Chapter 45 | Celebration dinner

Lucas:

"Did you guys hear the good news? Trent, Kaiden and Brian might get excluded," Dylan gushes as he we walk inside the restaurant later that Friday evening. The warmth of Palatino is like a warm hug from the freezing temperature outside and the soft hum of the classical music playing in the background of the restaurant and the gorgeous aroma of pasta is the best welcome as we tell the registry guy by the door our reservation name.

I rub my hands together to rejuvenate warmth as my eyes scour the inside of the restaurant once Derek, the registry guy allows us to pass, in search for the large table where our team and Coach would be situated.

"As he fucking should," I grumble under my breath, finally seeing the blonde tufts of hair of our nearly 7ft Coach and Grace's dad at the back end of the large room and begin walking, Dylan and Aidan following behind me suit.

"I mean the school is still deciding, but they're suspended until the new years which is good news at least," Aidan adds as we manoeuvre our way down the empty middle section of the restaurant.

We were at Palatino, a fancy Italian restaurant, just on the outskirts of our town. It's the epitome of fancy; dark mahogany walls with golden accents, high ceilings with intricate designs, golden pillars, chandeliers - the whole lot and was notorious for their number of delicious pasta dishes.

It's also the place Coach takes his team after every final game, whether it be a loss or a win for a celebratory meal. It has become a tradition for the football team over the last couple of years.

Halting in front of a large mirror situated on one of the side walls, I pause to check my appearance quickly.

With my unruly hair gelled down, wearing a simple black blazer, black dress pants and a white shirt with the top buttons open, I had cleaned up quite nicely. Yes, my bottom lip was still swollen from the fight earlier today and I had a nasty cut just above my eyebrow and a smaller one on my cheek but I still looked good.

As for my two friends; Dylan was wearing a white button down and navy blue slacks and Aidan was in pretty much the same outfit as I, just with a black shirt replacing the white one.

The stares from the several women and men, as the three of us walk towards our table don't go unnoticed and Dylan smiles cheekily at our on lookers.

"Ladies you finally made it!" Coach beams the moment he spots us approaching the long table where the rest of the team are situated. Most of the guys have seemingly already arrived and the three of us promptly take our seats.

"Hi Coach," I greet, mirroring his smile.

"You three took your time," he mock scolds, pointing a finger at us. "My stomach is making whale noises and I keep getting dirty stares from people around us because it is so loud!"

Aidan chuckles. "Sorry Coach, it's not our fault, this one," he pauses to point a finger at Dylan. "Took 10 years getting ready."

Dylan opens his mouth to protest but then promptly closes it shut, slumping down in his seat with his arms crossed across his chest when he realises what Aidan had said is the truth. "It's not my fault my hair wasn't cooperating," he instead mumbles in reply just as the waiter approaches us with a stack load of menus, diverting Coach's attention.

"Paolo!" Coach booms, his loud voice causing the waiter to snap his head in his direction.

Paolo's face lights up with recollection. "John! Another championship won, yes?"

"Certo amico mio," John replies in very bad Italian - so bad in fact, it sounds almost offensive but Paolo merely laughs and pats him on the back.

"Ah congratulations fratello!"

Turning to us guys, he smiles before placing a large stack of menus on the middle of the table. "Your menus gentlemen," he tells us in his strong Italian accent. "Can I take your order for drinks?"

Many of us order non-alcoholic piña colada's, Coach a glass of scotch and others just plain water or some sort of fancy, overpriced soda.

As we wait for our drinks to arrive and Paolo to come back to take our actual meal orders, we all look through the menu.

"What are you going to get?" I ask Rio who is sitting to the right of me, my eyes glazing over the several dishes in the menu as I munch on one of the rolls of bread the restaurant provides each table.

"I'm feeling like having something spicy so I might get the bucatini all'amatriciana for my main but I haven't decided on starters yet, how about you?"

I shake my head. "I'm still deciding."

In the end I go for pancetta-wrapped halloumi fries with smoky chilli tomato relish for my starter, cacio e pepe potato gnocchi for my main, some cheesy garlic bread on the side and tiramisu for desert.

Our food doesn't take look to arrive, service at this place is really good and as we're eating, Trents possible exclusion is the topic of the night

It turns out that Trent is a character not many like.

"He's a fucking prick, he tried to make moves on to my girl despite her telling him countless times to fuck off."

"Yeah, he pressured my little sister into sending him nudes and then led her on, took her virginity and dropped her straight after."

I grimace in disgust. "And he got away with doing all of this for all this time?"

