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A/N Okay, so my comp has not been a complete spaz lately which leads to.. pause for dramatic effect.. Another chapter.. Yay.. scattered clapping in the background.. Okay, I'll shut up and let you get to it..
Chemicals React.
Aaliyah sat on high stool downing her dozenth or so Vodka Cranberry at The Hilton's bar lounge, the only place she could think of going after Chris's little visit and Mona's. The bartender there had seen her the other day when she was 'collecting lost time' with Kati as she called it, Allie called it catching up and re-bonding and apologizing profusely for leaving without telling.
"Hmm.. And here I thought where you come from was different from New York," came a voice from behind as she sipped up the remnants of the fluid in her glass.
"Ugh.." she groaned as she saw the face of the voice, not that she needed one to go with the voice, she knew that voice like the back of her hand. She placed the glass down and ordering for another Vodka Cranberry, not like the bartender needed to be reminded, she had asked for him to keep the drinks coming when she first settled down onto the stool and he filled her up each time the ice in her glass grew lonely.
She clearly had not thought it through to well when she thought of drinking at the only bar that wouldn't check her, that if Kati was at the Hilton's so was the rest of the world who came from where she came from.
"Nice to know that Playa Linda's finest also serve minors," he said suavely sitting down on the empty stool next to her, ordering a drink as well.
"Well, seeing that you're also getting a drink, I guess they also serve pigs, Carter," she quipped to the dark brown haired male who settled next to her.
"Ah.. Love it when you talk dirty," the male named Carter replied with the same charming poise as he picked up his drink that had arrived.
"I thought you just loved when girls talked to you?" she asked but before he could reply however, she corrected herself "Oh wait, no, you love them more when they're not talking, I almost forgot,"
"Hmm.. I've missed you witty banter," he said taking a sip out of his glass.
"Didn't miss yours," she replied instantaneously "Do you have some sort of a system? You know when you scower bars for something that'll go to bed with you later at night? Cause, I'll need to avoid being in that zone,"
"Well, Liyah, I usually just look for the hottest prettiest girl in the room and sit next to her," he replied smoothly, "And lucky me, you fit both descriptions perfectly Liyah," he continued before setting his glass down, using the name he had taken to calling her, he was the only one who ever did. And perhaps it was because it sounded to perfectly normal rolling off his tongue or that the alcohol that had slipped into her system after the Vodka Cranberries, or maybe even the combination of both, she didn't seem to even notice he had called her that.
"Why'd you run away?" he questioned suddenly, voice serious and somewhat business like.
"Not going there with you Carter," she answered as suddenly as the question came, without looking at him, staring straight ahead, as though she didn't know the person sitting next to her at the bar.
"And where would you go with me?" he asked suggestively.
"Bite me," turning around to look at him, she snapped right back at him before taking another sip from her glass.
"Or better still, I'll get you a bite,"
Aaliyah removed her lips from the close to empty glass shaking her head, "Mmm mm.. No, I'm not going anywhere, least of all with you"
"Come on," he said standing up nodding his head toward the exit, "You've been drinking on an empty stomach,"
"You watching me, O' Connell?" she asked staring him down.
"I know you well enough to tell," he said airily stopping the bartender from taking Allie's glass again for a refill and dropped several large notes for him on the counter, a hefty sum enough for all of Allie's drinks that night and a large tip.
"I'm not going anywhere with you," she said stubbornly staying in her seat and picking up her glass with the remnants f her paid for drinks as the bartender collected his bills, watching the 2 guests apprehensively.
"Beat it," Carter snapped at him looking away from Allie for the first time and the bartender scurried away with Carter staring daggers into his back.
"That's the Carter we know, now isn't it? Smug.. Arrogant.. Rude," Allie said mockingly swirling the contents of the glass around with the swift movements of her wrist.
"Come on," was all he said as he turned back to look at her ignoring her scathing comment.
"I don't think so, Carter," she replied before turning her attention to the glass as she continued to swirl the clear reddish liquid.
"Either you let me get some food down your throat or you let me drive you home," he challenged, creating a win-win situation for himself.
"You must be a lot drunker than I am if you think I'm gonna let you drive me home," she shot back.
"And you must be a lot drunker than I thought if you think I'd let you drive home with nothing but alcohol sloshing around in your stomach," he quipped back not missing a beat, and Aaliyah looked up at him, the glass still in her hand, staring at him wordlessly, she couldn't lie even if she wanted too, but she wasn't going to back down, especially to him.
