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Wild Pagan Heart

Chapter 4: She's A Maniac

"You busy tonight?" Mel asked me. We were sitting in a café downtown eating some cookies and drinking coffee. It was the first day of classes tomorrow.

"Nope. Why, did you have something in mind?" I questioned. I had a pretty good idea what she was going to want to do. The only real options for entertainment nearby were Nicky's, and the movie theater, and god knows Mel can'' keep quiet through a whole movie.

"How about Nicky's?" And, I'm right again.

"Eh…" That was basically what I felt about Nicky's in a nutshell. Literally everyone from school would probably be there. It was going to be packed to the brim, and there was probably going to be a lot of drama throughout the night, guys cheating on girls, girls pulling each others brawling in the back ally. Sounded pretty typical. Going to Nicky's tonight was bound to be a war zone.

"Oh, Lux please? I told Tyler I was going, but I don't want to go alone!" Oh, wonderful. Not only will I have to go to Nicky's and stand around in the cesspool of human sweat and bar smoke, but by going with her, that means I'll basically be obligated to hang around with Simms, which undoubtedly meant hanging out with Garwin. I certainly wasn't going to be seen with all four of them. There was no way in hell that would happen, and I'd like to think Mel would be smart enough to not even allow the thought to cross her mind.

"So go with him and the rest of the Dream Team." I don't know why I need to be there to buffer her date. It's not like she just met Simms or something; she's been in school with him for quite some time. But she'd really come into herself over the summer, so I guess she never had enough confidence to talk much to him before this.

"Lux…" she nagged on. Well, I guess insecurities don't go away over night, even if your acne and baby fat seemed to.

"Yeah, yeah alright," I caved. She grinned up at me, satisfied. We continued sipping our fraps when she said something so casually that I almost spit my mouthful of delicious caffeiney goodness all over her.

"I think Reid likes you." I swear I almost choked, swallowing down the mouthful before it did spray out of my mouth like a fountain all over her. Sucking it down so fast made me have a small coughing fit, Mel laughing the entire time.

I snorted with laughter once I composed myself and could actually breathe again. "He doesn't like girls. He likes sex." I explained. Melody was a little naïve.

"So, do it. He's hotter then Aaron." That was kind of a surprising suggestion coming from her. She'd never approved of the type of relationship I had with Aaron, but I'd figured it was the relationship in itself she didn't like, not him particularly. He'd always minded his manners around her because I make him be nice to my friends… friend.

I scowled at her words. I really don't know where this fantasy where we both marry Sons of Ipswich came from, but she'd better count me out. My expression made Mel purse her lips and sink down in her seat, staring at her cup of coffee. I know Mel knows I sleep with Aaron, but we have this… thing where she pretends she doesn't know and I pretend that I don't sleep with him. So we never talk about it. The deal was, no one knows. If course, I know what some people know, like Kira, and a few others. But I try not to let my shit fly around school like wildfire. I made Aaron swear to keep his mouth shut about us if he wanted to keep getting it. Not to mention, I have some very interesting blackmail involving a picture of him drunk, in drag and kissing something with a penis. Whether it's human or not, I can't say.

Aaron makes his cronies keep quiet. And Kira certainly doesn't want people to know that Aaron sleeps around on her, because they're seen as some sort of strange couple at school. I guess it's considered an open relationship of sorts, except for the fact that Kira looks like she wants to die every time he's with another girl. She's just too stupid to realize she shouldn't put up with that and so desperate to be connected to someone with a good family name that she just lets herself continuously be humiliated.

"Sorry," Mel muttered. I'm not exactly proud that I sleep with Aaron. That's why I want to keep it on the DL. I know people have their suspicions since we're together an awful lot, and he always seems to pop the personal bubble when he's in my vaccinate. But it makes me feel better to know everyone isn't talking about it, gossiping about what a naïve whore I must be, just like Kira. It's not the same. I swear.