Ryan nods his head, his lips pressed into a thin line. "Yeah...none of the girls really spoke up, I guess they were scared Trent and his group of asshats would come after them or something, I know he once threatened my sister saying that he would leak her nudes."

"That's fucking disgusting," Dylan murmurs and I nod my head in agreement as do some of the other guys at our table. "He best get excluded, punished and then get his dick cut off and fed to him."

"I'll make sure of it," Coach nods, a frown etched onto his face. "I mean the exclusion and punishment part, not the genital cutting or feeding bit," he quickly clarifies afterwards causing Dylan to pout and slump down in his seat.

"I'm glad Ivy had the courage to say something, at least now Trent will face some sort of consequences." Ben adds, taking a long sip of his mango soda before pushing his empty glass away to the side.

My tiramisu spoon pauses midway in the air. "Wait...Ivy was the one who spoke up?"

Ben nods his head. "Yeah, you didn't know?"

"No." I shake my head, a grim expression settling on my face, unease settling in the pit of my stomach. "...I'm glad I beat his face in."

My reply causes Coach to sigh. "Lucas you've got to control your temper," He scolds, narrowing his eyes at me. "Beating people up will only get you into trouble."

"I've only beaten him up twice," I grumble under my breath, sticking the spoon into my mouth.

Coach shakes his head. "I worry about you Miller."

I shrug my shoulders and get back to eating my desert.

"You know I think Isabella helped Ivy tell the principle," Rio adds as I'm scraping the side of the dish my tiramisu is in, causing me too freeze again and pause on my chewing once again. "Bella?"

Rio nods his head. "Yeah, I saw Isabella with her, they were going to Mrs Gonzales at break time."

I raise my eyebrows in surprise. "Well that's unexpected...Isabella helping Ivy."

"Yeah I thought they hated each other," Aidan chides, glancing up from his phone before shrugging and taking the final sip of his piña colada. The rest of us shrug our shoulders confusedly.

"Also guys if you're all done can we pay the bill, my cousins throwing a party at his house and you guys are all invited."

Our tables erupt into a fit of cheers, the serious atmosphere diminishing as the guys all begin chattering excitedly.

"Sorry ladies, I'm afraid I can't attend this party, I have two daughter's waiting for me to come home so we can start our barbie movie marathon," Coach announces, clapping Aidan on his back and standing up from his chair, extending up into his full almost 7 ft form.

"Grace is having a barbie movie marathon with you and Lucy?" Aidan smirks, an eyebrow raised.

Coach grins in response. "She's the one who planned it Moore, Lucy doesn't care much for Barbie movies, she's more into that app...what's it called?...Oh right toktik but my dear Grace is obsessed with Barbie princess charm school - she always has been."

"Oh she's never going to hear the end of this," Aidan grins wickedly.

"You might not want to bring it up son." Coach pauses to sigh. "She'll probably force you to watch all 36 movies with you."

"I'm sure he won't mind at all," I snort. "I caught him watching Barbie life in the dream house one time."

"Hey barbie life in the dream house is amazing!" Timmy adds defensively, to which in reply, Aidan lifts his hand up to high five him. "Raquelle is my babes."

I raise my palms up in mock surrender just as Coach chuckles. "Okay girlies, I will see you all Monday, make sure to get home safely and rest up over the weekend! You've done incredible this season, I'm very proud of you all for working so hard."

I smile as Coach says this, he doesn't understand how much hearing those words mean to me.

After we pay our individual bills and bid Coach goodbye, we all collectively make our way over to Aidan's cousins house. It's about 8 pm by the time we leave Palatino's, I'm hoping my parents don't start to get suspicious seeing as how they think I'm only going to the celebration dinner this evening. I'll just make sure to leave at around 9:15 so I don't get home too late.

"God damn, is your cousin a prince or something? Why does he live in a whole ass mansion?" Dylan gasps, his face smooshed against the window as he peers up at the humongous house Aidan has driven us to.

Aidan snorts. "His dad is a surgeon and his mom a lawyer, they're balling."

"Can they adopt me please," Dylan mumbles.

"I don't think Mama O'Grady would be happy with that."

"True," Dylan huffs. "She'd hunt me down using her broom."

Aidan parks in the large driveway of his cousin Zak's house where a number of cars are also packed. The house (or should I say mansion) is in a pretty secluded area meaning the loud music in blaring at an extremely high volume, so loud in fact it feels like my eardrums are about burst as we step inside the huge foyer of the home.

"Aidan!" A tall boy, who I'm presuming is his cousin Zak, jeers as Aidan directs us into the kitchen that is probably two times the size of my entire house. Dylan instantly dives head first into the large cooler next to us containing many alcoholic drinks.