"Come on, let me buy you a waffle, a warm fat crunchy one with some maple syrup, some ice cream, you still love those, don't you?"
"Enough to know they're not on the dinner menu," she replied as he tempted her with food. The pang of hunger hit her stomach and made its way up to her head like a whirlwind.
"I'm well connected," he answered with his patented smirk and air of arrogance.
Allie drained the rest of her drink and got off the stool, a little unsteadily as the alcohol shot to her brain. He caught her arms in his only to have her push him away, to declare, "Only cause I'm hungry,"
Carter put his hands up in mock surrender and led her out of the bar.
"So come on, spill, you and this Bradin guy, I wanna know everything," Kati gushed. It had been a week since their untimely reunion and Aaliyah was putting in her lavish dress she allowed herself to splurge on in Kati's large suite.
"Kat, I've already told you everything," she laughed sitting down in front of the room's large dressing table and carried on to putting on the light make up she had planned.
Kati had offered for Aaliyah to take over her suite at the Hilton's to prepare for prom and due to the convenience and guilt, Allie reluctantly accepted.
Dressed in a navy blue blouse and a sweater over it with a black skirt that billowed just before her knee, Kati fussed over Aaliyah's long hair, one which cost her a hundred and fifty dollars for the hairdresser to pull her hair into low ponytail at the side of her head and leave some strands hang over her face in curls, but one which Kati insisted was the right thing to do.
"So.. You guys for real?" she probed deeper. That was one thing about Kati, she was always easy to warm up, even up to her best friend whom she hasn't spoken to or seen in the past year after running away without explaining. She may seem like a total ice-bitch, but the few people whom she trusted, she trusts completely, and Allie was one of the few. Even though Allie only came along a few years back, they became fast friends and Kati trusted her, relied on her even sometimes because she knew Allie was nothing like the other girls she hung around with.
"Pretty real, yeah, I guess," she said smiling.
"Well, I hear this Bradin guy is pretty.. Aggressive," Kati asked evasively yet to straight to the point and Allie chuckled. It felt so good to have back her girl best friend, Zac and Connor were great friends but there's nothing like girl company really, and JJ and Kirsten were pretty close to each other being best friends and all.
"Yea, I hear that too," Allie responded, "And he's been great, at everything we've done so far.."
"Everything..?" she probed deeper
"No, mom! We haven't done it, but feel free to ask any personal questions," Aaliyah replied jokingly as she stood up taking a step back to take a look at a full view.
"May I remind you that his is your very first real relationship?" Kati put forward and Allie looked down for a moment, under the pretenses of smoothing down the front of her dress, which was well, already crease free.
"People in relationships talk, Alls," Kati continued.
"We have talked and he wants to take things slow, says he doesn't want to screw things up," she replied looking up.
"Is it ever possible for guys to want to 'take things slow'?" Kati pondered aloud and Allie laughed. She missed the times with Kati, it had always been so comfortable and tensionless. They could just talk and talk and talk and laugh, it always felt so free and easy.
"Well, as long as you're not worried," she commented.
"I'm not, but I'm thinking he is, you know, his prior relationships have been all.. pretty chaotic," Allie explained as she sat back down in front of the mirror to do the rest of her make up. Kati got up from her bed and fiddled with Allie's hair a little bit.
"Oh, what happened between you and Carter the other day, you still haven't told me.." she whined all of a sudden, "Come on, what happened?"
"Well, he's still an ass, that's for starters," Aaliyah answered evasively and Kati chuckled.
"Nothing else happened?" she prodded, "You looked a little," she swung her head to the side and hung her mouth loose to give the whole stoning drunk look referring to her drunken state and this time Allie laughed.
"No, nothing else definitely happened," she answered chuckling as she brushed on a hint of blusher.
Allie bit into the crunchy thick piece of waffle and sighed, "These are so good," as Carter placed several notes into the front pocket of the chef.
"Well, if you're looking for a way to thank me.." he smirked and Allie rolled her eyes, jumping off the pantry.
"It's a waffle, Carter," she stated taking another bite of the toasted batter.
Walking out of the kitchen with Allie holding a waffle to her mouth in one hand and a strawberry smoothie in a plastic cup in another, Carter had to mind both their steps as she care little for anything else but the waffle. Twice, she nearly fell over the small steps around the place and thrice she tripped on her own feet while heading out front.
At that moment of course was when Kati had come down for a fix of her sweet tooth and spotted the two of them.
"There's no way you're driving home like this, I've a suite upstairs you can-" he began but she cut him off.