I worse some light wash, ragged, holey jeans and a plain band tank top to the bar that night, ready to endure interaction with Garwin I didn't think there was any sure fire way for me to avoid unless I spent the night locked in the bathroom. Even then, Garwin's been seen coming out of there with ruffled hair and lipstick smudges.

"Thank you so much for coming with me tonight!" Mel said excitedly as we made our way through the packed lot from the car.

"It's no problem." Mel looked cute. She was really excited about her 'date' with Simms. I guess that's… cool.

What the hell is wrong with me? When did Sons start getting 'cool' as a compliment from me? Something must have been in my frap earlier…

"Hey, come back to the dorms with me babe," Aaron's voice called from behind me. I turned to see him coming out of the side alley. Oh, great, nothing good ever happens in that thing.

And better question, did he really think I was going to leave as soon as I got there to leave right away and suck his dick? He needs to get real. I'm not Kira. "No. I'm hanging out with Mel. What the hell were you doing in the alley?" I questioned him.

"Stupid Fucks of Ipswich. Garwin cheated me at pool. So I didn't pay up. Nicky made us take it outside. I kicked his ass." Aaron had a faux confident smile on his face, I could tell, which likely meant Garwin handed it to him in some way, shape or form.

I rolled my eyes. If he expected me to be bailing his ass out of trouble all the time when he clearly couldn't stay out of it, then forget. I'm not going to waste my time on a boy who never seems to learn his lesson. The way Aaron and Garwin fought, they'd both be expelled before Christmas. "Whatever Aaron. See you later," I said, trying to walk past him. He stopped me by wrapping his arms around my waist. I pulled against him half-heatedly to try and get away, but gave up fairly quickly.

"Come to my room when you get back," he whispered in my ear. "You look so hot tonight." Ugh his breath reeked of alcohol. It wasn't hard to get drinks if you were underage at Nicky's. Just wait till he wasn't looking and plenty of the waitresses who went to the public would slip you a beer or shot if you promised them tips.

I couldn't stand Aaron when he was drunk.

"Get off. I'm not coming," I hissed, prying his arms from around me. I got out of his grasp and walked over to where Mel was standing near the door, waiting, looking nervous at my interactions with Aaron over there.

"You better," he demanded, sending me a warning look. Like he was my fucking boss or something. Mel hadn't heard his request since he'd been quiet about it, so she looked a little confused between the two of us.

Apparently, it was not the right day for Aaron to decide to try and tell me how it was, because my blood boiled and I went off.

"No Aaron! I'm sick of you telling me what to do! I'm not your bitch, or your whore! We're supposed to be friends Aaron! We were friends! But you treat me like shit! No more. I'm done. For good!" I yelled. Enough is enough.

He looked shocked, like he'd been cornered and not seen it coming. He didn't know what to say; I could see him struggling with his thoughts, his mind racing to come up with something quick and save this. "I'll tell everyone Lux. About us," he threatened.

And that was absolutely the wrong thing to say. But what could I really expect from Aaron? An actual apology? Ha!

"Good! I don't care anymore!" I really didn't want everyone to know, but now if he told people and wasn't seen around me anymore, people will just think he's lying anyway. I turned around and stormed into Nicky's, not even listening to what Aaron was yelling behind me. Mel followed me closely, a huge grin on her face.

"I can't believe you did that!" Mel enthused as I lit a cigarette up immediately. We weren't really allowed to smoke cigarettes because we're underage technically, but to expect Nicky to walk around on a night like this taking our smokes out of our mouth and dropping them in our drinks was ridiculous. He'd never get anything done. "Did you see Aaron's face? He was livid!"

I chuckled to myself. I felt… so much better. I hadn't realized how much stress he caused me. "Yeah, well now I need to find some kind of friend with benefits or something." There was no getting through the school year with no sexual gratification. I'd go nuts, really.

"Or a boyfriend?" Mel suggested, as if I'd never come to that conclusion on my own.

