A.N.: I just thought, given the description of her, Kayla Bird might look something like Minka Kelly from Friday Night Lights.
Rose Amongst Thorns
Chapter Twenty
Party
"Oh my god! Tessa! You came!"
Rose crossed the threshold into the enormous teenager-strewn foyer, hit at first by a sound-wall comprised of seriously loud fast-paced pop and R&B and some rock music, teenagers' loudly laughter, and shouted conversations.
And then a girl threw her arms around her, enveloping Rose in an entirely too-tight hug that almost unbalanced her because the girl was clearly already drunk. She stank of musky perfume and one of her crunchy permed curls flew directly into Rose's mouth. It tasted sour. Rose plucked it out of her mouth and grimaced. A few guys coming down the stairs saw and laughed.
"I knew you'd come!" the girl shouted tipsily in Rose's ear. Half the beer in her cup slopped over the rim and hit the floor behind Rose, splashing her feet. "So you forgive me, right? 'Cause I swear I didn't mean to kiss him. I just, y'know…slipped!"
"Er…I don't think I'm who you're looking for," Rose said, gently pushing the girl away. The girl frowned at her.
"Who the hell are you?" she asked, now realising Rose wasn't this Tessa girl whose boyfriend she definitely hadn't 'accidentally' kissed. Kisses weren't accidental.
"Rose," she said quietly. She glanced at the cup in the girl's hand. "Where's the keg?"
"Kitchen!" the girl said brightly, and teetered off to someone else. Rose slid sideways out of the foyer and headed into the room on her left, figuring she'd find the kitchen on her own. The party was raging in this room, the furniture all pushed to the edges of the room. Unfamiliar faces surrounded her, laughing, singing to the music, shouting to each other across the room. A group of guys checked her up and down and consulted. Apparently she scored high on their ratings scale, because one of them lifted his chin and made a move to come over and talk to her. Not in the mood, Rose nevertheless shot him a slow smile and slid out of the nearest available door.
In the next room, four games of Jenga were being played simultaneously on a purple-felt-topped pool table. At least twenty people were gathered around, watching the action. There was a game of Dance Dance Revolution going on in the other end of the room, and some of the guys watching the girls have a dance-off were cheering them on and also consulting the other games available, wanting a Guitar Hero war. Rose paused as a scrawny guy with clammy skin made his move at the nearest Jenga tower. The tower teetered for a long moment, then toppled over, spraying blocks everywhere. The crowd cheered and groaned and pointed. The kid nodded and lifted a hand, then took a beer from his friend and chugged it in three gulps.
"Rose! Hi!"
Finn. He emerged from the crowd, grinning. His wavy hair was tousled and he was wearing a burgundy baseball t-shirt with heather grey sleeves. She didn't want to know who had tousled his hair like that. But her eyes widened at the sight of him. He had made so many tackles and taken so many hits himself on the football field with uncomplaining strength and she hadn't thought he'd look so…gorgeous. He had cuts and grazes on his face, and his forearm was bandaged, minor grazes and cuts on his arms, marks on the left side of his neck where someone had clawed at him with their fingernails. They had already scabbed over and looked quite painful, still raw around the edges.
She was going to be sweet to him. She wasn't going to hold it against him that he had a second date with the girl he'd had a thing for, no matter how he'd jerked her around waiting for it. Plus, he really did look like he'd taken a beating. He broke away from the crowd and looped an arm around her shoulders, hugging her. He smelt of clean, fresh, warm laundry and paint.
"Hi," she said quietly, flicking her eyes over his injuries. Well, now she knew not even a whole varsity football team had anything on Hailey Farmer when she was on a terror.
"Wow," Finn smiled, stepping back to sweep his eyes over her, taking time to examine her face and her hair. He looked at her as if it was the first time he'd ever seen her. That same look he always gave her, the one that made her heart jump into her throat. "You look…wow."
"Thanks," Rose said quietly, blushing.
Finn took a sip from his cup, his eyes betraying a melange of emotions he didn't quite seem able to put into words. "So, where's Evan?"
