Songs for this chapter:
• I Think He Knows - Taylor Swift
Chapter Four:
Lexi's POV
"Dinner was great, Bryce. Thanks again," Shawn says cheerily, and I watch as Bryce groans, loudly.
"You are so very welcome," Bryce responds gruffly, slamming the dishwasher door shut in a far more aggressive manner than necessary.
Pursing my lips together at Bryce's annoyance, I dry the water that had gathered on my hands from rinsing dishes off on the pair of Bryce's sweatpants that I'm still wearing, then reaching out to take my boyfriend's hands in mine.
Bryce and I ended up following our earlier plan to make pasta for dinner, but we ended up having to cook for six rather than just the two of us. Ella and Shawn refused to go eat at the Columbia dining hall no matter how many times Bryce had begged them, and since Scarlett and Anders obviously don't have anywhere else to go, all four of them just ended up staying over to eat.
I follow Bryce's gaze as he watches Shawn head out of the kitchen and into the living room, taking a seat down on the chair beside where Ella is sitting, her feet propped up on the coffee table.
Meanwhile, Scarlett and Anders are passionately making out on one of the couches.
With tongue. Lots and lots of tongue.
"Is this a normal occurrence?" I ask Bryce, who scoffs as he drops one of my hands from his, tightening his grip on the other. We join everyone else in the living room, and when we sit down together on the loveseat, we watch as Scarlett's hand drops to the front of Anders' jeans, squeezing.
Ella, Shawn, and Bryce all have looks of pure disgust on their faces.
Anders bats her hand away. breaking away from her lips to say, "Cool down, you little slut. Not in front of everyone."
One moment she's in Bryce's lap and then only a few hours later she's making a move on Anders?
God, I wish I had had her level of confidence before Bryce and I got together.
No matter how conceited it makes me feel to have the thought, I can't help but to wonder if maybe she's only doing this because Bryce is my boyfriend and because she saw how Anders was speaking to me earlier.
Her and Anders could be a thing, though. I genuinely have no clue. I feel like I know absolutely nothing about either of them, and so I probably just shouldn't assume anything about their pasts
"You're calling me a slut while we're in the presence of the biggest manwhore to ever walk the halls of our old high school?" Scarlett asks, lifting her hand to rest it back in her own lap.
Bryce raises his middle finger to her, and I watch the faintest hint of a smile on his lips.
Feeling the sudden burn of jealousy, my hand instinctually falls to Bryce's thigh.
He nearly jumps out of his seat in surprise.
When he looks down at me, I break eye contact immediately, instead turning to stare directly into Scarlett's eyes.
She raises an eyebrow at me, glancing towards my hand on Bryce's thigh before saying, "I could have him if I wanted, Lexi. I wouldn't be so secure if I were you."
"That's incorrect, Scarlett," Bryce cuts in, and Scarlett laughs.
Someone clears their throat, and when I glance across the room I find that Ella was the source of the sound.
"What the hell are we missing?" she asks, gesturing between Shawn and herself.
Before either Bryce or I has the chance to fill her in on the events of this afternoon, Scarlett says, "We really don't know each other, do we? I think a good old-fashioned game of truth or dare would really do the trick."
Anders and Bryce make eye contact, and Bryce gives Anders the slightest shake of his head.
"She's just as obsessed with truth or dare as Jazzy is, and it's never ended well. She seems to feed off of drama," Bryce leans over to whisper into my ear just as Anders asks Scarlett, "Can we maybe not do this, Carly? It's never ended well. We're not in high school anymore."
Scarlett, shrugs, turning to Bryce to ask, "Do you want to do shots for skipping a question or dare?"
Bryce shakes his head at her. "I don't have any alcohol here."
Scarlett seems to think that he's joking because she bursts out laughing.
It takes her several moments before she calms down, when she then asks Bryce, "I'm serious. Where do you keep your liquor?"
"I'm serious as well. We can play your stupid, childish game, but we're not drinking. If you want to go get drunk, please do it elsewhere," Bryce responds firmly, and there's something about the tone of his voice that sends a shiver down my spine.
Glancing to the clock hung up on the wall across the room, I find that it's just past seven o'clock. My eyes then fall to Shawn and Ella, both of whom are seated comfortably as they watch everything unfold before them.
"Anders wasn't wrong when he said that you've become a complete pussy, I see," Scarlett comments, and Bryce scowls at her.
The whole room remains silent until Scarlett continues to speak, turning towards me to ask, "Truth or dare, Lexi?"
All I can think about is how the last time we played truth or dare, I ended up finding out about how Bryce had been threatening Mateo to stay away from me, while the time before that, everyone found out about Bryce and I's kiss on my thirteenth birthday.
I make eye contact with Scarlett, and one glance tells me that it'll be a very bad idea to answer 'dare'.
"Truth," I respond, and Scarlett settles back in her seat while folding her arms across her chest.
"When was the last time you had sex?" she asks me, a smug smile on her face as if she can already tell that talking about my sex life with anyone other than Bryce makes me uncomfortable.
"You don't have to answer that," Bryce whispers to me, and I shake my head at him.
"It's okay," I assure him, and he furrows his eyebrows at me.
Raising my hand from Bryce's thigh, I point at his bedroom before answering, "Last night. In that room. It was fucking fantastic. Thanks for asking."
Scarlett gapes at me as I lower my hand back down to settle on Bryce's thigh once more.
"I thought you said that she was all sweet and innocent," Ella cuts in, and Bryce rolls his eyes at her before turning back to me.
He has a look of admiration in his eyes as he stares down at me, and I smile at him as I ask, "Truth or dare, baby?"
Bryce pauses, and it takes him a moment before he answers, "Truth."
