I snorted. Was this guy serious? I just told him that I didn't like parties, because the last time I went to one, I basically got assaulted.
And now? He wants to take me to a party.
I shook my head. I didn't want to go to a party, it was as simple as that. I wanted to stay here and eat pizza and drink beer with the guys, watch movies and go to sleep. Unfortunately, Cortez really wanted to take me to a party. He just wasn't going to let up.
"Come on, Amber! Nothing will happen to you! Do you think I'm incapable of protecting you?" I sighed and shook my head. I eyed his arms. I don't know how I had failed to notice it before, but he was very muscular. He could probably take on any high school boy in a fight and win in the first ten seconds. Any of the guys could, actually. I sighed.
"Okay. Fine. I'll go to a damn party with you. But only," I held up a finger and looked each of the guys in the eye.
"Only if all of the guys are coming."
Beckett groaned, but nodded, as did everyone else. I smiled and did a little victory dance in my seat. Damon laughed and ruffled my hair. I smiled and poked his cheek. He stood up and grabbed my hand, trying to pull me up with him, but before his hand could touch mine, I had leapt over the back of the couch and was running to the door. Cortez laughed and opened the door.
"You guys have found quite the girl." He said, smiling down at me.
"Is this gonna be okay at the party? Or should I get something different from home?" I asked, turning to look at the guys. Damon's eyes swept over my body. I felt uncomfortable under his gaze. The guys all shook their heads. I nodded and ran out the door, which Cortez had just opened. He chuckled and walked out of the room, followed by Damon, Beckett, Bobby and Emmett. When I reached the end of the slide, I turned around.
"Guys? How are we going to get out?" Cortez laughed and walked past me, stopping at the wall next to the slide. He pulled open a little door that I hadn't noticed before. It was about the size of my hand, rectangular. When Cortez opened it, he revealed a keypad with a bunch of buttons. Some had numbers, some were coloured, some had letters. He punched in a sequence of numbers and letters, paused, and then pushed a big green button. I held my breath, waiting for something cool to happen. Then I remembered upstairs, when they punched in a password to open a panel in the ceiling, which hid a lever that, when pulled, opened a piece of the floor. I waited for a small part of the wall to slide away, revealing a lever or another keypad, maybe a big red button, but nothing happened. I waited and waited.
Nothing.
Cortez frowned and tried the same sequence again, with the same result. He sighed and turned to Beckett, who was holding a hand over his mouth to hide his smile. Cortez glared at him.
"You changed the password again, didn't you?" Beckett nodded. Cortez shook his head, glaring, and pointed at the keypad, signaling for Beckett to put in the password. Beckett laughed and stepped forward, punched in a sequence of numbers and letters, different from the ones Cortez typed, and waited. All of a sudden, right before my eyes, a whole wall slid away to reveal a dark stone staircase. It looked eery, like something from Disney. I gasped.
"This place is fucking awesome!" I giggled and grabbed Emmett's hand, dragging him behind me as I sprinted up the stairs. He was laughing, quite hard I might add, which made him stumble, and fall. I fell on top of him, in an awkward position, because we were on the stairs. I was laying across him, my back crossing over his chest. He groaned and laughed. I pushed myself off the ground and helped him up. The other guys came up and stared at us, stifling their laughter. Obviously, they had seen our fall. I stuck my toungue out at them, grabbed Emmett's hand again, and started walking up the stairs. Neither of us wanted to fall again, so we just walked, hand in hand. Finally we reached another door. This one was made of metal. It looked like a big metal freezer door, and it also looked very strong. Emmett let go of my hand and walked up to the door, slipped a key put of his pocket, stuck it in the keyhole, and opened the door. I tried to run out, but Emmett wrapped an arm around my waist and held me against him. I leaned my head on his chest. He ran his fingers through my hair as we waited for the guys to catch up. When they did, I noticed Damon glaring at Emmett. Why was he doing that? Was he mad at Emmett for something? Beckett was looking at the ground. He looked kind of sad about something. I had a strong urge to hug him, to tell him that I would try to fix whatever it was, but Emmett was still holding me tight against him. I looked into his dark green eyes and started playing with his eyebrow piercing. He giggled and swatted my hand away.
