Chapter 28: Paranoia
"Stop walking so close to me."
I distanced myself from Jason, crossing my arms over my chest, as I continued down the sidewalk.
"Wow," Jason laughed almost disbelievingly at me. He looked over at me with a wide amused grin on his face.
"What?" I demanded as I shot him a look.
He looked at me silently for a few seconds, observing my blank facial expression, before letting out a chuckle as he shook his head. He looked away from me as we continued down the sidewalk towards one of Cory's infamous summer parties.
I looked ahead, realizing the sun was going to set in about an hour or two. I briefly talked to Pateel on the phone earlier and found out that she was going to party also—with Adam!
Honestly, once I track down Pateel at the party I'm going to bombard her with questions about Adam.
Does Pateel actually like Adam? Are they together? And if they are—
I sharply turned my head to the right, realizing that Jason closed the distance I put between us. He walked right beside me; his arm by his side. Just as I was about to demand why he was smirking—from what I could see from his profile—his hand grabbed a hold of my hand.
"Hey!" I scolded as I took my hand out of his.
He looked down at me, laughter in his brown eyes, though he kept an innocent facial expression.
"What?" he had the decency to ask.
I tilted my head up towards him and narrowed my eyes at him.
"I honestly don't know what your deal is," he stated, looking at me with a slight carelessness in his eyes.
"I just don't want people to get the idea that we're together," I stated truthfully.
"It's not like people are around to see us," he argued as he spread out his arms, emphasizing the empty sidewalk and street.
"But somebody could come driving by and see us."
"Fine, I won't hold your hand," Jason amended as he gave me a 'are you happy now?' look.
"Good."
We continued down the sidewalk in a comfortable silence until I started to get the feeling that people were staring down my back. I looked around and realized that Jason was right—we were alone as we walked towards Cory's house. Nobody was here to see us.
But…
"Can you not walk so close me?" I asked as I looked up at Jason.
He stared down at me blankly. Then he rolled his eyes.
"What?"
"You are paranoid," he stated matter-of-factly as he kept the same close distance between us.
"I'm just being cautious. Since we have to like—lay low on us being together and everything."
Jason sighed as he briefly closed his eyes.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," I quickly apologized, realizing I was annoying him. "It's just—okay…maybe I am a bit paranoid."
He opened his eyes and looked down at me.
"Don't apologize," he said gently. "But I get it. And don't worry when we're at the party or whatever. Nobody is going to suspect we're together. We'll just be normal around each other, as usual."
He stopped walking, forcing me to stop with him. He turned his head around, checking something.
"Okay, so Cory's house is right around the corner," Jason stated.
I listened and finally heard the music and the sound of a party going on around the corner of the street.
"Okay," I drawled, not understanding his point.
"So stop acting paranoid," Jason ordered. I glared at him, receiving an innocent smile from him.
"Don't worry," he emphasized again.
"Alright, alright," I said quickly, getting annoyed the more he said that. I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Hey," he said gently, stepping closer to me until there were only a few inches distanced between us. "I didn't mean to get you mad. I was just saying."
I looked up at him through my lashes and smiled genuinely.
"I know," I sighed.
"Good," he grinned like a little boy. He quickly bent down, pecking me on the lips softly before straightening up. "Let's go."
"Tell. Me. Everything!"
"No, you tell me everything!" Pateel corrected as she looked at me expectantly.
I gave her an unbelievable look. Was she crazy?
"No," I corrected. "You first."
Pateel huffed as she looked around our surroundings which was basically…just the table with the beer keg. The music was blaring throughout the whole house, making it somewhat impossible to have decent conversations unless you were shouting or talking right by a person's ear.
"Alright well—"
"Wait! Wait!" I held up my hands to stop her. "Do you like him?"
Pateel rolled her eyes.
"I'd tell you if you would be quiet."
I smiled innocently and motioned her to continue her story.
"First of all, yes I do like Adam. And before you ask, I have no idea where Adam and I stand. And lastly, Adam and I are going to hang out tomorrow."
My jaw dropped at all the news…though it was expected it was still a total shocker to me.
"Now your turn!" Pateel exclaimed with a huge grin on her face, giving me no time to even ask her detailed questions. And yes, it was my turn to roll my eyes…and blush.
"First of all, yes I do like Jason," I mimicked Pateel, receiving a glare. "And before you ask, Jason and I are secretly," I emphasized the word. "Secretly together. So shush!"
Pateel's jaw dropped, quickly turning into a huge grin that made me want to turn away and not look her face.
"Awww," she cooed. "I told you! I told you guys would be perfect."
"Pateel," I quickly shushed. I fearfully looked around at the drunken teenagers and rare sober ones walked past us.
