She must be drunk Bradin thought as he walked into the house, but as soon as he came into contact with Cassi he found she was perfectly sober
"Come on in you two" she said smiling "Allie!" she yelled. A spitting image of her came running up the stairs, the only difference was in height and eye color "Allie, this is Nikki"
"You're in my pre-algebra, art and Spanish classes aren't you?" Allie asked
"Yeah" Nikki said smiling weakly
"Take good care of her Al" Cassi said as she grabbed Bradin's hand "We'll be outside if you need us" She smiled at Nikki and winked at Allie as she lead Bradin down a set of stairs and out the back door.
"I really don't know why I'm here, I feel like I'm imposing" Nikki said as Allie led her into a huge room
"Don't worry about it. You're Amber's friend, right?" Nikki nodded "She's here, and I'm sure you at least know the other people. Cassi says you're really cool. It'll be fun"
Nikki smiled as she walked into the group of people. Allie was right, she did recognize most of them, but only knew Amber "Guys this is Nikki, Nikki this is the group, you know Amber this is Alex, Larry, Brett, Katie, Lauren, Morgan, Bruce, Bright, Cathy…" the list when on and on.
Nikki smiled shyly as she walked over to Amber "There sure are a lot of people" she said to her
"Yeah, Allie throws great parties, but no drinking, Cassi won't let us" she said sadly
"Too Bad" Nikki replied, not feeling that way at all
"Come on Nikki, we're going to dance" Allie called. Amber rolled her eyes and pulled Nikki over to the dance floor
"So what was this about me being your date?" Bradin asked as Cassi led him to the back door
"Well it's either you're my date, or you're going to be here all alone. Pick one" she said smiling as she noticed him looking at Lucas and Callie sitting on a lounge chair, holding hands
"I'll take the date" he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder
"Good" she said smiling.
Bradin could feel Callie's gaze fall on him. "This feels so wrong" he thought out loud
"No it doesn't, just go with it" Cassi said smiling as Callie walked up to her "Hey Cal"
"I need to talk to you NOW" she said
"Whoa Cal, chill" she replied "Be right back babe" she said to Bradin as Callie pulled her away
Bradin stood there not sure what to do. He looked around and saw a couple kids from the surf team, but decided not to talk to them, some of them were still mad at him about his affair with Erika. They liked having a hott coach. He walked over to the cooler, which was right by Lucas.
"Going after Callie's best friend, that's low" he said, eying Bradin
"She came to me Lucas, but you're definitely one to talk" he replied
"I told you I liked Callie, and I told you that I was planning on asking her out and you nearly killed me. You're a hypocrite Bradin; you turn around and do the same thing to Callie that I did to you"
Anger grew in Bradin, but he knew he couldn't hit Lucas, that would just end everything, but he was sooo close. Meanwhile, Cassi and Callie were having a talk of their own
"I can't believe you Cass, after everything he put me through you're dating him?" Callie yelled
"Callie chill out. I'm not dating him; he's just my date for tonight. Why are you freaking, you're with Lucas now anyway"
"I was in love with him Cassi, and he used me just for sex. You know the horror last year, and I thought I could trust him, but he was just like all of them"
"Callie, if you were in love with him you wouldn't be with Lucas, you'd have found a way to work it out." She looked over at the boys and noticed Bradin looked like he was going to take out Lucas in a few minute "Listen, you can bitch at me later, lets just stop them from killing each other" she ran over to Bradin "wanna dance?" Callie ran up right behind her
"You're such a slut, you know that right, Cassi" Lucas asked
"You're just figuring this out?" Cassi asked "You know Callie and I did stuff last year, she just got out of it before me, of course I'm a slut. Come one Bradin, let's dance" She pulled him off into the middle of the dance floor "Sorry, I just didn't want you to break Lucas' nose"
"Its ok, had you not shown up I probably would have. So you did what Callie did, huh?" he said as he wrapped his arms around her small hips
"We both got sucked into a bad thing and we couldn't stop it once it started. We figured out a way to get out of it, but we could only do it one at a time, she got out at the beginning of summer, I got out the end. It was a big part of our lives, why do you think she doesn't trust anyone. It's over though, I've let it go"
Bradin smiled "that's good, it shouldn't shape who you are" he pulled her in closer "thanks for telling me"
"It's was big part of my life, I'm not like Callie, I don't try to hide it. It makes who I am and how I deal with people."
"How you deal with people huh?" he said as they swayed to the music "Well, what would you do if I asked you out?"
Cassi stopped moving and looked at him "On a date, or as a girlfriend?" she said seriously
"On a date that might progress to me asking you to be my girlfriend" He responded, looking her in the eyes
"You don't exactly have the best track record Westerly, why on earth would I want to subject myself to you hurting me like you hurt Sarah, and Callie and Erika, I don't want to be number 4"
"You're right, I am a bad boyfriend. But if we're on the same page from the start, maybe I can be a better one"
Cassi looked him in the eyes. They were just like Callie had described, as deep green as an emerald "Maybe. I guess we'll just have to find out"
"Is that a yes?" he asked
"That's a yes to the date, not to the being the girlfriend. That one we'll have to work up to"
"Sounds good to me" Bradin said hugging her "This won't ruin your friendship with Callie will it?"
"No, she'll deal." Cassi said smiling as the song ended "I better go check on the little ones, you want to come?"
"Sure" he said and the two walked into the main part of the house.
They entered the living room to find the group sitting in a circle "Ok, Nikki, truth or dare?" Allie asked
"Freeze" Cassi said "You're not playing that game Al, no! I know what happens in that game, the answer is no"
"Come on Cass, please" Allie whined
"It's all in good fun" Amber said
"No" Cassi said defiantly "And don't let me catch you doing it Allie, because if I do your party's over, got it?"
"Fine" Allie said, getting up.
"Good" Cassi said "We'll be outside" as she and Bradin walked out of the room
A smile spread across Allie's face "What are you scheming now Alexea?" Amber asked
"Well, there's an even amount of boys and girls, and she said nothing about Couples Truth or Dare" she said with a smirk. Everyone but Nikki nodded.