Chapter 11
When I'm nervous, I cough. It's something I discovered from a very young age, when I had my first ballet recital and I coughed throughout almost the whole performance. It's pretty embarrassing.
Right now, for example, it probably sounds like I'm dying of tuberculosis. I coughed three times as my eyes drifted over his basically-naked figure. He was built like a movie star; his body was chiseled and sharp. My gaze abruptly stopped at his too-perfect-to-be-true abs, as I found myself unable to stop staring at them. Zach snapped his finger at me couple of times, breaking my trance. "Hey. Eyes up here." He teased mercilessly.
"Zach," cough "Put some" cough cough "clothes on." I demanded, trying to shield my eyes, my innocence, and my flaming red blush.
"Why? Do I make you nervous?" He asked, taking another step closer to me.
"I- Yes! I mean no! I mean… get dressed!" I said desperately, backing up until he had me trapped between a locker and his body. He laughed.
"You know, you're pretty cute like this…" He said as his hand drifted lightly over my crimson cheek while I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to pretend it wasn't happening. "All flustered and fidgety. I could get used to it."
I could feel him take a step back but I kept my eyes tightly shut. "I'm leaving. You can open your eyes now." He said, amusement evident. By the time I blinked my eyes open again, he was gone.
Immediately, I searched for the nearest exit. I have had enough of naked boys for one day. Scratch that, I have had enough of naked boys for a good decade, at least. Maybe I'll just have to rethink this whole "becoming a nun" thing.
I snuck out the way through which I came, moving around the corner so quickly I collided full-on with another person. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed, helping the unknown person up.
Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be Nick. "S'okay. No blood no foul, right?" He said, brushing himself off and quirking a half-smile at me. "Any particular reason you were running out of the locker room, though?"
"No… I mean…" I coughed. No surprises there.
He shrugged, unconcerned. "Well anyway, I was sent down here to ask you if you needed a ride to the after party. Your friend already left." He explained.
I thought about it for a minute. Liz is gone and she and Bex were my ride. I could still catch a ride with Bex, but I'm assuming that she'll be hell-bent on not leaving Grant's side all night… I have no desire to get in a car with those two.
"That would be great, actually." I said, smiling. We walked together towards the parking lot. We drove about ten or fifteen minutes in his fairly modest old truck. It was a bit of an anomaly- a city kid with piercings who only wears black owns a flat bed pickup truck straight from a Louisiana farm. That's irony right there.
Nick stopped in front of an obnoxiously large white house… and by house I mean mansion. And by mansion, I mean modern-day Georgia plantation. And here I was thinking I was well off. "Who the hell lives here?" I asked bluntly as he pulled up the driveway that was near a half a mile long.
Nick smirked. "I live here, along with Zach. Welcome to the Goode household." He said with blatant sarcasm, spreading his arms around in a self-deprecating manner. Dozens of my classmates already milled about the front lawn holding tell-tale red cups. Light spilled from outside the house past the unoriginal white pillars- hardly the newest statement in Southern architecture. The bass beat from the music pumped loudly from what had to be thousands of dollars worth of speakers, making the entire ground vibrate. To be frank, it made my party look about as exciting as a funeral.
"Oh. My god." I stated, disbelieving. "How… How! This is crazy." I said, shaking my head.
"Yeah," Nick agreed shaking his head and mussing up his hair with one hand sheepishly. "Zach takes these parties really seriously. As the quarterback, he feels obligated to throw every post game party. In his opinion, if it isn't a party that people talk about for the rest of their lives, then it's an off-day for him." Nick explained with a brief roll of his eyes.
"Don't his parents care?" I know my mom would have a coronary if she ever found out I was even attending a party like this, much less throwing one.
Nick raised an eyebrow, as if he were wondering how I didn't already know this. "His parents are in Boston with my parents, being big-shot lawyers like they always wanted."
"Oh." I said softly. I had never realized… I mean, I had always complained how my mom was always on business trips, leaving me alone for the weekend. I had never known that Zach had it much worse.
"Where is Zach?" I asked, trying to sound casual as we approached the house, passing several couples in the bushes along the way. Classy.