"Avoiding conflict by avoiding me," Rose said, shouting the last bit when the Jenga crowd cheered and groaned at another toppled tower. Finn frowned.
"What? Why? What's happened?" he asked. Rose waved a hand tiredly. She had never been a part of politics at her old high-school; it seemed like, here, she had been flung right into the Houses of Congress.
"Oh, nothing, yet. It's pre-emptive," Rose sighed, taking the cup from Finn's hand and taking a large sip, handing it back. "He's afraid I'll screw up his relationship with Hailey just by standing near him."
"Why would he think that?" Finn asked, looking genuinely surprised.
"I don't know. You've met Hailey," Rose shrugged sadly. She had been looking forward to this party. Now that she was here, now that Evan had blamed her for everything that had gone wrong with his girlfriend the last two weeks, now that Finn had kissed her and made her feel secure about that horrid scar on her back, now that he was on another date with the girl he'd told her he was disillusioned with…now that she was here, alone, and with no escape from these boys at home…she just wanted to get back in her truck, drive home, curl up with a bowl of ice-cream and watch a movie or read her book.
"Rose," Finn said softly, his expression going stark and guilt-ridden, and he moved closer to her, putting a hand on her waist. She had to look through her lashes up at him. "Can we…talk?" Rose blinked a few times and flushed, looking away.
"Talk about what, Finn?" she asked quietly, backing away. She licked her lips and folded her arms across her chest defensively. He couldn't do that, he couldn't just turn on the charm again like…like he really, actually liked her, and not just because his quasi-girlfriend wasn't in the same room.
Except she was. Kayla Bird, tall and beautiful and flawlessly olive-skinned, came sauntering over in those tall boots of hers and a floaty, glitzy silver top that belonged in the 30s or something, her hair arranged as if she was a silver-screen siren from 30s-era Hollywood, and she was wearing a cerise-red lipstick that made her teeth glow white. Everything about this girl said she was elegant and otherworldly.
"Hi," Rose said softly, glancing from Kayla to Finn and back. Awkward… Seeing that Finn looked like a deer in the headlights, Rose smiled at Kayla. "You must be Kayla."
"I am," she smiled. "You must be Rose. I've heard a lot about you."
"You too," Rose said, smiling. "Well…I don't have a drink, so I'm going to go and find the—argh!" She squealed as someone clamped a strong arm around her waist and spun her around and hauled her over their shoulder, which was decorated with patches. Her brain temporarily froze as she was carried from the room, Finn and Kayla looking as stunned as she felt.
"You're coming with me, Tequila Queen! I need my beer-pong partner!" someone slurred. Rose tried to read the name on the back of the letterman jacket upside-down.
"Darnell?" she asked, being carried backwards over his shoulder into the noisy kitchen.
"The one and only!" Darnell chuckled, setting her unsteadily on her feet; Rose's cheeks were burning with embarrassment, and she glanced around uneasily. The kitchen was crowded and filled with food, kegs, blenders full of margarita mix and ice, tubs filled with ice and bottles and cans of beer and other alcohol, bottles lined the island, and the kitchen-table had been cleared of snacks to make way for the beer-pong championship. There was a mid-sized crowd observing Jake Salvatore and some other guy from the football team battling it out with their beer cups and a ping-pong ball.
"Come on, I'll get you a drink before it's our turn," Darnell grinned charmingly. "You look like you could use one."
"Thanks," Rose said, shuffling over to the island for a drink. She wasn't in the mood for beer; it made her emotional. Tequila sounded okay. That's what Darnell went for; when he'd said 'drink,' he meant shots. And he had dubbed Rose the Tequila Queen when she'd done tequila shots the real way, with salt and limes. There was none of that stuff here, so they just toasted their plastic shot-glasses and knocked a few back; Rose coughed and reached to pour herself a crushed margarita from the blender.
"So, you were mad-dogging my fullback," Darnell accused playfully, handing her another drink when she had finished her margarita, still waiting for their turn at beer-pong. Rose sipped her beer and watched the game going on at the kitchen table.
