351"What do you want?" Okay, yeah, I did sound like a bitch. I can't help it.
"Aeralie?" the voice on the other end sounded nervy.
I pulled my hair back and stopped the movie. "Yeah?"
"Um. . .hi! I'm sorry; did I catch you at a bad time?" I recognized the girl's voice as Lauren's - she wasn't a close friend of mine, but we get along just fine to be friends.
"Hey Lauren. Oh, no you didn't catch me at a bad time. Sorry, I was just under the weather for a moment there. You know just being a lazy-ass and watching trashy romance movies, while I get fat," I laughed despite how shitty I felt on the inside. I mean, come on. She doesn't really need to know any of my business, right?
"There's a party at Derek Hamilton's house tonight and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me. . . that is, if you want to," she suggested, and I thought about whether she knew I didn't do that sort of cultural gatherings.
The thought was weighing inside my head. I could go to the party and forget about my problems (but I don't like parties), or I could stay home and wallow in my melancholy. Instead, the words left my mouth before I can stop them.
"Sure." I closed my eyes.
"Great. It starts at eight. So. . .I'll pick you up at quarter to?"
"Yeah, that'd be fine," I replied, trying to sound enthusiastic.
"Thanks for coming, Aeralie. I'll see you later. Bye!"
"Bye." I hung up the phone and slung it across the room just as Ryan walked in. He picked the discarded phone up at his feet and walked over to me and sat down on my legs, looking at me, confused.
"Anna. . .what's wrong?"
I looked at him and shook my head. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong with me."
Ryan rolled his eyes at me. "You're lying."
"God, I swear, times like these I wish you weren't my twin."
He smiled at me. "Either way, I'd still know you were lying."
I sighed and moved so that I was sitting next to him with my head on his shoulder. I didn't think it was necessary to tell Ryan. Lucky's his best friend. What would you do if you found out that your best friend broke your sister's heart?
"Ryan, will you promise to believe me when I say that nothing's wrong with me?" I asked, lying to both him and me.
He was hesitant. I knew he would be. He's always like that when I'm not telling the truth. "I promise. But Aeralie. . .if nothing's bothering you, then why are you eating so many tubs of ice cream," he looked at the ground, "cookie Dough to be exact, and say that nothing's wrong with you. That's bullshit and you know it. You're acting all weird and distant. You've been acting this way all week. What is up with that?"
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. He makes things difficult. "Ryan. . . please." I turned to look at him with pleading eyes. "All I need from you is to be my brother. . . my twin. . .my best friend. . .Ryan, please, don't make this hard on me."
He ran a hand through that sloppy mass of hair on his head and sighed. "I just don't want my Anna getting hurt. As long as you're doing okay, it's all good."
I smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "You do know that when I say you're the best twin in the world, I'm saying that in all seriousness?"
He laughed and ruffled my hair. "You're never serious."
I hit him with a pillow under me. "You ass."
"You're my twin."
"I'm the better half, dipshit." I laughed as he tried to tackle me, but I got up too fast.
"Who's the tougher one?" I rolled my eyes.
"Dork."
"Jackass. I'm going to take a shower now." Before he could say anything else to me, I ran up the stairs and into the bathroom.
After I took a long hot shower to get me energized, I got ready and grabbed my hoodie, going down the stairs. I quickly looked at the clock and I had five minutes left before Lauren got here. The doorbell rang a few moments later and I walked towards the door.
"I'm leaving! I'll call before I get back," I called out to whoever was listening as I opened the door and Lauren stood there, grinning.
"You sure you want to go?" She asked, looking over me with concern.
I nodded at her and stepped out as I closed the door. "I'm sure. Let's go." We got into her car and drove off as I stared out the window. What's wrong with me? I make big deals out of things that I'm not sure I should make a big deal out of. I mean, I could have just confronted Lucky and asked him about what happened. I should have, could have and would have, but didn't.
"Aeralie?" I turned to look at Lauren.
"Hmm?"
"We're here," she said, stating the obvious.
"Oh." I laughed and got out. As we approached the huge house, you can already hear the thunderous music and people shouting at each other over the loud and annoying noise. Now tell me again the reason to why I am here? Oh yes, fun. Funny I'm not having any of it.
