“Are you sure you want to go?”

            “I don’t want to be rude…”

            “Not going won’t be rude.”

            “But it’s a welcoming party.”

            Chris gave me a flat look. “That doesn’t mean you have to feel obliged to go.”

            I pursed my lips at him. “Do you not want me to go?”

            “I want you to come over,” he returned. “Friday nights are our thing. Not new boy and new girl night.”

            “Are you jealous I’ll be seeing Aaron?”

            He snorted. “I don’t get jealous.”

            A smile crossed my face. “So I guess Jeremy doesn’t exist?”

            “He’s a different story, since you seem to be interested in older men.”

            My face flushed causing Chris to smirk. Unbuckling my seatbelt, I reached for the door, which he proceeded to lock. I gave him an impatient look. “Not this again, Chris.”

            He gave me an innocent look. “Not what?”

            I unlocked the door again and quickly went for the handle.

            Click.

            I flipped the lock again.

            Click.

            “Stop it!”

            “Promise me you won’t be tempted to drink alcohol,” he requested, leaning towards me in his seat. “I don’t want you doing something you’ll regret.”

            I turned my head to him, frowning. “I don’t drink, Chris.”

            “I know you don’t. But I know you. If there’s enough peer pressure, you’ll give in.”

            “I would not!”

            He cocked an eyebrow.

            “Okay, fine, I would,” I murmured, dropping my gaze. “But I promise I won’t drink no matter what.”

            Chris still didn’t look happy. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Holly.”

            “It’s Aaron you don’t trust?”

            “How did you know?”

            His sudden hard tone made me blink in surprise. “Um, what?”

            He shut his eyes for a moment, shaking his head. “Nothing. Never mind.”

            “No, not never mind—”

            “You’ll be late if you don’t go,” he cut me off.

            “Chris. We don’t keep things from each other…”

            He stared at me for a moment, finally letting out a small sigh. “Can you really be the one to say that, Holly?”

            My eyes widened. What was he talking about? “W-what do you mean?”

            “I’m not angry,” he started slowly.

            “About what?”

            “Why didn’t you tell me Aaron knew about us?”

            My heart skipped a beat. How did he know? Did Aaron know he knew? What would happen now? Was Aaron going to tell the school now? Would Chris get fired?

            “Breathe, Holly,” a quiet voice murmured in my ear.

            My head snapped to the side, my nose brushing against Chris’s. I didn’t even notice him get so close. Now registering his words, I realized I’d been holding my breath. I let it out slowly. “How do you know?”

            “Aaron came up to me after school a few days ago,” he told me, his grey eyes still piercing into mine. “He told me he knew our secret.”

            I bit my lip. “I’m sorry, Chris. I didn’t want to keep it from you, but Aaron threatened—”

            “That he would tell the principal about us if you told me you knew?” he interjected, air quoting the word “us”.

            “Er… Yeah. How did you know?”

            An amused smile crossed his face. “He reminds me of me in a way. Blackmail is my special technique.”

            “Well what did he say to you?” I inquired.

            “Almost the same thing he said to you. If I told you that I knew about your relationship, he’d tell the principal. I can guess he said the same thing to Jeremy today too, seeing as he came into my classroom after school and giggled for about five minutes before leaving without saying anything.”

            I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. “Why would he threaten Jeremy?”

            Chris scowled. “This is where the annoying part comes in… But it’s also a little amusing,” he added as an after thought.

            “Which is?”

            “Aaron’s convinced you’re dating Jeremy.”

            My mind blanked. “What?”

            He nodded. “Try to imagine my surprise when he came up to me threatening that if I didn’t do what he said he’d tell the principal on you and Jeremy.”

            “But he knows it’s you and me!” I protested. “He said…” I trailed off, growing more confused. Aaron actually had never specifically said which teacher I was dating… “But at the wedding…”

            “You were sitting next to me and Jeremy.”

            I thought back to that day. “You kissed me.”

            “Maybe he has a bad memory?”

            I rolled my eyes, but felt relieved nonetheless. So he didn’t know Chris and I are dating. He knew Jeremy and I were dating— which we weren’t. Which meant Aaron didn’t have anything on me… Which meant I didn’t have to worry about him anymore. A laugh left my lips and I slumped back into Chris’s leather car seats.

            “You good?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

            I nodded, grinning at him. “If Aaron doesn’t know that we’re dating, we don’t have to break up.”

