4301.
Carmen sighed, yet again. This situation was all too familiar. Her best friend, Chloe Brunner, was once again begging her to reconsider going to a party. "Please, please; I really want to see Scott," she pleaded, batting her baby blues. Carmen inwardly scoffed; she was immune to those mascara laden eyes. Scott was Chloe's boyfriend, some guy that she'd met through her big brother, Alex Brunner... Sigh, Alex Brunner. Carmen had been harbouring a secret crush on him since that day she'd laid eyes on his shirtless self, drinking orange juice in the Brunner's kitchen. Of course, he only ever saw her as a little sister – not to mention that he had a picture-perfect, nice-as-pie girlfriend. Carmen sighed; this time for a different reason. She'd tried her hardest to wean herself off of Alex, and it had worked – to a certain extent. There were still those few tiny butterflies in her stomach which awoke whenever the blond Adonis walked into the room.
"Carmen, are you even listening to me?" Chloe asked, her pouty lips frowning.
"Yes, I am," Carmen replied, as she munched her way through a cherry Twizzler. "You know Scott; I don't see why I have to come to this party with you."
"Because," Chloe whined. "Scott's friends will be with him. I need backup, too!"
After what seemed like an age, Carmen agreed. Scott was 20, Chloe was 18 – it made sense that Chlo would want an ally her own age with her. "Fine – but I refuse to wear anything that shows too much of my flesh. It's really cold out."
Chloe beamed at her best friend, quickly scurrying over to the wardrobe to pick outfits for the party tonight. Chloe stuck with the ever-classic LBD, complete with pink heels and Barbie pink lips to match. Carmen was given a floaty grey dress that reached mid thigh, along with a pair of grey patent heels. She left her hair in its usual messy state; Chloe stating that it looked sexy. Anything for an easy life, Carmen thought.
The two best friends hopped into Chloe's Porsche; neither planned on drinking that night – they were technically underage, after all. They drove up to a huge house; lights flashing and music blaring. Already Carmen felt out of her element: she could see boys passing around joints. A few even catcalled and wolf whistled at the two friends. "Nice legs," someone called out to Carmen. Ignoring them, she clutched onto Chloe's hand tighter, allowing Chlo to weave in and out of the crowd.
"Scott!" Chloe dropped Carmen's hand, rushing over to her boyfriend. Scott's looks were angelic – he had very light blond hair and the deepest cerulean blue eyes Carmen had ever seen. However, Scott was far from angelic – although he was very charming – and this was proved when he dipped Chloe low, and began passionately kissing her. Feeling like somewhat of a creeper, Carmen slinked off to the kitchen, popping open a can of soda. This was why she hated parties; she didn't like mingling with random people, finding it hard to conjure up small talk.
Getting bored with the sight of the black granite worktops, Carmen decided to venture around the quieter parts of the house – this, unsurprisingly, led her upstairs. There were the generic closed off rooms, so she decided to avoid those. However, she didn't avoid the winding staircase, which led to the rooftop of the mansion. Carmen smiled in awe as she was greeted with the lights of Burbank. It was deliciously peaceful up here; the throbbing music could barely be heard. Blissfully feeling at one with the world, Carmen got the fright of her life when she turned to see a man staring her down.
"What are you doing up here?" His voice was gravelly and husky, sending involuntary shivers down Carmen's spine.
The man was lean, dressed in a black tee that showed off his toned arms, which were sporting quite a number of tattoos. It was too dark to distinguish what they were. He was also dauntingly tall. Carmen was 5'9, so this guy had to be around the 6'4 mark. Tall. His hair was messy, like he'd just run his hands through it.
"Done checking me out?" he asked, one eyebrow raised. There was no trace of amusement in his tone of voice.
"I have to go," Carmen squeaked, before running down the stairs and into the nearest bathroom. She didn't know why she had made such a big deal. There had just been something too...dangerous about him; Carmen's gut instinct had been to simply run. She sipped some more of the Coke, feeling a little stupid. The guy had probably just wanted to tell her to get off the roof, assuming she was drunk and was one step closer to meeting her maker. Her phone suddenly vibrated in her bra, shaking her from her thoughts. It was Chloe.
"Where are you?" Chloe yelled down the phone, the sound of music blaring in the background. "I looked up and you'd just disappeared."
"I'm in a bathroom. No offence Chlo, but I didn't want to watch you and Scott make out, so I grabbed a drink and just came up here."
"Okay, well, just get your butt down. I'm in the kitchen." Carmen hung up the phone, making her way out of the bathroom and down the stairs.
Walking into the kitchen, she noticed Chloe and Scott talking with someone. Chloe noticed her best friend as she walked in, beaming at her. Scott also acknowledged her, nodding his head in greeting. The unknown random turned around to see who had taken away his attention. Only, when he turned his head to look at Carmen, she noticed that he couldn't really be described as a boy – no, he could only be described as the man she had squeaked at.
I'd only been at this party for less than half an hour and I was already so fucking bored out of my mind. I couldn't drink because I had to go to work tomorrow, and god knows what Uncle Marty would do to me if I showed up drunk again to work. I couldn't afford to lose yet another job, especially not this one; being a mechanic was possibly the only thing I was exceptional at and hell knows I wasn't giving it up for a Corona Extra – no matter how bad I wanted to.
"I'm going getting some fresh air," I said to no one in particular, before getting up and walking upstairs. Yeah, it was 'out of bounds', but who actually pays attention to that kind of shit? I knew that this house had a roof I could get onto, so I looked for the telltale stairs that would lead me up there.
Unfortunately, when I got up there, I wasn't alone. There was some girl stood looking at the lights; either that, or she was so effin' trashed that she didn't know what she was doing. I stared at her for a minute or so, trying to figure out how I could make her go down so I could sit up here alone.
She suddenly whirled around, gasping when she saw me. Well, fuck. This girl sure was something to look at. She had this straight brown hair which was quite long – I love long hair on a girl, just saying. She had quite the svelte figure. And her legs went on for miles – I was definitely a leg kind of guy. But hey, pretty girls are everywhere. This is California, for fuck sake; I could walk down the street and see a dozen hot girls.
"What are you doing up here?" I demanded, wanting her to leave already.
I didn't get an immediate answer. This girl was too busy staring at me to answer. I felt my ego kick up another notch, as she stared at the tats on my body. My mom and dad had gone a little apeshit when they'd seen them, but they'd learnt to mellow out as far as I was concerned.
"Done checking me out?"
"I have to go," she blurted out, pushing past me and running down the stairs. I scoffed; chicks were so fucking dramatic sometimes. She had nice legs though, and a damn gorgeous face.
Five minutes later, and I was in the kitchen with one of my friends. He was with his girlfriend, but I didn't tend to pay much attention to my friends' girlfriends; didn't want to get my head kicked in for being a pervert or something. I saw Chloe, Scott's girlfriend, smile at someone. It was only when I saw Scott nod at this same person, presumably, that I turned to see who they were looking at. Well, hell, if it isn't Miss. Long Legs herself.
She saw me and her face blanched. I smirked at her, suddenly wanting to know who she was.
Okay, so let me know what you think of this new idea. If you prefer the old setup, let me know and I'll see which everyone prefers.
Let me know what you think of Chase too - I don't think I write very convincingly as him, so your thoughts on this would be much appreciated.
Please R&R, and I hope to update soooon. :)