“Mel, you made it!” Tristan smiles and gives me a tight hug.
“Um, hello? We’re here too,” Ollie waves his hands in front of him. Tristan chuckles and was about to give him a hug but Danny pulls Ollie to him by the waist.
Chloe rolls her eyes.
“Where are the drinks?” Chloe asks Tristan and he chuckles.
“Follow me,” He says and gestures for us to follow him.We make our way through the crowd. Some were dancing, some were sitting on the couch, some were playing games, I quickly stopped observing the surroundings when I felt a hard grip on my wrist, causing me to stop walking.
“There you are, I’ve been looking for you,” “Ace? What? Why?” I quickly ask, confused.
“Just-, nevermind damn it,” He sighs in frustration and I laugh.“You’re so weird today,” I tell him and chased after Chloe, still chuckling.Ace’s POV
I wasn’t supposed to go to the stupid party.
Damn it, Tristan.
Damn him for being such a jerk. Damn me for befriending that jerk.
Damn Mel for making me like her.
I can’t just let Tristan get his way with her. Especially with her.
I took a bath to calm myself down, it hardly worked. I wore a plain black shirt and then ripped jeans, it was the only clean pair that I have so I didn’t have a choice.
“Where are you going?” Ally asks.
She was sitting on the couch watching cartoons on tv. It’s 5:30, Mom is still at work and comes home at 6, they said the party starts at 7, but knowing Tristan, they’re probably getting drunk by now.
Always so extra.
“Do not leave the house okay?” I tell her.
“And you can?” She snaps.“Please be cooperative,” I sigh.“You’re the one who’s not cooperating, you didn’t even answer my question.”Are all 7-year-olds like this?
“I’m going to a party, Mel’s there,” I say, not entirely knowing why I mentioned Mel since it doesn’t really help the situation.
“I’m telling Mom,”“Sure, whatever, just stay here and don’t leave alright?” I’m used to it.“Of course, Mom bought ice cream yesterday, so I won’t go to the shop for at least three days, plus the cartoons I’m watching is getting to the best part, so leave now and stop distracting me.”
I sigh in relief. Although I’m starting to regret wishing for a little sister.
I get my car keys and my phone, and locked the door. Mom has an extra key, she’ll get inside.
Mel’s POV
Ollie is such a party-person. The minute he gulped down his third drink, he was out on the dance floor shaking his ass, while Danny was cheering him on and Chloe is nowhere to be seen.
Tristan has been following me like a lost puppy. He kept on offering me something to eat or drink, and then he would start small talk.
“He is so into you,” Ollie told me earlier. The three of us were huddled up in one corner before Danny pulls Ollie away from us and Chloe flirted with a random hot guy.
Which left me alone with Tristan.
“Did you have any friends back in your town?” He asks me.
“Yeah, I had some,” I answer, taking a sip of water.The gin back at the bonfire traumatized me to the core.
“How about a boyfriend?” He grins.
“God, no.”I was still watching a bunch of people dance while some were doing body shots and Tristan just stood there beside me.
“You know, I was kind of missing the Mel at the bonfire,” He grins.
“Hell no, Tristan. I woke up with a killer headache,” I shake my head and he laughs.“Come on, just one drink,” He offers his cup.I did it once, I can do it again.
Right?
Ugh screw it.
Sighing in defeat, I get the cup from him and finished the rest of his drink and he raises his fist in the air and cheers.
The drink was both sour and sweet with a bitter aftertaste.
“What’s in this drink?” I ask him through the loud music.
“Cherry juice with Lemon-lime soda, spiked with whiskey I found in my mother’s kitchen cupboard,” He answers and I laugh.
“You want more?” He asks me.
“Chloe’s driving, so…” I shrug.He goes to the counter and got both of us another drink and Ollie walks towards me, still shaking his hips.
“Damn, did you see Danny? We were doing body shots, and he could have never been hotter,” He tells me and dramatically fans himself with his hand.
