Before December

Chapter 12: Lydia

A few minutes passed before Sean made his way back towards us. Across the garden, I spotted Theo near the house talking to a girl with long dark hair. I couldn’t see her face properly from where I was sitting, but judging by the way she stood with her arms folded, she wasn’t exactly thrilled with him. Theo dragged a hand through his hair, said something I couldn’t hear, then turned away from her and disappeared inside without looking back.

“Well,” Grace said, clapping her hands together as though the last ten minutes hadn’t been strange at all, “I think our game of truth or dare is officially over.”

“What about beer pong?” I suggested, probably sounding much more enthusiastic than I meant to.

Grace laughed. “You really are determined to try everything tonight, aren’t you?”

“Just trying to lighten the mood.”

A few minutes later, Grace and I were standing on one side of the table while Sean stood opposite us, setting out the cups.

“We need another player.”

“I’ll play.”

I turned. Theo stood beside Sean. His lip was slightly swollen now, but otherwise he looked like nothing had happened. Sean looked at him, then at me. Grace did exactly the same thing. Neither of them said anything, but the way they looked between us made me suddenly very aware of the kiss again.

“Let’s play,” Sean said eventually. “Ladies first.”

Grace picked up the ball, closed one eye and stuck out her tongue as she aimed with the kind of concentration usually reserved for something far more serious.

She threw.

The ball missed the table completely, making us all laugh.

“I was warming up.”

“Obviously,” Sean said.

His first throw landed straight in one of our cups. The boys high-fived while I picked up the cup and took a drink, immediately grimacing.

“That is disgusting.”

Sean looked personally offended. “It’s beer.”

“Yes. Exactly.”

When it was my turn, I picked up the ball, aimed carefully and threw. It dropped straight into the cup. Grace whooped beside me while I looked across the table at Theo with what I hoped was a sufficiently smug expression.

He laughed and shook his head as he picked up the cup. “Lucky shot.”

“Sounds like something a loser would say.”

“We’ve barely started.”

“Still sounds like losing.”

Theo’s next shot went straight in, and after that the game became far more competitive than it had any right to be.

A few people gathered around the table, offering completely useless advice and cheering whenever someone landed a shot, while Sean got into an argument with somebody over whether leaning too far across the table counted as cheating. By the time there was one cup left on each side, everything felt slightly warmer around the edges.

Grace missed.

Sean missed.

Which left me and Theo.

“Pressure’s on, Wild.”

I picked up the ball. “For you, maybe.”

I lined up the shot and threw.

For one second, everyone seemed to go quiet. Then the ball dropped straight into the cup. The room erupted. Grace grabbed my arm, someone shoved Theo’s shoulder while laughing, and he took the final drink before walking around the table towards me.

“Good game, Wild.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve never played before and really wanted to try it.”

Theo stopped. “You’ve never played before?”

I shook my head proudly.

He laughed. “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”

“Apparently.”

“Hey, Lyd!”

I turned at the sound of Grace’s voice and saw her standing beside a tall blond guy with bright blue eyes and an easy smile.

“This is Sebastian,” she said. “He works at the Mercer Gallery in town. I told him you like art, and he said he’d give you a tour.”

Sebastian smiled. “If you want one.”

“Really?” I said, immediately interested.

“Tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

“One o’clock?”

“I’ll be in town anyway.”

“You’re meeting some guy you’ve known for about thirty seconds tomorrow?” Theo’s voice came from behind me.

I turned. “He works there.”

“That definitely makes him trustworthy.”

“Since when do you care?”

“I don’t.”

“Good.”

I turned back to Sebastian. “One o’clock works.”

“Perfect.”

I gave Theo one last look before heading inside to get another drink.

I had barely reached the kitchen counter when a female voice spoke behind me.

“Lydia, isn’t it?”

I turned and found the dark-haired girl I’d seen arguing with Theo earlier.

“Um, yes. Hi.”

“Amber.” Her eyes moved over me briefly before returning to my face. “Theo’s girlfriend.”

Shit.

“Oh. I didn’t know he had a girlfriend.”

“Well, now you do.” Her expression hardened. “So stay away from him. He’s mine.”

Before I could think of a response, she turned and walked away, two other girls following behind her.

Grace appeared beside me almost immediately. “What did she want?”

“She told me to stay away from Theo because apparently she’s his girlfriend.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “She’s not.”

“She seemed pretty confident.”

“She always is. Theo’s told her enough times she isn’t his girlfriend. Just because they hook up sometimes, Amber seems to think that makes them a couple.”

“Oh.”

That explained some things. Sort of.

“Have you seen James?”

“Outside with Sean.”

“He was really weird after the kiss.”

Grace’s expression shifted slightly. “It’s probably because of Theo.”

“Why?”

She hesitated. “James had a girlfriend called Lacey. They broke up, and then Theo got involved in something he really shouldn’t have. Everything got messy after that.”

My mind went straight back to what Theo had told me by the pool.

His problem is I f****d his ex.

Apparently that ex had a name now.

Grace continued. “I don’t really know all of it.”

That sounded suspiciously like she knew more than she was saying.

“Is Lacey here tonight?”

“No. She’s away with her parents.”

I followed Grace back outside. James and Sean were sitting near the pool, and James barely looked at me when I sat beside them.

Great.

I really hoped I hadn’t ruined things between us because of one stupid dare. The kiss had meant nothing. Theo had offered to help, I had accepted, and that was it. At least, that was what I told myself.

I picked up my drink and took another sip, mostly because it gave me something to do other than sit there wondering why James suddenly seemed to hate me. Grace and Sean started talking about something I wasn’t really listening to, but after a few minutes, their voices seemed to blur together strangely. I blinked hard and tried to focus. I’d had alcohol before. I knew what being tipsy felt like, and this wasn’t it. I pushed myself to my feet, intending to get some water, and the garden lurched violently to one side. I grabbed for the back of the chair, but my hand missed completely.

“Whoa,” Sean said.

“I’m fine.”

I wasn’t.

The warmth from earlier had changed into something heavier, dragging at my limbs while the music seemed to swell around me. My thoughts were becoming difficult to hold onto, slipping away before I could properly finish them. I made my way towards the house, telling myself I just needed water and maybe a minute away from everyone. The kitchen lights felt ridiculously bright when I walked inside. I reached for the counter, missed and stumbled against it instead.

“Lyd?”

Theo appeared beside me. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

“I’m fine.”

“You look like you’re about to fall over.”

“I just stood up too fast.”

“Sure you did.”

I tried to focus on him, but his face seemed to shift slightly in front of me.

“Wild.” The irritation vanished from his voice. “Look at me.”

“I am.”

“No, you’re not.”

The room tilted again. Theo caught me before my knees gave way, and for a second I couldn’t work out why the floor had disappeared beneath me.

“What are you doing?” I mumbled.

“Getting you outside.”

“I can walk.”

“No, you can’t.”

I tried to argue, but the words wouldn’t come together properly. My head fell against him and my eyes closed for a second.

“Don’t go to sleep, Wild.”

“I’m not.” Even forming the words felt strangely difficult.

He pushed through the front door and tried the handle of James’s car, but it was locked. “Brilliant.”

Theo sat me carefully on the sidewalk and pulled out his phone while I leaned back, hoping the cold air would clear my head. It didn’t. The lights from the house stretched across my vision, and Theo’s voice seemed farther away even though he was right beside me.

“James, answer your damn phone…”

I tried to say something, but I wasn’t sure whether any sound came out.

The last thing I saw was Theo crouching in front of me, his expression no longer amused or irritated.

Then everything went dark.