I made a face. Boyfriends weren't my forte. "I don't know about that." An actual relationship was a lot of pressure, too much for me right now. No strings was the best way to gol Aaron couldn't quit trying to tie me up, so his strings got cut. Simple as that, right?

"Well… there's always tall, blonde and smirky," Mel suggested, with an exaggerated dreamy sigh. She really wanted some kind of best friend happily ever after here, didn't she?

"Oh my God! Mel!" I laughed. "Get off it! I would never date—"

"Reid! Tyler! Hey!" she waved behind me. I turned and came face to face with a pissed off looking Garwin and a concerned looking Simms.

"Hey. Hey Mel. You came," Simms realized, smiling, his concerned expression slowly fading. He took a breath to straighten himself out, then gave her a hug and I looked back at Garwin.

"Butt fuck me," he said, an angry expression still in place of his usual smirk.

"What?!" I asked, a little shocked and confused at his request. Not exactly the first thing you expect to come out of someone's mouth when they approach you.

He sighed and grabbed my chin, sticking his own cigarette in his mouth. He held my chin still and put the end of his unlit cigarette against the end of my lit one and inhaled, lighting his up.

I stood awkwardly next to Garwin, in silence as Simms tried to teach Mel how to play pool. What a sneaky bitch. I know she knows how to play. She's not bad either. I half smiled at the thought.

Then I noticed Garwin had started glaring holes into someone's back. I followed his eyes and found out it was Danvers. Hmm… wonder what happened there? Sure it was another clash of egos.

"I need a drink," Garwin grumbled, already done with his cigarette. Damn he sucked that down fast. "Want something?" he asked.

"Me?" I double checked, after no one else responded.

"Yeah princess," Garwin confirmed, like he was obviously talking to me. Sorry if I didn't get the 'we're obviously friends now' memo. Because if that's what he thinks, he's wrong.

"Um… how are you going to get alcohol? I don't want some roofie drink," I said, giving him a stern look. Nicky wouldn't serve anyone underage and I wanted to be sure he wasn't buying beers off some seedy bikers or something.

"Please, I don't need a roofie to get you into bed," he assured me, suddenly doing a complete 180, his unhappy expression finally replaced by his usual smirk.

I was compelled to roll my eyes but I refrained and simply shot him down with a, "You wish Garwin."

"Good thing my wishes usually come true, huh?" he chuckled, as if I should be well aware of the fact that he usually gets what he wants, winking. I just shook my head. "That little ginger waitress Carly gives me drinks… sometimes. She should tonight. I haven't asked the last few times I've been here. Too busy kicking people's asses at pool."

I was mildly impressed. I usually didn't drink hunt here, but I did enjoy doing so if it was being offered to me. "Get me a Grateful Dead, if you can. With a cherry."

He raised his eyebrows at me. "That's a very strong drink for a lady."

"Yeah, well I wanna get drunk. It's my last night of freedom for nine months," I explained. This time he was the one who shook his head. He understood, hell, that's what everyone wanted to do thought I'm sure, which is why we were all here.

"You driving?" he confirmed. Who'd have thought he'd be the type to be concerned if someone drank and drive. He'd always struck me as the type to do it himself, reckless and too stubborn to give his keys to his friends.

"Nope, Mel is," I informed him. Then he gave me a nod before he disappeared into the sea of people.

I waited patiently, feigning distraction with my fingernails when a voice broke my space out moment. "So, you like Reid?" Simms asked, making me jolt at the sudden conversation directed at me.

"Who said that?" I wondered, making a face.

"A little birdie told me," Simms answered, cocking his head at Mel. I glared at her, looking around innocently before she lined up her shot.

"I'll give him this one thing. He isn't that bad. But I hardly like him," I clarified just as Garwin returned, balancing two shots, and two other drinks.