"I'm fine!" she insisted scrunching up the thick fabric of the napkin with her hands before wiping her mouth with it.
"You're not going anywhere like this,"
"You're wrong cause I am, I'm going home," she remained adamant to her resolve.
"Liyah," he said sternly taking hold of her arm.
"Carter!" she said back, mimicking his tone.
"No." she said firmly staring at him before shrugging off his arm and walked away as steadily as she could, hoping that his huge inflated ego would outweigh his concern for her to follow. And it seemed that it was, except it wasn't his pride that got in the way but weariness, so he let it pass and walked back up to the elevator headed for his suite.
Deciding that Carter was probably right about her not being sober enough to drive, she left her car at the Hilton's parking lot, it wasn't that far off from home, she figured she could walk home right now, and walk back tomorrow to get it. Besides, she definitely could use the walk to sober up before she entered the house, knowing that Ava and Johnny would still be up seeing that it was almost 1 and she still wasn't home yet.
It wasn't that long a walk so when she got home she still reeked of alcohol and was still a little tipsy, tripping over herself as she entered through the front door, but there was no one waiting up for her, something in which she was grateful for. Closing the door carefully, she turned around to see another figure coming at her stealthily.
"Ah!" the tiny figure cried softly as she realized who it was.
"Nikki?" she called.
"Allie, hey, what are you doing back so late?" she asked in an abnormally high pitch.
"What are you doing going out so late?" she asked back.
"I.. I.. uh.. left my homework at Amber's," she stuttered, lying badly.
"Nikki.." she warned.
"Okay, I'm sneaking out to meet Cameron, keep your voice down," she whispered.
"Nikki!" she repeated louder this time scoldingly.
"Allie please..," she pleaded softly.
"Why do you have a date so late?" she whispered playing along.
"I.. We just.." she started again but stopped sniffing around before gasping, "You're drunk!"
"I am not!" Allie defended herself.
"Well you smell like the floor of the brewery!" Nikki accused, changing the subject before adding in, "With a hint of second hand smoke!"
"Well you're sneaking out to lose it to Cameron!" Allie shot back and even in the dark she knew Nikki looked mortified at that moment.
"I.. Like you haven't done with Bradin yet," Nikki replied defensively when she got back the ability of speech.
"Actually honey.. I feel horrible to burst your bubble and all, but I haven't," Allie told the youngest female in the house.
"What?" she asked loudly, shocked.
"What, do you want to wake everyone or something?" Allie said quickly clamping her hand over Nikki's mouth. But Nikki ignored her, pulling Allie's hand away from her mouth so she could speak, "You haven't?"
"No." she said sternly.
"Why?" Nikki asked, perplexed.
"Not the point here," Allie replied, thinking that this was one conversation she should not be having with her boyfriend's younger sister, "The point here is that you are going to do it with your boyfriend, no, not even do it but lose it to your boyfriend,"
"Well I figure its better him than some stranger but I don't know that's just me," Nikki answered sarcastically.
"Don't try to be funny, not at.." she glanced at her watch, "1 am in the morning when you're sneaking out to rendezvous with your boyfriend,"
Nikki glanced away guiltily. Allie's eyes adjusted better to the dark now and she saw that Nikki had a hint of make up on and that she was wearing a skin tight red sweater with a zipper down the front coupled off with jeans.
"Nikki, I know I'm not your mother, and I also know that in my position right now," Allie said, referring to sneaking home in the middle of the night smelling like alcohol and smoke, "I'm in no place to lecture you on virtue or what's right, but maybe you wanna talk about this first, before you rush into anything?" she asked very soberly. Any excess alcohol had been shocked out of her system following the revelation.
"Allie, I know you mean well, but all the other girls my age have already done it anyway and I-" she started saying before stopping herself.
"That argument sounded a lot smarter in your head didn't it?" she asked.
"Yeah.. But that's not it,"
"Then what is? I mean, I'm not an idiot, I do realize that all this time you've been spending together it wasn't spent just holding hands, but sex is a pretty big step," she questioned wondering what the best course of action here would be. Advising her against it? Advising her for it?
"I love Cameron," she started, very seriously, "And I know he loves me, and when I'm with him, it seems right,"
"I know the feeling Nik, but the thing is, you only get that one shot, and you may think that you have it all pegged out right now, but at fifteen nobody has it pegged out,"
"How old were you?" she asked.
"Fifteen," she stated and Nikki gave her a look.
"Contradictive, I know, but the point is, it's your choice, and think about it, are you absolutely one hundred percent sure that you're mature enough to handle it?"