            “That’s all you were thinking when you found out he thought he knew?”

            “Yep.”

            He sighed, shaking his head. “Holly…”

            “What?” I asked in surprise. “Was that wrong? You said if someone found out we would have to break up—”

            “Never mind,” he interjected. “We don’t have to worry about it anymore. Don’t let Aaron walk all over you.”

            I hesitated for a moment. “But I don’t want Jeremy getting fired…”

            Chris narrowed his eyes. “Over Aaron threatening you?”

            “He’s not doing anything bad.”

            “But he can!”

            “But he’s not!”

            “I’m not going to argue about this,” he told me.

            I stared back at him, feeling my eyes become glossy. “I don’t want to fight about it either.”

            His gaze softened. “Then we won’t. Let’s drop it. Jeremy and I will think of something if anything comes up. He won’t get fired, I promise.”

            “You better keep it,” I told him as boldly as he could.

            He smirked, leaning forwards to kiss me quickly. “I will. Now you can go to your party.”

            “Are you sure you don’t want to go? Lexi would be thrilled,” I teased.

            He flicked my nose. “Get out of my car.”

            “I’ll call you when I’m ready to leave?”

            He nodded. “I’ll be ready anytime. Just sitting at home, watching a movie… By myself.”

            Rolling my eyes, I opened the car door now, stepping into the frigid January air. Only about two more months of this, I repeated in my head, drawing my jacket closer around me. After bidding Chris adieu once more, I head to the large building in front of me. I could already hear the bass of what I assumed to be gigantic speakers. Suddenly I was having second thought. Parties weren’t exactly my thing.

            “Holly? Is that you?”

            Twisting on my heel, I saw a dark figure approaching me. As an automatic reaction, I took a step back. As the silhouette grew closer, I realized it was actually two figures. Jeremy and Casey.

            “What are you waiting out here for? The party is inside,” Jeremy said in a taunting tone. “Enjoying the moonlight?”

            “What are you doing here?” I demanded, ignoring his jibe. “Don’t tell me you’re here for the party…”

            He grinned. “Okay, I won’t.”

            Casey sighed. “Sorry, Holly. I tried to talk him out of it…”

            “Did you two come together? After a date?” I guessed, smiling slyly.

            Both of them shook their heads, making my smile drop like a fly. Casey was the first to speak. “I just needed a ride.”

            I suppressed my smile this time. Casey probably needed a ride just as much as I did— not at all. The only reason I told Chris I needed a ride was so we could spend more time together. Casey was probably doing the same.

            “You really shouldn’t be here though, Jeremy,” I told him.

            He simpered back at me. “Can’t be seen with your boyfriend here?”

            “So Aaron did threaten you today?”

            He snorted. “The brat had the audacity to talk down to me the entire time. I hope you’re happy I went along with it. I even feigned being scared.”

            “You should probably go home though.”

            “If I go home, Casey won’t have a ride.”

            “Chris will bring her home.”

            “No. I can bring her home after.”

            I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t want you to be fired, Jeremy!”

            “Don’t worry about it.”

            Casey pursed his lips at him. “Maybe you should listen to Holly…”

            He pouted at her. “Not you too. Come on you guys! It’s just a party. I’m twenty. It’s not like I’m a thirty year old.”

            “Fine,” I resigned with a sigh. “But if you get in trouble—”

            “You’ll say I told you so,” he finished for me. “Now let’s go party!”

            The front door as flung open as soon as Jeremy pressed the doorbell. Immediately the sound of Tik Tok filled my ears. Lexi was standing in the entrance, grinning widely at us. “Glad you guys made it!” she shouted over the music.

            “Wouldn’t miss it!” Jeremy responded just as loudly.

            She moved out of the way to allow us inside. Gaggles of people inside were dancing in what looked like the living room. Most of them held the telltale plastic, red cups. I also didn’t recognize half of them.

            “So how come Mr. Heywood didn’t come?”

            For a split second I had a heart attack, thinking she was talking to me. But then I glanced behind me and realized Jeremy was smiling at her.

            “He must have a lot of papers to correct,” he guessed. “That’s okay. He’s not much of a partier anyway.”

            Lexi grinned at him. “I take it you are?”

            “Why yes, I am.”

            “Want to dance then?”

