Chapter – 13

The party was in full swing. I didn’t have a single clue about the wild things that were going on downstairs.

Neither did I want to. I had locked myself inside my room and had no intention of leaving it till the break of day.

But my hopes and dreams were shattered by Alex who forcefully pulled me downstairs insisting on how I’d have so much.

I didn’t have any fun. I was sitting in a corner by myself, the music that was clearly too loud was hurting my ears and my eyes had been blinded by the flashy lighting.

Clearly, everyone else was enjoying it, they were wasted. But for a sober person like me this was nothing except a new source of torture.

I sat there and I felt lonely, it had been a long while since I had felt something like this. My eyes lingered on every person who was having a good time, chatting and laughing.

I couldn’t recall a time when I had had that much fun with my friends or even had a group of friends.

I felt pathetic.

I sighed and leaned back on the couch, feeling like an outsider in a house that was supposed to be mine. Today, the realization was exceedingly evident that it wasn’t. I hadn’t had a place to call home for a long time, now.

I ran my fingers through my hair before the sense of isolation could worsen, the seat beside me dipped. A guy sat next to me.

He smiled kindly at me, “Are you Jake?”

I nodded shocked that he knew my name.

“Hey, I’m Eric.” He brought his hand forward to shake mine. I carefully placed my hand in his and smiled back.

Before I could ask how he knew me, Eric began explaining himself. “I am in Advance Math too and starting Monday, I’ll help you around, catching up and stuff. Every beginner needs help!”

My eyes widened in realization and I smiled back. “I am so glad. I was really having trouble doing it all by myself.”

He chuckled and started telling me all there was to it. I had a hard time believing that Eric was a part of Advance Math class, he was just too easy on the eyes. It’s not fair if the handsome guys are also math whizzes.

My loneliness that surfaced was now, nowhere to be seen or felt as I was laughing with a friend too.

“Don’t you have to go to your friends?” I questioned Eric in hopes that he’d say no.

“Friend. Ex – friend, a jerk who dragged me here and then vanished.” I laughed and Eric said, “What about you? I thought this was an all senior party. Did someone drag you here too?”

I couldn’t exactly tell him that I lived here or Hayden would kill me so, I just went along with what he had said.

Before we could continue our conversation, a wave of hoots captured our attention. I raised my head to find the source, and it was Hayden, of course.

But there was also a girl there, Emilia, I think. She had her arms wrapped around Hayden and he was laughing noisily. Suddenly, the crowd started cheering, “Kiss! Kiss!”

Emilia tried to look all shy but even at this distance, I could tell that she was dying for Hayden to kiss her. I scrunched my nose.

Hayden tried to brush off the people, but the cheers got louder. Succumbing to the pressure, Hayden grabbed Emilia’s chin and pressed his lips against hers.

He raised his eyes and in that split second his eyes made contact with mine and he deepened the kiss not once taking his eyes off me. Tint of malice visible in his actions, the smile of a devil playing on his lips.

My memory went back to the time when he had held me in those same arms and kissed me in the same exact way. Looking at how much he was enjoying it, I was now sure that I had been a joke to him. There was no way that this guy was gay.

My eyes watered but I held back the tears and turned to Eric.

“Tutoring, can we start it today? I really want to be prepared for Monday.”

“You sure?” Eric asked with hesitation. I knew I was imposing but I couldn’t stay in these halls, they were closing in on me and it was impossible to breathe.

I nodded and Eric invited me over to his place.

Oh my god!!! I am so sorry I just realized that I uploaded this chapter with just a 'soon'.

P.S. I wanted to thank all of you for your constant support, I can't put it into words how much that means to me.