Chapter 21

Noah pulled into my driveway at seven sharp to pick me up for the party. I took one last look in the mirror hanging over the table by the front door. "What are you doing, Gemma?" I muttered to myself in the mirror. The head flinched to the right from the knock on the door, even though I knew he'd be knocking any minute. I fluffed the curls at the bottom of my hair, then turned and opened the door.

"Wow...You look great." Noah smiled. He looked so hot in jeans and a dark button-down shirt with rolled-up cuffs. "You ready to go?"

"Sure. I've just got to lock the door." I stepped out, turning to lock the front door." Part of me wanted to open the door, run back inside, and hide in my bedroom the rest of the night. I couldn't believe I'd let Noah talk me into going to the party with him. I knew Chloe and Sarah would be there, but they would be busy with their boyfriends, which meant I'd likely be dealing with Claudia and her friends alone. It was a party, and I wasn't going to be with Noah the whole time; he'd want to hang out with his friends some of the time, too. I took a deep breath, turned, and walked down the steps with Noah to his mom's SUV. "No sports car tonight?" I asked, climbing up in the SUV.

"No, I didn't want some drunk asshole to hit my car leaving the party." Noah closed my door, then walked around to the driver's side. "I thought we could go get something to eat before the party. The party doesn't start until nine. You can invite your friends to come with us." He backed out of my driveway.

"Are you sure?" I grabbed my phone out of my purse.

"Yeah, I talk to Ty and Braedon often at school. I already mentioned it to them at the beach earlier today." He peeked over at me. Well...So much for him wanting to spend time with me alone. I felt like an idiot for thinking he could've ever liked someone like me. I glanced over at the side mirror. I called Chloe first because I knew she'd answer me right away.

"Hey, Gem," Chloe said. "I was just about to call you. Braedon told me we're all meeting to get something to eat before the party."

"Yeah. What sounds good to you?" I asked.

"I don't know. But I know we've got to eat something before we go to the party—especially the guys." She sighed into the phone, and then I heard her say something to Braedon: "How about burgers? I don't feel like pizza."

"Let me ask Noah." I turned and asked Noah if burgers were okay with him. He nodded his head. "Burgers are fine with him. Now, where do we want to go?" I laughed. That was the hard part of the decision. I put her on speaker so it would be easier to talk instead of relaying the messages to Braedon and Noah. After a few minutes of naming places and someone saying no, we finally agreed on...George's Steakhouse. Chloe hung up and called to see if we could get a table, being it was Saturday night. Good thing for us; it was Chloe's uncle's restaurant, and she was almost positive we'd be able to get a table for the six of us. The restaurant didn't take reservations on Saturday, but she knew he was there tonight, and knowing her, she probably talked him into reserving us a table since all of us were on the way. She called me back about ten minutes later and told us to be at George's in about thirty minutes.

"Do you know where George's is at?" I asked Noah, putting my phone back in my purse.

"It's close to downtown, right?" He made a right at the light toward Third Street. "You're quiet, Gemma?"

"I am...Sorry." I glanced down at my hands as I fidgeted with the hem of my dress.

"Nothing to be sorry about. Are you still mad at me over Olivia?" He reached over and placed his hand on top of mine. I had to ask myself the same question. Was I still mad at him? Technically, I had no right to be mad at him for sitting with Olivia because he never asked me to be his girlfriend. Therefore, I had no real claim on him; he could sit with whoever he wanted to when we weren't together. "Gemma?"

"No...I'm not mad." I managed a fake smile as I lowered my head, looking down at our hands.

"I..."

"Turn right here." I motioned to the parking lot; Noah was about to drive by. "Sorry, I didn't want you to miss the restaurant." Honestly, I didn't want to hear more about Olivia. Noah drove by Braedon's car and parked as far away from everyone as he could get. I exited the SUV and started walking toward Chloe, not even waiting for Noah. The closer I got to her, I could see her narrow eyes were screaming..."Gemma, What the hell are you doing?" She didn't have to put up with him parking five miles away from everyone.

Chloe raised her eyebrows and motioned her head a little bit, glancing over my shoulder. I shook my head slightly for her to stop because I knew Noah was a few steps behind me.

"Is Sarah and Ty here yet?" I asked, scanning the parking lot for Ty's SUV.

"Uh..." Our heads whipped to the right as someone honked, pulling into the parking lot. Sarah motioned for us to wait as Ty turned right to go park his SUV. They joined us five minutes later. We all started walking toward the front of George's. I figured I better walk with Noah this time and not leave him trailing behind. As we walked to the front, a few cars pulled into the parking lot, and Noah had to make sure they weren't pulling in next to his precious car. I wanted to tell him he could stay out here and babysit his mom's SUV while we went inside to eat.

"You look great, Gem," Sarah whispered, nudging my hand.