There were people from both schools, Newton and Larson, all scrambled up in one house. Derek must be one popular guy to have over five hundred people raiding his house. Lauren disappeared into the crowd and I sighed, making my way towards the back, to get a drink. So now I'm all by myself here and anything could happen. It suddenly got really chilly in this room and I pulled on my hoodie. What am I doing here? I mean, going to parties is not and I repeat not my thing. It never was and it never will be.
I sighed as I pushed back my hair and grabbed a beer off the table. I'd rather get wasted and have fun, than. . .bleh. Okay, I really am losing it. I hate alcohol.
I pushed my way back out of the crowd into the front and felt someone grab my arm. I spun around and smiled when I saw Keeley. "Kee!"
"Arri, why are you here?" She had a baffled and upset look on her face.
I shrugged and took a sip of the beer in my hand. "I decided I needed to go out on a Saturday night and have fun."
She smiled hesitantly and pulled me with her out of the crowd. When we were away, she turned around and crossed her arms on her chest, glowering at me. "Okay. . .seriously, Aeralie. What are you doing here? You and I both know that parties are not your thing."
"Kee, ever since Tuesday, my life has just went down the water slide and I need to have fun," I said, not very convincing though.
She sighed and smiled dolefully at me. "This is about Lucky, isn't it?"
I nodded and took another gulp. This stuff is nasty. Asking one of the twenty one questions; why the fuck am I drinking this? I was thirsty, and there weren't any other beverages that I could find, so I held my breath as I drank it. Drew came up and smiled, in that surprised kind of way.
"Aeralie! What are you doing here?"
I smiled back timidly. "I guess I needed to have fun," I said again, telling myself that I should have fun, even if it meant acting like somebody else; someone who has fun.
He nodded, giving me a funny look. "Is Ryan here?"
I shook my head and sighed. "No, he didn't come."
Keeley grabbed my hand. "Arri, you should've called. We could have given you a ride here. Who did you come with?"
"Lauren."
They nodded and we did a little more chatting, well, Keeley needing to be assured that I was fine. I finished my beer and threw the can away, only to get another one. Already my head was starting to spin. Just a little bit.
Keeley tilted her head and looked crossly at the beer can in my hand, a pointed look on her face. "Are you drinking? You're not drunk are you? Because if you are, I swear Aeralie-"
"Keeley," I interjected. "I am not drunk, okay? I was thirsty and needed something to drink. I promise."
She sighed and nodded grudgingly, taking Drew's hand. "Then we're going to go dance. You sure you're going to be okay? We can take you home now, if you want."
"Yes, I'm going to be fine, and no, don't take me home. You two have fun. I'll be okay." I waved them off and walked around for about ten minutes, seeing people I knew and people I didn't. I didn't stop to talk to anyone, seeing that they didn't want to stop and talk to me. As I walked around the house, I recognized some more people and soon finished off my second beer. My taste buds must have gotten numb, for the reason that the sordid taste of beer was only a trace set in my mouth. But then again, it's my third beer, and. . .whoa.
I was starting to get unsteady, just a tiny bit - a lot, but I shrugged it off. Without looking at where I was going, I ran into smack dab hard into something. . .er, someone. Looking up, I saw deep brown eyes staring back at me.
"Whoospie," I giggled. Stepping back, I looked at him fully and familiarized him as Evan Turnelle, and acquaintance.
"Aeralie?" he asked, though his words were a tad garbled.
I nodded and smiled at him, too cheerful for my own good. "Evan, hi! How are you doing?"
"What are you doing here? I thought parties weren't your thing." How did he know I hated parties of any kind?
I shrugged and sipped the can, my head getting lighter and lighter. "Yeah, they're not really. But I wanted to get away from my sucky life," I said noncommittally.
He laughed and leaned against the wall looking down at me. "I'm not so sure of that," he said with what I believe was cockiness lacing his words.
"You don't know my life, Evan. And I'm positive that you wouldn't want to either."
My can became empty and I tossed it on the ground. I looked at Evan and smiled. He looked cuter than before. Maybe I was looking at him in a weird way before. Or maybe I'm being delusional. "So. . .what's up with you?" I couldn't understand what I said.