"You can't tell anybody. Anybody!"
"And how come you guys are secretly together?" Pateel said a bit softly, though loud enough for only I could hear.
"It's somewhat complicated," I drawled out, grimacing a bit. Pateel stared at me blankly.
"First, it would start major rumors since Jason does live in the room right across from mine." Pateel nodded in understanding.
"And second of all, it would probably and somehow get around to my parents and Jason's parents and—"
"But doesn't your parents love Jason and vice versa with his parents loving you? Your families are so close with each other," Pateel interjected.
"True," I admitted. "But that fact that Jason lives right across the room from me is highly threatening to parents. You know how parents are about having their teenagers alone in the house with the opposite sex."
"They always have you and Jason alone at your house," Pateel argued.
"Yes, because they knew they didn't have to be worried. We were just friends. Well—I mean Jason and I are still friends but…something more too—but it's different," I tried and helplessly tried to get my point across.
"Uh huh."
"The point is, if our parents found out, that would be somewhat disastrous. I mean I can't even imagine what my parents would say if I told them."
"So…you're never going to tell your parents about you and him?" Pateel asked skeptically.
"Well, eventually yes. Just not right now when he's living under the same roof. Because then our parents will start worrying about what we'll do in the house."
"And should they be worried?" she asked slyly. I rolled my eyes and quickly felt a flush of my cheeks—for no apparent reason at all, I assure you.
"Now, my turn to ask you detailed questions!"
"Drink! Drink! Drink!"
I looked on amused at the guys sitting around the table bring their cups to this lips and gulp down the beer.
"What game are they playing?" I asked, still observing the nosy boys with an amused smile.
"I forgot the name," Pateel supplied, "I played it before once. It was fun."
I turned my gaze away from the laughter of drunken teenagers, their beer cups, and the set of playing cards sprawled on the table towards Pateel.
"I played with my cousins over the summer when I went to visit them, remember?" Pateel informed me.
"Oh yeah," I said nodding, my shocked expression vanishing. Pateel was more experienced with drinking than I was.
"Are you ladies going to play or just stand there and watch?" A male voice came up from behind us.
We turned around at the unexpected voice to see Adam. I couldn't help but smile at the sparkle in Adam's eye as he looked at Pateel.
"I'm just going to stand here on the sidelines," Pateel answered Adam with a laugh. Her face was practically beaming with the sight of Adam.
"How about you Jackie?" Adam asked playfully with a nudge to my arm. It was quite obvious I wouldn't be playing—it just wasn't me.
"Nah," I shook my head. "I think I'll pass on it tonight."
Adam nodded before bringing his red plastic cup to his lips, taking a sip of beer. Pateel sent me a look and I took the hint.
"I'll be back," I stated as I sent a smile towards Adam and my best friend before walking away to give them some space.
I weaved my way out of the kitchen and into the raucous family room of teenagers and music. Before I had the chance to scan the scene and find one of my friends, the host himself appeared beside me.
"Jackie, right?"
I turned towards the male, catching sight of Cory. He had a drink in his hand as he stood casually beside me, scanning the party scene in front of him. He turned his attention towards me with those dangerous gray eyes of his.
"Yeah and you must be Cory right?" I smiled.
"I'm surprised you remember who I am," Cory playfully teased as he took a sip of his beer.
I observed the carelessness and causality of his personality; those dangerous gray eyes; his short dark hair. To sum it all up, Cory was stereotyped as the "bad boy" that girls fell for. Nobody can deny he wasn't attractive.
I let out a light laugh because I didn't know what else to do.
"So, are you enjoying yourself?" Cory asked, turning his body and attention directly towards me.
"Yeah," I said truthfully, looking up at him. "Thanks for inviting me."
"That's good to hear because I heard from Jason that you're not much into parties," Cory stated, slyly avoiding the thanks I gave him.
I instantly frowned and made a quick mental note to scold Jason for talking about me. Cory's carefree laugh interrupted my thoughts.
"Don't worry. Jason wasn't talking about you. I just asked him," he reassured me. But instead all it did was make me crease my eyebrows in confusion—why would Cory be asking about me?
"Huh," was the only thing that escaped my lips as I averted my eyes away from Cory's.
"Do you honestly know all these people at your party?" I spoke up, breaking the silence that fell between us. I glanced up at him.
"Honestly, no."
I let out a laugh at the concept of having strangers into your house. But apparently it was all fine with Cory.
Cory let out a chuckle, grabbing my attention away from the busy party scene that he and I were observing from the outskirts of the room.
I looked up at him confused, silently asking him to explain.
"The perks of being the host of parties," he drawled, "is being able to observe."
"Observe," I repeated.