"Was that what you asked yourself?"
"No, I was kinda drunk," Allie replied and Nikki laughed.
"I'm serious,"
"Oh.."
"Well, not the absolutely intoxicated and can't tell her fingers from her toes drunk but you know, not entirely sober either.." she started but she caught herself, "But the point is, you're a smart girl Nikki, you know all the arguments, I just wanna make sure, are you sure this is the right thing to do? Sneaking out in the middle of the night and spending it doing it with your boyfriend for the first time.. where?"
"The Spanish Cove," Nikki answered.
"Spending it in the.. What is it with that place?" Allie asked no one in particular in mid sentence remembering one conversation she had with Bradin as Nikki gave her another look.
"But uhm.. It's just, think about it Nikki,"
"Allie, you're right, I am a smart girl, I do know all the arguments, and I did think about this, did you think I'd jump into something like this without thinking about it first?"
"Well.. I.."
"Didn't?" Nikki offered.
"No, not exactly,"
"Well I'm not you Allie,"
"Ouch I take offense in that," she replied sardonically and Nikki chuckled.
"You know what I mean,"
"I do and I'm just offering you my thoughts, and if you feel strongly about it, as you clearly do, I'm not gonna stop you,"
"Thanks," the young girl replied with a smile and headed the door.
"Just.. He's not.. making you do this.. right?" Allie knew who Cameron was, she was in a big sister program for the children with broken families at the summer camp few years back, sort of almost like a peer assistance programme and he was her charge, but people do change she figured.
"No! God no, we decided to do this, together.." she assured Allie.
"Well, okay.. Be safe, alright?" she offered.
"We will,"
"And don't worry bout getting back, I'll tell Ava you left early for the.. library.. with Cameron,"
"You rock, Allie,"
"Just don't.. get used to this,"
"I won't,"
"And 6 words of advice?"
"Hmm?" Nikki asked turning around as she already had her hand on the door knob.
"Don't ever let Bradin find out," she said and Nikki laughed.
"I'm serious.. Your brother.. He'd maul Cameron,"
"Words of advice taken deeply to heart, and if you don't mind, I'm kinda already late," Nikki said before rushing out the door slamming it shut quietly.
Making her way to her room, as stealthy as a mouse, she showered, changed and dropped onto the bed, absolutely tired out. The moment her head hit the pillow, she'd sunken into deep sleep.
A soft thudding brought her back and she gazed into the mirror meeting Kati's eyes as she grinned.
"Your date's here," she chimed and Allie stole a glance at the mirror to check her reflection before headed toward the door.
"Hey," the boy or, more like man, at the door greeted her. Bradin looked stunned for a moment, chuckling nervously as his eyes swept over her. Allie had on a strapless dress; it was a princess cut that came up to just below her knees, flaring out not too much. It was brown sateen on the inside and black organza draped over it and she donned it with a pair of black strappy heels. Her hair twisted into a low pony tail on one side of her hair letting loose curls frame her face at the sides which was kept fresh with a hint of make up; blusher, eye liner, grey smoky eyes and lip gloss.
Bradin on the other hand had his blonde hair swept to one side as he did for the spring dance and he coupled an all black tux complete with a dark brown shirt underneath and a matching tie, which gave him just the hint of formalness but not overdoing it. He looked smart even with his right hand was hidden mysteriously behind him and Allie wondered what it was, they'd agreed no corsage, it was way antiquated.
"Hey," Aaliyah replied with a smile and found that it was not a corsage he was hiding but a single red rose as he held it out in front of her.
"Why, thank you kind sir," she said trying to act all posh and elegant taking the rose, not knowing that even when she didn't try she would have looked every bit of graceful and stylish anyway.
"Shall we then, madam?" Bradin asked mimicking her tone and choice of words offering his arm, and Allie took it laughing and left Kati's suite, trotting along the grand ballroom for Playa Linda's Senior Prom.
A/N hello you favorite people of mine, again, okay, so yes, long long loooooooong one this time around, and if you're thinkng, what does this chapter have to spiffing do with the story?! You'd be right, the whole Nikki thing was just a filler..
Anyway, I know the 'dirty little secret' is not really given much elaboration at this point and I know you guys are dying to know by now, but repeat after me okay, 'ooooooooooooohmmm….' yes, that's it, and again, 'ooooooooooooohmmm….'… Feels much better init? Good..
Now, now, don't worry, the secret will all unravel soon!
You know the drill, Review please, thanks you! Till the next chaps, I'm out!
xOxO mAnomaly.