It was his turn to shrug and he handed me his beer. For an unknown reason, I gladly took it. "Nothing really. I got into a huge fight with my girlfriend and broke it off with her." He had a girlfriend? I didn't know, and really didn't care. But I was talking to him, so I pretended to sympathize some for him.
"Oh. . .I'm sorry." I looked at my feet. The music was really loud. . .if you can even call it music.
"Nah, don't be. I never liked her anyway." I looked at him. I couldn't understand logic like that. How one person can be shallow enough to form a relationship with someone when they don't have a fondness for them. We stood there for a moment, people passing by us. My alcohol tolerance snapped just then and a part of my brain stopped working.
"You know, you're different," I stated, and pointed my finger at him, giggling a bit.
He grinned down at me, as if he was enjoying talking to a contemptible and drunk girl. "Oh really? How so?"
"I don't know. You just are. Well actually. . .I don't really know." I somehow found what I said as humorous and started laughing hysterically. Evan joined shortly after, though he could have been chuckling, but my unclear perception and this environment caused me to think otherwise.
Without prior notice, a guy came running down the hall and bumped into me, making me spill the beer all over my front. My hoodie was halfway open, so the beer spilled through and onto my shirt.
Evan grabbed my shoulders to keep me steady, but he was just as drunk as I was, so he could barely hold himself up which caused us to sway a little. "Whoa there, you okay?"
I put the can on the table next to me and looked down at the top of myself soaked. I reek of beer, and that was not good. "Uh oh," I replied and scrunched my nose up.
He looked at me, confused. "What's the matter?"
"I got beer all over me." I giggled and he shook his head, scrunching his nose up as well.
"I can see that."
"Do you know where the bathroom is? Cause I wanna get this stuff off before I get really stinky." God, I sound like a ditzy blonde. I may be blonde, but far from stupid and in anyway, ditzy. . .scratch that; I was being stupid and ditzy.
"Yeah. Come on." He grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him and up the stairs hurriedly. The whole time, I couldn't help but compare Evan to Lucky once his hand grabbed a hold of mine. For one thing, Evan had this grasp and it wasn't quite pleasant. His eyes looked hard and cold and I suddenly felt perilous with him.
**
Lucky exited out of the bathroom upstairs, since the one downstairs was occupied. He was at Derek Hamilton's party, though, not knowing why he was there either. Something was wrong with Aeralie, and he didn't know what. But she wasn't talking to him, and seemed to be avoiding him all week. He wanted to talk to her, he needed to tell her everything that happened between him and Morgan. His guilt was eating him alive and it caused a terrible dismay. He couldn't even bring himself to tell Ryan. Earlier, he went to see her, but Ryan said she was out with a friend. So they decided to go out to Derek's party, since that was what everyone seemed to be talking about. It was the party of the year.
Just as he left the bathroom, he saw a couple go into one of the rooms and the girl seemed to look a lot like Aeralie. He looked at her again and much to his incredulity and anger; it was Aeralie. What was she doing here and who was the guy she was with? The door closed and Lucky ran to it, just as it was locked. 'This is great, this is fucking great,' he thought, staring at the door. He tried to turn the knob, but it wouldn't budge, as if being a way of punishment meant for him. He had to get Ryan and fast. Lucky dashed down the stairs, and searched frantically for Ryan. He spotted him talking to some other guy in a corner and he ran there, pulling Ryan away and looking at the guy. "Excuse us for a minute."
Ryan looked at Lucky unable to grasp a handful of air in front of him. "Lucky. . .are you okay?"
Lucky shook his head, the words spluttering out. "Ryan . . .your sister's here."
Ryan stared at him. "Aeralie? She can't be here. She left earlier and went out with a friend. Why the hell would Aeralie be here?"
"I don't know, but I just saw her go into a room with a guy."
If there was any other time where Ryan had been absolutely furious, this would have definitely beaten it down. He shook his head and gripped his hair. "Fuck. Lucky, she wouldn't ever get into a room alone with a guy she doesn't know unless she's. . ." He came to awareness and it scared him. "Shit. she's drunk. Where'd they go?"
"Upstairs. Come on." They combed through the heavy crowd oblivious to what was going around them and ran up the stairs.