I made a face.
“Here,” Tristan says and gives me the cup.
“Mel,” Ollie calls.“Yeah?” I ask before taking a sip of my drink.“I never saw you dance before,” He grins and quickly pulls me to the living room where the couches are moved and people were dancing.“Ollie, you’re spilling my drink!” I yell. Another ear shattering music.
“Oh, screw that, come on, shake that ass!” He says and I laugh.I drank the beverage in my hand in two big gulps until it barely reaches half of the cup and danced with Ollie.
I didn’t even know what I was doing, I was just going with it.
If the cops see this, we are in big trouble.
Ollie and I danced some more until I finished the rest of my drink and went back to my sulking corner where Tristan was chatting with Paul.
Paul sees me walking to them and he walks away right after giving Tristan smug grins.
“What’s up with that?” I ask.
“Oh, nothing. Same old Paul,” He shrugs with a laugh.“Another one?” He asks me and gestures to the cup I was holding.“Last drink for tonight,” I say and he chuckles.I haven’t seen Ace all night. Has he gone home? Or is he also sulking?
I doubt that. Ace doesn’t sulk.
I tried to look around the room but I couldn’t find him. Maybe he did go home.
A sudden wave of disappointment rushed through me and I tried to brush it off.
Tristan walks up to me, and before he even says a word, I quickly took the cup from him and downed the drink before it was snatched away from me and a weirdly familiar scent fills up the air.
“Ace?” I ask.
“What the hell?” Tristan hollers.“I told you to stay away from her,” Ace says, his hands turning to fists while clenching his teeth, his jaw tightening.
“What’s going on?” I ask, confused.
“Nothing is going on, Ace is making a fuss out of nowhere,” Tristan replies.“Mel, get out now, I’ll meet you outside,” Ace turns to me.“She is not going anywhere, especially not with you,” Tristan stands beside me and grabs my arm.
“Excuse me? I can speak for myself,” I pull my arm away from his hold and stepped away from the two dimwits.
“What exactly is happening? If that doesn’t concern me, and this is your fight, I’m out of here,” I say and start to walk away.
“Trust me, it concerns you in many ways,” Ace says with a sarcastic chuckle which made me stop.
“Trust you? If I ask you to elaborate those ‘many ways’ that you just mentioned, will you explain? I keep on asking the two of you what the hell is happening but you’re acting like I’m not even here! You know, if this is supposed to be a joke or some sort, would you just stop?” I rant and walked closer to them.
I was about to say more, but I tripped.
I swear to god I didn’t trip on my own foot.
Ace and Tristan helped me stand back up.
“Get your hands off her!” Ace pushes Tristan away, causing him to stumble.
Tristan quickly goes back up, and shoved Ace harder, in a split second, Ace fights back and lands a fist on Tristan’s face. Tristan tackled him to the ground and I, along with the crowd backed away from the two.
I looked around for Chloe but I still couldn’t see her anywhere. Even Ollie is missing.
Tristan is now on top of Ace, punching him repeatedly when Ace dodges a hit and Tristan ended up hitting the tiled floor. He groans in pain and in a flash, Ace quickly switches up their places and he now has the upper hand.
Although Tristan was trying to avoid Ace’s punches, Ace was pinning him down by the neck, while the other hand was beating the crap out of him.
I looked around once more and saw Danny’s muscular body rushing his way through the crowd with Paul and I let out a sigh.
“Damn it, Ace! Get off him!” Paul starts to pull Ace’s arm that was on Tristan’s neck, while Danny held both of Ace’s shoulders and dragged him away from Tristan.
Paul helped up Tristan, who gave Ace a dirty look, while Danny was still firmly holding Ace’s shoulders.
Ace was shaking, I noticed that he was panting and was looking around the crowd, he then stopped when he spotted me.
He ignores Danny and stomped towards me.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the house.
“Ace, your face,” I gasp when I took a closer look at him.
