"Jadey!" The red head stumbled over her little pink kitten heels, falling into me slightly. "Thanks for inviting me!" She slurred.
I rolled my eye playfully as I held my hands out to catch the petite girl. I was drunk, but she was something else. "Don't call me that." I yelled over the loud music.
"Whatty?" She shouted back, as she bat her eye lashes at me. She took a sip from her red drink in her hand still giggling. She pushed her hand through her thick hair, running her hands through a tumble of red as she danced.
"Whatever." I propped her back up, sorting her red curls out. "You good?"
She nodded quickly. "I love parties they're so much fun!" She hiccuped.
I took a long drink from the bottle of vodka in my hand before agreeing with her. "Me too."
"I've missed you!" She collapsed back on to me, wrapping her warm arms around my neck and smashing her lips into my cheek.
"No kidding." I laughed slightly, once again brushing her off me and wiping my cheek.
The room around me was buzzing with life. Loud music, laughter and gossiping filled my ears. Everywhere I turned I could see people dancing, making out and having a good time. Perfume, alcohol and cigarette's consumed my airways as I drank more and more to keep up with everyone. This was the tenth night in a row I had been out partying and tonight I didn't even know whose house I had ended up at, not like I cared anyway.
"I finished my drink, Jadey!" Cat thrust her red cup in front of my face, waving it around wildly.
I reluctantly poured some of my vodka in to her cup, grabbing a lemonade bottle from the sofa and mixing it for her. "Here, drink that." I pushed the cup back into her hands, spilling a little on her shirt but she was too drunk to even notice.
She lent in to me and kissed my cheek again, this time leaving a pink lip gloss mark on me.
"Quit that." I rubbed my cheek hard, removing all of what she had left on me. I knew she was just being sweet, naïve Cat but it was getting on my last nerve. "I think we should get you some fresh air. Follow me." I took her hand in my own, dragging her out behind me.
Cat followed me with a skip in her step as we headed outside. The further we walked the more the party turned into distant background noise, the bass of the music only just reaching us at the end of the yard.
"Sit." I pointed to the old school swing set in the backyard. It looked older than I was but it was either that or the semi wet grass.
She copied me as I sat on a swing, still taking regular sips from her drink. "How come I haven't seen you in ages?" She finally questioned after she finished her drink again.
"I've been busy." I felt immediately bad. Cat was my best friend that I'd known since Kindergarten and I'd hardly seen her all summer. We'd made a load of plans and I'd ditched pretty much all of them to be with Tori.
"Oh." Was her simple reply. She tried to smile but I could see she wasn't the usual bubbly Cat.
My phone buzzed loudly in my pocket. I knew exactly who it would be. My eye focused on Cat's eyes who sighed at my phone. She didn't know who Tori was, she didn't even know I was dating anyone but I knew she sensed she wasn't my main priority yet again and I knew that hurt her. I pushed my phone deeper in to my pocket, ignoring it completely.
"Well I'm here now." I smirked at her. "So, how has your summer been?"
She perked up quickly, her eyes widening and her smile beaming. "Well first my brother finally got out of summer school because he poked his teacher in the eye with his tennis racket too many times and so they gave him the summer off. Oh and then we made brownies but my Mom wouldn't eat any and she told me not to eat any either and then threw them away but I had already eaten one and I felt funny for a few hours. Like it made me really really happy and then I was really really hungry. Oh and we went to Disneyland too!"
"I went to Disney too." I smiled in-between Cat's rambling.
"And I hung out with Robbie and Rex but Rex was- "She stopped talking abruptly. "Wait, you went to Disneyland?" A big proud grin emerged on her face.
I laughed at her shocked reaction. "Yep."
"Did you love it? It's the best place ever! Did you take Jett?" Her voice sang with excitement as she spoke.
"It was cool. No we didn't. We might do before summer ends though. I know he'd love it there."
Cat's happy face scrunched into a confused look; her brows crossing and her lips pursing together. "We?"
"I meant me." I backtracked quickly although it was already too late. She'd heard what I had originally said.
"No you said we. Are you back with Beck? Who did you go to Disney with?"
