Burn My Paranoia One Last Time

24. Stolen Kiss

I wake up to hear rocks being thrown at my bedroom window. I groan and check the digital alarm clock. Why must something always wake me up at 3 in the morning? At least now it's not in my imagination.

I wrap my blanket around me and rub my eyes as I trudge to the window. We definitely didn't plan a trip to Skull Banger on a Sunday night, did we?

I pull the curtains open to see Sloane dressed in an oversized black T-shirt with ripped sheer leggings and a distressed denim jacket. Hm, she wouldn't have dressed that plainly for a mosh pit.

"Rain! Get down here," she waves and motions me down while doing an excited little hop.

"Give me a minute!" I mouth while holding up a finger. I whirl around to find my trusty knit green sweater and throw on some sneakers.

***

"Oh... I really hope we're not going to the mosh pit. I'm way too tired for that tonight. Also it's Sunday for crying out loud!" I mutter after climbing out my window.

"No shit. I didn't wake you up for the mosh pit. Now come!" Sloane pulls my arm towards the limo enthusiastically.

My stomach sinks. "Is Joel there?"

"No, why?"

"Who drove you then?"

"One of the actual chauffeurs, duh," she scoffs while shutting the door behind me.

"Is he not suspicious..?"

"Rain, Daddy pays him a lot of money to hide certain secrets. Driving his daughter to go visit her friend isn't that big a deal."

"It's the middle of the night," I mutter while glancing around. I see she's finally hung up the lunar embellished tapestry I bought her for birthday. Sloane can't live without her mystic charms.

"So? He's not supposed to ask questions. Anyway, that's besides the point. I brought you here because there's something I've been wanting to tell you for a while," Sloane scoots closer.

I glance around again and notice the limo isn't moving. I suppose we're just going to stay here while she delivers her news.

"What's that?"

"You see, I wasn't sure how you'd react so I had to think about it for a while but—"

"No, what's THAT?" I point at a lipstick stain on the seat between us.

Sloane blushes. "About that..."

"And lord, there's another one there too," I point at the window behind us.

Sloane smacks my hand away playfully and laughs. "Ok ok stop you dweeb! Let me talk."

"I'm listening," I raise my eyebrows attentively and stare.

Sloane takes a deep breath before saying, "I made out with Holly Jones that night at the fair."

"Oh.. is that so?" I stammer. "Um, how did that happen?"

Sloane leans back and looks up dreamily while she recounts the night. "We made a bet about which one of us would crash the most times at the mirror maze and decided to test it out. We kept teasing each other... and I guess it escalated because next thing we knew, we were kissing. I never saw it coming."