A/N Hey guys! Thank you for reading the story. I know it is still a little slow, but the next chapter picks it up a little bit. Reviews are always welcome, good and bad. =] -ab.
"No." Eric stated, watching the road as he drove Julia's car swiftly through the Arizona streets.
"Oh come on. You know NSYNC is essential to any and everybody's music collection." I replied, drumming my fingers on the dashboard along with "Bye Bye Bye."
"Only lame people listen to NSYNC," he shot back.
"Kennedy Brock is lame? I know for a fact he likes them!" I smiled back. He knew I had a point.
"Okay… One. You don't even know Kennedy Brock. Two. Stop stalking all of my friends on Youtube," he laughed and I smiled back. Alright, he had me.
"What? I'm not like… a creeper or anything, I just like The Maine," I shrugged, looking out of the window.
"If you say so," he said, reaching for my iPod. His hand brushed mine, and my skin tingled. I blushed. Thank god it was dark outside. He hit the next button and "I Would Walk 500 Miles" by The Proclaimers blasted through the speakers.
"Fuck yes!" he screamed. We jammed out, because no matter what anybody says, this song is epic. I rolled down the window as we were passing a few kids riding their bikes down the sidewalk.
"Ay Bay Bay!" I screamed at them. Halvo laughed at my stupidity. I left the window down, enjoying the way the wind felt blowing against my face. My hair was going everywhere, but I didn't care. I was singing along with the song, with the boy I liked, driving around my home town. We passed a field of cows and I screamed random noises out of my window. A few cows looked at me, and I laughed. I love yelling out of the window, it made me feel free in a way that I can't really explain. Some kids were coming up on the right. Oh boy!
"AY BAY BAY!" I yelled at them, giggling. I looked over at Halvo, and he smiled, but I saw what he was doing. He rolled the window up and locked it, sticking his tongue out at me in the process.
"Uncalled for, buddy." I clucked my tongue at him. "Uncalled for." I crossed my arms and leaned back in my seat, faking disappointment. The liquor store came into view just as the song ended. Eric parked and unbuckled his seatbelt reaching for the door handle when "This Providence" suddenly filled the car. I smiled. I loved this song.
"I love this song" Halvo said with a smile. He sat back and rested his head against the headrest. The song was called, "My Beautiful Rescue," and it was one of my favorites. He looked over at me, and god knows, I was already looking at him.
"You're adorable, you know that?" he asked. I smiled. The next thing I knew, I felt Eric James Halvorsen's lips on mine, and I closed my eyes. All I could think to do was count. 1 Mississippi. 2 Mississippi. 3 Mississippi…… 10 Mississippi. He slowly pulled away and I opened my eyes, to find him searching my face. I probably looked like an idiot, because I think I was smiling the biggest smile I have ever smiled in my life. He chuckled and nodded towards the liquor store.
"We shouldn't keep everyone waiting," he stated, opening the car door. I did the same and got out of the car. I walked over to his side of the car and boldly grabbed his hand and laced our fingers. He led us into "Tooties Package Store" and grabbed a hand basket.
"Do we really need that?" I asked, looking down at the hand basket. "How much are we getting?"
"Have you ever partied with bands?" he asked. I couldn't say that I had.
"Uh, no." I replied, looking at all of the weird liquor bottles.
"What to get?" he asked, more to himself than to me.
"Just grab stuff. I'm sure people will drink whatever. I only have one request."
"What's that?" he asked, grabbing random bottles of stuff.
"I need Jager," I said, walking further down the aisle, grabbing the green bottle off of the shelf.
"Jager? Girls drink Jager? I thought girls drank like, Smirnoff and wine coolers," he stated.
"Were you there for our conversation earlier when I said that I could outdrink you? I am a man." I placed the bottle in the basket, and flexed my arms for emphasis.
"Look at those epic guns!" he laughed, gently squeezing one of my non-existent muscles.
"Careful buddy, don't hurt your hand," I joked, backing away slowly.
"Promise me something before I buy you Jager," he said, pushing all of the joking aside. "Promise me that you won't get wasted and pass out tonight." I rolled my eyes.
"I promise." I sighed. "So… how are we paying for all of this?" I asked as I looked into the full basket, trying to change the subject.
"There's a strip club next door. It's probably amateur night. I'm sure there are spots open." he said, in a serious tone.
"Uhhh," was all I could manage to say. He chuckled. We placed the basket on the counter as the clerk started ringing up our purchases. I seized the opportunity to send a quick text to Julia, telling her my news. I finished and looked up Eric. "Seriously though, how?"
"Tonight's fun is brought to you by the generous people at FueledbyRamen," he announced, pulling out a credit card from his wallet, along with his ID and handed them to man behind the counter. Three. Hundred. Dollars. $300 in alcohol. This was going to be one epic party.
We arrived back at the apartment a few minutes later. Eric busted through the door carrying the bags of alcohol and cheers erupted from the guys. For the moment, he was their hero. They went straight into the kitchen and started mixing drinks. I grabbed two red solo cups from the stack and a sharpie. I wrote "Peyton" on one and "Cocksucker" on the other. I handed the "Cocksucker" cup to Halvo, and he read it.
"Perfect!" he yelled, startling Andrew, who was mixing a drink directly behind him. I opened the bottle of Jager and poured some in my cup. I went to the refrigerator and grabbed a Red Bull, pouring it into my cup, getting the proportions perfect.
"Do you need a shotglass to measure?" Halvo asked, watching me.
