It was suprising how quickly the house filled up. In what seemed like no time at all, the house was packed with college students and morganville natives. The lights flashing, the music blaring and people were dancing everywhere. As Claire walked into the living room, she looked her right to see a game of strip poker taking place. Some of the girls were in their bra and pants, while the guys seemed to be fully dressed still. Obviously there was some cheating going on there. In the other corner there was... Claire didn't actually know what the hell that was but there was no way she was going anywhere near that corner of the room. In the middle of the room, but the table, there seemed to be drinking games happening. Eve was there, with two girls that Claire thought she recognised from the university coffee bar. Michael was a few feet away, talking to the DJ. He kept glancing over at Eve to see if she was alright. That was sweet, Claire thought. Shane was over by the beer barrels, laughing with two guys Claire didn't recognise.
She was about to go and talk to him when a guy stepped in front of her. He was a university student, she thought, as he looked familiar, but she didn't know where she knew him from. "This is an awesome party. Thanks for inviting me. I hope you don't mind but I made copies and passed the flyer around.I didn't think you'd mind."
"No that's fine. Er thanks for that."
"So, how have you been, Claire?" He asked, a smile on his lips.
"Er, yeah i've been good thanks. You?" Claire asked wondering how he knew her name. She never talked to him. Well, at least she thought she'd never talked to him. She couldn't place where she knew him from.
"Oh you know, same old, same old. Much better now i'm here with you thought. You look real hot tonight, you know." Claire hadn't really been listening to him, but that snapped her attention back to him. Fast.
"Erm... would you excuse me. I just need to go and see someone." She was about to head straight for Shane, but then he grabbed her and pulled her down the hall and into the parlour at the front of the house. No-one was in here. They were all alone. The noise of the party flooded through the door, but was muffled when he shut the door... and locked it. He turned to face her and stepped towards her. Claire cringed. This was nothing like when Shane comes into her room. This is the flip side to men. She became all too aware a second later that Shane, Michael and Eve were all in the living room and didn't even know she was here. If she couldn't get out, they would be able to hear her. Michael might have been able to, but that was unlikely over the noise of the music, blasting through the house.
"Now, don't be like that Claire. I thought we should spend some time together, you know. Get to know one another." Claire took another step back, as he took another one forward. He stepped forward again and she stepped back again and fell on the sofa. She sat back up quickly to see him walk forward again. He was only a few steps away now. "Ok, let's start this again, shall we? I'm Matt. And your Claire. But, you see I already knew that." He held out his hand for her to shake, but she just looked at it. "Oh come on Claire, I don't bite." He laughed to himself. It was a harsh, predatory laugh and it set Claire's nerves on edge.
"What do you want from me?" Claire couldn't think of anything else to say. Was he a vampire? No. He had a bracelet on showing his protectors symbol on it. It wasn't one Claire recognised.
"You personally, I don't want anything from. Well maybe one thing..." In a move to quick for Claire to clearly see, he was sat down the on the couch next to her. She scooted as far over as she could, which wasn't very far. "To fully answer your question, yes I do want something. But not from you. Your just...well, a favour, I suppose. A favour to a friend of mine." And then Claire could place him. He was from Monica's group. Probably one of her little minions.
"It's Monica right? Your friend? Well let me tell you, she's got it wrong. Whatever she said to you, it's a load of bull." As she finished talking, she saw him shake his head.
"You don't even know what she said about you."
"I can guess." Claire said and cringed when he moved closer. He was way to close for comfort now.
"She said that you're easy and that if I did this, she'd... Well you don't need to know the extent of what she'd do. It private." I shivered as he moved a piece of hair back from my face. "Cold?" He asked, a smile spreading across his lips.
"No." Claire said firmly. She swatted his hand away. He was so creepy and he kept trying to touch her. It brought back memories of when she was drugged at her first house party, when she and Eve had gone to find Sam, Michael's grandfather. She trusted a guy there as well and he'd turned out to be one of Monica's friends as well. Claire was brought out of her reverie, when he placed his hand on her bare knee. "Hey! Keep your hands off of me-" Claire's sentence was cut short by him planting kiss on her lips and his hands were grabbing her hips, her arms, her bum. Claire managed to get her hands to his chest and she shoved him off. She darted off the couch and to the door, but he got there first and stepped in her path, blocking the door.
"Where do you think your going, sweetheart." He stepped towards her and reached out his hands. Claire knew she had to down something now. So she kicked him where it hurts most. He yelped and collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain. Claire unlocked the door, pulled it open and stumbled into the hallway.
"Well, I wonder what you were doing in there." Claire knew that voice. It was Monica Morrell. She walked out of the shadows, followed by her ever-present groupies, Gina and Jennifer. She smiled at Claire, bittersweet and poisionous. "Does Shane know about what you get up to at these parties?" She smirked at Claire's face. "I'll take that as a 'no' then. If I remember correctly, didn't this happen before, at another party you went to. Isn't that about right, girls?"
"Yep." Gina said. Jennifer just nodded.
"Is this going to become a habit of yours Claire?" Monica laughed evilly.
