Miss Fake

Chapter 4: Bryan's party

We park in front of the house. There already a lot of cars, and, hopefully, his house has a big yard in front. The music is loud, and I already want to dance. We take out the booze, and mixers, we brought, not wanting to come empty-handed.

There are some people outside, smoking and we greet them with a wave of the hand. The front door is wide open, and the music is getting louder the closer we get. We enter, the door leading directly to the living room, and we see already so many people, enjoying themselves and dancing.

I lean toward Nina, to be sure she will hear me with the music. “I’m going to find Bryan.” She nods and grabs my arm so we are not separated. Addison takes my other arm. We go around the bodies who dance, and we chuckle, almost getting hit by some arms or other body parts. Soon enough, we see Nathan chatting with the Dj. His gaze goes around the people dancing and falls on us. I wave at him, with a smile, hoping he will know where Bryan is. He answers with a charming smile and a wink. He leaves his friend and walks to us.

“Hey Nathan!” I greet him and he whistles, openly checking me out.

“You look amazing, Skyler.”

“You don’t look too bad yourself,” I answer with a smile, tilting my head on the side. I, then, lift the bottles I have in my hands. “You know where Bryan is? I would like to put that down somewhere.”

Nathan nods, and I internally hope he will show me the way to Bryan and not to the place where they put the drinks. I can’t directly ask him where his friend is, I would seem too interested, and I want to have a good reputation around Bryan’s friend, not like some bitches who go arounds his friend asking about him. He always rejects them quite meaningly when he learns how they treat his friends.

Nina and Addi let go of my arm when I showed him the bottle, and Nathan approaches me to put an arm around my waist. He leads the way out of the crowd, and it’s much easier to walk around when I am in his arms. With his other hand, he held Nina’s hand, who hold Addi’s hand, making us a human chain. Once we are out of the dance floor, and reach the corridor, he let go of Nina’s hand but keep his arm around me. We arrive in the kitchen, but before entering, I know that Bryan is inside. I could recognize his voice from millions. He is talking to someone I can’t recognize the voice. I feel my heartbeat going faster, probably because I am going to see Bryan soon.

There are a few people in the kitchen, including Bryan who is talking with two other guys who I’ve never seen before. I smile shyly at the three guys.

“Hi guys!” I greet them with a cute smile.

They stopped talking the moment we arrived in the kitchen. I look at them, Bryan looking amazing in that black shirt and dark jeans, his hair pulled back. I want to keep staring at him, but I feel the gaze of the one beside him burning me. His gaze is so intense, and he looks frozen. When he realizes that I look back at him, a small smile takes place on his lips. I feel uncomfortable under his gaze, and get closer to Nathan.

“Guys, I introduce you the princess of Ravendale,” Nathan says, not noticing the awkwardness of the scene. “And my future girlfriend,” he adds jokingly, but that snaps me back to reality. Oh, hell no, I won’t look like that in front of Bryan! I laugh, getting away from him to look at him. I punch him gently in the arm. “Stop teasing me,” I say innocently, and Nathan laughs along. I turn back to the three guys, and I see the one who was staring at me, stiffen. His fist is clenched, along with his jaw. His stare is frightening, but I am not the one he is looking at anymore, he is staring at Nathan. Nathan finally realizes and frowns at the stranger.

“What’s wrong, Ethan?” Nathan asks, visibly confused. Ethan let out the breath he was holding and shakes his head, also confused.

“Nothing,” he mutters before leaving the kitchen in a rush. The other guy I didn’t know leaves quickly after him.

We all stay silently after the sudden departures.

“So… Bryan, where do we put the booze?” Nina asks, breaking the weird atmosphere.

“Oh, uh, wherever you want on that table,” Bryan says, still confused. We go closer to the counter, and I am about to talk to Bryan when he apologizes and rushes out of the kitchen.

“We’ll see you girls later,” Nathan tells us with a wink, before exiting the room, leaving us on our own.

“Okey, that was weird…” Nina says with confusion. I nod and hesitate to ask them if they also saw that Ethan guy staring at me strangely when we entered. I shake my head, he must have only stared at me as most guys do, but something inside me tells me that it was different from the other guys.

“Let’s get a drink while we are here,” Nina proposes, already taking out three cups. Addison makes our drinks. I don’t know how she does that, but it is always perfectly balanced between the mixer and the alcohol.

Since we arrived later than some people, we need to catch up with the others. Very bad advice, by the way. Nothing good comes from chugging cups too quickly.

While drinking, we chat about what just happened, and I would like to talk about that strange feeling I had when I looked into Ethan’s eyes. I don’t need to bring it up, as Nina does it herself.

“That guy wants your booty,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows to me.

I chuckle but shake my head. “That guy isn’t Bryan,” I answer with a laugh.

“But he is quite the catch,” Addison adds.

“He was freaking hot, I’ll take him if you don’t want him,” Nina continues.

“He is all yours, tonight I’m getting Bryan,” I reply, amused but confident that tonight he is going to be mine.

We finish our first drink, and Addison prepares for us a second one. We leave the kitchen with our cups, ready to join the others. I look around, searching for Bryan, but he is nowhere to be seen. I sigh, and we join a group of people doing a drinking game. One of them explains to us that they are almost done and that we can join the next round. The game is simple to understand. They count until 25, one after the other. The one who arrives at 25 can change one of the numbers by anything. It can be a movement or a word, even by another number. It looks pretty funny as they are at the end of the game, and there isn’t a single number left. Every time someone do a mistake, they have to drink from their cup. Making it more hilarious: the more you drink the more you can’t remember the changes, leading to more drinking...

