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Sigh.
I texted my group of friends about having a sleepover at my house tonight but there's still no reply. Sighing, I throw my phone on the bed. It bounces once, then settles down.
"What? Still no reply?" Em asks with a frown on her face.
"Nope. I'll just check again." I say and pick up my phone again. I open my inbox to check for any new message but then I see something really, really stupid. The message hasn't been delivered yet. Silly me!
"The message was not delivered. That's why no one replied." I mutter embarrassed, blush coating my cheeks.
"Stupid." Tanner mutters, even though his attention is on his phone where he is busy typing furiously.
"Fuck off." I grumble, rolling my eyes at me.
"Real mature." He comments.
"Shut up both of you. Tanner, get back to what you were doing. Lydia, you text your friends." Em scolds us. Tanner and I both roll our eyes at her but listen to her anyway. I resend the message and this time wait for one tick. As soon as the message is sent, my phone pings.
It's from Bruce in our group chat.
Bruce - If you have the house to yourself, shouldn't you be calling Ridge and not us?
Ridge - Shut up Bruce!
Ashton - What do you have in store for us if we come to your house?
Erica - Shut up Ash, that's rude. Also, we are all coming!
Trish - Yesss! I'm in too. It's gonna be fun :)))
Me - We have snacks, booze, games and
two more teenagers in the house!
It's gonna be fun guys! I'll be waiting!
Ridge - Sure sweetheart ;)
Ashton - Booze? I'll be there in a minute!
Neil - Sure, see you soon.
Eric - Kiare and I are coming too.
"Sweetheart, huh?" Em's teasing voice snaps my attention towards her. She gives me the look that clearly says 'spill'. Reluctantly, I put my phone down and give her a nervous smile. I totally forget about the dare. Tanner raises an eyebrow at me, sitting up straight, probably to hear what I have to say.
"What are you hiding from us, babygirl?" He pokes my side, wiggling his eyebrows at me. I roll my eyes at his behaviour but don't comment. I shift a little forward and pick up the pack of Oreos kept between Tanner and Em.
"I'm dating Ridge. Nothing big."
"What?! Why?! How?!"
"Look at you getting some action!"
Both Em and Tanner say in unison. Munching on my Oreo, I explain everything to them. Starting from the Target meeting to the party, without leaving any kind of details. When I'm done, both of them look at me with - almost proud expressions.
"This is dope. I'm so excited to meet this guy and everyone else!" Em exclaims happily, snatching the pack of Oreos from my hands.
Tanner on the other hand has a conflicted expression on his face, like he's in a dilemma. "Hey? You didn't say anything."
"I just want you to be happy. You get attached to people very quickly and then it comes back to bite you in the ass all the time. I don't want you to regret anything. Or get hurt in the end." He voices out his thoughts, giving me a concerned look. "You sure you can handle this game?"
My mind ponders over his questions for a moment. I know that what we are doing is dangerous and stupid, but it's not like I'm gonna fall for him in a span of three months. That's- that's absurd and plain weird. Plus, it's just a game. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. Also, I have you guys now here, I'm happy."
Tanner opens his mouth to say something but the sound of the doorbell ringing interrupts him. Before I can get up, Em jumps from the bed and sprints out in full speed, not even waiting for a second. I shake my head at her enthusiasm and Tanner laughs. "The amount of energy this girl has is unbelievable!"
"Lydia?" My dad's voice calls out for me from his room. I get up from my bed, walk out of my room and go towards his room.
"Yes, dad?" I peek my head through his door. "You need something?"
He looks up at me from his laptop, giving me a smile. "Yeah, I got a call from my boss. I need to leave in an hour for my flight. Just wanted to let you know."
"Okay dad." I nod and begin to walk away but he calls my name again. "Yes, dad?"
"Who was on the door? Did you order food?" He asks me.
I shake my head, grinning. "Nope, I ordered some friends."
He rolls his eyes at me. "What?"
"My school friends are here dad. We are having a sleepover." I tell him, then walk inside and exclaim, "Come on, you haven't met them yet." I take hold of his wrist and pull him up. He chuckles and then puts his laptop on the bed and stands up. Together, we walk downstairs to see that everyone is present in the living room. All the boys, including Tanner have occupied the couches and are talking about some stupid video game and the girls, including Em are sitting near the fireplace, playing with Whiskey. Well, they bonded quickly.
"Hey guys." I say, and they stop talking and snap their attention towards me. I get a chorus of heys and hellos and a hey sweetheart. Thankfully among everyone's voices, my dad didn't hear Ridge's greeting or else it would've been really, really weird and difficult to explain in front of everyone.
I gesture towards my dad, who is again, busy on his phone and say, "This is my dad." I nudge him with my elbow to bring his attention to us. "Say hi, dad."
He puts his phone in his pocket and smiles at everyone. "Hey kids."
"Thi- this is your dad? Kiara stutters, her eyes open wide in disbelief. Trish elbows her as she recovers quickly, blush coating her cheeks. "Uhm, sorry. Hi Mr. Herrington."