"Hey man!" I greet as Zak directs his attention to me once he's done welcoming Aidan and pulls me into one of those bro hugs before slapping my back and showing me over to the drinks cooler.

"Help yourself to drinks bro."

"Nah it's alright, I'm driving," I kindly decline, shrugging off my blazer, the heat inside the house is intense, probably due the the swarm of people situated in the kitchen and the party in general. There must be at least 200 people here minimum.

"You sure?"

I nod my head and Zak nods his head in understanding.

We continue talking for a bit in the kitchen before Zak ushers Aidan, an already wasted Dylan and I into the packed living room. He begins introducing us to a various number of people and I say hi politely, not bothering to remember names before he takes us to the back of the room and pausing near a smaller group of girls. They're all sat on a long, plush sofa and move to the side to make space for us to sit.

"Lucas, Aidan, Dylan, these are my favourite ladies," Zak presents, signalling to the group of three females cradling red solo cups in their hands. "And my most favourite lady of all," he grins warmly at the shortest, curviest girl of the group with dark skin and a dazzling smile.

"This is Lilah, my missus," Zak says, pointing to the said girl with adoring eyes. "And this is Angie and Maria."

I swear I almost do a double take as my eyes glaze over Maria, as do Aidan and even Dylan in his drunken state.

With big brown eyes, plump lips and tanned olive skin she is gorgeous but she also looks really familar, like really, really familiar.

"I thought you were Bella," Dylan giggles, pointing a finger to Maria.

"Yeah," Aidan chuckles softly, grabbing Dylan's arm to stop him from falling to the side. "You look really similar to our friend Isabella."

"Isabella?" Maria repeats, quirking an eyebrow. "Isabella Quinteo?"

"Yeah," I nod slowly, my eyes glazing over her face once again. It was almost eerie how the two look similar. Maria however seems to be a couple of inches taller with longer hair. "Do you know her?"

"Know her?" An amused expression rests on her face and her lips quirk into a smile. "She's my cousin."

"Ohhh," Aidan, Dylan and I say collectively. "That makes sense."

She brushes her dark hair out of her face, her eyes darting across the three of our faces appreciatively, her gaze lingering on my face a little longer than it did on Aidan and Dylan.

"How do you guys know her?"

"We're her friends."

"Are all of you just her friends?" She quips, mischievousness twinkling in her eyes.

Dylan and Aidan nod before slyly side glancing my way and giving me an odd look.

My eyebrows draw together as I send them both a look back. "Yeah, just friends," I respond slowly, trying to figure out what all the weird staring is about.

She nods her head. "How is she? Gosh I haven't seen her in years, is she still in London?"

Aidan shakes her head. "No, she moved a couple of months ago."

Surprise laces Maria's features. "Oh wow, she's back?"

"Yeah," Dylan nods. "You didn't know?"

Maria shakes her head. "No...Isabella and I aren't exactly close." She presses her lips into a thin line. "Anyways enough about my cousin, why don't you guys take a seat?" She directs this at me, signalling for Angie to get up to make space so I can sit seeing as how Zak took up the empty space besides Lilah.

"Oh no, it's ok you can sit," I tell Angie. "I don't mind standing."

Angie simply smiles warmly at me in reply, wobbling a little on her heels as she stands up. "It's okay, I'm going to get a drink anyways." She slurs before turning to Dylan. "You wanna come?"

Dylan nods his head eagerly before looping his arm around Angie and the two stumble through the sea of people and stalk towards the kitchen.

Maria pats the seat next to her and ushers me to sit down and I reluctantly do so.

"So what brings you to our town?" She asks me, twiddling a strand of her hair around her finger.

"Oh, we went to Palatino's for a celebration dinner and then Zak, Aidan's cousin invited us to the party."

"What were you celebrating?" She asks and I swear in the 5 seconds I was talking, Maria managed to inch even closer to me. Our thighs are now touching.

"Our team won the football championships," I beam proudly, causing Maria's face to light up.

"Oo, you're a football player," she gushes, placing a hand on my bicep.

I nod, my eyes flickering across her features. I'm filled with this random sense of unease as I gaze at her, which is odd because I'm usually not uncomfortable around pretty girls but something about Maria is causing my brain to scream and tell me to run as fast as I can away from her and the fact she looks creepily like Bella only adds to my feeling of weirdness.

I clear my throat and try to create some space between us but it's no use, especially when Angie and Dylan come back and try to squish on the couch along with us, Maria basically ends up on my lap.