            Before I had the chance to tell Jeremy not to, he replied with an affirmative answer before disappearing with her into the mass of tangled bodies. I glanced at Casey, who looked a little put out.

            “Steal him away from her when you get the chance,” I ordered, taking her by surprise. “She’s just leading him on.”

            “You don’t know that—”

            I cut her off. “No, I don’t. But it seems that way. And if you like Jeremy, don’t let Lexi take her away.”

            Once again she stared at me in shock. “Wait, how did you know?”

            “We’re best friends, Casey,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “And we’re more alike than we think.”

            She scratched the back of her head. “It’s just a tiny crush. Anyone would have it on him.”

            “That’s what I told myself when I first started liking Chris,” I told her with a small smile.

            “But…”

            I shrugged. “It’s either you or Lexi. Anyway, I’m off to find Lance. He probably got ditched.”

            Casey frowned at me for a moment before heading towards the dancing bodies. Smiling in satisfaction, I moved towards the door on the far side of the room. It led to the kitchen, where a bunch of people was refilling their drinks. My nose wrinkled in disgust at the odor of alcohol in the air. It was almost suffocating. After a quick look around I concluded Lance wasn’t in there. Continuing past the kitchen, I entered a hallway, following the sound of laughter. It led me to another family room, where couples were making out on couches.

            The next room I checked was a bathroom, then another bathroom, and then what I assumed to be Lexi’s parents’ bedroom. Annoyed, I took out my LG and speed-dialed Lance. On the second ring, he picked up.

            “Hello?”

            “Lance?” I responded, furrowing my eyebrows. That didn’t sound like him…

            “Nope. This is Aaron.”

            “Aaron?”

            He chuckled on the other end. “That’s what I said.”

            Frowning, I was tempted to shut the phone, but decided not to. “Where’s Lance?”

            “Right here. Lance, Holly wants to talk to you…” There was the sound of the phone being passed from Aaron to Lance and then heavy breathing.

            “Lance?” I tried again.

            “Holly,” he responded, his voice slurred almost to incoherence. “Where are you?”

            I made an annoyed face. He was drunk? “Where are you? You’re drunk!”

            “No I’m not!” he denied. “I’m in Aaron’s room.”

            “Which is?”

            “I don’t know.”

            Resisting the urge to sigh, I pushed open the next door in the hallway. A closet.

            “My room’s on the second floor,” Aaron told me. “Bring up a bottle of water from the fridge.”

            “For what?”

            “Lance. Derr.”

            Scowling, I snapped my phone shut. After maneuvering through the drunken persons in the kitchen, I managed to grab a bottle of water and escape the room without accident. It took a few moments to find the stairs, but when I did I climbed them quickly, heading for the door furthest from them. Hopefully this was Aaron’s room. My intuition turned out to be correct when I opened the door and found Aaron and Lance sitting on a large, king-sized bed.

            “Holly!” Lance cried in excitement, pushing off the bed. “How’d you get here so fast? I swear I just talked to you.”

            After handing him the bottle of water I smiled at him. “I learned how to teleport.”

            He looked at me in awe. “That’s… amazing.”

            “I know. Did you drive here yourself?” I demanded. “You need to go home. You’re drunk.”

            “I’m not!” he mumbled, fiddling with the cap of the water bottle. “’Sides, I have to wait for Lexi to finish dancing with other boys so I can dance with her.”

            Aaron sighed heavily. “Forget about her, man. She’s not worth it.”

            “No! I love her!”

            “You don’t love her, Lance,” I snapped. “Don’t say such stupid things.”

            “But it’s true!”

            Aaron shook his head. “No it’s not.”

            Lance gave him an annoyed look. “Whatever. It’s not like you guys know my feelings. We’re going to get married.”

            “Oh yeah?”

            “Yeah!”

            “You need to go home,” I told him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll go find Jeremy and have him bring you home.”

            He tried to shrug me off him, but failed. “I don’t want to leave!”

            Aaron looked at me accusingly. “You brought your boyfriend here?”

            It was awkward hearing him say that. “Well I didn’t. Lexi invited him…”

            “She would,” he responded hardly. “I’ll have Lexi bring Lance home. It’s the least she can do. Holly, why don’t you wait here for me? I’d like to talk to you for a second… Alone.”

            “Um, okay,” I responded slowly. “About what?”