"I wasn't."
"That's a shame, 'cause he was mad-dogging you for, like, five minutes before you saw him," Darnell said, slurring, as he drained another beer. Rose glanced at him. He looked so earnest.
"You're teasing me," she said, smiling.
"I am not!" Darnell belted out a laugh. "I mean, why wouldn't he be staring at you?" Rose shrugged and drank some of her beer, avoiding Darnell's all too knowing eyes. She and Darnell played in a beer-pong tournament and downed a couple of drinks before Rose slipped away, leaving Darnell, who got drunker and drunker by the minute, to the care of his buddies. She glimpsed Finn in the first room again, talking to a few of his friends, saw Kayla with him, her hand on his hip as they stood close together, and something slipped in her chest, and a wave of something crippling washed over her.
Kayla glanced over her shoulder at that moment, saw Rose, smirked triumphantly, and turned back to Finn, cajoling and teasing him.
Rose felt that smirk like a slap in the face.
"Rose! There you are!" Ria and Aimee had emerged from a crowd, she didn't know where, grinning and holding full cups of beer. They already looked as tipsy as Rose felt and decidedly happier.
"Oh my god! You look amazing, all biker-chicky glamorous!" Aimee grinned, slinging an arm around her neck in a hug.
"What is Finn doing with her?" Ria said venomously, glowering over at Finn, who stood with Kayla.
"Apparently they have another date," Rose said sadly, observing the level of her beer, and wondering whether she could go and get a refill. Ria and Aimee both frowned and exchanged a loaded look.
"I thought he'd moved on," Ria said. Rose shrugged.
"I guess not," she said miserably.
"Okay, grumpy girl, you look like you need to dance!" Aimee said. "Come on! We're all dancing out back!" Aimee grabbed her hand and tugged. Rose tried to smile and followed the girls to the back porch, which was fenced in with mosquito nets; the wicker furniture was pushed to the edges of the room and dozens of sweaty teenagers were grinding and thrusting to a DJ, music pounding from enormous speakers. Aimee and Ria jumped into the middle of the fray, where Jenna and Pearl were already dancing. Jenna's hair was down and she was without glasses for the first time since Rose had met her. Her arms were linked around the neck of a tall, slim guy with peach fuzz sideburns. His hands were on her butt.
"Who's that?" Rose asked, feeling irrepressibly lonely.
"That's Jenna's boyfriend, Bobby," Ria replied, half-shouting. "They'll be making out in the woods within the next hour."
"What?"
"Happens ever year," Aimee said, grinning as she sipped her beer and kept dancing when a guy pressed his front against her back and started dancing with her. "By the end of the night, it'll be like an orgy out there." Rose glanced past the mosquito nets to the woods at the end of Christian Todd's enormous backyard.
"That's charming," Rose said, wrinkling her nose, but something flipped in her stomach when she thought about Finn and that gloating, triumphant smirk of Kayla's, and wondered whether they would end up in the woods later tonight. Miserable, she took a sip of her beer, and didn't even jump when some guy sidled up to her, pressed his front against her back, and started grinding with her to the fast, loud hip-hop music.
"Cheer up, Rosie!" Aimee shouted, dancing with Ria and Pearl, who evidently went into hyper-drive when she'd had alcohol, and whose smile was manic as she wielded a digital-camera. They dragged her away from the guy she'd been dancing with and the music changed, to a song Rose loved, and, surrounded by girls who gave her friendly smiles and encouraging grins and didn't look at her as if she was a boyfriend thief or a rival, her mood picked up. She closed her eyes and imagined she was at a party with her North Carolina friends, that it was Pogue she had played beer-pong with, and that it was sweet Garrett Norwood and his gorgeous arms that she had been dancing with. It didn't make her feel any better, but opening her eyes and seeing the girls all dancing and grinning did.