"So tell me more about your football...what position do you play as?"

***

We stick with Zak, Lilah, Angie and Maria for the rest of the night. They're pretty nice company, Angie is drunk out of her mind and is god damn hilarious and her and Dylan instantly hit it off and become best friends within the first 30 minutes, Lilah and Zak pretty much give each other heart eyes the whole time we're all conversing and Maria...well she's very flirtatious, to say the least.

She must be popular with the guys because at least five boys come up to us and try to chat to her but she promptly shuts them down, diverting her attention back to me each time.

I don't know why she seems to be so interested in me, our conversation for the past 45 minutes has been super dry; consisting of many awkward silences and lots of batting of eyelashes coming from her part.

"You guys wanna dance?" Maria asks after another period of silence stretches over the two of us. Dylan, Angie, Zak and Lilah nod their heads eagely to in reply.

I however, stay rooted in my place as the rest jump up from the sofa. "Eh I'm not the dancing type."

"Awwhh, c'mon Luke, it'll be fun, guys tell him." She grabs my upper arm, squeezing my bicep before batting her lashes, once again, at me.

"Yeah Lucas c'mon." Dylan urges, holding onto Angie for balance. "It'll be fun."

"You guys dance, I'm gonna get another drink," Aidan announces stalking off in the direction of the kitchen.

"I'll go with him," I quickly say but as I turn around to follow him, Dylan and Maria push me in the opposite direction leaving me no choice but to follow them as they weave through the crowd.

With a grasp on my hand, Maria pulls onto the makeshift dance floor in the middle of the living room.

She dances with her back to me, her hips moving to the rythmn of the song and her ass every so often brushing against me.

I should be enjoying this. I'm a single guy with a pretty girl dancing with me (eh on me), but for some reason I can't seem to shake the odd feeling away that has settled in the pit of my stomach.

As the song switches into another one, she spins around to face me, trailing a hand up my chest, a coy smile on her lips.

"You're really cute you know that," she tells me over the loud music.

I cock an eyebrow. "Only cute?"

Her smirk only deepens and she gets up on her tiptoes, pressing up against me before brushing her lips against my ear. "More than cute," she murmurs against my ear causing a shiver to elicit down my spine, from attraction or unease I'm not entirely sure. "Why don't we take this upstairs," she adds seductively before gently placing a kiss on the space of my neck just under my ear.

Her suggestion causes me to freeze for a second and I find myself gently pushing her away. Okay, unease it is.

This doesn't stop her however as she simply moves forward and presses herself against me.

"We could have fun, I know how to have a good time," she tells me suggestively, a hand pressed flat against my chest. "Look, your heart is beating fast, I think you want this don't you?"

Er no, not really.

"Sorry," I say apologetically, cringing as I step away from her. Maria's smirk drops instantly and rejection floods her features.

She quickly masks her rejection however and rolls her eyes in an annoyed manner. "Whatever," she snaps and I cringe at her tone.

My phone ringing cuts me off before I can say anything else.

"I-er gotta take ths," I tell her before rushing past her. I leave her annoyed and deserted on the dance floor before bashing last the swarm of people.

Well that wasn't awkward at all.

I turn various lefts and rights until I find the front door and step outside, the biting cold instantly nipping at my skin as I escape the warmth of the house.

"Hello," I say into the phone, quickly answering it until it goes to voicemail, not bothering to check who it is calling me.

"LUCAS MILLER, WHERE ARE YOU?"

I promptly pull my phone away from my ear as my fathers deep voice bellows through the device, panic immediately flooding through me.

"I'm at the restaurant," I quickly blurt out, internally praying that he believes my excuse.

"Don't lie to me Lucas! Where. Are. You?" He spits out slowly.

Before I even get to rack my brain for another excuse he begins speaking, well more like shouting, again.

"What's that noise at the back? Are you at a goddamn party?"

"Er-"

"GET YOUR ASS BACK HOME NOW!" He yells into the phone in absolute fury before promptly hanging up.

Well shit.

━

AUTHORS NOTE:

Uh oh Lucas is in trouble :o

So guys, I was considering writing a spin off to this story with Luna when she goes off to University in New york with Ivy's ~gang member~ brother (who will be mentioned later in the story) and Lilah was going to be one of the characters - she'll play Luna's cousin/one of her roommates but lets see if I ever get round to writing that story lol I already have another one scheduled after I finish this one which I like wayyy more teehee and I also have another story plot with Ivy and her gang member brothers bestfriend where she has maaaajooor character development but I'm getting a head of myself lfmaosooado