"Grateful Dead… with a cherry," he announced, smirking and handing me the drink. I took the cherry out and popped it into my mouth, pulling only the stem out and dropping it on the floor. Garwin wagged his eyebrows suggestively at me before downing one of the shots.

"What's that?" I questioned curiously. My parents weren't big drinkers of anything but wine, and when I went out being underage you tend to just drink what you can get a hold of. He didn't answer, just offered the other shot glass to me. Hesitating, I stared at the liquid for a second before I decided to take it. I'll try anything when it comes to booze since I've only tried a select few things. I shot it back quickly and savored the burning sensation as the bitter liquid sloshed down my throat. Whiskey. That one I knew.

"Oh god, it burns so good." I smiled and put the shot glass on a passing by tray that a waitress was carrying and went back to my drink.

"Damn. Looks like I'll have you drunk and vulnerable by the end of the night," Garwin teased as I sucked half my drink down. Yeah, he was probably right. One Grateful Dead usually gets me a little more than buzzed. A shot of Jack on top of that and I'll probably be gone by the end of the night. Especially if he can keep them coming.

Twenty minutes and three Kamikaze's, later I was trashed, blurred vision, difficulty walking, the whole nine yards. Reid just schooled some jackass from the public who talked a big game in pool.

Wow… I must be drunk if I'm calling him Reid.

Tyler and Mel were standing with me, watching him as he collected his winnings. He was amazingly good at pool. He made the cue ball do things that didn't even seem physically possible, sinking more than one of his balls at a time usually.

It was that moment I realized I was spending far too much time watching him and turned to mel. I needed a distraction, something to do, before I ended up doing something I would most definitely regret. "Let's go dance Melly," I coaxed her, grabbing her hand and dragging her to the jukebox.

"You're dunk," she confirmed, knowing I wasn't usually quite so bold when sober. I'd dance, sure, but I wouldn't be the one to initiate dancing, and right now, everyone was just standing around.

"Yeah… but it's more interesting that way, right?" I was pretty aware of the fact that I was much more of a fun time when I was intoxicated. Certain inhibitions get released, judgement is different... blah, blah, blah.

"I got the song," she declared after sifting through the same choices that had been in here since we started school at Spenser. She put her quarter in and 'Paradise City' started playing.

"I love this song!" I yelled enthusiastically, grabbing both of Mel's hands before I spun her around and we made our way to the clearing of the 'dance floor' which was really just the only section of the bar that didn't have a pool table or people in the way.

Reid and Tyler abandoned their pool table and kept an eye on us from the sidelines, much too cool to dance I supposed.

The new blonde girl I'd seen at the party that seemed to be pretty chummy with Danvers walked over, cheering at us and I motioned her to come join us. I think Tyler said her name is Sarah. She modestly shook her head and signaled no, so I grabbed her hand and made her dance with us, which she complied too. I could see it in her eyes, foolish girl, the dread of being new and wanting to join in but too afraid the backlash of resident females would be an issue.

Nicky looked on at us, a hint of a smile on his face as he cleaned a glass and shook his head. I waved at him and resumed dancing with Mel and Sarah. The song died out eventually and Reid grabbed me so fast, I literally had no time to protest, lifting me easily and throwing me over his shoulder.

"Alright, I think it's time for the drunk girl to go home and sleep before she can't wake up in the morning," he said to Mel. "I'll bring her," he volunteered just as quickly with a grin. Mel looked at him skeptically ad then at Tyler. And clearly her judgement was good at the moment because she didn't try playing matchmaker and sending me off with Reid.

"Nah, I think I'm going to head out too. I need to get some sleep," she answered.

I started kicking my feet and Garwin put me on the floor. I sat on the pool table's edge and barely reached for my shoes, which I'd discarded after that first drink. "Can someone get my shoes for me?" I whined, that drunk helplessness setting in. Reid shook his head, picked my heels up and handed them to me. I grinned and took them. "Thankkkk youuuu."

Garwin started laughing and his eyes looked… really bright. So bright, you could almost get lost. Like the sun. It was hard to look away.