She wouldn't let Evan McGowan or neurotic, jealous Hailey Farmer or Finn McGowan or stupid, anorexic Kayla Bird get in the way of her having a good night, not any more. The song changed and Rose threw her arms up and whooped, grinning; the girls laughed and joined her, dancing to Lady GaGa and singing along.
For a little while, they danced, and grinned, and sang along at the top of their voices, passing around a beer and laughing. Then Bobby whispered something in Jenna's ear and she gave him a private smile; Bobby took her hand lightly and led her off the dance-floor. Jenna stumbled once but caught her balance, laughing loudly. Rose watched as they pushed through the screen door and headed out across the lawn.
"There they go," Ria said, lifting a hand and rolling her eyes.
Rose felt a stab of longing and another wave of complete, crushing loneliness, but Aimee, Pearl and Ria weren't content to let her feel sorry for herself and dragged her back into the throng of sweaty, writhing bodies. She freaked with a new, good-looking guy, and grinned, linking her arms around his neck, avoiding his lips when he tried to kiss her, and laughing at his pouting expression. He wasn't going to get her in the woods.
"Rose, look!" Aimee giggled, pointing out something across the room; Rose followed her gaze and grinned when Finn caught her eye, his expression stark, completely ignoring Kayla Bird; she shot him a flirty wave and Aimee and Ria pealed with giggles; Pearl dashed over to the DJ and leaned into him, grinning.
Def Leppard came on—more importantly, 'Pour Some Sugar on Me'. Rose whooped loudly and grinned, and started dancing sexily by herself. She loved dancing to Def Leppard, particularly when she had been drinking…but she liked it even better when she was dancing with someone else. She came to a quick decision, caught Aimee's eye and grinned, and dashed off, striding right up to Finn. She shot Kayla a smile, grabbed Finn, and hauled him over to the dance-floor. He almost lost his balance but straightened up, looking stunned; then he grinned, and they started to dance.
"Oh my god!" Rose shouted, jubilant, laughing her ass off. "You dance like a slut!"
And he did. She had never seen Finn dance before, but to Def Leppard, he danced like a complete whore. And, better, he grabbed her, and was dancing with her; it was all grazing thighs and grinding hips, hair-tossing and torsos pressed together, arms draped around each other, signing along at the top of their lungs. So maybe her enjoyment of the night did depend on one person smiling at her, but until Finn had his hands gripping her butt and was grinding something very conspicuous against her as they danced lustily with each other, his nose pressed gently against hers in the most adorable, intimate way, his lips hovering so torturously close to hers, she wouldn't have admitted it had been him.
When the song ended, they got separated by a group of boisterous, rowdy guys causing a scene, and the girls all fell on her, grinning and squealing, and in Pearl's case bursting a lung laughing so hard. They danced to Black Eyed Peas, and Rose was just thinking she needed another drink when she spotted Hailey.
She stood next to the door, and wore a barely-there black tube top and a denim skirt so short it could have passed for a belt. She was surrounded by four guys, all of whom were practically drooling into their beers. After a long drink from her cup, she placed it on the edge of the windowsill and tossed her arms around one guy's neck. The drink toppled over and hit the floor, splattering their shoes with beer. Hailey spit out a laugh and doubled over, clinging to her man. She was gone.
And Evan walked in. And he was not happy. He went right over to Hailey, took her arm, and pulled her away from her circle of vultures—er, admirers. Still dancing, Rose kept tabs on the couple. Evan bent his head toward Hailey's and was saying something in her ear, but Hailey kept looking away. Finally a spark lit up her eyes. She turned her head toward him and yelled something right in his face. Then she stormed out the door into the backyard. Evan put his hands on his slim his and took a few deep breaths. He shook his head slowly and went into the pool-room.
Oh dear.
She turned back to the girls and refocused on dancing. She had forgotten how much fun dancing was, particularly in the midst of a crowd of likeminded, lust-driven teenagers looking for a little closeness. There was no harm in dancing with a stranger at a party, or just dancing with her girlfriends.
