Special thanks to those who reviewed the first chapter: RubyFresh, charley07, guardian music angel, and manthaS115
Chapter Two: Of A Bar & A Bedroom
Evelyn couldn't believe how out of place she felt. A crowded bar in the center, pool tables in the back, wooden lunch tables to the right, a dance floor on the side, and games in random places. Everywhere she looked; people were talking, laughing, playing, drinking, or dancing.
She had given in to Josie's invitation only because it was her first night in town and didn't know anyone; but now Evelyn felt she should have stood her ground longer. Nicky's, the local bar, was definitely not a first choice place she would choose to go.
Josie sat next to her in a dark table at the corner back, just watching everything and everyone.
"There are so many people." The hooded teen stated in wonder. Not feeling comfortable in the environment quite yet, Josie had opted to keep her maroon jacket on and the hood over her head to feel more at ease.
Evelyn dropped her head back, letting her hair free fall back over the seat. "It's a Friday night at a bar, Jos. Did you think it was just going to be people from school?"
"I didn't really think about it." She replied sourly.
There was a sudden cheer throughout the bar, filled with applause and whistles. Both girls searched for the source in curiosity.
"Hey!" Amanda landed in front of them, seemingly from nowhere. "Come on! They're here!" She grabbed Josie's arm and jerked her to her feet. Josie immediately reached back and caught onto the sleeve of Evelyn's jacket. Amanda led them both through the crowd.
"Smart one, Jos." Evelyn grunted in annoyance. "If we lose out table, I'm blaming you."
"Blame me for everything tonight." Josie grunted back as she had to squeeze between a couple. "You're not leaving my side."
Evelyn almost tripped as it was her turn to interrupt the couple.
With a final jerk, Amanda was able to pull Josie through the crowd. Evelyn remained silent and a part of the background as Amanda began to talk. If it weren't for Josie still holding tightly to the sleeve of her jacket, she would've fully disappeared.
"Hey Pogue. It's great to see you out of the hospital." Amanda greeted. Josie's eyes wondered over the group she was addressing, wondering which unlucky person was Pogue.
"Thanks Amanda. It's great to see you too." The buff one at the corner of the table was the one to reply. Josie's eyes widened. He did NOT look like he had been in a motorcycle accident.
"I'd like you guys to meet my new roommate. She just transferred in today." Amanda nudged Josie forward, but she stayed rooted to the spot. One: she didn't like being pushed around. Two: she thought she was only going to greet one person, not a whole table of freaking beautiful people.
They were a table of four. Two were obviously a couple: the guy Pogue and a chick in a biker jacket with long straight dark brown hair. The other two: a serious looking tall-dark-and-handsome guy, and a sickeningly sweet looking blonde who seemed to be wearing a sundress.
Josie gave a short wave and a nervous; closed smile.
"A new girl, huh?" Pogue spoke, leaning back in his chair and looking across the table to the blonde. "Sorry, Sarah, but it looks like someone else has taken your position as new girl at Spenser."
The blonde, Sarah, smiled as the guy next to her laughed and placed his arm around her shoulders.
Evelyn sighed as she turned away, her arm still in Josie's grip. She watched the people pass her by and soon became bored. Suddenly, there was a rough pull on her sleeve which caused her to turn back around.
People were staring at her. Josie, her roommate, and those people from school were all looking at her.
Josie turned back to Amanda. "I think we're just going to go back…"
"Why don't you girls sit down? We're going to get something to eat right now." One of the guys offered. Evelyn recognized him to be Caleb…something. Denvers? Danvers?
Both guys stood up, kissing their girls on the cheek. Evelyn caught Pogue glance at Josie as he passed and stayed motionless as he passed by.
"Hi." The blonde gave a friendly smile. "I'm Sarah. This is Kate. You can sit down." Sarah referred to the now empty seats.
Josie looked to Evelyn whom merely shrugged in reply.
Sarah watched the exchange and caught on to their awkwardness. "I promise you, we don't bite."
"Not unless you give us reason to." Kate muttered with her arms crossed and her gaze fixated on the wall in front of her.