**
When Evan turned on the light, I looked around at my surroundings and became very baffled.
"Evan," I said giggling, "this isn't the bathroom. Silly, you've got the wrong room."
Evan walked towards me and grabbed my hands. His hands were hard, rough and sweaty. I looked up at him, and his eyes told me he didn't enter into the wrong room. Oh God. What am I supposed to do? Here I am, a girl drunk, alone with a guy I barely know, and heartbroken. I wished I was anywhere but here, but I knew I couldn't get out of this without a brawl. I wriggled my hands, and tried to get out of his grasp, but Evan wouldn't let me. He kept me still and I started to panic.
I looked up and took in a deep breath the music still blaring, even through a closed door. Outside of that door, everyone was enjoying themselves, unaware of the endeavor going on in this room. "Evan, what are you doing? Let me go, please!"
He lowered his head, ignoring me, and started kissing my neck. Not in a way I could ever envision being kissed. My heartbeat started to pace in the beat of the current song, which was an extremely fast song. I closed my eyes tightly and tried writhing out of his hold again, but it wasn't working. He was too strong.
This isn't happening, this cannot be happening.
"No," I managed to get out, but he raised his head up and looked at me with urgent and irate eyes.
"Ssh, shut up and it won't take too long. Just let me do my thing." But that's just it. I didn't want him to do his thing. I wanted to go home now.
I wanted Lucky.
**
Ryan and Lucky finally got up and were now standing in front of the room. A few of their friends came along to help out, that turned out to be a large group. Ryan tried opening the door, but without any luck.
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Fuck! Why did he lock the door?"
Lucky stood next to him and his heart was pounding against his ribs. This wasn't good.
**
Evan was getting lower, and I had to stop this. Now.
I moved my hands, and they were free. I put them on his shoulders and shoved him hard away from me. "I said no, you bastard!" I made sure that I said that firmly and loud, notwithstanding the main factor that I was inebriated.
I thought that I had told him off, but bile quickly filled Evan's eyes again and before I knew it, I was pushed up against the wall. My head hit the edge of a frame hung on the wall, and I whimpered, bringing my hand up to my head, the excruciating pain getting worse.
"Listen you bitch, I told you to shut up and it'll all be over soon, but no! Now, if you don't listen, I'm going to shove you against that wall again, you whore!" he yelled; thus, I shut my eyes and tried to obstruct out the sound. The tone of his voice was like standing next to the fire drill bell. My head started aching more when suddenly, the door busted open.
"You did not just fucking shoved my sister against that wall." Ryan sounded really mad, and I was so indebted that he was there.
Evan sneered at him. "So great of you to join us Ryan. Did I tell you how extremely hot your sister is? And probably easy too," he said with a smug smile on playing on his mouth.
Opening my eyes, I narrowed them at Evan. My legs were free, so I swiftly brought my knee up and hit him in his groin, the feeling all too familiar. Evan groaned and let go of me. I was about to move away when suddenly he brought his arm up and struck me hard across the face, the force knocking me on the floor. He kicked me in my stomach and luckily, missed my ribs, but got my gut nonetheless. And it hurt so much.
"Fucking bitch!"
"You asshole!" Ryan ran and pushed Evan away from me, punching him square in the jaw. Evan fell on the ground groaning and clutching the whole right side of his mouth. Ryan hit him again, this time hitting his eye. I tried to sit up, but the pounding in my head that was now unbearable and my stomach made it impossible to do so. Lucky ran up to me and helped me up onto my feet. All this was happening so fast and the last thing I saw was Ryan kick Evan in the stomach.
And then I blacked out.
a/n: Well, this is the second to last chapter. I know I said that I wrote this a long time ago, which I did, but it was so bad at first. This chapter is definitely not filled with happiness. The first time I wrote it, I didn't have Aeralie getting hurt. But since I love drama, I couldn't help but put it in and here you have it. I mean, there's no telling what's going to happen next chapter, and I won't say. I'll leave it up to you to imagine. This chapter is very violent and has a lot of bad words. Haha, I had much more before I revised it, but I took a lot out.
In any case, thank you to all who reviewed and plus, I got this chapter in soon. I'll have the last chapter up in no time.
-broken promise ring