The American Dream
Chapter 2
It was about half an hour later when Paulina decided to swing by the bar once again with Star in tow.
"Are you okay?" Star asked me breathlessly. She'd been in the middle of the crowd, dancing with a cute guy she'd just met, and the two seemed to be hitting off great. I'd been right here at the bar sipping my third whatever-the-hell-this-was, just trying to kill time.
No, don't get me wrong—I wasn't always such a downer at parties. Despite Paulina's beliefs, I actually liked parties. Well, sort of. But at the moment, I just didn't really feel like partying; I was tired. And sleepy. But for my own safety, I decided not to mention this to brunette, ever—since it'd surely earn me a ton of yelling from her.
"Yeah," I answered her and held up my drink. "I just really, really like whatever the hell this is."
Her concerned expression softened a little and she plopped down on the seat next to mine. "I met a nice guy. Matt Sullivan, I think."
I smiled positively at her. "See? I knew you would."
She mumbled a thanks before ordering something to drink for herself.
"Okay, so I met lots of nice people too," Paulina announced before settling down on the stool next to mine, seeming pleased with herself.
"And probably threw herself at them shamelessly," Star added casually as she started scrawling on a napkin with a stray pen, starting on another one of her really good drawls. I burst out laughing at her quip, earning a stern reply from Paulina.
"Hey." Paulina threw us a warning glance. "Anyway, they're a good group, okay? I think you'll like them." She said with an evil twinkle in her eye.
I turned to Star questioningly, wondering what Paulina was up to now. Star shrugged, wearing a perplexed expression.
"What have you done now?" I asked Paulina warily, because you never really know what that glint in her eye means except for the fact that it's purely evil. We were interrupted before she could answer, though.
"Hello, ladies," a voice behind me said, strangely sounding familiar.
No. No way. No freaking way.
Dreading this moment, I turned around slowly. Of course I recognized that voice. As much as I hated to admit it, it was burned into my mind.
As I'd known, there stood McDreamy in front of me, looking down at me as if he knew something I didn't. Jesus Christ, did I even mention how tall he was?
Screw you, Paulina, I thought to myself resentfully. Screw you, and screw McDreamy.
Why can't I just have my drink in peace?
With a slight smile tugging on his lips, he nodded at me, "Hey."
He so has a pretty voice, I decided to myself. Like deep yet soothing or whatever.
Well, what else can I expect to hear from McDreamy? He was just living up to the name we dubbed to him, wasn't he?
Seriously, Manson, don't go there, I stopped myself. No way in hell did I like this guy at all. Not even one bit.
I nodded back, but before I got to say anything, Paulina quickly interjected, "I was searching for a nice, cool soda in the back where the kitchen was and so was he. Danny Fenton here offered me the last one they had, and so I told him he had to join us for a drink."
Danny Fenton, huh?
Whatever. It's not like I want to know or anything.
McDreamy shrugged. "It was no big deal."
Two tall guys shuffled in next to him, the same two I'd seen standing with him before—a blued eyed blond, and the beret wearing drinker.
"So, drinks?" Paulina suggested enthusiastically, clapping her hands before signaling the bartender—Rick, his nametag said—for something good.
"On me, ladies," Beret-Guy said as he saddled up to the bartender and paid.
"You're wearing a beret," Star stated, staring at him. "A beret."
His eyes widened, as if he hadn't even noticed he was wearing it and snatched it from his head quickly, earning a chuckle from both his friends. I tilted my head, confused.
"It's this weird thing of his," the blond explained after glancing at my expression. "You get used to it. He's… weird." He shrugged.
"Hey. I was wearing it for old times' sake. Reminiscing purposes, okay?" Beret-Guy (now with the beret in his hands) snapped. "It's a chick magnet and you know it."
Paulina turned to him with an apologetic expression on her face and spoke sadly, as if she was about to tell a five year old that Santa wasn't real. "It's… not. Really. It's really not."
"Seriously?" He asked disbelievingly—as if Paulina's statement was simply ludicrous.
Star and I nodded sympathetically at him before Danny and his friend burst out laughing.
"We've been telling him that for years," Danny told us in that amazing voice (Oh my God, I need to stop) of his. My heart jumped the moment his eyes landed on me. "Funny how he simply reconsiders when you guys tell him to do so."
"Hmm," Paulina mock-frowned. "Whatever do you mean, Danny?"