“Don’t mind me, just please get in the car,” He says.I was about to protest, but shut up when I felt my legs turn to jelly and my stomach was turning.
I get inside his car and he drives away from the wretched house.
“Where’s your key?” Ace asks me while helping me out of the car and walked me to our porch, he holds out his left hand while his right one is gripping my arm.“I don’t know…they’re in Chloe’s car? I think,”I seriously cannot remember, why can’t I remember?“They’re in what?”“I said they’re in Chloe’s car!” I yell.“Gosh, you are much more complicated when you’re high,” He sighs and pulls me back inside his car.“Where are we going?” I ask but he didn’t answer.We were still on the road and I feel my stomach turning once again.Ace turns the AC off and the window beside me rolls down, the cold air hits my face and I let out a groan.Ok, yeah I’m high.It just felt so good.So good that I even opened up my mouth, put my tongue out and let it taste the cold air.I feel my whole body tense up and restless, the lights on the road seem much brighter, making my head spin, I giggled for no apparent reason and now I feel like puking.Ace takes a turn and the street lights are gone, replacing
Mel’s POVWhy does the grass feel so good?The stars look brighter, even the moon looks so shiny.I feel a comb brushing through my hair and I giggled.“Ooh yeah, I like it, keep doing that,” I say and my pillow started to shake causing me to quickly sit up and vomit.No joke. Literal vomit.The comb rubs my back and I reached back to put it back on my head only to hold up someone’s hand.I jumped in surprise and opened my mouth to scream but I puked instead.Feeling drained, I laid back on my pillow inhaling a familiar scent. I roll on my stomach and pressed my face against the pillow and took a deeeep breath.“It’s smells so good,” I sigh.
After breakfast at Ace’s, I quickly headed home and facetimed Ollie. Good thing mom didn’t hear me, she was still asleep, she must’ve been tired from work.“I don’t know what to do, Ollie.” I groan, plopping myself down on my bed.“The guy definitely has anger issues,” He mumbles through the phone, getting sidetracked for the fourth time since I called.“You’re not listening to me!” I yell.“Of course, I am! You told me that Tristan made you take this drug and was about to take advantage of you-which you should report-Ace found out and came to the rescue-that was so hot, by the way-and then he took you to the lake, where he punched the hell out of a tree and then the both of you made out, completely intoxicated.” He says in jus
The car is back, everything is okay with Chloe, and I am with Ace again.I'm not hanging out with him because Chloe said that it's fine and she doesn't care. She's lying, she's not fine, and she does care, which means that it's still not fine with me. It's Ace that won't leave me alone."Are you sure we should do this?" I ask him."Admit it or not, you want to do this.""Not if we're going to get caught.""We're not, okay?" He says and brings out another pack of weed."This feels like a crime." I say and he chuckles."Because it is."