I stammered before finally finding something to say. "I went with my cousin." Thank god I was good at acting. The moment I spoke her brows uncrossed and her lips pulled back into her normal, quirky smile.
"Oh." She giggled. "I knew Beck was wrong. He said you were dating someone but I said that couldn't be true because you would have told me! We tell each other everything."
Again, I felt terrible. My face dropped in remorse. The more she spoke the more I felt like she had a knife in my stomach, turning it deeper and harder with every word. "Yeah." I mumbled, looking only to the ground.
I swigged at my drink, letting the vodka start to burn the inside out my mouth and throat before swallowing. "Do you ever think about girls?"
Cat giggled, kicking her feet off the floor and beginning to swing. "What? I think about everyone." She replied innocently as she swung beside me.
"Would you ever kiss a girl?" I watched her move back and forth beside me, the wind blowing through her bright red hair as she hung her head back and kicked her legs further in the air.
"Yes." She replied without hesitation. "Would you?" Her words echoed around my drunk head as she pushed herself higher and higher on the swing.
Her question shocked me although I don't quite know why. I smirked to myself. "I guess."
Cat forced her feet into the ground hard, forcing her to a dead stop. She pushed her forehead against the chain of the swing, leaning in close to me. "Have you ever?" Her innocent smile had changed into a cheeky and flirtatious smile.
I nodded slowly, gaging her reaction. Her eyes sparkled and her smile remained the same. "Have you?"
She giggled and nodded. "My Mom and Dad always told me it doesn't matter who I date. They said I can kiss boys or girls as long as I'm safe. I've only kissed two girls though and one was for a dare. Who have you kissed?"
Tell her. Tell her. Tell her. Tell her about Tori.
I turned away from her, moving my head so I was facing the house again, avoiding Cat's eyes. "My parents are getting divorced." I chickened out, changing the subject and the tone of the conversation dramatically.
From the corner of my eye I could see Cat's face drop, sorrow filling her deep brown eyes. "Oh no. I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It's for the best. My Dad's moved out already and they're going to court in a few months to sort custody and finalize the divorce."
"Is Jett okay?"
"Yeah he's cool. He's only seven so he bounces back so easily. Mom's spending more time with him too so he loves that."
Cat smiled sympathetically. "Well I guess that is for the best then." She kicked herself off the swing. "Come on I want to get more drink." She held her hand out for me, waiting for me to react.
My phone buzzed several more times as I stood up to follow my best friend and once again I ignored the calls.
...
"I can't believe you kissed him." A few hours and a few more drinks later I was feeling that familiar drunken happy feeling. I loved being drunk. It made me forget everything.
"You dared me!" Cat defended herself with a chuckle. "You're so mean!"
"And you're just figuring that out?" We collapsed against a sofa finally sitting down after hours of dancing.
"You can answer your phone you know." Cat yawned, resting her head on my shoulder.
I watched as her eyes fell heavy several times. I pulled a small blanket over the tired girl as I ran my fingers through her hair, waiting until her eyes stayed shut before I pulled my phone out of my pocket. Ten missed called and several text messages, all from Tori. I was going to be in trouble.
"You're dead." Was the first words uttered from Tori as she answered the phone.
"Charming." I laughed. "You've been hanging around with me too much, Vega."
"Quite the contrary, Jade. I haven't seen you in days. I've barely heard from you. You've been out partying haven't you?" The anger in her voice seeped through the phone the more she spoke.
I bit my lip. "So what if I have?"
"So I've lost count of how many times you've been drunk this week. You know I couldn't come out the last few nights and it's fine you're going out but then you ignore me all night? I was worried sick, Jade! I thought something had happened to you!"
"Don't be such a worried Wendy. I'm fine. More than fine. And I did invite you, not my fault you didn't want to sneak out again."
"I couldn't come and you knew that. You don't even care that I was worried about you, do you?" She huffed down the phone. "I know you're going through tough times Jade but partying every night will not fix it. Not forever anyway." Her voice shook and I could tell she was on the edge of tears.
It was my turn to huff. "Just leave it."
"No. I thought you wanted them to divorce and now that they have you've lost it."
"Fuck off."
"Fine." She snapped, hanging up immediately.