Josie hesitated in her movement to take a seat, but Evelyn just nudged her forward as she took a seat as her own.
"You guys can just chill, I'm going to talk to other people." Amanda gave a short smile before turning and walking off.
Once she disappeared, Kate uncrossed her arms and looked around the table. "Are you both new?" She questioned Josie and Evelyn.
Both shook their head. "She's the new one." Evelyn jabbed her thumb in Josie's direction.
"Okay," Kate scooted up in her chair and leaned into the table. "First thing: you're roommate, total slut."
"Kate!" Sarah gasped in surprise.
Josie raised her eyebrows and Evelyn immediately backed away from the table top and leaned back in her chair. So Kate was a gossip type it seemed, man where the hell was an exit when you need one?
Kate ignored both Sarah's reaction and Evelyn's ignorance and kept her gaze on Josie. "I'm serious. I wouldn't be saying it if it weren't true." She defended.
Josie remained still, her blank eyes holding gaze with Kate's; before shrugging. "Okay."
Kate hesitated before leaning back and glancing at Sarah.
The night drew on. Soon Evelyn grew tired of just sitting around, and searched the bar for something to do.
"Hey," Josie leaned over and mumbled to Evelyn. "Can we just go? I'm not feeling it here."
Evelyn opened her mouth to answer but stopped when music began to play loudly. She nodded her head instead and moved to stand up.
"I'm going to get Caleb. Maybe he'll want to dance." Sarah exclaimed, rising to her feet and disappearing in the crowd of moving bodies.
Evelyn watched her go with a laughable expression. "We're going to head out." She said to Kate. "We'll see you around."
Kate nodded and waved goodbye before her eyes scanned the dance floor for her blond friend.
Just as she stepped out the door, Josie realized that their ride was missing. She turned to her cousin, who nearly bumped into her.
"What?" Evelyn questioned.
"Hello, we came with Amanda. Unless you plan to sprout wings and fly us back, which by the way, would be SO cool; we kinda need her." Josie remarked.
Evelyn sighed. "Fine. Go wait by her truck, I'll get her."
"You're going to leave my out here by myself?"
"Well, yeah." Evelyn replied over her shoulder.
Josie's jaw dropped. "Wha-but I could get raped by myself."
"Jos, if you can keep your hands off yourself, then so can everyone else."
"…Well damn, I'm screwed." The teen grumbled, shoving her hands inside her pockets.
Evelyn scoffed and continued back inside the bar. The loud music was still playing and after having stepped outside, she realized that the bar was pleasantly warmer.
"Okay…" Evelyn mumbled under her breath as she looked around. "Where are you…."
She caught sight of Sarah and Caleb on the dance floor and couldn't help but smirk. Sarah walked circles around him before he caught her by the waist, dipper her, then spun her around so that the skirt of her dress waved in the air. They obviously knew how to dance.
Moving on; she needed to find that Amanda chick. She looked toward the pool tables through the smoke and caught a glimpse of a female body amongst males. Going out on a whim, Evelyn decided to head towards the back. Squeezing past a waitress and a man sitting at the bar, Evelyn heard laughter that she was willing to bet was Amanda's. As soon as she reached the pool tables, however, she felt like turning back around. Freaking Abbott was there. 'Jeez, this is going to suck.'
Evelyn silently slipped past Aaron, who was at the moment distracted and stepped up behind Amanda who was whispering to another guy holding a pool cue. The both of them were intently watching someone preparing to make a shot.
The tip of the cue hit the white ball, creating a chain of reactions that soon led to only one ball left on the table. Amanda whooped in excitement while the guy next to her clapped the winner on the back.
Evelyn saw Abbott's fists clench around his own shooting cue and noticed that his fingers were wringing the smooth surface. Deciding to ignore the sore loser's anger, Evelyn nudged Amanda in the arm.
Amanda turned, her face falling for a moment in confusion before recognition hit her and her smile returned. "Hey, Evelyn! Did you see that?"
"Er, yeah, it was a nice shot." Evelyn commended, not really interested in the game.