"Cup all the way empty!" Rose called over the music, raising her empty cup. "Need more nectar!" The girls waved her off and Rose went stumbling through the crowd, trying not to get groped or tripped up as she made her way back into the house. A guy in a backward baseball cap came up behind her and pressed his chest into her back, squeezing her shoulder with one hand. So close…
"Hey, hey, hey, pretty lady! You lost?"
Rose shrank out of his grip and smiled, shaking her head.
"No thanks. Just going to get another drink."
"Well, then, you came to the right guy," he said. "I'm Christian Todd. You're at my party."
"Yeah, it's, uh, pretty…" she glanced around, saw someone vomiting behind a sofa and a group playing quarters on an antique-looking coffee-table, a few couples making out against the walls, "cool," she finished lamely. The real atmosphere was in that blocked-in porch.
"And you are…?" Christian Todd prompted.
"Rosalie Meade," Rose said, blushing, taking a careful step back as he swayed slightly.
"Oh, no way! You're the chick crashing at the McGs'! Sweet!" he said, looking her up and down fiercely. "Damn. You are hot!"
Rose blushed, and stopped the impulse to roll her eyes. "Yeah, uh…thanks. See you later."
A short skirt walked past and Christian Todd was distracted long enough for Rose to slip into the kitchen. Oh.
There were no longer any beer-pong players, just a few people getting drinks. Amongst them was Evan. So much for avoiding each other—but she needed to get to that keg!
"Hey."
"Hey," she replied, when he glanced up and spotted her teetering on the threshold.
"Want a drink?" Evan asked, motioning to the keg. Rose smiled and nodded, and watched Evan as he focused all his energy on filling a cup for her. He was drinking steadily from his own cup.
"How long have you been in here?" Rose asked, wondering alternately, how much have you drunk?
"About half an hour, I guess," Evan said, with a sigh.
"I…uh…I saw you and Hailey," she admitted. "Are you okay?"
Evan exhaled loudly. "No, not really. She's trying to get back at me; can you believe that? She was in there flirting with freakin' Mike Bagley and his loser friends. When I didn't even do anything."
A love song came on the stereo; 'When Love & Hate Collide' by Def Leppard, another of her absolute favourites, and she hummed along for a little bit.
"From what I saw…she's even more sloshed than Darnell will be by now," Rose remarked, sipping her beer. Evan laughed sarcastically.
"Please. She knew what she was doing when she walked in here tonight. The thing that really gets me is she's doing it on purpose." Rose leaned against the counter beside him, crossing her ankles. "When I flirt…if I flirt…it's not like it's premeditated. I'm not doing it to hurt anybody's feelings or get a rush or anything from the attention. It's just my personality. I mean, I'm a nice guy. I'm nice to girls. It's not my fault if they like me. But I've never cheated on her. Not once." Rose Mm-edthoughtfully and sipped her beer. Evan sighed heavily and drank deeply from his cup. "You'd think that would count for something." He looked so miserable and helpless; she couldn't help feeling a little bit of sympathy for him.
"Considering the only real boyfriend I ever had cheated on me, I'd say, yes, that you haven't has to count for something," Rose said. She didn't mention that an emotional relationship with someone or even a flirtation wasn't advisable for any relationship. Evan yawned, and Rose guessed he was at that point of inebriation where he was just really tired.
"I shouldn't be here with you right now for a lot of different reasons," he said sadly.
Rose wasn't a meek little lamb when she had a few beers under her belt. As Darnell had noted at the last Baker party she'd gone to, she was flirty when she was drunk. She was also fiery, depending on what she'd drunk, and how much. Now, she was just going to speak her mind.
"Evan, I don't want to offend your girlfriend, but she's just going to have to grow up," she said passionately, taking a sip of her beer. Evan glanced up, eyebrows flickering up.
"What?"
"She's just going to have to deal with the fact that I'm here, that I live with you, because she can be a selfish bully and keep trying to knock me down during practice, but I took notes from Finn's tackles tonight, and she won't find it easy to knock me onto the floor any longer," Rose said. "I don't care what she's feeling right now, because she keeps bullying me; if I didn't have to live here because of my parents, believe me, I wouldn't, but since I do, it's none of her business if I am living with you and your family. She'll just have to accept that fact and move on. But I'm not going to waste the effort perpetuating whatever her deal is with me. I cannot bring myself to be bothered in girl-politics with that girl."
