Chapter 21 I Am Sort of Socially Inept? Shocker.
I Am Sort of Socially Inept? Shocker.
“Amanda won’t know what hit her.” I walk into the bar/cafe, wearing a knotted halter top, my back showing, and some white shorts to match the dark red of the top.
“A hot new bombshell enters the villa…” West mimics those reality TV show hosts, and I shove him playfully, my face turning the color of the top I’m sure.
“Shut up. I’m doing you a favor too, you know. You want Amanda to die when she sees us.”
He’s staring at me, my eyes specifically.
“Yeah, yeah. You have a little bit of green in your eyes, I never noticed.” Then he looks around as if that small compliment isn’t something only I ever noticed about myself. He turns to me, a wicked grin on his face. “Show time.”
And then he lifts me off the ground, putting me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He spins me around, and I tap his back, surprised and a bit panicked.
“West, put me down!” I watch everyone amused around us, and a smile escapes my lips. Accidentally, while tapping his back, I hit his butt, and he stops, putting me down ever so slowly. I’m still in the air, just a little above his eyesight while he holds me.
“I know you did that on purpose, I just can’t prove it.
” And then he starts tickling me, and I yelp in surprise.
Then I feel his hair against my neck and his nose, as his face is buried right beneath my ear, at the curve.
The most genuine laugh betrays me, and he puts me down, his hands never leaving my hips.
“You know this is all fun and games until you actually develop a massive crush on me.” West jokes in all seriousness, and I roll my eyes, completely letting his hands around me.
“I think we’ll be fine.” I level him with a stare, and he shrugs.
“To be seen…”
I shove him again, and he releases me, only to put an arm around my shoulders while leading us towards the tables and the kegs, where people our age are already doing handstands while drinking beer.
I stare a little too long, and meanwhile, Allison and Riden are by our side.
“How’s the debut going?” Allison asks, and we both shrug.
“I think I saw Amanda spit on her army when you arrived.” Riden smirks beside me.
West and I smile at each other, which is odd enough. I notice the small glint in his eyes and how the forest behind me reflects and enhances them. Also, his light freckles are somewhat mesmerizing. I could map them out if I were bored. Or trace them. Or…
“Who’s next?” Some dumbass asks, referring to drinking beer upside down.
Imagine doing this… You could choke, not get enough blood to the rest of your body, and go numb, fall, and break something…
“Jake, bro, you’re the champion!” And of course, it’s something West would do, so another strong, valid reason why not.
“Mads, you should totally do it!” Allison whispers beside me and catches the boy’s attention.
“What?! Are you actually insane? I-”
“Didn’t know your girlfriend was built like that.” And then he pats West on his back.
“You would mark something off the list, and you would be an icon. Infuriate Amanda by outshining her while having Jake by your side. Besides, you still have to-” She checks her phone, where I glimpse my list. “Start a conversation with strangers, and it’ll be easier if they already wanna talk to you. ”
I catch everyone looking at me and close my eyes for half a second.
“You don’t have to do this-” West starts, but my hand moves to his chest.
“Hey, I’m Jake West’s girlfriend now. We have a reputation to maintain.” Every frat bro around cheers, and my heart beats rapidly, like I drank an energetic drink.
I place my hands on the handles in the keg, and they help me get upside down.
Immediately, the blood rushes to my head, and my eyes start pounding.
I don’t pay attention to who’s around me; I can only see blonde hair, which I assume belongs to my friends.
I see the hose coming towards my face and being put in my mouth.
Beer is injected into my mouth, and wow, this is even harder than it looks.
I try my best not to choke in front of this sea of people.
I try to push the liquid down, but due to gravity, it keeps going down.
After a while, my hands start hurting, and I’m tired of ingesting beer or at least trying to — I was just sipping what I could — and spit the rest of the beer out, which, gladly, they took as a sign to stop.
They quickly put me down, and I almost fell down, if it weren’t for West.
Everyone cheers, and West helps me up.
“Let’s see Amanda doing that.” Allison pats me on the back, excited, and Riden dismisses her.
“Forget Amanda, imagine Mads doing this two weeks ago.” Riden cheers, and I smile, dizzy and still not catching their faces quite well.
My head spins to West, and his eyes are wide open.
“That was pretty amazing.”
“I’m your girlfriend, I’m just built like this.” I shrug.
“No, you’re Madelaine Brown. You were always built like that.”
My heart squeezes, and he avoids eye contact all of a sudden, nervous.
