I was curious whether Blake had any tattoos, though there were hundreds of reasons why I shouldn’t have been interested in that. I looked around Hayden, but Blake was nowhere in sight.
He stopped next to Sarah and slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her against him. “Hey, Jessica.”
“Hey,” I said as I smiled at Sar, who was positively glowing next to him. She wore a radiant smile that spoke volumes about how happy Hayden made her feel. It was touching, even more so after everything they had gone through together. She’d rarely smiled when I first met her, but these days she couldn’t keep a smile off her face.
Hayden nodded at Kev. “Burks.”
Kevin blushed, his eyes downcast. “Hello, Hayden.” Melissa and Sarah glanced at each other.
Even after two months, Kev was still shy around Hayden. It was painfully obvious to everyone how much he was attracted to him.
Hoping to erase the awkwardness hanging in the air, I said, “This band sounds amazing.”
“Yeah,” Hayden said. “They’re Hawks and Roses. They have a YouTube channel where they post their original songs and covers. Their debut album comes out at the end of this year.”
My heart gave a flutter. I also had a YouTube channel with covers and my own songs, and I hoped to release my own album one day. I had yet to show myself in my videos because I wasn’t confident enough to do that, using watercolor pictures as backgrounds.
“Okay, let’s get you something to drink,” Sarah said, leading us to a table with Jell-O shots and other alcohol.
Kev and I grinned at each other as we took shots. “Cheers,” I said, throwing mine down.
Just as I reached for another one, I spotted Blake on the other side of the room, and my breath hitched in my throat. He sat on the couch with a girl on his lap. She leaned toward his ear to tell him something, but he wasn’t paying attention to her. Instead, he was looking directly at me.
I gripped the shot in my hand, growing insecure under his stare. Even with the distance separating us, I could clearly see those cold, cold eyes tracing each part of my body, and I felt naked. I felt like he was stripping me, leaving me with nothing but heat and insecurity. He did this on purpose. He did this to intimidate me since there was no way he would look at me like this because he was attracted to me.
He most definitely found me fat, and I could just imagine the kind of thoughts going through his head. I could bet he was laughing internally at me.
“Today, you messed up big time, Fats, and now? Now it’s payback time.”
His words played in my mind on repeat; I was sure he already had his next humiliation planned. All I wanted was to have fun tonight, but I remembered very well what had happened the last time Blake and I were at the same party, which was on New Year’s Eve. It had ended badly.
I downed the second shot and told myself to ignore him and make the most of the moment. These shots better start working fast.
Kev and I had another one before we went to dance with Mel. I felt Blake’s eyes following me, but I refused to look his way, growing hotter and extremely self-conscious.
My determination didn’t last long. As Kev spun me around, something drew my gaze to Blake, and our eyes met. They met again and again, until the alcohol kicked in and everyone and everything else blurred, the world becoming a mixture of excitement and joy.
It was way after midnight, and I was way drunk. Mel was telling me something as she twirled me around, but I couldn’t make it out. I couldn’t make out anything, and my vision was too blurry. I wondered if Kev’s glasses could make me see any better.
I reached for them and tried to put them on, but they slipped out of my hands, and Mel almost stomped on them. All three of us burst out laughing. Oops.
Sar and Hayden were long gone, probably somewhere getting it on, and I envied her once more. I wished I could find someone I could get it on with… I wished—
“Watch it,” Mel shouted at Masen, Blake and Hayden’s friend, as he danced next to us with some brunette.
He turned around, but his arm never left the brunette’s waist. His seductive smile vanished when he saw Mel. He was three sheets to the wind, if his glassy eyes were anything to go by.
“What’s your problem now?” he snarled at her.
“You bumped into me, you jackass. I almost fell because of you!”
He raised his eyebrow. “Seeing how canned you are, you’re going to fall on your own any moment now.”
Mel’s nostrils widened. She reminded me of a furious dragon, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d started spitting fire at Masen.
Melissa and Masen didn’t get along. No, that was an understatement. Mel hated Masen’s guts, and he didn’t hide just how much she disgusted him. He never missed the opportunity to call her ugly or whatnot. If Mel, who was super pretty, was ugly to him, I could only guess what a girl had to look like for him to consider her beautiful. She had to be Miss Universe.
Masen himself didn’t look bad, which explained the hordes of girls who were always after him and his reputation of being a womanizer. His light bronze skin accentuated his crystal blue eyes, making them more noticeable. His blond hair was short and unruly, and his body was honed into hard muscle. He could easily pass for a model. It was too bad his personality lacked virtues.
“You’re more irritating than diarrhea,” Mel slurred, swaying as she took a menacing step toward him with her fist raised in the air.
Masen didn’t move an inch, unimpressed. “Right back at you, Satan. This isn’t WWE. Knock it off.”
He turned around and planted his hands on
