I was flying down a slide. That's what was past the opening in the floor; a slide. A very, very long slide. I slid down at lightning speed, my hair blowing up in the air, my hat flying off. I hoped one of the guys would grab it on their way down. I saw a pinprick of light up ahead. As I got closer, it got bigger. All of a sudden, I was no longer in the slide, I was sailing through the air. I thought I would crash in to the wall, or maybe just keep flying forever, but neither of those happened. Instead, I crashed into the hard, muscular body of Damon. He caught me, wrapped his arms around my small body, and fell to the floor with me on top of him. He groaned but held me on top of him, not letting go of me. I kissed his forehead, making him go completely still. "I'm sorry, Damon. I didn't mean to hurt you. Well, outside, that was kind of my intention, but I didn't mean to-" he shushed me, holding me against him. I heard someone come down the slide, but didn't move to see who it was. I stayed on the floor, cuddling with Damon, until every one of us had come down the slide. I felt someone put my hat back on my head, but I couldn't see who it was. The guys crowded around us. I tried to get up, but Damon had other plans. He wrapped his arms around my waist and crushed me against him. I cupped his cheeks, smiled and started leaning in, like I was going to kiss him. He smiled, his eyes twinkling, and started leaning closer. At the last minute, I pulled away, and stood up. He looked at me, confused. I giggled and held out a hand. He took it and stood up, pulling on my arm, making me stumble into his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.
"I hate to say it, but that was really smooth." I said. He chuckled and let me go. I looked at Beckett, gesturing for him to lead the way. He nodded once and started walking down the dark hallway. The walls were made of smooth stone, it was a tunnel, like something from Scooby Doo. There were even torches lining the walls. I laughed and went up to one of the torches. I waved my hand through the flames.
"This is so cool!" I exclaimed. It was. The guys laughed. Emmett ruffled my pink hair, knocking my beanie off in the process. I smacked his hand away and grabbed my hat, putting it back on. I flicked my bangs out of my eyes, glared at Emmett, and then ran to catch up to Beckett. He smiled at me. I wrapped my hand around his upper arm and we walked together down the hallway until we reached a door. It looked very strong and medieval. It was made of wood planks, sealed together by metal bands that ran horizontally across the door. There was a ring-shaped doorknob with a giant keyhole directly underneath it. Beckett pulled a huge key out of his pocket. It was so big, it looked like it belonged in a cartoon. He stuck it in the keyhole, turned it to the right six times, then to the left ten times. The door opened with a clang. I walked with Beckett, still holding his arm for dear life. I looked around.
The walls and the ceiling were made of mahogany wood panels. There were no windows, because we were underground. The floor was a shaggy black carpet that looked incredibly soft. I wanted to take my shoes and socks off, to feel it with my bare feet. There was a huge, elegant golden chandelier hanging in the middle of the ceiling. There were four doors on one wall, and another had two hallways branching off. There were expensive-looking black couches in an L-shape in the middle of the room we were in. In front of the couch was a mahogany coffee table. Against one wall was a giant flat screen tv, with a shelf of movies beside it. There were paintings hanging on the walls. I recognized some of them; some were famous paintings, others were landscapes made by none other than Beckett, in the art class I had with him.
The guys all plopped on the couch. I wanted to explore the place; it looked huge. I assumed that the four doors were their bedrooms, but what did those hallways hold? I walked into the first one to find it lined with doors on each side. Spare bedrooms? Torture chambers? Weapons rooms?
All of the above?
I walked down the other hallway to find a bathroom, a kitchen, two locked doors and a towel closet, which was across from the bathroom. I walked back into the main room, where all the guys were. I noticed the garbage that littered the room; pop cans, beer bottles, pizza boxes, countless takeout containers. I looked at Beckett quizzically.
"Do you guys get pizza delivered out here?" He shook his head, then nodded. Confused, I just stared at him. He sighed.
"We have a friend that works at a bar. He brings us alcohol all the time, mostly because he always wants us to be fully stocked for his visits. Whenever he makes a delivery, he'll bring us some fast food, pizza, or something. He's actually supposed to make a visit today." As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. Beckett got up and went to answer it. I followed cautiously behind, a little nervous. What kind of friends did these guys have?