And I am clearly drunk.

"We leavin' Baby Boy?" he asked Simms, keeping his eyes on me for a long second before he fully looked at his friend. I didn't pay attention after that though because Sarah came over to me after getting a bottle of water from Nicky and putting on shoes was proving to be a difficult task.

"Hi, I don't think we've been properly introduced. Sarah Wenham. I just transferred to Spenser," the blonde said, offering her hand.

I smiled and took it, one of my shoes still clutch. "Lux Proctor. And that's Melody Carlyle," I introduced her. Mel waved and Sarah smiled back.

"Alright, well I guess I'll see you around school. I had fun dancing with you girls. No one really knows how to get into it around here, huh?" A lot of the people from Spenser were preppy snobs, and didn't like to be seen doing things their parents would disapprove of. And I don't mean preppy as in they don't wear black. No, I mean full on Polo shirts, beach house on the Cape and private yacht preppy.

"I know what you mean," Mel agreed. Mel and I were friends for one basic reason we didn't really like a lot of the girls we went to school with. We had little in common with them, and frankly, our personalities just clashed. "But as long as Lux is drunk you can assure she'll cause a scene."

I scowled at her, but started laughing because I couldn't deny it. "I'll see you guys tomorrow I guess," Sarah shrugged, flashing us a smile before she departed back over to where Danvers and company were sitting.

"Ready ladies?" Reid asked as I was finished replacing my shoe. I hopped off the pool table and nodded, following him, Mel and Simms out the door of Nicky's.

I actually had a damn good time tonight. And I was with Garwin. What, are the planets aligned or something?

Simms smiled at Mel when we reached her car. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Yeah alright. Bye," she replied. Awkward. Hahahaha how cute. They're both shy. I tired not to look and make them uncomfortable, lighting a cigarette instead, while they hugged ad parted ways, Simms grinning over his shoulder at Mel as he walked away.

"Peace ladies," Garwin added, following his friend. I yelped as he walked by me, pinching my ass. My eyes glared at him while he just smirked and continued on his way to the Hummer.

I rushed into Mel's car, immediately turning the radio as loud as it could go. Mel turned it back down though.

Damn it.

"Soooo," she said in a singsong voice.

"Soooo what?" I asked. I knew what she was about to get at and I had no desire to even entertain her thoughts of Reid and I potentially hooking up because I didn't want to kill myself all night.

"You totally like him," she grinned. Everything went at a standstill at those words for just a minute before I regained my composure and vocalized my opinion.

"Not like. Just... tolerate," I corrected her, looking for the right word. So he wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated besides his blatant disregard for personal space.

"Uh huh." She was humoring me. Which meant, she didn't believe me!

"Shutup!" Then I started logically thinking about it, because I was drunk. Had I been sober, it would have ended there. "It wouldn't work out. We're both too stubborn to coexist together for that long."

"So you do like him." God if she wasn't my friend I'd be compelled to punch her in the face.

"I did not say that. He's okay." Couldn't we just leave it at that? I was willing to get along with the guy for her sake.

"He's hot," Mel reminded me. Of course he was. He was on the swim team. They were all hot.

"Drop it!" I laughed and shoved her shoulder, making the car swerve a little. I'd really had enough Reid Garwin for one night, if I do say so myself.

"He pinched your ass and you didn't even slap him or yell or anything." Ouch, she had me there. Normally, he would have gotten served. But for some reason when he did it, my skin firstly didn't all shrivel up and peel off like I'd expect it to, and maybe I just didn't feel like making a big fuss over something like that while we were having such a nice time.

"I'm drunk." That was my story and I was sticking to it.

Silence followed for not long enough before Mel asked another question. "Would you do him?"

"God!" I sighed exasperated, looking out the window and running my hand through my hair. "Maybe, all right? You happy now?"

"Very," she grinned satisfied as we pulled into the parking lot.