"Why do you keep playing him, man?" A voice spoke to Aaron, distracting Evelyn for a moment. "You're never going to beat him."
"Shut up!" Aaron snapped.
"Josie and I are ready to leave and…"
"Oh yeah-Josie!" Amanda exclaimed. "Where is she?"
"She's outside…"
"Was that an amazing shot or what?" A body came between Evelyn and Amanda, dropping an arm around Amanda's shoulders and leaning against another pool table next to her. "I should reward myself. Better yet, you should reward me." He cocked his head to the side suggestively.
'What the hell, man? Conversation here, we're having.' Evelyn mentally snapped.
"Reid, this is Evelyn. She's my new roommate's cousin." Amanda introduced, surprisingly she remembered introductions.
The beanie-topped Reid turned his head in Evelyn's direction for a lazy moment before nodding his head in acknowledgment. He snapped his eyes back to Amanda in a mock seriousness. "You have a roommate now, so we can't stay at your room tonight. Tyler!" He called out.
"What?" The guy Amanda had been standing next to responded from right behind Evelyn, causing her to tense.
"You're sleeping outside tonight; in your car or whatever. The room's mine." Reid informed, not caring for the other's reaction.
"Hey!"
'Oh my God.' Evelyn rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. 'Can we just go!'
Aaron was the one who had called out and he sounded pissed off.
"Amanda, can we go already?" Evelyn bit out, annoyed that she wasn't getting anywhere. She had a feeling an argument was about to break out and she didn't feel like being there for it.
"What's the rush?" Amanda inquired, sounding genuinely curious which served to aggravate Evelyn more.
"You!" Aaron was right beside Evelyn now. She felt anger radiating off of him and dropped her head, knowing that her attempts at leaving were going to take longer in becoming successful.
--
Sitting on the hood of Amanda's blue pick up truck, Josie stared up through over hanging branches to the stars above. She was there for about two seconds before becoming bored. She could hear the blasting music from inside and wished she could listen to some of her own; unfortunately, she had left her ipod inside of the truck which was currently locked.
'Well this is exciting.' She thought grimly. 'I think…I might actually start counting the stars…One…Two…Five…Six…' Josie sighed and moved her hands to rest under her head.
"Too much work." She concluded in a mumble.
There was a rise in volume of music and chatter from inside, signifying that the entrance had been opened, letting someone out or in.
Josie pushed herself up onto her elbows when she heard feet stepping though the brush on the ground towards her.
Evelyn was walking towards the truck with her hands shoved in the pockets of her jacket and her head lowered as the night breeze blew strands of hair into her face. There was a shadow of another following beside but Josie didn't sense anything sinister about it.
"Hey, you're back." Josie greeted, though frowned when Evelyn only gave a small smile in reply. "What's up?" She questioned.
Evelyn stopped by the side of the truck and removed a hand from a pocket to pull the hair from her face. The shadow that had followed her stopped just in view and turned up to be a boy who looked pretty annoyed. His jaw was clenched and his green eyes were piercing everything they looked at.
"Uh…Amanda is pretty preoccupied, so we're going to get a ride from Tyler." Evelyn referred to the boy behind her. Josie glanced at the boy for a moment before looking back to her cousin.
"Why? What's she doing?"
"Eh…" Evelyn shifted her weight from one foot to the other and wouldn't meet Josie's gaze.
"She's kicking me from my bed tonight, that's what she's doing." A frustrated voice left the boy's lips as he was now fixing his stare on Josie.
Josie drew her eyebrows together and looked to Evelyn questioningly. "Fine. Just let me get my ipod and we'll go." Josie slid off of the hood of the truck and stood expectantly for one of them to open the door.
Evelyn dropped her shoulders and rolled her eyes up to the sky. "You left it in the truck? I told you to bring it."
"You did not!"
"I said if you want to take it, take it."
"Well I didn't want to take it."
"Well now you're going to have to leave it."
"Huh? No! Just let me get inside-gimme the keys, I'll do it real quick."