“Are you squirming?” I narrow my eyes, and he laughs nervously. “I didn’t know you could squirm.” I smile wholeheartedly, and this time, he shoves me, rolling his eyes.
“Shut up.”
“No, no, I get it. Someone as hot as me, doing a handstand while chugging beer… You’ll probably dream about it tonight.” I tease, and he laughs, placing his arm around my shoulders again, but seemingly without wanting to.
“Whatever, Brown. We both know you’re probably gonna dream about lawnmowers tonight.”
Dumbass…
My cheeks flush, and this time I squirm.
“Hi! I just wanna say, that was really cool!” A short-haired girl approaches me, and I have no clue who she is. “Oh, sorry, I’m Daisy. This is Matt.” The boy waves, tightly smiling.
Strike up a conversation with strangers, right?
“Madelaine.” They look next to me, and I realise West is just standing here. “Right, this is my boy- My- This is West-”
“What my girlfriend means is, I’m Jake.” He stands right behind me, and my heart beats rapidly.
“See? I told you they were a thing.” Daisy hits Matt in the arm, excited, and Matt just nods. “I mean the love on his face while he was watching you chug beer, it was something else, let me tell you that!”
“I’m just not used to doing stuff like this, so when I do do them, he can’t believe it. It’s more pure shock, really.” I excuse myself, and Jake squeezes me from the side.
“No, I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you all over again.” He says almost through gritted teeth.
“West, don’t joke like that.” I turn serious, and he rolls his eyes.
“Because god forbid a boyfriend actually loves his girlfriend.”
We level each other with frowns and narrowed eyes, and then notice Daisy and Matt are still here.
“But we’re not-” He kicks me. “I mean, you’re right.” I begrudgingly admit, knowing I was about to expose us, and he smiles triumphantly.
“Okaaay then, nice meeting you. We’ll see you around.” Daisy grabs Matt’s hand and drags him away, slightly scared, I’m sure.
“That counts as having a conversation with strangers, right?” I ask sideways, both of us watching them walk away.
“If a conversation consists of scaring strangers and talking ninety percent of the time, then yeah, you could say that.”
Don’t care, I’m checking that off my list.
My phone buzzes, and I realize I’m still holding his hand, and we both drop them as if they’re hurting us.
Aunt Lori: Mads, hate to ask you this, but your dad is taking me out for dinner, can you watch the kids tonight?
Oh, good, a break from all of this, nice. My social battery is draining, so a night in with my little cousins does sound much better than this. And no West and people telling us we look in love.
Aunt Lori: Oh, and Jake can come too!
Nope. Not mentioning that to him-
“Nice, night in with the kids, let’s go…”
I pull my phone to my chest as if that’ll do anything, and I’m offended.
“You can’t just read other people’s texts, gosh!” I put my phone in my back pocket and start moving towards my dad’s car, in which we drove in here to.
“Correct, but you’re not other people. You’re not even people. Personally, I’d like to think of you as that witch who lives alone in the woods and tricks kids into liking her.” He catches up to me, and I stop, my hand on the handle of the car’s door.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m coming with you.” He responds as if it’s obvious.
“I don’t remember inviting you, though.”
“Thankfully, your Aunt Lori did.” He crosses his arms on top of the car, waiting and staring.
“I don’t think she did…”
“I believe her exact words were Oh, and Jake, the best thing that has ever happened to you, can come to!”
“You know she didn’t say that…” I fire back at him, admitting that she, in fact, invited him too.
I unlock the car, and we just keep rambling.
“Look at us, babysitting as a couple… I think this is a great opportunity to talk about kids. I’ve always wanted two, but you know I’m open to more if you want to-”
I bang my head against the steering wheel. There’s a fine line between anger and murder, and West likes to toe that fucking line like a professional.
“If I ever have a kid with you, put me in a mental hospital.” I end up saying while starting the car.
“I don’t think you need to have a kid with me to be put in one, but that’s just my opinion.”
“West!”
“I’m joking.” The most genuine laugh comes out of him, and I avoid smiling too.
Truth is, my mental health is one of my insecurities.
Anyone else telling me I need to be put into a facility would scare me, but I know him just as well as he knows me.
At most, we both need to be admitted, and we know it.
The difference between him and them is that he doesn’t mean it and knows my story, and other people genuinely think I’m crazy.
Besides, I know deep, deep down, he would rather put a smile on my face than ever see me cry, but I’m just not brave enough yet to accept that.