Project Popular (A James Mcvey Fanfic)

chapter 15

James POV

We finished our meet and greet and made our way out to the cars, me, Matt (our driver) and the girls in one and Tris, Brad, Con and Joe in the other. We slid in one by one and fastened our seatbelts, 

"So did you enjoy the gig?" I asked, smiling at Ella.

"Not as much as you, clearly." She snapped. I frowned at her,

"What's that supposed to mean?" She turned to her friends and laughed.

"You're so oblivious James, it's funny." I ran my fingers through my hair and stayed silent. What had I done wrong? 

"Are you sure it's not just you that's in a mood, you know, because of... reasons?" Before she could respond I felt a hard punch in my arm.

"JAMES! I AM NOT, YOU KNOW?!"

"On the blob." I finished, she shook her head at me and sighed.

"I can't believe you just asked me that." I laughed lightly to myself,

"Well you're making it seem that way. Stropping about something irrelevant." I turned to her friends to see if they had something to say but they averted all eye contact with me, fantastic.

"If you flirting with girls right in front of me is irrelevant then sure, the whole thing was completely irrelevant. Can you stop the car? I want to go home." 

"No, you're coming to this party. All of you. As for me flirting with girls, I only flirted with one and it was literally just a bit of banter. You need to lighten up a little, we didn't do anything." 

"Except be all over each other." She scoffed, crossing her arms.

"Oh wow Ella, if that's what you think of me then I can't wait to see how you act at this party when you see me with another girl." 

"James just shut up." Danni snapped at me. I held my hands up and chuckled,

"Alright big girl, pipe down. The sooner we get to this party the better."

The rest of the journey was silent and as soon as the cars stopped we poured out of the doors, into the front garden of the party. The music was booming from inside the house and the place was swarming with people, typical high school party. I was joined by the boys who had freshened themselves up on the journey, Tristan's eyes were already wandering with that typical grin plastered on his face.

"You ready boys?" They nodded and we made our way into the party, a glass of God knows what was handed to us at the door and soon enough we were lost in the crowd. I took a swig of the unknown drink and made my way into the kitchen, I wasn't tipsy enough to be dancing in the living room yet. Con joined me however Brad and Tris had disappeared into the mosh pit of dancing.

"Cheers mate." I said, clinking my glass with Connor's and downing the drink. He followed and we refilled with another unknown drink, as dangerous as it was. I leant against the counter and looked around, Amber and Jas were stood in the corner, doing shots by the looks of it. Greg and his mates were next to them, crowded round his phone watching something hilarious by the looks of it. My sight was blocked after that by Hope standing in front of me with Danni, both stood with their hands firmly on their hips.

"Can I help you?" I groaned,

"Yes. You can. You need to apologise to Ella." Danni snapped, Hope nodding in agreeance.

"Why? All because I asked her if she was on her period."

"YOU WHAT?" Connor cried, spitting his drink out and laughing hysterically.

"James man, you aren't supposed to ask girls that." He doubled over in laughter and I joined in too, Danni and Hope kept straight faces on the other hand.

"I know, it just felt appropriate though. I'm guessing she is on it then if she's sent you two here to demand an apology?"

"No." Hope said sharply,

"I don't know what game you're playing at Mcvey but leave Ella out of it, she's a nice girl. She doesn't need somebody like you ruining it for her now." I placed my hand on my heart.

"Ouch. That really hurt." They both huffed and looked at each other,

"I give up, it's hopeless. He's just going to stay the same thick idiot he already is. Bye James." They turned and walked away, leaving me with Connor who had finally recovered from laughing.

"I can't believe you asked her that. As funny as it is, you should probably apologise. You are trying to take her to prom, remember?" I cocked my head back and sighed deeply.

"I hate apologising when I'm right." Con shoved two shots into my hands and grinned.

"We'll get you a little wasted before you go though." I smirked at him and we downed the shots in unison.

Half an hour passed and I had downed plenty of shots to begin feeling tipsy, Con had left me to dance with some girl so now was the time to find Ella. I picked up another glass and drank it as I searched for her. It wasn't hard to find her, she was sat in the back garden away from all the noise and party people. I traipsed over to her and sat down, she glanced at me before looking away.

"Go away James, you're drunk."

"Im not!" I protested,

"Just a little tipsy, how did you know anyway?" She pointed to the glass in my hands.

"That and the fact you stink of alcohol." I sniffed my clothes and grimaced.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I just want to apologise for what I said earlier in the car. I was stupid and I fucked up any good chance of anything happening at this party." Her head shot round to me and her eyes widened,

"What were you expecting out of this party? I'm not that easy!" She got up from where she was sat and turned her back on me, I sighed, she had taken it out of context already. I set my glass down and stood up too, grabbing her shoulder and turning her towards me.

"El, come on babe. You know I didn't mean it like that. I meant dancing with you and getting to know you better, I would never have brought you here to sleep with you." 

"Because I'm not good enough to sleep with, yeah I get that a lot." I rubbed my head and took her hand.

"I didn't - fuck - I didn't mean it like that. Of course I'd sleep with you. Wait - stop, no, I didn't - damn it." She laughed slightly and played with my hand in hers.

"I know what you meant James, I just wanted you to feel guilty for being rude to me." I stepped closer to her and grabbed her waist,

"I do feel guilty El, I don't want to upset you." I stared down at her, smiling cheekily.

"Stop Mcvey." She said, pushing me away from her.

"What now?" 

"You're too drunk to actually know what's going on."

"I'm not drunk, if I was, I wouldn't be talking to you properly. I promise you I'm sober enough to know what's going on, come on, we'll go dance." I grabbed her hand and reluctantly led her into the huge crowd in the living room. Sweaty bodies were grinding and jumping all around us and I knew Ella felt anxious, which was my opportunity to gain her trust a little more. I grabbed her hands and pulled her close to me, turning her round so I had my arms around the back of her waist.

"I'll keep you safe in here, I promise. Now come on, losen up and dance." She stood like a statue in my arms and stayed silent.

"What's up Ella?" She pulled my head down and mumbled 'I can't dance' into my ear. I laughed and shrugged,

"Nobody in here can, it's jumping and grinding. Come on look." I guided her from behind, left to right, right to left. She was still a little uncertain so I handed her a shot and smiled,

"Just three shots, that'll help you losen up, then no more alcohol, okay?" she nodded and we downed the three shots. I was right, she loosened up and danced incredibly in front of me. Her hips swayed with the music and she guided my hands up and down her body (only slightly, no innapropriate touching) as she danced away, I certainly had her back on my side.