"Yeah," Cory nodded as he turned his attention away from the party. "The host is able to see almost everything," he ended with a laugh.
"Everything," I repeated again with a slight smile on my face.
"For example," Cory started as he directed his gaze towards the front door of his house. I followed with my eyes. "You see that girl right there? The one in that slutty red dress whose flirting with that football player?"
"Yeah…" I looked from the scene back to Cory with confusion in my eyes.
Cory looked down at me for a moment and then directed his gaze towards something behind me. I turned around in time to see one of the drunken guys that were playing the beer game back in the kitchen rush out into the living room.
"That guy that just rushed by us?"
"Yeah."
"He's that slutty girl's boyfriend," Cory deadpanned as his eyes followed the drunken boyfriend travel through the crazy crowd of teenagers.
My eyes flashed to the drunken boyfriend from the slutty girl flirting with the football player and back.
"Next example," Cory stated, switching his attention towards another subject. "You see that guy sitting on the sofa?"
I scanned the scene, catching sight of a white sofa pushed back against the wall. I was able to see past the people standing and dancing in the middle of the room and towards the people sitting on the sofa.
"Yeah."
"That guy in the black shirt?"
My eyes stopped on the guy and my mouth literally dropped open.
"He's secretly a playboy but at parties…it's quite obvious don't you think?" Cory said into my ear as the music stereos increased, causing the music to be not blaring but now blasting throughout the house and could possibly be heard down the street.
"Alcohol does crazy stuff to people." Cory smirked as he watched a random girl plant herself on the guy's lap.
"Isn't that…" I trailed off.
"Hm?"
"Isn't that Cam?" I asked hesitantly as I stared at the guy in the black shirt. I glanced up to see Cory squint his gray eyes until realization hit him.
"Uh…yeah…it is," he said with a tone of embarrassment, which I had no idea why.
I tore my eyes away from Cam flirt with the girl on his lap and the girl sitting beside him.
"That's going to turn ugly," Cory muttered. I looked up at him with creased eyebrows. Cory nodded his head towards Cam. I looked back at Cam to see the girl sitting beside him give death glares to the girl practically giving Cam a lap dance.
I actually liked that guy? Just having seen that scene, made me disgusted by Cam.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Like you give a damn! Leave me alone!"
"No! You're my girlfriend!"
Cory and I automatically turned to the shouting that was slowly gaining people's attention. Although the music was still blasting throughout the house, everyone was tuned into the argument between the slutty girl in the red dress and her drunken boyfriend.
"Stop looking and flirting with my girlfriend!" the drunken boyfriend yelled at the football player.
"Don't tell me what to do!" the football player retaliated.
Beside me, Cory muttered a few inappropriate words. And before I knew it, punches were thrown and the slutty girl let out a scream.
"Hold this!" Cory instructed, giving me his cup of beer before he instantly stepped into the fight as he tried to stop it. A couple of other guys jumped into the fight, pulling off the football player and the drunken boyfriend apart.
I couldn't do anything but stare at the scene just like everyone else. As the guys were dragged out of the house by Cory and the other helping guys, I noticed the slutty girl in the corner with a couple of her friends as they tried to console her and calm the tears going down her face.
"Jackie. What happened?" Pateel's voice came up from behind me. I turned around to be greeted by her clueless face.
"There was a fight."
"Is anyone hurt?" She looked around the living room where everyone else resumed what they were doing—partying.
"Well the two guys in the fight were dragged outside," I answered with a shrug. "I didn't get to see the damage."
"Crazy," Pateel muttered.
"So, where's Adam?" I asked, noticing Adam was no where in sight.
"He went to hang out with Jason," Pateel answered. "Have you seen Jason?"
"Not since I arrived and went to find you."
"Is that beer?" she asked as she peered into the cup I was holding.
"Yes, but it's not mine."
"Then whose is it?" she asked, looking at me suspiciously. I rolled my eyes.
"You know Cory right?"
"Isn't this his house?"
"Yeah, well I was talking with him before he went to stop the fight. I think he's outside right now trying to calm the guys. He told me to hold his cup."
Pateel let out a laugh.
"Oh crap," she muttered. She pulled out her cell phone and checked the screen. "My parents are calling. I'll be back."
And just like that, I was standing alone again as Pateel headed outside the house where it was quiet.
I stood there alone, deciding whether to stay there and wait for Cory to come back—if he ever came back for his drink—or walk around and try to find a friend. But just as I decided to find someone, my name was called.
"Sorry about that," Cory apologized as he ran his hand through his very dark hair.
"No problem," I smiled as I handed him back his drink which he gladly took. He gulped down the rest before placing the cup on a near by table.
"So…what happened?" I asked curiously.