I have no clue what question to ask him, and so I let Ella choose one. I allow myself to zone out for a little bit, watching everyone else play this stupid game around me.
The only thing keeping me grounded is my hand on Bryce's thigh. At some point in time he drapes his arm around my shoulders, and I subconsciously lean into his embrace.
I wish that tonight had turned out differently. I had hoped that Bryce and I would have had the night alone, and that Scarlett and Anders would've ended up staying out late at a club or something.
Shawn and Ella seem nice enough, but I wish that they didn't show up tonight. I wish that Bryce and I could be alone in bed right now.
I want nothing more than to be in his arms; actually in his arms. I want to be curled up on his chest as he presses his face into my hair, watching a movie while he somehow manages to turn even the most innocent lines dirty.
That's not my reality though, and so I stare blankly down at my feet as the other five people in the room play truth or dare.
I'm drawn back to reality when Bryce gives my shoulder a squeeze.
When I glance up towards him, he says, "It's Anders' turn to ask you, sweetheart."
Looking towards Anders, I find him already staring at me. He has a mischievous glint in his eye, and when he catches me staring, he winks.
Uh oh.
"Truth or dare?" he asks me cheekily, and glancing to Bryce, I hesitantly answer, "Dare."
Bryce curses under his breath.
If looks could kill, Bryce would have Anders dead on the floor right now as my boyfriend glares directly at the poor guy, as if to warn him.
"I dare you to let someone in this room cut your hair however they want," Anders says to me, chuckling.
Bryce's POV
"Fuck no," I interject. "That's not happening."
I know how much my girl loves her hair, and I also know Anders well enough to realise that he'd choose Scarlett to cut Blossom's hair.
Scarlett, who would chop as much off as she could, just to spite me.
Before Blossom has a chance to try and rationalise letting this happen, I tell Anders, "Give her a different dare or you're sleeping on the fucking balcony tonight."
Anders rolls his eyes at me. "Chill, dude. No one is forcing her to do it."
I scowl at him. "You were being so nice to her not too long ago. What the hell happened?"
"It's not that big of a deal, Bryce. There's no need to be so overprotective. I'm just trying to have some fun," Anders says slyly, and I glance down at Blossom.
"I'd rather not have anyone cut my hair," she whimpers, and I tug her small body closer to mine as if that'll protect her.
Blossom's eyes are wide with worry as she anxiously gnaws down on her bottom lip, and Anders seems to realise this and feel some pity because he then says, "All right. Let me think of something else."
Blossom gives him a grateful smile, but her good mood doesn't seem to last long as Scarlett blurts out, "I dare you to give Bryce a hickey."
I watch as Blossom's shoulders tense.
She looks up at me once more, her eyes searching for help, and I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do.
"I . . . I don't know how to give a hickey. I've never done it before," Blossom whispers, and Scarlett bursts out laughing.
Before I get a chance to point out that Anders is supposed to be the one giving the dare and not Scarlett, Ella shoots up from her seat to announce, "I'll demonstrate. Any takers?"
Scarlett raises her hand smoothly, telling Ella, "Get over here, baby. I certainly wouldn't mind."
Ella makes her way across the room, taking a seat down on the couch beside Scarlett.
Everyone watches as Ella attaches her lips to Scarlett's neck.
Blossom looks away as soon as Scarlett's hand falls to Ella's thigh, and I have to remind myself that she's not used to parties and shit where an innocent game of truth or dare could easily turn into a goddamn orgy.
Blossom slowly retracts her hand from my thigh, folding her hands awkwardly in her lap as she resumes staring down at the ground as she had been doing the past ten minutes or so.
Once Ella pulls away from Scarlett, leaving a dark hickey in her wake, Scarlett blows her a kiss as Ella flounces back to resume her seat next to Shawn.
Shawn's eyes are wide as he stares at Ella in awe. He eventually works up the courage to say, "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Of course. I somehow managed to forget that Shawn is essentially madly in love with her.
Ella's cheeks suddenly flush a deep shade of red, and I watch as Shawn stands up from his seat, dragging Ella up with him.
"I have to get back to my dorm to do some homework, and so I have to drive Ella back now too. Bye, everyone," Shawn says coldly, dragging Ella out of the living room and into the foyer.
They slip their shoes on before Shawn grabs Ella's hand, opening up the front door so that the both of them can exit the apartment.
I give Ella a small wave, and she waves back as Shawn slams the door behind them.
"The fuck was that about?" Scarlett asks, and when Blossom looks up at her, I can see flames in my girl's eyes.
"I'll be right back," Blossom says, standing up from her seat beside me before storming through the apartment and into my bedroom, shutting the door behind herself.
And then there were three.
"Shawn really likes Ella and so I guess he got jealous from seeing her give someone else a hickey," I answer Scarlett, who snorts in response.
"Monogamy is just so boring, don't you think? I give both of you permission to slap me across the face if I ever settle down with one person," Scarlett responds, and Anders pinches her in the arm just as Blossom enters the room once more, holding her phone in her hand.
"I just got off the phone with Kennedy. I told her that I'm staying here for a week or so, until they leave," she tells me boldly, gesturing between Scarlett and Anders.
Anders whistles as Blossom makes her way across the room, taking a seat down directly in my lap.
Before I can ask her what she's doing, with a small smile on her face, she says, "I believe that I owe you a hickey, do I not?"
A/N: Thank you guys so much for 200 followers and 1k reads on this book! I can't believe it! It took me so much longer to reach 1k on Stay There and Something There!
Everyone needs to mentally prepare themselves for the next chapter because it's going to be WILD. I'm so freaking excited.
Any guesses as of to what could possibly go down?