Nick shrugged. "From what I've been told he doesn't usually show up until the place is in full swing."
I rolled my eyes. What a typical Zach power-move. Oh, I'm too cool to even show up to my own party.
"You want a drink?" Nick yelled over the music. I'm honestly not a party person. I could practically feel the rhythmic beat of the bass giving me a massive headache already.
"Yeah! Where is the kitchen?" I asked him.
"C'mere." He said, grabbing my hand and leading me through the pulsing crowd. He pushed through a pair of swinging double doors and pulled me in. The noise was slightly muffled in here. "What would you like?" He asked, opening the fridge and rattling off my options. "We have beer, soda, water- whatever you want basically. Name it we've got it."
"I don't drink. Some water would be nice though."
He tossed me a cold water bottle as he grabbed a soda out for himself. My phone rang and I set my drink down on the granite countertop so I could answer it. "Hello?" I said, pressing it into my ear so I could hear over the dulled, yet still powerful surround-sound music.
"Cammie Morgan! You have not called me in twenty four whole hours. This is unacceptable!" Macey yelled into my ear so loudly I had to pull it away from my ear. Nick (who was standing a foot or two away, mind you) heard it as well and he bit back a laugh.
I cautiously returned the phone to my ear. "Err, sorry Macey I've been really busy…" I said pathetically as I tried to rack my brains for an excuse. I couldn't exactly lament about Zach right in front of Nick.
"Busy with wh- Oh wait oh wait it's not that boy is it? Speak, woman." She said.
I glanced cautiously at Nick out of the corner of my eye. I knew he couldn't hear my conversation now that she had lowered her voice considerably, but he could sense my trepidation. "Uhm, can't really talk about that right now Mace." Nick smirked. The family resemblance between him and Zach had never been stronger than at this moment.
This angered her. "What do you mean you can't-" She paused and suddenly her voice was laced with excitement. "Oh my god is he in the room right now? Are you two being safe?"
"Macey!" I exclaimed, blushing a bright red and making Nick crack up. He couldn't even hear my conversation, but I guess my facial expressions were just that good. "NO!"
I could tell she was going to respond with something witty, but all of a sudden, the music stopped in the other room. "Hold that thought." I said into the phone. "What's going on out there?" I whispered to Nick.
"I don't know, want me to go check it out?" He offered.
I waved him off. "No, I will." I put the phone back to my ear. "Macey, I've got to-"
"Don't you dare hang up this phone Cameron!" I groaned, knowing she would never forgive me.
"Uhhhh, Nick! Talk to Macey." I said, tossing him the phone and trying not to laugh as he stared at me helplessly before putting it to his ear hesitantly.
I left him to go push the door open slightly. He would be fine… probably. My view was obstructed by the crowd of people, but I noticed that they were all facing the stage, so I realized that there had to be something going on up there. Maybe someone was fixing the stereo? That notion was disregarded when I heard what sounded like someone tapping into a microphone.
"Hey people, attention? Yo! Listen up!" A voice finally yelled, getting general silence from the crowd. "Thank you." I was startled to recognize that the voice was Zach's. Ah, he was probably just welcoming everyone to the party. Yeah, that was it.
"As I was saying, welcome and all that crap. But really what I came up here to do was this:" Everyone was pretty much sitting on the edge of their seat…. although they were standing so crappy metaphor right there. But you get what I mean.
He cleared his throat. "Cammie Morgan? Cammie?"
Before I could slip back into the kitchen unnoticed a gigantic spotlight shined in my face, blurring my vision for a second. When my eyes adjusted to the light I saw that the crowd had done their best impression of the Red Sea and parted for me, leaving nothing but an empty gap between me and a smirking Zach Goode on stage.
I gulped.
A/N: Ta-daaa. Jazz hands. Remember how I said last chapter was the worst cliff hanger… well I don't know this one might be worse… maybe? You tell me. But I told you stuff was going down and I mean it man. And not to worry, not to worry Nick and Cammie will not be getting together. Although certain people may misconstrue the situation and be lead to believe that. Just sayin. Love you guys, please review!
