Chapter 41 | Dancing on coffee tables & flashing people her underwear

Lucas:

My team mates had convinced me to throw yet another party at my house.

Yes, another one.

It had been what? 5 days since the last but with my parents gone for an extra 3 weeks and our win about two hours ago, I had been easily persuaded to host a one in celebration.

"Hey man," Jeremy greets, slapping my back as I allow him, his boyfriend Max and the several other guys from school that stand behind him on the porch steps, into my house.

He thrusts forward a 6 pack of beer into my arms causing me to quirk an eyebrow.

Jeremy, the goody two shoes who has never drank and barely attends parties unless it's for something celebratory, smiles sheepishly. "Stole it from my parents stash, my dad won't know it's missing," he explains letting out a low chuckle.

"Man we're not a good influence on you," I respond with a shake of my head and mirroring his laugh.

"If it makes you feel better, I'm not planning on drinking, I just wanted to bring something because I feel bad the others practically forced you to hold this party last minute."

"It's all good bro, you know I would've held another party sooner or later anyways."

He shrugs and I move to the side to allow the rest of the guys to move deeper into the house.

"Drinks are in the kitchen," I tell them and the nod, congratulating me as they walk past.

I prop the door open, an invitation for any party goers in the neighbourhood that this is an open party, and head towards the living room so that I can fiddle with the music.

As I'm about to step inside the room however, a loud, booming voice catches my attention causing me to step back and glance over my shoulder to see Dylan stumbling through the hallways.

"HI LULU!" He yells, almost tripping over his own two feet as he approaches me. He swings an arm around my shoulder. "THE FUN IS HERE!"

"Don't tell me you're already drunk," I snort, dragging him into the living room with me. His head lolls before he turns to gaze up at me, his big blue eyes blood shot.

He nods his head eagerly. "I drank on the way here," he giggles, patting me on the stomach.

"You're on road into becoming an alcoholic Dyl." I shake my head as I prop him down on the sofa and turn to my laptop where it's connected to the speakers blaring Goosebumps by Chase Atlantic and Travis Scott. I click the volume button a couple of times.

My friend waves his hand dismissively. "I've got this under control Lu, I've only had two drinks this entire month."

"It's the first of December."

"Exactly," he nods proudly. "I've only had two or seven shots of the Ciroc that Aidan managed to get from the convenience store near my house because he looks thirty," Dylan explains, running his hand through his blonde curls. "And I'm not going to drink anymore here...well maybe except a beer or five."

I turn to glare at Dylan sternly. "No you're not," I begin. "You're visiting your grandmother tomorrow and I don't think granny O'Grady would appreciate her grandson being too hungover to knit with her."

At this, Dylan slumps further down into the sofa and huffs before kicking his legs childishly.

I ignore his immature behaviour. "Did Aidan not come with you?" I ask instead, speaking loudly over the music.

As if on queue, Aidan strolls into the living room at that exact moment, a bottle of Ciroc clutched in his hand and followed by Grace, Mia and Isabella.

I glaze my eyes over the three girls. Grace who waves her hand in greeting is wearing a light blue coloured body con dress with thin straps. Next to her, Mia smiles warmly, she's wearing a white mini skirt with a matching white crop top and beside Mia is Isabella, who is playing with the ring on her finger. She has on a tight, black dress with a low neckline that ends mid thigh. Isabella has paired the dress with a black leather jacket, black sandal heels that boost her height a couple of inches and black tights. Her hair is straightened and parted in the middle and she is holding a black purse protectively in front of her stomach. On her ears are two, tiny golden hoop earrings and around her neck, a gold chain with a crescent moon pendant in the middle.

The moment my eyes meet Bella's, her gaze falls to the ground and her cheeks grow increasingly pink. Dammit, she's thinking about Sunday isn't she?

Pulling my gaze away from her, I draw my eyes onto Aidan's chin instead, where there is red lipstick smeared across and then to Grace's lips which are swollen and painted rouge.

"He did come with me, he was making out with Grace by the front door, we saw the girls making their way over here from Isabella's house," Dylan explains, his brain finally catching up with him, flitting his eyes across all of us as if I hadn't just put two and two together.