Tanner, Em and I snicker quietly on seeing her reaction. Typical. Every one of my friends reacted the same way back in Washington too. It was crazy.
All the boys nod their head at him, panicky and nervous. The girls are too awestruck to say anything. Bruce being Bruce exclaims happily, greeting my dad with enthusiasm. "It's nice meeting you Mr. Herrington."
My dad starts laughing at their nervous state and looks at me. "I like your friends. They are better than those crazy asses you called friends in your previous school." I smile in delight. My dad's approval was the most needed. And now that they are in the good books of my dad, for now, I'm happy.
"Just keep one thing in your minds. If you guys drink tonight, make sure no one leaves this house without getting sober. I want no mishaps in my absence. Especially, you three." He asserts, pointing his finger in mine, Em's and Tanner's direction.
Tanner rolls his eyes. "Sure dad. We'll try."
"No promises, daddy dearest." Em grins cheekily.
Facepalm!
My dad ignore her and turns towards the rest of my friends. "I have to leave right now but the next time we meet, we'll have a serious chat, Ridge."
What?!
Ridge looks at me, then back at my dad, visibly gulping. He scratches the back of his neck, shifting his weight from one foot to another. "Er, sure sir."
My cheeks turn red on finding out that my dad knows about Ridge and I dating, well whatever this is. "Uh dad, can we talk for a moment?" I say and drag him my his wrist into the kitchen without waiting for his reply. When we are a little away from the group, I start rambling.
"Dad, I swear I was going to tell you. I was just waiting for the right moment, you know perfect timing. I'm not lying, I swear. I was going to tell -"
"Lydia!" Dad says, shaking my shoulder, stopping me from saying anything else.
I look him in the eye and sigh. "Sorry dad."
"It's alright. I'm not mad." He chuckles, making me look at him in confusion.
"You're not?" I ask.
"Of course not. I understand." He shakes his head, then adds, "I was a teenager once too, you know?"
"Thank dad." My frown turns into a grin. "I promise I'll tell you everything when you get back."
"Better. But that does not mean that you and that Ridge boy are off the radar. I'm talking to both of you when I get back from my trip." He gives me a stern look, back into the strict parent mode.
"Yes dad." I nod, but then blink in confusion when I realize something. "But wait! How did you know about all this?"
"Martha."
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After dad left for his trip, bidding us farewell and making me swear that I'll call him everyday or contact him in case anything happens, we all huddled together on the living room floor after making space for everyone to sit by putting the coffee table near the fireplace. Whis sat on the table, playing with his chew toy, not really paying any attention to us. So, now we are here, deciding what to do because we have everything we might need for the 'Grand Sleepover', as Erica likes to call it.
"So, who wants some beer? Bruce yells, smirking at everyone. Everyone shouts a yes in response which gets me to think that we do not have that amount of beer in our house, so how will he satisfy everyone? Well, let's see.
He gets up from his place and runs inside the kitchen before saying, "I'll be right back." A minute later, he comes out of the kitchen holding a bi blue ice box in his hands. "See folks, I always come prepared." He sits down, putting the box in between the circle and opens it for everyone to grab a chilled beer. When everyone has a beer in their hand, Ashton speaks up.
"Okay guys, let's play Never Have I Ever." He rubs his hands together, keeping his beer down, smirking at us wickedly as if he's planning something big. "But, but, but, there's a twist. Instead of taking a sip from your drinks, we have to take out a piece of our clothing."
I should've seen that one coming. Not that I'm complaining.
"Seriously? Play that with your girlfriend in a different room. No one except for her is interested in seeing you naked." Neil deadpans, sipping his beer. Everyone chuckles at that but Erica starts blushing profusely.
"Fuck off, Neil." She grumbles, hitting the back of his head. He just rolls his eyes at her, rubbing the part of his head where she hit him. Since I have no problem with this game and I am confident in my body, I say yes. Everyone follows and we all decide that this game's fine.
To make a better circle, everyone gets up from their occupied space to come sit on the floor. Ridge sits on my right and Bruce on my left. Trish sits on Bruce's left and Erica and Ashton sit after her. That's how the circle completes when Tanner sits next to Ridge. Once everyone's settled down, Em stops us and shouts that she'll get us some snacks. She gets up and runs into the kitchen.
"Hey, we still gotta talk about your dad, you know?" Ridge whispers in my ear, his lips grazing my ears softly. I don't know if it's intentional or deliberate, but it makes me shiver slightly. I feel warm on the inside.
But I ignore the sensation and turn towards him, nodding. "Yeah, I know. After the game."
"Good." He whispers, his gaze flickering to my lips for a second before making eye contact with me again. He doesn't say anything to me after that and just picks up his beer, taking a swig. Turning away from me, he focuses his attention on what Neil is talking about.
But I notice his lips curling up in a smirk.
That bastard!
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Heyyy guys! Chapter 14 is divided into two parts since it exceeded the word limit of 2000.
This is the first part! Second part coming soon.
Hope you enjoy.
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Till then,
Stay Happy!