Disclaimer: I own nothing at all.

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Seduction of Summer

Chapter Eight: From dusk till dawn

"Cause the walls start shaking
The earth was quaking
My mind was aching
And we were making it and you -
Shook me all night long"

-AC/DC, You Shook Me All Night Long

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I followed Henry into the back yard and was surprised to see a large number of people forming their own little groups. Apparently news of our party had spread. Nelly's "Ride wit me" played loudly in the background as Henry and I walked over to join Cassie, Ric and Luke, who were standing in the middle of the groups.

Luke looked me up and down, and I blushed slightly under his ever-critical eye. I could see the lust form in his eyes immediately. He pulled me close before slightly growling "You need ravishing. Can we skip the party all together? My room is ready and waiting."

Laughing at him, I winked before I shoved him lightly, whispering in his ear, "Play nice, and then maybe we will leave early. Now would you please get me a drink?" I finished, putting my puppy dog eyes on for him, as if he needed more encouragement. He kissed me quickly on the cheek, before leaving to get the drinks.

Cassie smiled at me shortly, before her attention was given to Henry, who, by the look of her blushing face, had just paid her a very large compliment. One that didn't go unnoticed by Ric, who was eyeing my brother warily.

Giggling, Cassie seemed to be unaware of my brothers somewhat malicious intentions for her, but, remembering what I had told her earlier, in retrospect to the situation, Cassie was simply doing what I had told her to. She was flirting, in the hopes of making Ric jealous. She just didn't know the capabilities of the charms of my brother.

I sighed to myself, before taking the drink Luke had handed me.

This was going to be an interesting night.

About half an hour, the party had moved down to the beach, where the bonfire was waiting to be lit.

While some people chose to sit on the sand and chat amongst themselves, Luke and I were mucking around on the waterline, splashing small bits of water at one another.

We'd both had some of Henry's magic punch, although neither of us was showing the effects of the alcohol yet.

One or two more drinks should get the party really started. I thought, somewhat happily.

As the sun faded in the distance, I saw an unhappy Ric standing around with a very happy Cassie, who was talking, in what looked to be rather hushed tones with Henry, who was more than willing to refill her drink. Hastily, I grabbed Luke's hand and walked towards them.

It's time to stage an intervention.

Walking up, I gave Henry the most evil glare I could muter, before politely suggesting to him that the bonfire looked about ready to be lit, so why didn't he and Luke go and start that up. They began to walk off together when Ric muttered something about helping them too, and began to amble in their direction. After he was out of ear-shot, I turned to Cassie.

"Cassie,' I began, taking the drink from her hand 'How much have you had exactly?"

"Not as much as you would think Matilda' she snapped, before grabbing her drink back. 'I'm having a good time with your brother. He's not afraid to be open and honest, kind of like you, and kind of not like Ric. I'm letting loose. Just trust me on this one." She finished, before grabbing my hand and taking me down to where the bonfire had been lit.

Sighing, I walked behind her, until Luke appeared, another drink in hand. "Thanks" I said, after taking it from him. I felt his hand slip into mine as we watched the fire burning.

I asked for this. I thought, watching Cassie and Henry stand remarkably close to one another. This was supposed to end my boring life. Instead it's turning into more trouble than it's worth.

As I searched the area for Ric, I saw him sitting alone on the sand a while off. I yelled over the music and burning rubble to Luke that I was going to go check on him. Luke looked concerned as I told him this, before nodding and wondering off to find Henry and Cassie.

Grabbing Henry's secret stash, partly so Ric could drown his sorrows, and partly so Cassie would slow down, I wandered slowly down the sand hills, plonking myself down next to Ric, before offering him the bottle.

"Thanks" he muttered, taking the bottle and swiftly drinking three large mouthfuls of straight Vodka, after which he coughed for a bit, before saying softly "It burns"

Even though the straight Vodka did burn, I knew as I took a small sip of the Vodka, that Ric was referring to other things.

We sat together in mutual silence, observing the interaction around the bonfire. While Cassie and Henry continued to remain in close contact with one another, I was somewhat shocked to see Luke laughing with a pretty brown haired girl who was standing with him, drink in hand, finding ways to touch him constantly, even if it was just a light shove or push if he said something funny.

Grabbing the drink from Ric again, I took another swig, as my eyes remained locked on the situation.

Why was the girl flirting with a guy EVERYONE knew was off limits?

And why was Luke flirting back?

Was I that forgettable, that as soon as I walked away to comfort a friend, he would start flirting immediately. I mean, what happened to him being totally and completely in love with me.

Tonight was supposed to be our night.

Instead it was becoming my worst nightmare. My brother flirting with my best friend, who was currently in an extremely rocky relationship with my other best friend, while my boyfriend was flirting with an unknown brunette slut who was just waiting for the confrontation so she could get her paws into him.

I growled.

Like that would ever happen.

