced as though the world had no corners, no pain. Just laughter, light, and anonymity.
Olivia retreated to the bar at the far side of the room—a makeshift counter under a flickering red light. She picked up a neon-green cocktail, the straw bobbing in the syrupy liquid. She sipped and swallowed the bitterness.
That’s when she saw him.
She froze mid-sip.
Nick.
Standing on the far edge of the dance floor.
His shirt was half-unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up. His hair looked messy—like wind and maybe someone’s hands had run through it. He didn’t spot her, not yet. Because his attention was entirely elsewhere.
On the girl in front of him.
She had long dark hair and a slim body poured into a strapless black dress. Olivia’s stomach twisted.
Laughing with a drink in her hand. Her fingers brushing the inside of his wrist like she owned him.
Olivia’s breath stopped.
She stood there, completely still, as if movement would trigger the collapse of everything inside her.
Then it happened.
Nick said some,and the girl leaned in. Her fingers curled behind Nick’s neck. He didn’t resist.
He kissed her.
Not by accident. Not a misunderstanding. Not imagination.
A real kiss.
His lips moved against the other girl’s like he meant it.
And Olivia’s stomach dropped.
She couldn’t look away. She didn’t blink. The club around her blurred. People passed by, danced, splashed foam, screamed lyrics. None of it existed. Not in her world. Not right now.
Only them.
Only that kiss.
Her heart beat too fast, too loud, pounding in her ears like it wanted to get out of her chest and escape her body altogether.
Olivia stood completely still, foam swirling around her legs, lights flashing behind her like a cruel joke.
She didn’t feel the cold. Or the music. Or the drink dripping down her wrist.
All she felt was something snap deep inside her chest.
It wasn’t the kiss.
It was everything behind it.
The way she had waited. The way she had wanted tonight to mean something. The way he had touched her in the dorm like he couldn’t bear not to. The way he had told her she wasn’t ready. Like he cared. Like she mattered.
It was all a lie.
She pulled her phone out of her purse with shaky hands.
The message was still there. Nope. Busy today.
Busy kissing someone else.
Of course.
Of course he was.
She should have known. She should never have hoped.
Maybe there really was something wrong with her. Maybe she was too naive, too desperate to believe she could be enough to stop someone like Nick Reed.
Maybe that kiss in her dorm hadn’t been restraint.
Maybe it had been regret.
She’d thought tonight would numb the ache. Instead, it sharpened it.
Nick Reed had kissed someone else. And she… she finally understood the truth:
He was never hers to keep.
- Writer