"Thanks. So do you." I smiled.

We got done eating close to nine, which meant we would be a few minutes late to  Claudia's party. The guys split the bill between the three of them, and then we headed to the party so Chloe and Sarah could babysit their drunk boyfriends. I felt bad for my friends because, within a few hours of being at a party, they would be chasing their boyfriends around, making sure they weren't doing anything stupid or drinking anymore. They used to text me the whole time, wishing I was there with them. Well, I'll be there with them tonight.

"I'm going to drop you off at Claudia's..."

"What...You aren't staying?" My eyes shot open as I turned to look at him. He's going to ditch me here at the party of the girl who loves making my life miserable. "Wait...How did you know where Claudia lived? You didn't follow Braedon and Ty?" I looked around for their vehicles.

"I live around the corner, " he said, pointing at the corner ahead of us. Do you want to wait here for me, or do you want to go with me, and we can walk back?"

I looked out the window at Claudia's white two-story house; the driveway was full of vehicles, and kids started parking up and down the street. Through the windows, kids were drinking and dancing; some were outside, walking the open gate to the back of the house. "I'll go with you." I didn't want to put myself in an awkward situation without my friends or Noah around. Noah turned left at the end of the street and drove a couple of houses down. He pulled into the gated driveway behind his sports car. I sat there staring at his big two-story house. "Wow..."

"Thanks," He said, opening his car door. "There's a pool in the back. Maybe you'd like to come over next weekend and go swimming?"

"Sure." I started to grab my purse.

"You can leave your purse here in the car if you want. It will be safe. A lot safer than in a car closer to the party."

I grabbed my cell phone and put my purse behind the passenger seat on the floorboard. I texted Chloe and Sarah, telling them I was with Noah around the corner and headed to the party. Chloe texted me back and said they'd wait for us and to hurry. Noah took my hand as we started walking to the party. The closer we got to the corner, I could begin to hear the music from the party. Chloe, Sarah, Braedon, and Ty were in the front yard talking to kids as they walked past them going inside to the party. I had to question why I was here. No one talked to me except Chloe, Sarah, and Ava. Most of the girls at the party didn't even know I existed, so it's not like anyone would notice if I showed up or not.

"Hey!" Chloe yelled over the music. "Let's party!" She motioned us to follow her and Braedon inside. The music was blaring; kids were dancing, raising their drinks so they wouldn't spill them. Noah tightened his grip on my hand as he walked behind Braedon and Chloe so he wouldn't lose me in the crowd. After fifteen minutes of pushing our way through, we finally found our way to the kitchen, where bottles of open alcohol were spread across the counter. Braedon and Ty poured themselves a red cup full of beer. They asked Noah if he wanted anything to drink. He shook his head no, turned to the right, and led me to the arch-shaped glass doors.

There was an air hockey table outside by a patio table with a crowd of kids gathered around, laughing and cheering as each boy scored. I couldn't see who was at the end closest to us with the group of kids around him, but Ashton was at the other end. He was so busy concentrating on winning that he didn't even know I was out there watching.

"Gemma!" I heard off in the distance. I turned around, trying to find who had yelled my name. "Gemma, I didn't know you would be here." Ava walked over from the air hockey. Her blonde curls bounced as she made her way over to us. "You look gorgeous. Are Chloe and Sarah here too?" She turned her head, looking around the patio.

"Yeah, they're inside with Braedon and Ty. I motioned behind me."

"You need a drink." Ava grabbed my hand, pulling me away from Noah. Chloe and Sarah were still in the kitchen while Braedon and Ty had disappeared from them already. Ava walked up to the counter, grabbed me a cup, got some ice, poured orange juice, then grabbed a tall bottle with a peach on the front of it and poured it into the cup. She handed me the cup and told me to drink up. I stood there staring into the cup of ice floating around in this orange juice concoction. I peeked up at her while she stood there, smiling, motioning for me to take a drink. That was easy for her to say; she wasn't about to be laid out on the floor by this drink.

"Hey! What's going on in here?"

The sound of his voice pierced through my body like a knife. I raised my glass and took a big gulp of my drink. I coughed as the alcohol in the orange juice slightly burned my throat.

Ashton walked over to the counter, grabbed a cup, and got some beer from the keg. He stood there staring at me with his judgy eyes while he drank his beer.

"What?" I glared over at him. "I'm not supposed to have a good time like everyone else?" I motioned outside and down the hall toward the music. My glare stayed on Ashton as I raised my cup to my lips and downed the rest of my drink. "Ava, make me another one. Please." I handed her my cup.

"Gem, no," Ashton said, throwing his cup away.

"Don't tell me no. You haven't talked to me all week. So, leave me alone, dickface." I grabbed my cup from Ava's hand and walked onto the patio.

Author's Notes:

I think Gemma's going to regret downing her drink later.

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