After watching a sufficient amount of conversation and drink from the spiked punch bowl had flowed through their mouths, and sufficient Vodka had flowed though my own, I turned to Ric asking him if he felt like playing a game of 'Truth or Dare'.

Ric turned to look at me, ready to say that he really wasn't in the mood, when he saw the malevolent look in my eyes. Smiling, almost cruelly, back at me, he nodded, before taking one last gulp of the Vodka. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up off the sand, and threw one arm around me, both to help steady me, but also to steady himself. Together, we walked over to the last group left on the beach, as everyone else had migrated back up to the backyard for the music.

As we approached, we heard loud laugher coming from the group. There were eight of them, including Henry, Cassie, Luke and brunette slut. I smiled quickly at Ric, before shoving myself between Luke and the brunette, who made an irritated noise before scowling at me. "I'm sorry' I apologised insincerely. "I'm Maddie. His' pointing to Luke 'girlfriend. And you are?" I finished harshly, staring the girl down.

To her credit, she didn't back down from a challenge. "I'm Hilary. Luke and I have just been getting to know one another. We share a common bond, you see.' She began, moving her lips closer to my ear. 'Something you could never understand. And that's going to be MY saving grace" she finished ruthlessly, meeting my eyes with as much malice as my own held.

Never one to give in, I smiled sweetly at her, before turning to the rest of the group. Ric had settled a little further away, the evil gleam (which was probably alcohol induced) still in his eyes. We shared a look, before I said loudly, "Who's up for a game of truth or dare?"

To my surprise, there was little protest. Everyone there seemed to be eager to play the game.

Well, I thought, this is going to make for one hell of an interesting game.

"I'll go first' I said, willing the game to begin. 'Emily, truth or dare?" Picking someone who wasn't involved in this whole thing would get him or her out of the way quickly. It also meant I could be nice to someone.

"Truth" she replied somewhat timidly.

Apparently she hadn't tried the punch yet.

"What's… the worst thing you've ever done?"

Breathing a sigh of relief, she replied almost instantly "I cheated on a history exam in year 8"

Oh yeah, she was a regular rebel.

"Ohhhhkay' I replied slowly, 'Your turn!"

And so it went. Nice, easy questions were asked for a while, with Ric and I playing along. One more bottle of Henry's special 'Apple Juice' later, however, I was ready to tare Hilary to shreds, as she managed to get Luke to give her a special bear hug, after bearing her poor, traumatised souls.

I tried not to snort during her long answer about losing her mum. After spending more time with her, I realised I had known her during my friendship with Brooke. Her mum was well and alive; she had just divorced her dad. She even lived with her. So much for that bond. Before I could point out this small face, I heard her saying

"Truth or dare Maddie?"

"Dare" I replied nonchalantly. Like I'd let this bitch bring me down.

"I dare you' she began, before looking me directly in the eye 'to kiss Ric."

So she did remember me.

"And not just any weak kiss on the cheek. A full kiss." She finished, smirking at me.

Looking between Luke and Ric, I hoped I conveyed with my eyes the largest apology to Luke. Never had I imagined I would be end up being the one that would do something that could destroy our relationship. I just wanted the tart to pay.

But here I was, about to kiss my best friend. About to hurt the one guy who had always treated me right. About to ruin all the bonds of friendship that had been built up over the last year.

I walked over to Ric, and slowly leaned down, while he leaned up. Just as our lips met, instinct took over, as I gave into the kiss. It was vastly different to the tens of thousands that Luke and I shared, and I knew as soon as I broke away that I didn't want to be kissing anyone but Luke ever again. While Ric was almost rough with his kisses, letting his passion, anger and fear though them, Luke's were soft and vulnerable, sweet, with a level of seduction that he didn't know he had, just like him.

But when I turned around, I could see I knew that my betrayal had hurt the people most important to me. Cassie looked visibly crushed as she looked between Ric and myself, searching for an answer as to why either of us when through with it.

Luke wouldn't meet my eyes again, so I sat down next to Ric, who took my hand as a token of friendship. I stared between everyone, wondering how everything had become so screwed up.

Yes you do a voice said in my head. You wanted all this plus more. You wanted the boredom to end.

You wanted to be wild, and free, and if that came at a price, well, you were willing to pay.

Not if it cost me my friends, I thought sadly, sighing. There was only one thing for it. I would have to ruin the life of the girl who just ruined mine.

"Hilary, Truth or dare?" I asked, not bothering to make it any less harsh.

"I didn't think you'd want to keep playing Matilda. I thought you and Ric would like to go off and have some alone time, you've obviously got some unresolved issues to deal with. Not to mention tension." She replied cruelly.

Before I could think about it, I had thrown back at her "Luke will never love you, so why don't you just save him and us all the wasted time and go back to whatever hole you crawled out from?"

"Not before you tell everyone that you really wanted to be with Ric before Cassie turned up and ruined your plan.' She retorted furiously 'Not before you admit that you've done all this once before. You snuck into a club with him and went to kiss him, but Cassie came and ruined everything.