We start it, but we are soberer than them, making it easier for us. I purposely make some mistake, to be able to drink. After a while, more than half of the numbers changed. Nina has a twisted imagination of what to change. She changed the 12 to a kiss on the lips of the next player, and the 23 by removing one of your cloth. She wants to get laid tonight, and there isn’t one player here who would argue her new changes. So far, I’ve avoided the 23, and I hope I won’t have to remove one of my clothing since I am wearing a dress.

The game makes us drink faster, and in a funnier way, and Addison made us two more drinks as we keep finishing them. We are all laughing, as my friend can’t remember a single number. Every time it is her turn, she is mistaking and keeps drinking.

“It looks fun, can we join?” Bryan asks, and I feel my heart skipping a beat. I want to check on my mirror if I look fine, but I can’t do that in front of him. The guy who included us before agrees, and we move to let them so place in our circle. I feel so happy when Bryan sits next to me, but soon enough the guy from the kitchen sits between us. My smile faded for a second before I remember that he is also one of Bryan’s friends, and I should look friendly. I smile at him, to which he responds also with a smile. I glance at Nina, who is sitting a bit further, and she giggles, seeing the whole situation. I put my face on my left hand, the side of the newcomers, in order to hide my expressions from him. I roll my eyes and I bite my smiling lips, showing my annoyance to Nina, as well as amused by her reaction. She laughs, making me laugh as well. They are talking between themselves, explaining the game to the newcomers, so I know that no one saw us.

I see Nina looking around our group, and then stares at me with a grin that she tries to cover with her hand.

“So, who’s turn was it?” asks one of the players.

Nina points her hand in the air, excited, as she was waiting for someone to say that. Her hand then falls in direction of one girl, who I still don’t know the name. “It was her turn.”

I know it wasn’t, but everyone is too tipsy to argue, and the girl starts again. I stare at Nina, squirting my eyes at her, and she giggles and winks at me.

We keep playing, and in two turns it will be mine. My eyes widened in the realization that she made sure I was the one who had to play the 12th. She even calculated that Addison will be making a mistake, therefore the next one will have her number. I shoot her a look who should be mad, but it turns out more in an amused one.

When my turn arrives, I avoid looking at Ethan, and look up in the air, looking like I’m thinking.

“Hmm… I can’t remember,” I say with a pout.

“It’s easy, it’s a movement,” Nina says to help me, even though we never gave hints before.

I look at her happily, clapping into my hands.

“Nope, Skyler, that’s fourteen,” Greg, one of the players, says amused as he thought I made a mistake.

“Oh shoot,” I say while tapping my forehead with the palm of my hand. “I’m such an i***t,” I add with a smile while taking my cup to my lips to drink from it. I stare at Nina, amused as she mouthing cheater to me. I hide my chuckle and drink up, finishing my cup.

When I put it down, I realize that Ethan is staring at me. I turn to him, confused. “What?” I ask with a shy smile, wondering why he is looking at me with concern.

“Are you okay? How many drinks did you have?” Ethan asks, and I frown, not used that a guy is concerned over how many drinks I had.

“That’s my fourth.”

“Are you okay?” He continues asking.

“Yeah… not gonna lie I’m a bit tipsy, but I am not drunk,” I answer with a smile. He was about to tell me something, but Greg cut him by telling him it’s his turn.

Since it’s his first turn, Greg explains to him what twelve is, and I swear I saw him grin while throwing me an amused look for a split second. He turns to Bryan, and I want to push him on the side to take his place and kiss Bryan.

“Come on, Ethan, give your best friend a kiss,” Bryan teases him with a smirk, and I didn’t know our gentle Bryan could be a joker to his friends. I try to cover my jealousy with a laugh, as everyone is laughing at Bryan’s mimic, and Ethan pushing him away, looking disgusted.

“Okey, if you don’t want to kiss me, I allow you to turn to the previous player,” Bryan says with a smile, and my smile fades immediately. Not only I will kiss someone else, and he doesn’t care, but he is the one proposing that I kiss someone else. He really doesn’t care about me.

Ethan turns to me, a smile on the face, but his expression changes suddenly as he sees my face. I try to cover the sadness and deception with a smile, but he seems to look right through me and concerns again takes place on his face.

I hear a whistle and some guy starting to repeat kiss, kiss, kiss…

This whole situation annoys me. I should have been next to Bryan, kissing him. Not that stranger, and not suggested by Bryan. I turn to the guys who started the kiss thing.

“Don’t be a kid, it’s just a kiss,” I say to him with a fake smile, trying hard to cover the annoyance and forcing myself to not clench my teeth. I turn to Ethan, who is still staring at me, and approach quickly my lips to him, for a quick smack and removes them as quickly.

“Here you go, you have your kiss,” I tell to the player who looked so eager for us to kiss, with a playful tone. I force the smile on my face, not wanting to let my bitterness be shown. Not in front of Bryan. Even though I feel this way because of him.

I feel Ethan’s gaze on me, but I ignore it. From the corner of my eyes, I see him turns back to face the other players, passing a hand on his hair.

“Sorry, Ethan…” I hear Bryan murmuring to his friend, and I feel my tears coming up to my eyes. So, he is sorry that his friend had to kiss me?

I clench my teeth, and press my nails on my hand, vain tentative to not cry here, in front of everyone.

“I need a smoke!” Nina says loudly, standing up. She arrives in front of me, and grabs my arm to get my attention. “Coming?” I smile at her, relieved and thankful. I stand up, smile at the group, before leaving, following her outside. We don’t go to the front door where we entered, but to the back, where there are a garden and a swimming pool. We go around the water, removing our shoes, putting our feet in the water.

Without saying a word, Nina put an arm around me, pressing me against her. I put my head on her shoulder, and I can’t refrain anymore and start crying.