Grace flushes pink and Aidan grins sheepishly.

"Well thank you for the Ciroc," I tell Aidan, plucking the bottle out of his hand and taking a big swig of the drink. I scrunch up my nose as the alcohol burns the back of my throat but God damns does that taste better than the cheap beers I usually drank at my parties.

"Do you guys want any drinks?" I ask, turning towards the girls as I pass the bottle back along to Aidan. "There's beer in the kitchen, Aidan's Ciroc and I think red wine too but that's from my mom's special collection so don't drink too much of it or she'll realise."

"Is there anything else?" Grace questions.

"You can check the cupboards."

She nods and drags Isabella along with her, back into the hallway so they can head back into the kitchen.

"You're not drinking?" I ask Mia who has been left alone in the living room with us, annoyance laced across her features as she stands silently, leaning against the door frame, her arms crossed across her chest.

"I got stuck with being designated driver for those two idiots," she motions to Aidan and Dylan, "and Grace."

"You lost ip dip doo, so it's only fair," Aidan remarks, taking another swing of the drink before sitting dramatically on the sofa beside Dylan.

Mia responds by making an incoherent noise, a mix between a growl and an angry cry, before sending Aidan daggers and then storming out of the living room.

"What a child," Aidan snorts, shaking his head.

"HEY I HEARD THAT!"

"A child with super human hearing," Dylan giggles, trying to grab the ciroc from Aidan's hand. "Man, I love Mia."

+

Isabella:

Apparently I had been in dire need of getting out of my comfort zone and that therefore consisted of Mia shoving me into one of her too-tight dresses that clung onto me like second skin and forcing me to come to this party with her and Grace after the game that had taken place a couple of hours earlier.

The party part I had no objections to, even if it was Lucas's...it was the dress part that was making me feel uncomfortable.

Yes, I did look good. I was having a good hair day and I actually liked how Mia's dress looked on me, but the moment I had stepped into Lucas' house, any sliver of confidence I had, slipped away almost instantly. All throughout the beginning of the party I had been tugging on the leather jacket I had thrown on top of the dress and clutching my purse against my stomach. Luckily, I had worn tights underneath as a compromise that I had made with Mia due to the amount of cleavage that I was showing from this dress. Cleavage = me being allowed to cover my legs.

Anyways, that was how I was acting at the beginning of the party - my mind filled with self doubt, zero confidence and feeling pretty damn self conscious but that had all changed the moment I had strolled into the kitchen with Grace and thrown down a drink or five.

I had found that the more buzzed I got, the more confident I got alongside it and I find that by the second hour of being at the party; I am full blown drunk with my confidence peaked at a level I don't think it has ever been on before.

Some boys holler as I begin to peel off my tights from my body, chucking them at Grace's head, but Mia promptly whacks them with her purse and chucks my empty cup at their direction and the guys instantly scurry away.

The heat is intense. With the amount of bodies gyrating to the beat of the music, even the hallway is ram packed with people, both I recognize attend our school and others I don't even think live in this town.

I hold out my leather jacket to Mia who takes it into her arms before turning to look into the hallway mirror. "Oh damn! Look at me I'm GLOWING! And my boobs!" I glance down at my cleavage and smile. "They're looking great! They're growing again!"

Mia adjusts the strap of the dress on my shoulder. "Your boobs do look amazing babe."

"Thanks Mi, yours are also fantastic." I pat down my hair, staring at my reflection and ignoring the hazy double of myself that I also see staring back at me. I am drunk. Really, really drunk.

"Can we go dance now," Grace whines, slumping down against the wall, her dress hiking up dangerously as she does so.

"Let's take a selfie first, we look so hot."

I pull out my phone from my purse, struggling to keep my grip on the device as I unlock it and hold it out in front of me. Grace gets up from the floor and bends down slightly so she is in frame and Mia leans in before pouting. I snap a couple of pictures before shoving my phone back into my purse and swinging the strap over my shoulder.

"Lets go dance!"

The girls follow me as I weave through the crowd and head into the living room where we try to find a space to actually move against the throngs of people.