I don't exactly remember how long the drive was, I definitely wasn't too preoccupied with my thoughts, nor looking at the boy driving the car I'm in. I couldn't help but ask, "Was Tristan always like this?"He heard what I said. Before I spoke up, the ride was quiet. I'm guessing the car had something to do with memory flashbacks of a bonfire and a lake and a kiss that none of the two of us seem to remember.Ace was quiet for a few seconds, he looked like he was trying to remember his years with a supposed asshole."He was...a really confusing kid. I mean, we both were. He could be helping out some lost freshman and lead them to their actual classes, or sometimes he would choose to play with their heads and make them end up in the maintenance area. Sometimes, what he does are worse than just losing a freshman on campus. You'd never really expect what he chooses to do next.""Were you like that?" I ask.Frankly, I didn't want to expect a particular answer from him. Although it will gi
Here's the thing when you do something illegal, you either get caught or you don't. Tristan was the latter, Ace and I got away with it. Do I feel bad? Yes. Did he deserve it? Most definitely. Did I regret the entire plot? Yes. Because now, I can't stop thinking about Ace Martins. It's ridiculous, and I'm certain that I'm just going to fuck up his life. Despite my best efforts to drive him away–both mentally and physically–I've failed in doing so. In a span of months, I haven't gone out much. Mainly because the only person I've just wanted to see is living right across the street. I talk to Chloe and Ollie every now and then, nothing is wrong with them, but I found myself wanting to talk to Ace more. I hate it, but then the things we do say otherwise. Everything went by fast and if I'm being completely honest, I don't think I remember all of it. The last we heard from Tristan is that cops came to their house, and I think he's either in jail or rehab or god knows where, I decided
Dread continues to swallow me whole while I was just there, lying on my bed, inhaling the sweet-minty smell and taking in all that's left of my room and trying my best not to cry.I was already over the fact that my parents are now divorced. What I can't move on with, is that I'm leaving. Leaving the town where I grew up and spent most of my life, leaving my friends who I practically grew up with.Leaving what I value the most; memories.I thought that my dad will be the one leaving but apparently life hates me so much that it made me the one leave the place on earth I love the most.I don't want to leave. But I don't wanna stay with him either.There's a part of me that wants neither of them, all I want is to be alone, but even I know I can't handle that.Even though it pains me to do so, I agreed to go with my mother, to her hometown. Going out
I feel like any minute now, someone is about to cover my mouth to prevent me from screaming, take me into a car and drive off to the town's dark side.I know, I'm exaggerating and what I'm saying can't possibly be real.I hope.I stopped walking, well, fast-walking and decided to turn around. Even though I know it was the dumbest thing to do.I turn around and I see a little kid. A girl, to be exact."Were you following me?" I ask her."Yeah," She nods her head slowly."I believe you're the one who's taking me home tonight." She gives me a small smile.Oh honey, even I don't know my way back."What are you doing out here at this time at night?"I could ask myself the same thing."I was at the playground,”Okay, as if that's not creepy at all.
Here's the thing when you do something illegal, you either get caught or you don't. Tristan was the latter, Ace and I got away with it. Do I feel bad? Yes. Did he deserve it? Most definitely. Did I regret the entire plot? Yes. Because now, I can't stop thinking about Ace Martins. It's ridiculous, and I'm certain that I'm just going to fuck up his life. Despite my best efforts to drive him away–both mentally and physically–I've failed in doing so. In a span of months, I haven't gone out much. Mainly because the only person I've just wanted to see is living right across the street. I talk to Chloe and Ollie every now and then, nothing is wrong with them, but I found myself wanting to talk to Ace more. I hate it, but then the things we do say otherwise. Everything went by fast and if I'm being completely honest, I don't think I remember all of it. The last we heard from Tristan is that cops came to their house, and I think he's either in jail or rehab or god knows where, I decided
I don't exactly remember how long the drive was, I definitely wasn't too preoccupied with my thoughts, nor looking at the boy driving the car I'm in. I couldn't help but ask, "Was Tristan always like this?"He heard what I said. Before I spoke up, the ride was quiet. I'm guessing the car had something to do with memory flashbacks of a bonfire and a lake and a kiss that none of the two of us seem to remember.Ace was quiet for a few seconds, he looked like he was trying to remember his years with a supposed asshole."He was...a really confusing kid. I mean, we both were. He could be helping out some lost freshman and lead them to their actual classes, or sometimes he would choose to play with their heads and make them end up in the maintenance area. Sometimes, what he does are worse than just losing a freshman on campus. You'd never really expect what he chooses to do next.""Were you like that?" I ask.Frankly, I didn't want to expect a particular answer from him. Although it will gi
The car is back, everything is okay with Chloe, and I am with Ace again.I'm not hanging out with him because Chloe said that it's fine and she doesn't care. She's lying, she's not fine, and she does care, which means that it's still not fine with me. It's Ace that won't leave me alone."Are you sure we should do this?" I ask him."Admit it or not, you want to do this.""Not if we're going to get caught.""We're not, okay?" He says and brings out another pack of weed."This feels like a crime." I say and he chuckles."Because it is."