So for a year you've been living this bored life, waiting for the right time to make your move. We watched you while you were over the, 'comforting' Ric because Cassie had been 'flirting' with your brother all night. Jeez, talk about over-reacting about two people simply having a chat. Kind of like you over reacting bout Luke and I chatting. This is your entire fault. And everything that happens after it will be too." She viscously snapped.

"And you've been what, stalking us for a year? You know nothing about me, you know nothing about my relationships, so what gives you any right to accuse me of setting all this up to ruin everyone's lives?" I screamed back at her.

"But you didn't deny anything" She said, sitting back satisfied.

Before I could say anything, Cassie stood up, wobbling for a bit before Henry caught her. I could hear his mind ticking, inadvertently thanking me for causing such a problem.

Looking towards me, Cassie's eyes were filled with tears threatening to spill.

"I trusted you,' she began shakily. I didn't know whether she was talking to Ric or me or both of us. 'You were supposed to never let anything come between us. Both of you were. I just… can't deal with this right now" She finished, looking between us before walking off towards the house.

Henry shared a meaningful look with me, before following Cassie into the house.

Looking towards Luke, he stared at me in disbelief. I opened my mouth but no words came out. There was nothing I could think of to say that would make this all better. Our eyes met finally, and in them I saw pain, fear, and deep hurting. Reaching out to touch him, he jerked his hands away, as if my own were made of fire, and touching him would burn him.

Then, he turned and ran down the beach, getting as far away from me as possible. Hilary got up to follow, but before she had taken a step, I turned to her, saying in a low voice "If you follow him, by god I'll make your life a living hell, you'll regret the day you messed with my life."

Scoffing, she calmly patted my arm in an irritatingly condescending way before telling me shortly, "You messed with your own life darling. You only have yourself to blame." before turning to sprint after Luke.

Sitting back down next to Ric, I sighed, before looking at him.

"Apparently you and I are both stuff ups in our relationships." I joked, but neither of us laughed. Lost in our own worlds full of misery, at least we had one another, which was a tiny comfort.

"I'm sorry,' I said finally, after lasting lord knows how long with silence surrounding us. 'This really is my entire fault. If I hadn't have been jealous, then I wouldn't have convinced you to play the stupid game with me. And even then, I could've found a way for you to make it up to Cassie during the game; instead I've pushed her right into the arms of my scheming twin brother. I screw up everything." I finished angrily, throwing a rock into the distance.

"Look Maddie, I got myself into my own mess alright? Don't go blaming yourself for something you really had nothing to do with' Ric said, putting an arm around me. 'My problems with Cass have been around for a long time; they've just been hidden by layers of make-believe happiness. You've got to focus on your own relationship right now. Make that right, and let me worry about making my own right." He finished, and gave me a hug before getting up and walking towards the house.

Despite his comforting words, I still felt as though my quest to un-bore myself had led to the downfall of everyone's relationships. In one night, I had shattered our bonds of friendship.

Now Luke was being comforted by the brunette bombshell Hilary, and Henry was wondering after Cassie catering to her every whim, just so he could worm his way into her life. And Ric was lost in an abyss of darkness and I was alone, despite the fact that I was in the midst of a party that was still raging, well into the morning.

Things had never been so royally screwed in our entire lives. In any case, I thought as I looked around, we could be so drunk tonight, that we won't be able to remember this tomorrow morning. The world had been spinning for the last half-hour, a sign that the alcohol at finally gotten to me. I was amazed that my sentences were still making sense, to me and everyone else for that matter.

Sighing, I stood up and dusted off my skirt. I didn't feel cold at all, I was more lonely than anything. Wandering towards the house, I could see there were still small groups of people sitting around chatting. They all seemed oblivious to the events that had occurred in our lives, they all seemed happy.

Oh how I wished to be one of them tonight.

Walking into the house, instead of going into my room, I took the next door on the left and turned into Luke's room. However I almost stumbled back out after I caught sight of what was in the room. Half burnt candles were on top of his shelves and dresser, on his side desk and up on his wardrobe, while a trail of rose petals went from the door to the middle of the bed.

After taking in the sight for a moment, I felt tears stinging my eyes, willing to be let out. Taking off my clothing, left solely in my underwear, I crawled onto the middle of the bed and sobbed, for a long time. Clutching a pillow and the blankets, I wept and wept until I was so worn out, so tired from everything that had happened. I slowly drifted off into sleep, while I imagined a soft voice in the distance saying soothing words, and a hand rubbing up and down my back comforting me.

It all felt so real, the comforting part. It felt as though Luke was really there. As though he understood my pain and was trying to make me feel better.

I shouldn't have thought that though. I deserved everything I got, and what was coming too.

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AN: This chapter was really hard to write. Hate me if you will. I kinda hate myself too. Just know that technically no one had broken up. If that's not a hint, I don't know what is. I'm sorry, but I just had to cause this drama, how else does Maddie become the person speaking in the Prologue? As always, review, even if its to yell at me!