People are pressed up against each other, grinding and dancing, red solo cups littered around the floor and drinks are spilled meaning the ground is a little sticky to walk on. The room smells of mixture of sweat, alcohol, strong perfume and a little bit of weed. There is this party light lighting up the room but it is still so dark and stuffy I can barely make out anyone's faces. I think I see Dylan passed out on the sofa that is pushed against the wall at the back of the room but that is about it.

"There's no space to dance," Grace yells over the loud music. My entire body shakes with the vibrations of the song and it is so loud I can't even tell what the song is.

I peer around, in search for a space to dance before my eyes lock onto the coffee table.

Reaching behind, I grab Grace's arm and haul her through the mass of people until we reach our destination.

The moment I begin trying to clamber into the table Grace perks up. "Omg good idea Bell."

"I'm going to stay down here," Mia screams, gazing up at us as Grace and I as we step onto the table, holding one another to steady ourselves. "To catch you if one of you idiots fall."

I nod my head wildly before moving my hips to the beat of the music, Grace dancing close behind me and I finally recognise the song as I move - Wild thoughts by DJ Khalid.

The moment Rihanna's verse comes on, everyone begins screaming along to the lyrics, however, it sounds like a jumble of words seeing as how pretty much everyone in the room is drunk out of their minds.

I wind and grind and lift my arms into the air, not caring if I look silly or not - which I probably do not look seeing as how my only talent is that I can dance really well.

My grandmother claimed that dancing was in the Quintero genes because she herself had been great at it and so had my mom apparently.

The song ends and another starts up and I honestly don't know how long we're up here dancing for but after a while Grace leans down beside my ear.

"I'm going to go find Aidan," she slurs before jumping off the table, she stumbles and if it wasn't for Mia standing beneath us, she would've face planted the floor.

"I'm going to help her find him," Mia yells up at me, swinging her body under Grace's arm so she doesn't fall to the ground. "Lucas is in this room, I'll tell him to keep an eye out on you." I nod absentmindedly, still dancing.

I stay dancing, my breathing getting a little laboured as I get a little tired but as the song comes to an end and a remix of One dance by drake comes on afterwards, an excited yelp escapes from my lips and I'm restored with a little more energy. "I love this song!" I exclaim, more loudly than intended, before beginning to dance again, but more vigorously this time. My little exclamation catches the attention of the people standing around the coffee table and they all turn their heads to watch me dance.

Their viewing doesn't falter my confidence at all, in fact it enhances it. My hips move the beat of the music and I whip out some belly dance moves I had learnt from when musically was popular.

Some girls begin to cheer loudly and this causes my a large smile to break out onto my face, my confidence only increasing. I just know my hair is wild, some of the front strands stick to my forehead and I know I'm flushed pink all over.

I continue dancing for the rest of the song and it's when I've caught the attention of some guys who begin hooting loudly and even whip out their phones to begin recording when someone large grabs me by my waist and yanks me down from the table. There's a collective yell of outrage as I'm dragged through the crowd by this mysterious person.

"Hey I was having fun!" I huff, trying to remove this person's vice grip from around my arm. It's too dark inside to tell who the person is but from gazing up at the back of their head I can tell that tall. They also have a nice ass too.

They pull me along harshly as I begin to slow down, pressing my feet into the floor to try and stop them moving, but it's no use, the person is still a able to drag me along.

The person with the nice ass doesn't stop weaving through the crowd until we reach a secluded area in the little alcove under the stairs.

I'm shoved into the wall as they come to a halt and I yank my wrist away from their iron grip.

"What was that for?" I grumble, finally gazing up to identify the person and when I recognise who it is, an annoyed breath leaves my mouth and I roll my eyes.

"Don't act so annoyed Isabella," Lucas says sternly, his hair all dishevelled and un-readable emotion flashing through his bloodshot eyes. "Some of the guys were trying to take pictures up your dress."

I blink, processing what he had just said. "Oh," I murmur after a beat has passed and my brain has finally caught up with me. "That's rude."

"Mhm," he agrees, nodding his head, his face still locked into that stern expression of his. "Now adjust your dress."

