Then You Saw Me by Carrie Aarons

10

Taya

Another Saturday night, another party.

College is a bit repetitive in this way, what with us busting our ass all week in classes and then letting loose like animals on the weekend. But it’s a cycle that everyone can get behind. These are the crazy years, right? At least they’re supposed to be.

Drinking to excess and experimenting with our bodies is the fun part. And tonight, I plan to take part in both. Because I aced my Mandarin exam and I had an unofficial date with the guy I’ve been crushing on forever. I chalk that up to a pretty good week.

The house is in full swing, and I’m sitting on the kitchen counter with Amelie and Bevan.

“Remember the time we drank gin from that water bottle at the basketball game in high school?” Am cackles.

We’re all about four shots deep and feeling like a million bucks. I bop to the song that Scott just put on over the loudspeakers and shimmy my shoulders. Which causes me to almost fall off the counter, and Bevan snorts a laugh at me.

“Oh my God, and Bev nearly puked on the floor! She would have made some poor varsity player go sliding in her vomit.” I clap my hands, remembering the exact moment.

“Not funny! It was the first time Callum and I broke up and I was devastated.” She pouts.

“The first of many.” Amelie toasts her heartbreak, and I giggle.

“You are the worst friends.” She sticks her tongue out at us.

“We’re the best, and you know it.” I try to kick her, but it just ends up sending me off-kilter, and my heel goes flying across the kitchen.

Scott grabs it, runs over, and places it back on my foot. “Cinderella, your glass slipper.”

We all laugh at that, tossing our heads back.

“Who the hell are all these people?” Bevan looks annoyed.

She’s the angry drunk who tries to fight other girls if they bump into her.

“Do we care? It’s a party, relax.” I roll my eyes.

Although, the one person I am looking for hasn’t entered my orbit yet.

After our coffee “date,” there was some intense flirting going on with Austin. It has been three days, and we are doing this odd mating dance. Circling around each other, coming close, but never quite committing. I feel it in the air, this is going to come to a head. Yes, I’ve thought that about the first party we had at the house, but this is different. We’ve spent time together, and he’s been the one to pursue it.

Pressing a palm to my chest over my rapidly beating heart, I try to calm the organ.

“Have you found your man yet? I think you just need to drag him upstairs and see if he’s packin’,” Amelie suggests.

Bevan slurps from her red cup. “I heard from Kimber Teltol that he’s big.”

“When?” I narrow my eyes, not loving that Kimber has been with him.

“They hooked up the summer before our senior year of high school. She said he’s a perfect gentleman.” Bevan nods her head.

“Is perfect gentleman code for he made her come first?” Amelie deadpans.

Bevan and I both simultaneously unhinge our jaws, then start hilariously laughing.

“I love how dirty you are when you drink.” Bevan hooks an arm around Amelie’s neck and pulls her in for a hug.

That’s when I spot him just outside of the doorframe to the kitchen. Austin is leaning against the wall, bracing himself with a hand, and a tall, thin redhead is standing with her tits pushed out. Her chest is practically brushing his, and he’s whispering in her ear. I can’t see his face, but I imagine his eyes full of lust as she runs a purple fingernail down his bicep.

Rage, and something like the cracking of a heart, rings out in my chest. Again, I’m more ticked off at myself than I am with him. Although, no. This time, I am pissed at him. He’s the one who brought me for coffee, who wanted to drive me to the library. He’s the one who sat across from me and couldn’t keep his eyes off me and then brushed my hair behind my ear.

Austin is the one who has been giving off vibes; I’m not crazy. And here he is flirting with some girl in front of me days later, in my own house.

It’s just like it always has been. I’m cute, but not enough to notice. Not enough to put first or have as his only option, even for the night.

“Oh, fuck this.” I hop off the counter, and Bevan and Amelie’s eyes follow me.

I hear one of them say, “oh, shit,” as I leave the kitchen.

Marching onto the dance floor, I see Landon, a guy I made out with at a Halloween party last year. He’d been a good kisser, wasn’t too inappropriate, and is a brunette. I’m not going to get hung up on a brunette since those guys generally aren’t my type.

He’s going to be it tonight. I am going to take him upstairs and make Austin jealous.

Jeez, I am doing this to make him jealous. Not get off, or have a good time. The alcohol reasons with me and wonders why I can’t do both. I can, and I will.

Landon is wearing a polo, oh, God, it’s way too preppy, and I grab the lapels of it. He looks shocked for a moment but then registers it’s me and his mouth instantly dives for mine.

I rear my head back, dodging him because, well, do I really want to make out with him?

Instead, I turn into him, grinding my butt to his crotch as the rap beat blares overhead. Landon is uncoordinated at best, and my buzz is starting to wear off. He probably is not that great in bed …

My thoughts wander, and this idea seems worse with each passing second.

I feel Austin’s eyes on me from across the room. The redhead is gone, not attached to his hip anymore, and those chocolate brown eyes are annoyed and taunting.

You’re really going to do that? His gaze says.

So stop me, asshole. I raise an eyebrow.

He turns his hands palms forward and shrugs his shoulders as if to wave the white flag. As if he’s saying, if you want to do that, not my problem.

I hate this. The whole thing. The push and pull he’s been giving me since the day he moved into this house. The fact that I’m allowing myself to be so malleable and weak after all these years of inattention.

Landon has begun sucking on my neck, and not in a good way. The flirty buzz, the lustful anticipation I’ve been feeling all night has completely burned out.

When I look back across the room, Austin is no longer there. I shove off of Landon, who I think yells what the fuck at my back, and head for the stairs.

What started out as a night full of possibilities has now dwindled down to none. And I’d rather spend it in bed than facing any more drama downstairs.