After breakfast at Ace’s, I quickly headed home and facetimed Ollie. Good thing mom didn’t hear me, she was still asleep, she must’ve been tired from work.“I don’t know what to do, Ollie.” I groan, plopping myself down on my bed.“The guy definitely has anger issues,” He mumbles through the phone, getting sidetracked for the fourth time since I called.“You’re not listening to me!” I yell.“Of course, I am! You told me that Tristan made you take this drug and was about to take advantage of you-which you should report-Ace found out and came to the rescue-that was so hot, by the way-and then he took you to the lake, where he punched the hell out of a tree and then the both of you made out, completely intoxicated.” He says in jus
Mel’s POVWhy does the grass feel so good?The stars look brighter, even the moon looks so shiny.I feel a comb brushing through my hair and I giggled.“Ooh yeah, I like it, keep doing that,” I say and my pillow started to shake causing me to quickly sit up and vomit.No joke. Literal vomit.The comb rubs my back and I reached back to put it back on my head only to hold up someone’s hand.I jumped in surprise and opened my mouth to scream but I puked instead.Feeling drained, I laid back on my pillow inhaling a familiar scent. I roll on my stomach and pressed my face against the pillow and took a deeeep breath.“It’s smells so good,” I sigh.
“Where’s your key?” Ace asks me while helping me out of the car and walked me to our porch, he holds out his left hand while his right one is gripping my arm.“I don’t know…they’re in Chloe’s car? I think,”I seriously cannot remember, why can’t I remember?“They’re in what?”“I said they’re in Chloe’s car!” I yell.“Gosh, you are much more complicated when you’re high,” He sighs and pulls me back inside his car.“Where are we going?” I ask but he didn’t answer.We were still on the road and I feel my stomach turning once again.Ace turns the AC off and the window beside me rolls down, the cold air hits my face and I let out a groan.Ok, yeah I’m high.It just felt so good.So good that I even opened up my mouth, put my tongue out and let it taste the cold air.I feel my whole body tense up and restless, the lights on the road seem much brighter, making my head spin, I giggled for no apparent reason and now I feel like puking.Ace takes a turn and the street lights are gone, replacing
“Mel, you made it!” Tristan smiles and gives me a tight hug.“Um, hello? We’re here too,” Ollie waves his hands in front of him. Tristan chuckles and was about to give him a hug but Danny pulls Ollie to him by the waist.Chloe rolls her eyes.“Where are the drinks?” Chloe asks Tristan and he chuckles.“Follow me,” He says and gestures for us to follow him.We make our way through the crowd. Some were dancing, some were sitting on the couch, some were playing games, I quickly stopped observing the surroundings when I felt a hard grip on my wrist, causing me to stop walking.“There you are, I’ve been looking for you,&rdquo
“Bro, you’re coming to my party, right?” Tristan asks me.We just finished our exams and we’re both walking to the cafeteria with Paul.“Oh yeah, you going for it, man?” Paul asks Tristan with a grin, playfully hitting his arm, I furrow my brows in confusion.“Going for what?” I ask.“Paul and I made this bet,” Tristan starts.No.“Not another bet, Tristan,” I frown.“We’ve talked about this, that’s bull!” I add.“Oh come on, Ace.” He tries to reason with me.
I woke up at nearly 10. My head hurts so much but I have to fix my things.“How’s Chloe?” I whisper to Ollie. She hasn’t woken up yet.“She cried a lot last night then dozed off to sleep. She’ll get over him,” He rolls his eyes.I hope so.When I came back to our tent last night after talking to Ace, they were both asleep. Poor Chloe.I also felt guilty. I made her think that Ace actually likes her, if I hadn’t forced Ace, none of this would have happened. I knew that he had a choice, but I made him feel like he didn’t. Oh god, what have I done?