Grace; misanthrope // Jai Brooks

Chapter 3

I lay in my bed for maybe two hours after school, avoiding getting ready for Amelia's party. My phone begins to ring and I toy with the idea of just letting it ring and going to voicemail, but I give in and answer it.

"Helloooo," Bella's always-happy voice rings out. "Are you ready yet?"

"No," I groan.

"Oh cheer up, buttercup." she says. "Can we meet you at your house around 7:30?"

"Yes," I whine. "But I'm still driving separate."

"Okie dokie. See you in a bit!"

I slump over to my closet trying to decide what I'm going to wear. I'm stuck between feeling like I don't need to impress anyone but also thinking it might be funny to surprise everyone by actually trying for once. I pull out a black bodycon dress with a mesh stripe across the abdomen, just barely giving a tease of my midriff. I have big curly hair, a gift from my Italian mother, and I typically wear it in a ponytail to keep it out of my face. I decide it might be fun to wear it down for a change. I dig out an old pair of black pumps and stand before my mirror, judging how I look. I'm actually having a little fun getting ready for this thing, I realize. I was just finishing up my makeup when there was a knock at my door, followed by Bella and Chloe entering my bedroom.

"Woah," Bella says.

"You look like a total hottie," Chloe says raising an eyebrow. "Damn,"

We all laugh and scurry downstairs and out my front door. I follow Bella's car to the party. When we arrive at Amelia's, there are already cars parked up and down the block. Bella, Chloe, and I stand at the edge of her driveway for a moment, eyeing each other before heading for the front door. As soon as we opened the door the booming sound of music seemed to vibrate the walls. Off to the left was a living room where people were dancing and standing around. To the right was the kitchen and dining room. The kitchen was scattered with bottles of alcohol and red solo cups. The smell of vodka immediately stung my nose. Kids from school littered the entire house.

Chloe rushed toward the drinks and began mixing things together into a solo cup. Then she slurped it down. Bella and I laughed. I wasn't much of a fan of alcohol, plus I had to drive home so I couldn't drink much even if I wanted to. I settled on one seltzer to loosen myself up for the night. I felt I deserved it after all the taunting and bullshit I had to put up with lately. Just then, Amelia came up to us.

"Hey guys! We're gonna play suck and blow, want to play with us?" she was clearly already a few drinks in.

My two best friends were quick and excited to agree to play, so of course I had to play, too, in order to avoid standing awkwardly by myself. I had no idea what suck and blow was but I was about to find out.

Amelia held up a single playing card. "All you do is use your mouth to transfer the card to the next player's mouth. Suck in to hold the card, blow to let go."

It seemed simple enough although I wasn't crazy about getting so close to other people. It seemed we were about to play around a circle, as maybe 15 of us had gathered around. At this point in the night a lot of guys' eyes fell on me, noticing me in my dress that hugged me in all the right places, and my long curly hair that fell past my chest. It was after the game had already started that I realized I was standing to the left of Jai Brooks. He bore one of his signature beanies and a hoodie. Our eyes met for just a moment. I could smell the scent of his cologne; he smelled expensive. I gulped, and suddenly my tongue was caught in my throat. The game seemed to be going so fast.

"Chloe," I whispered sternly, nudging her foot.

"What?" she asked loudly, already very tipsy from her alcohol concoction.

"Switch places with me," I whispered.

"What?" she asked again. It was difficult to hear over the music and people.

It was too late. The card was coming around to Jai. He turned toward me and leaned in close to me. I closed my eyes, preparing myself to suck up the card and pass it to Chloe. Instead I was met with Jai's lips smashed against mine and the playing card landing on my foot. My eyes shot open with embarrassment. People around us let out "ooohs" and drunken cheers and laughter. I only caught a glimpse of Jai's face; he was so hard to read, I had no idea what he was thinking. I immediately spun around on my heels and went for the door.

I got into my car and sat there for a second, forehead pressed to the steering wheel. I felt so flustered and humiliated. I was only surprised that Jai hadn't made a snide remark trying to blame me for the card falling on the ground. Maybe I hadn't given him enough time to say something stupid. I was terrified he would tell the school I tried to make a pass at him and he rejected me. I kept replaying the kiss over and over in my head, thinking about all the eyes on us. The scary part was that the kiss itself wasn't so bad, and maybe I even liked it.