"Nope. Practice makes perfect, buddy." I replied. He shook his head and went back to pouring his drink.
"Do you want me to make you a drink Julia?!" I yelled from the kitchen, hoping my voice carried all the way into the living. Of course it did. I am fucking loud.
"Yes!" she yelled back. I grabbed another cup and wrote "Jooliahh Gooliahh" on it. I mixed her the same drink that I was drinking and carried it into the living room, handing it to her. I fell back onto the couch and looked at her. She was smiling.
"Okay, before I spill my dirt, you tell me why you and Cameron were holding hands," I full on demanded.
"Well, as soon as you left, he was like, 'Hey, I'm in love with you.'" she said.
"…That's all he said?"
"He reminded me of when we dated in the 7th grade, then said he wishes we never broken up, and that he's been in love with me for a long time." Awwww!
"Oh wow..then what?"
"Well, I headed back here because I was kind of like, 'Oh shit. What the fuck just happened?' But eventually Cameron came here to check on me, and I told him I loved him. So now we're dating." I smiled at her. It felt good to say that. "Now…Halvo kissed you? " I couldn't hold back a grin.
"Yeah… What happened was he was driving, and every time we'd pass a person or an animal, I'd roll down my window and yell 'AY BAY BAY'. He eventually locked my window, and I was all fake-sad. But when we got to the alcohol store, he looked at me and said something like, 'You're adorable, you know that?', and of course I kinda jizzed, but I just looked at him and smiled. And he leaned forward and just kissed me. And it was like, 10 seconds. I counted."
"After all these years…we both finally got what we wanted, eh?"
"Well, sort of. You got your man. I don't fully have mine yet," I said, looking into the kitchen. "I think I'm going to go watch them, if that's alright with you."
"Yeah, sure," she answered. I got up and walked into the kitchen and wrapped my arm around Halvo's lower back. "Who's winning?" I asked.
"Me!" Nick said, throwing his hands in the air.
"Does anyone really lose in this game?" I asked. "I mean, you get drunk. I'd call that a win either way," I stated, walking to the counter to make another drink. I could feel Halvo's eyes watching me. I didn't have to turn around, I already knew. Worrying was only cute to an extent. Nick agreed with my "everybody wins" comment, but was soon jumping around the kitchen screaming, "SUCK MY DICK HALVO!" He made the suck it motion with his hands, and ran out of the kitchen. I guess he won.
"Wanna play?" I asked, walking back to the table. He scratched the back of his head, thinking about it for a moment.
"I guess so," he half-smiled.
"Great. Don't sound so excited." I went and grabbed all new cups for me, and started pouring Jager and Red Bull into them.
"What are you doing? It's called BEER Pong," he said, putting emphasis on the word "beer."
"Have you ever tasted beer? The shit's straight up NASTY," I responded, finishing pouring my drinks.
"If you say so," he smiled. "I'll go first," he stated, throwing the ball. It missed my cups by a good foot and half.
"Fegget!"
"Shut up and throw, Pey" he said, rolling his eyes. I rang the first cup, and he downed the beer. He threw the ball and missed again.
"Fail." I rang another of his cups, and he downed that cup too. He threw the ball and missed for the third time in a row.
"Are you throwing the game so I don't drink a lot?" I asked, catching on.
"No." he lied.
"Strip beer pong." I said.
"W-what?" his eyes grew five times in size.
"You make it, I lose clothes," I said, talking slowly so he could feel stupid.
"No. There's 6 other guys here…" he sighed, shaking his head.
"So? At the rate you're going, I will still be fully clothed by the end of this game." I said, throwing the ball and making another cup.
"Shirt. Off." I demanded. I didn't think he would do it, but he did. Justin walked in and whistled at Halvo. Halvo picked up the ball and rang one of my cups. I downed it and waited to hear which article of clothing I would be losing.
"Take off… your shoes," he mumbled.
"Boring," I fake-yawned, but did as I was told, sliding off my purple vans. I rang another cup, and he fake pouted.
"Is this another 'practice makes perfect' activity?" he asked.
"More or less. Pants off." He did as he was told. "Oh boy Halvo! You really don't have a single hair on your body," I laughed. He threw the ball and it landed in one of my cups.
"Alright, since you are being an ass, lose the shirt." I did. He only had one cup left. "Here I will spare you the trouble," he laughed, grabbing the cup and throwing it back. "Do I have to take off my undies?" his voice squeaked a little.
"Nah. I wouldn't subject all of these innocent eyes to that. As a matter of fact, put all of your clothes back on" I joked. To my dismay, he did. I grabbed a few of my "beer" pong cups and combined them into two cups. I passed one of the cups to Nick, who was walking past the kitchen.
"Thanks" he mumbled, looking me up and down.
"Get out of here, pervert!" Eric yelled. I blushed and threw my shirt back on. I downed my drink and layed down on the table. Eric joined me.
"I'm buzzed." Obviously.
"Me too." He replied, grabbing my hand. "Ouch" he reached under his back with his other hand and pulled out the sharpie he was laying on. He let go of my hand for a moment, uncapped the sharpie, and grabbed my hand again.
"Tattoo time! What do you want?" he slurred.
"I want… I want a walrus. Eating ice cream," I said, looking over at him.
"A walrus eating ice cream. Hmmm…" he said, concentrating on drawing the tattoo on my wrist. It tickled a little, and I giggled. I closed my eyes. I was asleep before he was even done.