My eyebrows furrow in confusion. "My dress?"

He sighs and before I can even apprehend what he means, he reaches down and tugs the black material down my thighs where my dress had been hitched up almost to the point where I was flashing everybody my underwear. I hadn't even noticed.

"Oh my dress."

"Where are your tights gone?" He asks as he stands back up straight, his hair falling onto his forehead.

"Oh I took them off, it got too hot."

He nods his head curtly. "Well you shouldn't have," he states, pulling his lips into a thin line. My eyes scour his entire face as he does so; from the curls resting over his dark eyebrows to his gorgeous greeny-browny eyes, to his sharp nose and strong jaw. Jesus, he is pretty.

Lucas snorts and I quickly realise I had said that aloud.

His stern demeanour softens slightly and a crooked grin replaces the frown. "Thank you, you're quite pretty yourself Bell."

I narrow my eyes. "Only quite?"

He gives me a blank stare like I should know the answer to that but I want to hear him say it so I press on.

"Seriously I'm only quite pretty?" I blow out a low whistle and shake my head solemnly causing him to roll his eyes.

"Shut up Bell, you're very pretty okay? Is that what you want to hear?"

I nod my head.

"Well you are and you should already know that by now."

I shrug my shoulders.

A silence stretches across us for a while and Lucas' gaze as he looks down at me is so intense - there are a number of emotions swimming around in his eyes and I shift around not knowing what else to do.

My eyes scour his face once again, trying to find a hint of something that would tell me what he is thinking about but there is nothing, his face, unlike mine, is a closed book.

It's bugging me however, how his hair is covering his eyes so I reach up and push the strands away, ignoring how his breath hitches at my touch. "So did they get a picture then?" I ask, trying to break the silence, it's making me antsy.

"Hm?"

"Did they manage to take a picture of under my dress?"

He jerks his head at my question, seemingly broken out of his daze and he steps backwards, away from me, his jaw slightly clenched. "I took you away before they could."

"Oh okay." I nod my head slowly, bringing my hand back to my side. "They would've got a nice shot anyways. I was wearing nice underwear."

He freezes for a second and from the dim light in the hallway that casts over his face, I can tell Lucas' cheeks are burning pink and I swear he's holding his breath. "Please stop talking about your underwear."

"Why," I furrow my eyebrows. "They were pretty and lace and red-"

The last bit of my sentence is muffled by his hand slamming over my mouth. I look up at him in surprise, his bloodshot eyes are dilated.

"I told you to stop," he says, his adam's apple bobbing as he swallows.

I try to say something but it comes out in an incoherent muffle.

"If I remove my hand will you stop talking about your underwear?"

I nod and he drops his hand after a moment of hesitation.

"They match my bra which is red and lacey too."

Lucas gives me a blank stare and I burst out into a fit of laughter.

"Bella."

"What?" I say feigning innocence.

He shakes his head and rolls his eyes, stepping even further away from me. "I'm taking you to Mia and Grace, follow me."

He takes a hold of my wrist as he drags me back through the crowd, his touch warm, sending tingles down my spine. I let him pull me into various rooms on the first floor and through the throngs of people as he tried to find Mia or Grace.

He grumbles something under his breath once we come to a stop outside after we've been through every room on the first floor and then the second floor and even walked in on some random people having sex in Lucas' room who he had yelled at.

The cold wind envelopes me as we step outside onto the front porch and my teeth begin to chatter.

"Now I bet you wish you kept your tights on." He mumbles as he brings his phone up to his ear, no doubtedly calling either Grace or Mia.

"What's your obsession with me and keeping my tights on? Don't you like my legs or something?" I scoff when both their calls go go voice mail.

He snaps his head back to me as he shoves his phone into his pocket. "What? Don't be silly." He glances down at my legs, his gaze lingering a little longer than necessary. "...You, erm, have nice legs."

"Only nice?" I tease once again, rubbing my arms to rejuvenate some warmth.

He rolls his eyes before peeling off his jacket at throwing it at me.

My reflex is too slow when catching it, so the jacket goes over my head and falls behind me. I swiftly turn