"He's just pointing out that Tuck here is a sucker for the pretty ones," the blond said, putting on a charming smile. "And all of you ladies are very pretty. I'm Dash Baxter, by the way."
"Tucker Foley," Beret-Guy introduced himself, with a friendly grin.
"Paulina Sanchez," Paulina said before flipping her hair over her shoulder—her trademark move—and introduced Star and me.
"It's really nice to meet you all," Dash said genuinely. "It's seriously hard to meet pleasant company these days when this guy's girlfriend-" he paused to point at an uncomfortable looking Danny, "is hounding him all the time and constantly throwing jealous fits whenever there's a girl within a five mile radius."
Girlfriend. Of course.
Of course McDreamy would have a girlfriend.
Wait—so why the hell was he going around telling strangers they were beautiful?
I tried my best not to start fuming right here. My angry rant could wait till both my friends and I got back to our room. And, boy, was I angry.
I could see that expression of distaste in Paulina's face. No doubt this nameless girlfriend had ruined her plans of getting me and Danny together or whatever hell she'd been planning in that screwed up mind of hers.
Star shot me a small frown, also seeming a bit put out by Dash's statement.
A girlfriend, hmm?
I wondered for a second if she was prettier than me.
Oh, my God. What is wrong with me?
But the guys didn't seem to notice the sudden pause from us, busy as they were picking on McDreamy's girlfriend, whoever she was.
Tucker laughed so hard, coughing down his drink, "Totally. Like, all the time. I'm surprised she's not here right now."
"Hey, where were you guys?" a male voice said from behind us. We turned around to see a tall guy with dark hair walking over to us. He questioned Dash while gesturing towards us, "Fellow freshmen?"
Dash nodded back before turning back to us, "This is Kwan. He was fishing for sodas in the back."
Tucker asked, "So? Did you find anything?"
"Not really," Kwan replied as he sat down on the stool next to Star, and pointed to the napkin she was doodling flowers on. "That's cool."
And I decided that I liked Kwan.
Star looked up with her eyes bright, "Seriously?"
Kwan smiled pleasantly and shrugged before answering, "Well, yeah. It's pretty neat."
I wondered for a second, that maybe this was actually a good move. I liked this group. (Well, everyone except for Danny—who most definitely was a flirt) And, anyway, it was a nice change, wasn't it? It was always Paulina, Star and me. We didn't have any good guy friends, since according to Paulina; guys were pretty much useless for anything other than dating. (And, um, other things, but let's not get into that) But this seemed nice. You know, just having a conversation without Paulina flinging herself on anything male.
It was definitely a change.
And then Paulina discreetly nudged me closer to Danny. I wanted to sock her in the jaw.
"There you are!" a voice exclaimed, and before I knew it, there was a girl clinging to McDreamy's arm. Tall, dark and beautiful—she had to be a model or something. She was dressed in a slinky black number and high heels, something that could give Paulina a run for her money.
It had to be his girlfriend.
She is definitely prettier than me. Like, so much.
I could see Dash, Tucker and Kwan collectively roll their eyes and sigh as the girl eyed me, Paulina and Star.
"Hello," she spoke to me coolly. "I'm Valerie, Danny's girlfriend."
Okay, we get it, I wanted to say. But instead, I put on a friendly smile, "Hey. I'm Sam, this is Star, and that's Paulina."
She nodded to Star casually, but her eyes widened when she turned to Paulina. "You."
Paulina frowned, confused. A second later, her expression morphed into one of disgust, and she spit out, "Oh my God. It's you."
Star prodded me with her elbow, and I shrugged. Judging by the guys' expressions, it seemed like we weren't the only ones who had no idea what was going on.
Paulina kept her narrowed eyes on Valerie, but spoke to us, "Remember when I said I met the most revolting woman today?"
I recalled just a few hours ago, right before the party had started, when she had been telling us about her day.
I was in the lounging chairs right here in the back somewhere around seven, and I met the most revolting woman. I hate her.
"Oh," Star breathed. Oh was right. Now things made slightly more sense than they had before.
Valerie very nearly bared fangs at her as she spoke to McDreamy. "Remember when I mentioned running into the most horrible person ever?"
Okay, now I was curious. What happened between them that was so bad?
