Chapter Twenty-eight
Demetri
I seriously needed to buy Nat a present. The entire upstairs
rec room had been transformed into party central.
The flat screen was set up with Rock Band. It looked like a
taffy pi?ata threw up in the room. Seriously, I’d never seen so
much taffy in my life and I worked at a taffy store.
Funny, usually my birthdays were giant drunken fests that I
rarely remembered. I knew I’d remember tonight. It was perfect.
“You know I love you, right?” I pulled Nat into a hug and
kissed her temple.
“I know.” Nat squirmed against me. “I’m your favorite.”
“Actually…” I sighed. “I think I may have a new favorite.”
My eyes instantly locked with Alyssa’s as she made her way
toward me.
“Happy Birthday, Demetri,” Nat whispered in my ear and
walked off. My eyes fell onto Alyssa as she slowly unwrapped a
piece of taffy and popped it in her mouth. How did she make
eating taffy look so damn sexy?
Before she could say anything, I grabbed her and kissed her.
Plunging my tongue into her mouth so I could taste the flavor of
the taffy she just ate.
“Butterscotch,” I said against her lips.
“And I thought I was the only one with the cool party
tricks.” Alyssa giggled. Hell, I loved that girl’s laugh. It was already
the best birthday of my life just having her there in my arms. I was
almost able to forget about all the drama surrounding us. Almost. I
just prayed Holly would tell her soon so I wouldn’t have to feel
guilty anymore.
“Want to see another party trick?” I winked.
“I don’t know. Do I?”
I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek then pulled back. Her
eyes squinted and then she laughed. “Was that the trick?”
I let out a laugh and gave the signal to Alec, the same one I
used to give him at clubs that meant watch out I’m about to get down.
Music filtered through the sound system in the room. “Party
like it’s the end of the world…” I started singing. “Turn it up, turn
it up, it ain’t the end of the world.”
“Demetri, what are you doing?” Alyssa stepped back, her
face slightly blushing. I just yelled. “Turn it up!”
The music was loud enough to disturb the peace in the
entire neighborhood, but I didn’t care. I pulled Alyssa against me
and began to dance like it really was the end of the world, which in
my mind if she kept looking at me like that, it sure as hell felt like
it.
A guy can only take so much teasing before he dies for lust
or want, or whatever the hell I was feeling right then.
She wasn’t a bad dancer, then again she had been a
cheerleader, and then she busted out. Yes, busted out. I really
didn’t know how else to explain it, but I was kind of shocked into
submission as my eyes watched her hips sway. Her arms went
above her head and then she was doing some crazy thing with her
leg where she wrapped it around me flipped around.
People cheered. I barely heard them — all I saw was her,
and the smile on her face. The smile that I knew was completely
genuine, not hidden, not fake, and not for show. It was all for me.
I joined in dancing. And then Alec and Nat joined us.
Soon every single one of the friends invited to the friends’
party were in the middle of the floor jumping up and down.
“You guys suck!” I heard a male voice yell from the door. I
glanced up. Evan walked in with Alesha. We’d met this last school
year. They were both super good friends of Nat and consequently
were accepted into our tight-knit group almost immediately. It
helped that Evan was hilarious. Alesha finally stopped fainting in
our presence, and now I think I irritated her as much as she
irritated me.
They didn’t even pause. They just jumped into the middle of
the dance floor and began going to town.
The song ended and I was already sweaty. I pulled Alyssa
against me, she pushed back and laughed. “Was that your party
trick? Oh, look at me! I’m Demetri Daniels and I can dance!” I knew
she was teasing, but I’m competitive. I think I proved my point
back when we did bumper cars, I mean seriously.
“Set it up!” I yelled at Alec.
“No, dude. Remember what happened last time?”
“Do it!” I yelled back.
Alec smirked and began hooking in a new game and game
station.
“What’s going on?” Alyssa asked peering around me.
“Dancing competition, no big deal.”
“I’ll win,” she said confidently.
“If you win, you get one favor. If I win…” I licked my lips
and allowed my eyes to graze her from head to toe. “I get you… all
night.”
“Deal.” She held out her hand. I took it and then yanked her
into my arms sealing our deal with a hungry kiss.
“It’s ready!” Alec called. He’d turned the music down, so
now the game system was getting filtered through the speakers.
Everyone gathered around.
The first song was one of ours, which Evan said was
cheating. Bastard. Of course, the song landed on One Direction. I
mean, really? Do these guys know how much they haunt my
everyday life? Seriously, someone should tell them. I would vote
for Nat, but she’d probably pass out if she met them. I mean, the
girl didn’t even care when we moved into her small town. We were
even more famous at the time, but did she throw her panties? No.
Did she ask for autographs? No. But the minute anyone mentioned
One Direction, she got all flustered and what not.
Dumb.
“Ready?” Alyssa glanced at me.
“I’m always ready, sweetheart.”
The music started and we began to dance in front of the
Kinect.
I destroyed her. I felt kind of bad. I mean, she was getting all
sweaty in her sexy dress, and then my eyes fell on a bead of sweat
as it ran down her back, and I’m pretty sure I just stopped
breathing.
“One more!” she shouted. Everyone cheered.
The song that popped on was Justin Bieber. Of course it was,
because you couldn’t have One Direction without Justin Bieber. I
was cursed. I was freaking cursed.
We started dancing, and then all of a sudden Alyssa froze. I
tried to encourage her to keep going. I slightly punched her in the
arm as if to get her back into it, but instead of dancing, she shook
her head a few times and then ran out the door to the upstairs
balcony.
“Uhh…” I scratched my head. “Keep playing, guys. I’ll be
right back.”
I chased after her.
She was leaning over the side of the railing as if she was
going to throw up. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I just freaked, sorry.”
“Brady?” I asked trying to keep the irritation out of my
voice.
“It was our song.” She shrugged. “No big deal, honest. I’m
fine. I think I was getting a little hot too.”
“You weren’t getting hot, you were already on fire.” I
cupped her face and kissed her lightly on the mouth.
“I want to forget him,” she said against my lips. “When I’m
with you. I don’t feel him anymore.”
“Is that what you want?” I asked feeling more excited about
our relationship than I had in days.
“Yeah.” Alyssa looked down. “Demetri, you said you
weren’t going to ask me to choose, but you need to know…” Her
lower lip trembled. Bright blue eyes looked back at me. Tears
welled at the bottom of her thick black eyelashes. “I choose you.”
Can a person’s heart skip a beat? I swear mine just did. I
opened my mouth to say something, but nothing happened. I
couldn’t find my voice.
Alyssa smirked. “Cat got your tongue?” It was the same
thing I’d asked the day before when she was all nervous.
“No.” I jerked her head so that our lips crushed against one
another. “You do. You have everything.”
I gave up trying to protect my shattered heart. I gave up
trying to be strong. Everything — every single wall I had erected
was gone, and in its place was her.