            He stared pointedly at Lance. I realized what he wanted to talk about immediately. Either he didn’t want Lance and Lexi together as much as I didn’t, or he was going to try and convince me they were cute together. Although that was better than him blackmailing me.

            “Do you want anything to drink?” he asked as he led Lance towards the exit. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say you don’t drink alcohol. I can get you something else.”

            I nodded my head, impressed by his thoughtfulness. “That’s be great… Thanks.”

            “No problem,” he replied smoothly. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

            True to his words, after a few minutes he returned with two drinks in his hand. He handed one to me and I took it, peering at the pink liquid curiously. “What is it?”

            “Pink lemonade.”

            I took a sip cautiously. The sensation of it burned my throat and I nearly spit it out. “What’s in it?”

            Aaron looked amused. “A little something I like to call seltzer.”

            Oh. Duh. Blushing at my mistake, I took another sip of the drink. It actually tasted good, if you ignored the burning feeling.

            “So let’s talk.”

            “Sure,” I responded after taking another long sip of my drink. I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was. “I don’t think Lance and Lexi make a good couple.”

            Aaron nodded in agreement. “Neither do I.”

            “How do we keep them apart?”

            “Have Lexi go after a different guy. One she’s more interested in.”

            A feeling of unease washed over me. “Mr. Heywood?”

            Aaron looked taken aback at my guess. “What?”

            “What what?”

            He narrowed his eyes. “Why would you think she’s more interested in him?”

            “She tries to flirt with him all the time…”

            “Yeah, but he doesn’t show any interest back. He knows his place as a teacher not to go after a student.”

            I dropped my gaze. He was wrong about that. I took another long drink from my lemonade. “You know, it’s really hot in here,” I told him.

            “My parents like keeping the house warm,” he explained. “I tell them that all the time.”

            I nodded my head in response, shrugging out of my jacket. “If you didn’t mean Mr. Heywood, who do you think is better for Lexi?”

            “Mr. Ross.”

            “Mr. Ross?” I repeated, furrowing my eyebrows. “Why him?”

            “Because Lexi likes attainable teachers. Since he’s dating you right now, he obviously isn’t opposed to dating students.”

            I bit my lip. “But he’s dating me right now…”

            “Maybe right now, but what about in the future?” Aaron questioned. “Do you want another drink?”

            I glanced down at my empty glass in surprise. “Oh. Sure.”

            He stood up from the bed and handed me his drank. I leaned forwards to take it and a wave of dizziness washed over me. I leaned back immediately, putting a hand to my head.

            “Something wrong?”

            “Just a dizzy spell,” I responded, taking a drink from my new glass. “I must be tired…”

            Aaron smirked at me. “Past your bed time?”

            “No,” I snapped. A new wave of warmth washed over me and I wiped a hand over my forehead, surprised to feel it sweaty. “Did it get hotter again?”

            He cocked his head to the side. “No?”

            “I need to go outside,” I told him, breathing a little more heavily. “It’s so hot in here…” Trying to cool myself off, I quickly downed the rest of the lemonade.

            “It’s not hot in here at all, Holly.”

            Pushing myself up from the desk chair, I started for the door. My first step led into a stagger, and I sloshed the drink I was holding over my hand. Now more confused, my head spun as I gripped the edge of Aaron’s bedroom door. What was wrong with me? It was only eight o’clock. I didn’t usually go to bed until midnight!

            “You’re a lightweight, huh, Holly? That’s barely anything…”

            My head snapped back to him, making the world spin again. For a second I watched it in amusement. But then I was brought back to reality when I dropped the empty glass in my hand. It landed on the floor hard and shattered. “What did you put in my drink?” I demanded.

            “Nothing much,” he responded simply. “Just a little something to make you more comfortable.”

            My mind blanked. He’d spiked my drink.

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I'VE GOT A TUMBLR FINALLY! Follow me? :D Link in external link to the right!!

Wow, it feels like it's been ten years since I've uploaded and it's actually only been five days, haha. That concert took a lot out of me... I slept until one today -w- I don't have much to say, so I'm just going to post this and go eat some nutella toast!

Lately I've been listening to a LOT of Bring Me the Horizon and A Day to Remember and Pierce the Veil because I'm going to their tour in about three weeks so I don't really know what other songs to put... I guess today's song will be... All Signs Point to Lauderdale by A Day to Remember!