Evan blinked.
"What?"
"Nothing. I'm just… Most girls aren't as honest as you," he said quietly.
"They are, if you listen," Rose said, shrugging. "And anyway, I've been drinking beer; it always makes me loudly opinionated. Do you want to know what else I think?"
"Well, this is the most I've talked with you since you moved in, so…yeah," Evan said, smiling.
"Okay…I think that you're a good guy, and from what I can tell, a great boyfriend. Hailey may be insecure and jealous and tyrannical, and, I mean, she is a horrendous bully and, yes, there's that whole thing with her not being able to wear any skirts wider than belts…where was I going with this?" She paused, taking in Evan's incredulously amused expression. "Oh yeah! Despite all of her numerous and very serious character flaws, you seem to be always thinking about her feelings. You didn't even want to be seen with me tonight because you thought it might upset her. You really care about her, which means a lot. Not many high-school boys are that attentive to their girlfriends' feelings."
Evan glanced down at her, and his brown eyes softened, warmed, and he smiled. Rose smiled and raised her cup to drink.
"Oh, you have to be kidding me!"
Rose jumped and almost sloshed half her remaining beer down her front. Evan whirled around, and Rose followed suit, slower. Hailey stood in the kitchen doorway, her legs spread for balance, her tube top riding dangerously low.
Evan looked from Rose to Hailey, his eyes widening. "Hailey!"
"I came in here to talk things out with you and you're alone with her!?" Hailey shouted. "With her?"
"Er—firstly, 'her' has a name," Rose frowned. "It's Rosalie. Secondly—there are people everywhere!" She gestured around the room, where people were grabbing drinks and snacks and talking or necking. And now staring at them.
"Rose, don't." Rose turned on Evan now. She raised her eyebrows at his expression, and her face hardened. Her Harpy face had taken over now.
"Wow. I mean, really, wow. You two are unbelievable," Hailey said, yanking her tube top up so violently that she nearly knocked herself over. "Have fun with your little chipper girl or whatever you call her."
"Hailey, wait!"
Evan followed her out into the hallway. Rose followed him, curious about what would happen next; a line of openly gaping spectators greeted her in the foyer. Hailey stumbled outside, fumbling in her purse for her car-keys, Rose guessed.
"Hailey, you can't drive like that!" Evan shouted, over the tumult of the games room and the living-room; a crowd of people surged through the foyer, blocking Evan from Hailey. Evan shoved his way through the crowd, but it was too late; she was gone. When Rose reached him, still sipping her beer, he was standing on the front porch, struggling for breath. Rose scanned the front lawn for any trace of Hailey, but there was nothing. She wouldn't have thought Hailey was sober enough to make it halfway down the garden path without falling, but that just showed her.
"Give me your car-keys," Evan ordered, rounding on her.
"Excuse me?"
"Give me your car-keys."
"Why?"
"I'm going to go look for her," Evan said, and desperation lit up his eyes. "She's had way too much to drink to drive herself home. I need to find her and make sure she doesn't get herself killed doing something stupid."
"Ask me nicely," Rose said, frowning at him. She wouldn't reward barked orders, like she was some unloved guard-dog.
"Rose!"
"Alright, fine! Hearing you scream my name is more than enough," Rose said, digging into her purse for her keys. She caught them in her fist before Evan could snatch them from her fingers. "You leave a scratch on the paintwork, mark the upholstery, get vomit anywhere on the truck, or change my radio station, I will kill you."
"Noted," Evan said. He took the keys and ran over to her truck. She watched anxiously as he pulled out into the road, turned and drove off. He's a big boy, he's got a licence…your baby will be fine…
A.N.: I just think Evan is way too pathetic. And my thoughts on Hailey are clearly channelled through tipsy-Rose.