"You set him up to it, didn't you?" Claire asked. She already knew the answer anyway.
"Me? Well I am offended. What makes you think I would do this?" Monica tried to look sweet and innocent, but Claire wasn't fooled.
"Because it's exactly the sort of thing you would do. And you didn't it before. Why wouldn't you do it again?" Claire glared at Monica, which made her smile wider.
"Oh Claire, you really are clever aren't you? But the problem is, I know you'd try and get me into trouble for this but, you see, you can't. For one thing, no-one would believe, excpet for your 'friends', but their not exactly the brightest sparks are they. And I'm the mayors daughter, not to mention my brother's a cop, so who are they more likely to believe. Me or you?" She laughed at the end and then smiled at me. "Thanks for the invite to your party, Claire. It was fun. See you around." She walked towards the front door and opened it. Gina and Jennifer walked through it, but stopped on the porch. "Oh and one more thing." Monica turned back to me. "You'd better watch your back." She grinned evilly and walked out, and the three of them laughed and got into Monica's red convertable. There was the sound of rubber squealing on concrete and then in seconds in was gone and the night was quiet again. Claire shivered and closed the door. She stood there for a few seconds more, and then walked back down the corridor, back towards the party.
As she entered the living room, she realised that nobody had even noticed her disappearance. Everyone was just as they were before. Claire let out a shakey breath and walked towards the drinks table. She got a bottle of water, cracked the seal, and took a swig. She hadn't realised how thirsty she was until the water hit her tongue, and then she couldn't swallow it fast enough. She drank three-quarters of the bottle before re-sealing the lid. She hadn't noticed, but her hands were shaking. She put the bottle on the table and wrapped her arms around herself. Why was it suddenly so cold in here?
"Hey." She felt someone's hand on her arm and flinched. It was Shane. He looked a little confused and hurt. "Is everything ok?"
"Sorry. I'm just a little bit shaky."
"Is something wrong?" He tilted her chin up to get a better look at her face.
She smiled at him and kissed him on the lips. At first he didn't respond, and then he did. He wrapped his arms around her, securing her in warmth. The kiss deepened and a lick of her tongue turned it into something hot and wild. His hands ran down the side of her ribcage and to her hips. They kept moving down, and then he grabbed her bum. She gasped into his open mouth and she felt him smile in response. She snaked her arms around his neck and buried her fingers in his hair. All of a sudden, she felt a wall behind her. Shane was pressing his body against hers and he was so big and warm and... The kiss stopped and they pulled apart, gasping for air.
"What was that for?" Claire asked, still panting. Her lips felt damp, deliciously damp.
"Why not? Oh and it's a little taster of what's to come later." He smiled at her and gave her another deliciously wet kiss. "So are you feeling better now?"
Claire had forgotten all about what happened earlier. But now it didn't feel as bad, not now she was here with Shane and he was looking at her with a hunger in his eyes. "Everythings fine now." She said and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Now that you're here."
The rest of the night was amazing. Claire spend most of it dancing with Shane. Everytime their eyes met, she blushed and looked away. He smiled at he and this sent another wave of heat through her body. God, he was perfect. By the time everyone had left and they had attempted to clean up, Claire was exhausted, as were all of them.
"I think that's the last of the cups." Shane said, dumping a bin bag full of plastic red cups next to the table and collapsing on the couch. "I'm knackered."
"You've only had to dump cups in a bag, how can you be knackered? Some people have been cleaning up god-knows what off of the floor and funiture." Eve said. She shivered at the memory. No way was she letting horny college students into the house again.
"At least it wasn't in our rooms." Claire said. " That would have been worse."
"True." Eve said and sighed. "Right. I'm going to bed. We'll clear the rest of this up in the morning. Night." She started to walk up the stairs, but stopped and looked at Michael. The look only lasted for a second, but it was enough. They all knew what it meant.
"God, guys. Put a hat on the door or something less obvious than that." Shane said and shook his head.
"Shut up, man." Michael said, but he smiled and followed Eve up the stairs. "Night." He called over his shoulder.
"Night." Claire and Shane both answered at the same time. Shane caught Claire's eye and smiled at her.
"It late." He said. "You should go to bed."
"So should you." Claire replied and smiled at the look on Shane's face.
"We both should go to be but..." he said, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
"But..." Claire probed.
"But... neither of us really want to, do we?" Claire shook her head and looked him straight in the eye. She then got up and walked up the stairs. She threw a glance over her shoulder, clearly telling Shane what she wanted. He got the message and followed her upstairs. Claire walked to her bedroom door, opened it and then turned to face Shane.
"We should both totally go to bed." She said and looked up at him, the faint hint of a blush burning in her cheeks.
"Yeah we should." Shane agreed. They both looked at each other and then grinned at one another. Shane wrapped his arms around her waist and edged them both into her room. He pushed the door shut behind him. Claire lent up against him and locked it. He grinned at her and whispered in her ear, "Yeah we definately should." Suddenly, he picked Claire up around the waist and moved her over to the bed. Claire giggled and then spent the rest of the night in utter heaven.