You, I reminded myself. You are their friend now.
Beckett opened the door to reveal a guy around the same age as me. He was very good-looking. He had light blonde hair, styled in a quiff, and warm brown eyes. He had a black lip ring and a matching earring. In one hand he held a case of beer, in the other was a pizza box. I remembered that I hadn't eaten anything since the apple I had for breakfast, so I lunged forward and grabbed the pizza box before sprinting back to Damon, Emmett and Bobby. I jumped over the back of the couch and landed in between Bobby and Damon. The guys all laughed at my eagerness. I pulled a piece of pizza out and took a bite, smiling. Damon reached over and took the box off my lap. Beckett and their friend came in the room, laughing. Beckett saw me staring and smiled. "Tez, this is Amber, our new friend. Amber, this is Cortez, that friend I was telling you about." I nodded and stared at him. He stared back at me. I smiled and took a bite out of my pizza, looking away. I saw Damon looking at me in the corner of my eye and I smiled, looking him in the eye. He grinned until I threw a pepperoni at him, nailing him in the forehead. Everyone burst out laughing. The pepperoni slid slowly down his nose, leaving a trail of sauce behind. He was laughing and glaring at me. I smiled innocently.
"What?" I said, cocking my head to the side, feigning innocence. He laughed. "Come here, little Mrs. Innocence." I obeyed and scooted closer to Damon. He smiled.
"Closer."
I moved closer. Our thighs were now pressed against each other.
"Closer."
"Damon, I can't get any closer! Unless you want me to sit on your lap, I can't!" He smiled and stayed silent.
Oh.
He did want me to sit on his lap.
Well then, that's what I'll do.
I sighed and sat on Damon's lap, my back against his chest and my head resting on his shoulder.
"Dude, you smell like pepperoni." He chuckled at my comment and grabbed my hips, trying to get me to twist around. I did so and ended up straddling him. He looked up at me for a second before grabbing my wrists and leaning closer to whisper in my ear.
"Can you get this pepperoni off my face?" I laughed. It sounded funny, and it definitely wasn't something you heard every day.
"To do that, I'd have to use my mouth, since you have trapped my hands. Which would be weird. So, no thanks." He gave me puppy dog eyes, but I just laughed and shook my head. "Sorry, babe. Your puppy dog eyes aren't as effective as Emmett's. Its not gonna work." Emmett smiled proudly upon hearing this. He stood up and held his hands in the air, as if he had just finished a big performance and was trying to make the audience applaud louder. I laughed and crawled off of Damon to sit in my original seat, next to him.
"So, Amber. Tell me about yourself." Cortez said, taking a seat on the couch. I sat up straight and thought about how to answer.
"Ummm, my name is Amber Boyd. I moved here from California about seven years ago. I have a brother named Brice Boyd. My best friends name is Grey. Greyson. Oh, and Dimitri. He's awesome. Umm... I love pizza and I'm kind of anti-social." He just kind of looked at me for a while, like he was looking straight into my soul. All of a sudden his face broke out in a smile. Damon grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers.
"Wait, Amber." Bobby spoke up. "Have you ever been to a party?"
I was a bit surprised by this question, but answered nonetheless.
"Uh, yeah, once. Well, no, not really." Everyone looked confused, and I'll admit that I made no sense. I sighed and explained.
"Well, Dimitri wanted me to go to a party with him. So I did. There were a lot of people there. They were passing joints around and drinking too much. I was uncomfortable, to say the least. Then Di ran off with some girl and left me all alone. I tried to leave but then some guy grabbed me and... He uhh, didn't want me to leave. He tried to get me drunk, but I punched him in the face and left. All in twenty minutes." I noticed that Damon looked a little mad at the mention of the guy at that party. All of the guys did, except for Cortez.
"So, Amber." Cortez said, leaning forward so that our faces were inches apart.
"Do you wanna go to a party with me?"