Evelyn sighed and stomped her foot on the ground before taking a step back. "I don't have the keys." She stressed every syllable. "Let's just go. You'll see her tomorrow; you can get it from her then, all right?"
"Screw that, I'm getting it from her now." With that said, Josie stomped passed the two and headed back inside the bar.
"Josie!" Evelyn called after her, only to be ignored. "Oh, what the freak..." Evelyn groaned as she slapped her hands over her eyes and slowly ran them down her face.
"It shouldn't take that long." Tyler amended behind clenched teeth. It sounded like he was trying to calm himself down more than anything.
--
Soon, they heard the crunching of gravel as Josie stomped her way back to them. "Why the hell didn't you tell me that she was making out with some guy?" She demanded once she was within yelling distance.
"I thought I'd spare you the details." Evelyn responded dryly, pushing away from the car she'd been leaning against.
Josie fumed as she crossed her arms. "Fine, then let's go with him."
--
Evelyn had called shot-gun on the backseat, forcing Josie to ride in the front, while Tyler kept his mouth shut and his annoyance concealed. The expedition was huge, making the silence and the hum of the engine that much more audible.
Josie sighed and leaned forward to inspect the buttons of the stereo.
"What?" Tyler questioned, glancing at her for a moment before returning his gaze to the road.
"It's too quiet in here." Josie answered matter-of-factly as she pressed a button. Music blasted through the speakers startling both female passengers.
Tyler swatted Josie's hand away and, without taking his eyes off of the road, his fingers took control. The loud music disappeared and the sound of buttons being pushed took over. "What do you want to listen to?" He questioned.
"What do you have?" Josie retorted, still leaning forward in her seat.
Strums of a guitar sounded throughout the vehicle. Satisfied with what she heard, Josie leaned back in the seat and crossed her arms.
"What'd you mean when you said that Amanda's kicking you from your bed?" Josie suddenly brought up. Both Evelyn and Tyler gave her a questioning stare.
"Earlier, when I asked you two what Amanda was doing that was so important she couldn't give us a ride; you said she was kicking you out of your bed."
Tyler rolled his eyes and put his focus back on the road, though he seemed open to talk. "Reid kicked me out of the room tonight so that they could be 'alone together.' He gave me this to sleep in though, isn't that nice of him." He added sarcastically while referring to the expedition.
"Yup, makes up for everything." Evelyn sardonically agreed.
Tyler clenched his jaw and kept his eyes on the road. They continued on in silence. Once they were parked in the student parking lot, Tyler turned off the engine and silently waited for the two girls to get out. Where Evelyn hastily undid her seatbelt and jumped out of the expedition, Josie simply clicked free the buckle and slowly slid out of the seat. Once her feet touched gravel, she stood for a moment in mental debate.
"Josie?" Evelyn turned when she noticed her cousin's hesitance. Josie half responded to the call and turned her full attention to Tyler who was now staring at her curiously.
"Er, you know, you could, like, you know?" Sighing, Josie shook her arms in nervousness and dropped her eyes to the ground to collect her thoughts. "If you want, you can sleep in my room. Er, our room."
She nervously glanced at Evelyn who had a surprised expression, just as she thought she would. It was this guy's response she was anxious to hear.
"Look, thanks, but no thanks. I'm fine here."
"Yeah Jos, it's against dorm rule policies." Evelyn stepped up. Then, she realized how much of a nerd she sounded like, and stopped talking.
Josie scoffed and turned back. "So? Amanda's going to stay with what's his face tonight, and I doubt they're going to play bingo. I'm just asking so he can have a place to sleep." Josie paused for a moment in which silence took over and turned back to Tyler. "I'm offering you an actual bed to sleep in."
Tyler kept still for a moment studying the new girl before sighing and leaning back in his seat. "That's nice and all; but I never said I was retiring for the night. You should go in, I'm gonna head somewhere." He gave a reassuring smile.
--
Walking down the silent dark hallway, Josie and Evelyn were in no hurry to reach their dorm rooms. Josie kept the mark of a grin on her face, her thoughts remaining on the smile of a cute boy.