McDreamy winced apologetically, and Paulina simply waved it off. "Oh, honey, horrible? Ha. The only thing horrible here is your dressing sense—I'd never take out that polka-dot bathing suit, like, ever."
Dash tried his best to muffle his laughter. Tucker didn't bother.
Valerie's cheeks burned as she shot back, "I told you. It was a gift."
"Well, I'd keep it buried under that layer of even more frillier hats you undoubtedly have in your suitcase. You know, like the bright yellow one you were drowning under on the deck."
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. I didn't know Valerie, but I knew Paulina. And anybody who would ever pick a fight with Paulina couldn't expect to get away with it, because Paulina always wins a verbal beatdown. Always.
"I hate you," Valerie seethed.
"I can't say I like you too much either. Or your bad taste in clothes." Paulina retorted happily.
Okay, how did we get here? Talking to McDreamy and his friends in the middle of a party, and now suddenly with his girlfriend and Paulina at each other's throats? I tried to tell myself that I wasn't proud of the fact that Paulina could take anyone, anywhere, and make them regret ever crossing her.
Star cleared her throat anxiously, and I shook my head. "Paulina," I said firmly, and she looked up at me. I could tell she wasn't finished, but these guys were nice. And the steps to a good friendship don't exactly include trashing their buddy's girlfriend. The moment her eyes met mine, it was as if she understood—and that's how it's always been. She turned and walked away, muttering something about the cold breeze and that she was getting a sweater.
The thing about Paulina is: she never backs down. I'm glad she understood the situation and listened to me. She'd probably be in our room right now in The Dorm, and I wanted to catch up to her and find out what her little clash with Valerie was about.
Apparently not wanting to be the one who was walked out on, Valerie huffed as she spun and stormed away in the opposite direction.
It was silent for a while. McDreamy shifted a bit, pointing to where Valerie went, "I should probably…"
I could tell the guys were just barely holding back their commentary, so I just nodded to him, avoiding eye contact. (Because he has a girlfriend—not I that really care.) He glanced back in Valerie's direction, then back at me, and sighed.
"I'll see you guys later," he mumbled to Tucker and shuffled away.
"Okay, can we just talk about how awesome that was, and how much we like Paulina Sanchez?" Tucker grinned widely.
Kwan chuckled. "It's been a while since I've ever seen Valerie speechless."
"Try never." Dash said. "That was certainly refreshing."
Star cracked a smile. "She's… really something."
"Um, we should probably get going," I said, darting a swift look at Star.
She nodded quickly, probably thinking about talking to Paulina too. "Yeah, let's go."
Before we'd taken so much as five steps, Tucker called out, "Hey! You guys gonna be around for tomorrow's thing?"
I had vaguely heard from Rick-the-bartender that they were going to have a huge celebration tomorrow for our last night on the boat. It sounded like something Paulina would never miss out on, so I guessed Star and I would probably be dragged to it whether we felt like it or not.
"Sure," I answered distractedly as we began making our way through the crowd.
"See you guys there!" he waved.
"I like them," Star told me with a smile once we were off the deck and in The Dorm.
Funny, I did too.
..~*~..
..~*~..
"So? Are you really going to leave us hanging?" Star wondered, lounging on the couch ten minutes later.
"I told you—Red called me up for a private party, and I said yes." Paulina shrugged as she looked around for her phone.
Star just shook her head, "Jesus Christ, Sanchez. I don't even wanna know what that means."
"So you still don't know his name?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Of course I do. It's Steven." Locating her phone under her pillow, she picked up a hoodie from my bed. "Bye now."
"Oh, come on!" I exclaimed from my place by the window. "Seriously?"
"What?"
"You still haven't told us how you knew Valerie." Star tried again.
Paulina sighed and flopped down on her bed. "Okay, so I was by deck like I said, and there was only one lounging chair around that wasn't occupied. So I went over and threw my stuff on it, and so did she. Ugh, ella - demonio del infierno."
This one was new. I turned to Star, and she mouthed she-demon from hell. I almost laughed.
Even though Paulina had almost perfected her American accent by now, she still had this thing where she would rant in Spanish when she was really angry—I sucked for not taking Spanish in high school, but at least Star had, and if there was something I wasn't already used to, she'd do the honors by translating it for me.
"Anyway, then she had the nerve to insult my Jimmy Choos. After that, ladies, I had declared an all out war." She fumed before gasping as she looked at the time on her phone. "Okay, now, I really have to go."