"Kicked the guys out of here," he stated with a careless shrug. "Don't need fights in my house."
"The girl's still here though," I supplied.
"Is she?" Cory asked a bit surprised. He looked and scanned the crowd until he found her in the corner as she wiped her tears. She was still surrounded by a group of friends.
"Did you get hurt?" I asked shocked as I noticed a bit of blood on Cory's hand.
"Huh?" Cory asked as he turned to me with creased brows.
I pointedly looked down at his hands and he followed my gaze.
"Damn," Cory muttered as he noticed the bit of blood spots on his hand.
"Did you get hurt?" I asked again.
"No, I'm fine. Probably got it when I tried to break up the fight. One of them was bleeding."
"Oh."
"Hey, I'll be back later after I wash up," Cory stated with an apologetic smile.
"Yeah, it's fine," I reassured with a nod.
"Alright, see you later," Cory smiled before he passed by me in order to head to the downstairs restroom.
I weaved my way through the party, trying to catch sight of someone I wanted to hang out with. When I quickly passed by Cam on the sofa, I made sure to act like I didn't see him. And next thing I knew, I was going down the stairs into Cory's den where the other party goers were.
"You want to leave don't you?"
"What makes you think that?" I asked.
"So you don't want to leave."
"No, do you want to?"
Jason shook his head as he stood up from the bar stool he was occupying. He motioned me to sit.
"Thanks," I said sincerely as I took the bar stool seat, watching a few guys play pool.
My eyes observed the Cory's cozy den beneath the house. A sofa pressed against the wall, a pool table in the middle of the den, and a bar.
"So where's Pateel?" Jason asked, leaning his forearms on the counter beside me.
"Uh…she was upstairs," I answered. "And then she got a phone call."
"She left?"
"No, she's probably still around here somewhere. I just decided to walk around and eventually I found you," I answered.
"Hey, where's Pateel?" Adam asked, coming out of no where. He stood on the other side of me.
"Upstairs I think."
"Go find her, lover boy," Jason said, letting out a chuckle. Adam leaned forward and punched Jason in the forearm.
"I'll be back," Adam stated, forcing Jason to let out a chuckle again. I rolled my eyes but grinned as Adam made his way up the stairs to find Pateel.
"There was a fight upstairs."
"Oh yeah?" Jason asked amused.
"Yeah, too bad you missed it."
"Oh yeah? And why's that?"
"Because it was somewhat dramatic," I answered with a nod. "First fight I've ever seen up close."
"That's because you're very naive. I've seen a handful of fights."
"Ooh, aren't you just so cool?"
Jason let out a laugh as he stared at me appreciatively. He leaned sideways, closing the distance between our bodies as his shoulder touched mine.
"So, you still paranoid?" he whispered in my ear. The close proximity of him made my heart pound as I was overwhelmed with a sense of infatuation.
I closed my eyes briefly as I with held the want to just be in Jason's arms.
"Don't push it," I whispered with a bit of a threat in my tone.
"Oh?" Jason asked surprised and amusingly.
I leaned back, creating a distance between our bodies. I narrowed my eyes at him.
"What will you do to me?" he asked amused as he closed the distance between us again, having his shoulder touch my shoulder.
"Jason, stop it." I averted my attention to the pool game in front of us. I tried especially hard to forget the fact that Jason stood right next to me.
"What if I don't?" he whispered mischievously into my ear. I kept my mouth shut, knowing Jason was playing with me as he waited for me to break.
My eyes glanced around the room, noticing that nobody was paying attention to Jason and me. Maybe I was still a bit paranoid.
"People could see Jason," I said otherwise.
"No they aren't," Jason laughed as he too, noticed that everyone was too busy socializing.
My eyes glanced up to the stairs to surprisingly see Cory coming down the stairs with a beer drink in hand. I was instantly reminded of the conversation Cory and I had—that the host was able to observe just about anything. And I was instantly pulled back into paranoia again.
"Jason," I gritted my teeth. I turned towards him, and was taken by surprise by how close are faces were.
Jason quirked his eyebrow as he looked at me amusingly with a smirk on his face.
"Fine, fine," he let out a laugh as he created a decent amount of space between us.
"Thank you," I said relieved.
Author's Note:
I really do hope you guys liked this chapter. Nothing that interesting haha.
But if you have any suggestions or ideas please let me know! It'll help me in the writing process and it'll let me know what you guys would like to happen.
Hope you guys get a sense of all the characters' personalities--Jackie's, Jason's, Pateel's, Adam's, Cam's, and even Cory's.
Let me know who you like and I can't wait to write down the ideas I have next for Jackie and this story.
Thank you for the reviews! :D They make me grin and smile!
And let me know what you would like to see what will happen.
