6. Chapter Six
Chapter Six
Alex
The blonde on my lap moves her ass back and forth trying to get my attention but it’s not doing anything. In fact, it’s more annoying than anything else. Just sit still, geez.
To my right, Devon’s got some chick’s tongue in his mouth, and Kai is chatting with a girl who looks way too young to be here. What’s going on with these parties? I feel like every week it’s the same old boring shit.
“Do you wanna head somewhere a little bit more…private?” The blonde asks me, her beer breath in my ear.
“Nah, I’m alright,” I reply, trying my best to hold my breath so as to not inhale any of hers. “In fact…” I move to stand and catch her as she all but falls off my lap. She scoffs at the sudden affront but I don’t really care. I don’t even remember her name.
“I’m going to get a drink,” I say, walking away from her shocked expression. The jaw on the floor face reminds me, for a second, of another surprised face I saw this week. A face I haven’t been able to get out of my mind since I saw it peering down at me from the top of the auditorium in that public speaking class.
If I had known someone in my everyday life would be in that class, I never would’ve opened up so much about my mom. Not that Margot is in my everyday life. In fact, I haven’t seen her since that day. And if I drop that class, like I intend to do now, I won’t have to see her ever again if I don’t want to.
I head into the kitchen and spot Keith cozying up with a football player, grinning as I recall our conversation earlier in the week. I don’t want to disturb him so I quickly grab a beer from the ice bucket and turn back the way I came, content to just sit upstairs in my room and play Xbox until the party is over.
That is until the door opens and the porchlight shines through, casting a glow around the head of the girl that just walked in. The same glow that shined the first time I saw her. The glow that earned her the nickname Sunshine .
“Fuck,” I breathe out and immediately duck back into the crowded kitchen, out the back door and into the backyard where there’s already a crowd of smoke from the smoking corner.
Taking a seat by the empty fire pit, I finally release a breath and ask myself the question on the top of my mind. Did I just run away from a girl?
“Alex, hey,” a female voice says above me and I look up to see the familiar face of my friend, Gia. I’m not known for my friendships with girls but Gia’s a good one. We hook up now and then, she knows the deal and never asks me for anything more, which is why I keep her around. The relief that floods through me when I see her must be evident on my face because she says, “You okay?”
“Fine,” I reply, hurriedly. “Come here for a sec?” I ask but don’t give her a chance to respond before I grab her waist and pull her onto my lap, her long brown hair flying up as her legs rest together over my left side. She gasps in happy surprise but the sound doesn’t linger before I grab her by the back of the neck and pull her face to mine, combining our mouths in a familiar way. Gia responds immediately to me, as she always does and I relax a little bit into the comfortability of it all…until I remember that the reason I’m even doing this is because Margot just walked into my house and now I’m all worked up and even more confused.
After a few minutes of intense making out, Gia pulls away and looks back and forth between my eyes. “Not that I mind at all, but is there something you need to talk about, friend?” She smiles and I again remember why I’ve kept her around so long. She’s a great friend, always ready with a listening ear and a piece of helpful advice.
I sigh, resting my forehead against hers for a second before looking into her eyes again. “Probably. But I’m not sure yet.” Gia seems to take that in stride, pouting her lips in thought before cracking a smile again.
“Well, I’m here if you need me. For anything,” she says and the double meaning isn’t lost on me.
“Thanks,” I reply, almost sadly. Gia removes herself from my lap and gives me a couple pats on the back before saying her goodbyes and heading back into the house. I should follow her. I should drown myself in her like I’ve done many times before but for some fucking reason, I can’t bring myself to move from this chair. All I can seem to do is stare into the flickering flames of the fire and picture another pouting brunette’s face.