"Slut," Star grumbled and I just laughed. Paulina was already at the door, blowing kisses and waving at us joyously, "I love you guys too! And Sam Manson, don't you dare think you're off the hook yet!" and then she was gone within the second. I bit the inside of my cheek, knowing that she and Star had yet to inquire how I knew McDreamy. Boy, isn't today just so incredibly fun?
Star shook her head at the door, and then perked up immediately once her gaze landed on me. "Hey, you owe me five bucks, don't you?"
I sighed. If I kept letting Star bet on the obvious, little by little, I'd soon enough be homeless.
..~*~..
..~*~..
"Tucker, get out of the bathroom already!" Dash yelled, frustrated. "How long do you need to work on your hair?"
"As long as he needs," Kwan quoted Tucker's usual response as lay reading a book on his bed, knowing that's exactly what their bathroom hogging friend would say. "How else will the ladies notice him, hmm?"
The moment their eyes locked, both of them burst out laughing.
"Go ahead. Make fun of me," Tucker's voice drifted in from the open bathroom door. "But it's true."
"Right," Dash's said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Just like your beret conviction."
"I still can't believe the girls didn't like it."
"I can."
"Tch. Jealous."
"Of your beret? Uh, no, dude, I don't think so." Dash stated, and Kwan simply chuckled at his friends' interaction and kept his eyes on his book.
The door to their room opened then, and Danny stepped in, looking extremely tired. "Hey."
"Hey," Dash and Kwan said in unison as they looked up.
"Yo." Tucker greeted from the bathroom.
Danny trudged over to his bed, and collapsed on top of the pillows. "So? What's going on?"
"We were just talking about the very un-Valerie-like girls we met tonight, and how much we like them." Dash told him, and even though it hadn't exactly been what they were talking about, it was certainly what they had been thinking about.
"They were nice," Danny's muffled voice replied.
"Really? The whole Paulina-schooling-your-girlfriend thing aside, I thought Sam was very nice." Tucker said with a grin as he stepped out of the bathroom.
"Finally," Dash said, before muttering a string of curses at Tucker for taking so long to get out of the bathroom.
"Oh, yeah," Kwan looked up from his book towards where Danny lay. "What was that about?"
Danny raised his head from his pillows to stare at his friends, "What are you even talking about?"
"Please." Dash said. "Like nobody noticed. You're so into that Samantha Manson girl, it's not even funny. Though I commend your choice. The girl's a doll."
"I'm not into anybody." Danny snapped.
"Yes, you're right. So you should probably break up with Valerie right now." Tucker replied eagerly. He was always giving Danny excuses to break up with Valerie. He didn't know why a reason was even necessary—it was Valerie. Wasn't that enough said?
"Totally," Dash said before grabbing his towel and bolting for the washroom.
"I agree." Kwan absently said as he thumbed through the pages off his book.
Danny protested, "You guys always want me to break up with Valerie."
"Which is why you should listen to us," Tucker insisted. "Dude, it's perfect. You like Sam, and you sure as hell don't like Valerie anymore—no, no, you listen here, buddy. As much as you'd like to think you guys have a good thing, you don't. Your relationship is worse than it was in high school, and that's really saying something. So just cut yourself some slack and give each other a break. Especially yourself."
"Stop, Tuck," Danny groaned. He was tired of all this. He just wanted to sleep.
"Whatever, dude. You know I'm just being honest with you."
Danny sighed, "Kwan?" He wanted to know what his calm-minded friend thought about Tucker's speech.
"I like Sam," was all that he said, and Danny groaned again. He knew very well that he kind of did too. She had seemed to avoid eye contact with him all evening, and there was this smug spark in her eyes that made him want to know more about her. Didn't hurt that she was freaking beautiful, either.
He groaned again, letting his head fall to the pillow. He was definitely an asshole.
..~*~..
This was a dumb chapter. Sorry to subject you to something so bad, the next ones will be way better.
Hiii. I'm really sorry it took this long to update, but college started up and it's been really busy. I'll be updating a lot more in May and onwards, so here's a chapter for now. And don't hesitate to hit that review button down there, or to PM me! :)
Thank you guys so much for reviewing, and do let me know what you think of this chapter; any favorite scenes, or something you want to see happening.
Thanks so much for reading! :)
-Lexy.