I threw my phone onto the sofa hard. "Cat, wake up." I shook her a little too rough.
"Ouch, Jadey!" She rubbed her tired eyes.
"Get up I want to drink some more."
"But I'm tired now."
I rolled my eyes. "Come on, I think that guy wants another kiss from you." I cocked my eyebrow at her. "Please?"
She sat up slowly. "Okay."
...
The sun was just rising as a few of us sat around in a circle on the back porch passing round a joint. I'd downed more drinks than before, drinking until it hurt but I didn't care. I liked the blurred vision, the happiness it filled me with and the euphoria.
I watched as the large glowing sphere rose slowly into the dull morning sky. Casting sunbeams in every direction while it illuminated the large town. I stared as the colors made by the rising sun changed, growing more vivid with the passing time. Making the sky more radiant as it climbed higher and higher into the sky. But as beautiful as the morning was I knew today would be horrible.
My phone hadn't gone off since Tori hung up hours ago, not even a single text. I was far too stubborn to text her first either even though I'd drafted several drunken texts to her and not sent.
"Jade, I think it's time we went back to yours." Cat's eyes were red and she looked exhausted.
"Just one more drink?"
She shook her head. "It's six thirty in the morning."
"So?" I scoffed. "It's five o clock somewhere, right?" I couldn't bare to see her beg me, not today. "You can go home if you like?"
"I don't want to leave you!" She gasped.
"Fine, I'll walk you home. How about that?"
She pulled me up on to my feet. My whole body felt heavy from head to toe. "Thanks for tonight, Cat."
She smiled sweetly. "Thanks for inviting me. I don't remember too much though." She admitted.
"Well, what do you remember?"
"Drinking; drinking a lot. And I think I kissed some guy from Northridge?" She cringed. "Oh and we were on a swing set?"
I chuckled at my naive friend. "You're quite the party animal."
"What do you remember?" She stopped outside her house, turning to face me with a cheeky grin on her face.
"Everything I think?"
"Hmm." She mumbled. "I think you should go speak to your girlfriend. She seemed pretty pissed at you on the phone last night." With that she turned and skipped into her house, turning one last time to wave at me as she shut the door quickly.
My mouth remained open in shock as I turned back around to walk back. There was no way Tori wouldn't have told her who she was so was I really that drunk that I had spilled all?
I walked and walked and walked until my feet had blisters and my head was aching from the hangover, the heat and what Cat had just said combined. Finally seeing my driveway filled me with relief. The gravel crunched under my shoes as I tried to creep up to my house silently. It was a little after eight and I knew my Mom and brother would be awake and even though I'd told them I was staying at Cat's last night I knew if they saw the state of me they wouldn't believe me for a second.
"You look a mess."
"What are you doing here?" For the second time this morning my mouth opened in shock.
"Close your mouth, you'll catch flies." Tori chuckled, making her way towards me slowly.
"Make me."
She did just that. Her lips were warm and smooth as they brushed against my own. I stiffened when her hands planted themselves firmly on my waist, but her light, heart-warming giggles managed to loosen me up quickly. Moving her right hand up to the nape of my neck she seized my lips once again with her own only this kiss was more powerful, more passionate sending heat to my cheeks, butterflies to my stomach and taking my breath away all at the same time. I didn't want to break contact with her and frustration from last nights argument pulsed through me as my hands moved to ball themselves into her hair. When we finally pulled free, her chocolate eyes were wild and I knew they matched my own as a smile crept across her face sending a stupid grin across my face as well.
"I'm sorry." We said in unison.
"I know." She whispered, her face still so close to mine I could feel her warm breath.
"I feel better now." I mumbled, running my hands through her long hair. "About everything."
"Good." She kissed my nose softly.
"We need to talk though." I watched as she looked at me with confusion coating her pretty face. "I think one of my friends knows about us."
A/N - I've been writing this story for three years now and really I don't want it to end. Don't worry, there's still several chapters left before the big ending!
I'm such a perfectionist and that's why it takes me so long to update sometimes. I can literally write a chapter and then go over and edit it for weeks before I'm happy with it! So let me know what you think of this chapter! :)