One Last Time (COMPLETED)

I Love You, I Hate You

My first party I was fourteen and completely oblivious to just how hormonal teenage boys were. Maya and Parker had somehow managed to sneak us into a Frat party without as much as a second glance in our direction. Because she'd dressed me and went a little heavy on my makeup, I could no doubt pass for someone over eighteen, and it unfortunately had resulted in being approached by guys all night. Parker stuck beside her all night, so most of the men hadn't batted an eye upon seeing him with her, but I'd been alone, with the exception of Tanner occasionally stopping by in between his flirting sessions to check on me at the foot of the stairs. Even back then, he'd been a honey pot that all the pretty bees swarmed too.

Now, as I glanced around me, I felt no older than the inexperienced teen that'd been brought into one of these giant man caves four years ago. All three of my roommates were nowhere in sight, and it made me nervous. I could feel eyes on me every step I took, and out of instinct I reached behind me to pull the back of my tight, body hugging navy dress down so it wouldn't ride up and give all the men a free show. I wandered down the hall and froze outside of a door when I saw that the wall before me wasn't just a dirty, scuffed wall. There were words written all over it; names, phrases, dirty innuendos. But staring right back at me was my sister's name with hearts instead of A's. She'd done it since we were six, saying that it would one day separate her form all the other Maya's in the world.

"Hey, beautiful." A deep baritone came from behind me. Even without turning I could feel him edging closer to me. Spinning on my heel so he couldn't reach his destination, I forced a smile and glanced up at the man.

Like most of the men here, he was tall, but this guy in particular lacked the lean muscle that Tanner and Park had, and was actually pretty lanky. His shaggy dark hair was matted to his forehead in sweat, occasionally a loose strand would fall into his dark, dilated blue eyes.

"I thought you said you didn't do Frat parties anymore." He whispered with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Why you lying to me, baby?"

He thought I was Maya.

Which meant he had absolutely no idea my sister was dead.

"I'm not Maya." I said it slowly, afraid with how slurred his words were, that he wouldn't hear me if I said them normally. "Maya was my sister. I'm Mia Foster."

He snickered and took another swing from a red solo cup. By the smell radiating off of him a few feet away, I was sure it was something much harder than beer.

"Look, what happened at the party after your Homecoming thing, it was all in fun, babe. We were drunk, we both wanted it. When I woke up you were gone though. Not cool."

A almost yelped at the realization that started to ease its way into the pit of my stomach.

"Look, I'm not Maya." I tried to duck under his arm, but he slammed it against the wall over my head so hard I jumped. "I'm not Maya."

"Stop playing games." He snapped through his teeth. "I don't have time for that shit."

I tried to move again, but this time he didn't hesitate to grab a fistful of my hair and slam my head against the wall, hard. As I sunk to the ground, holding my head in my hand, I felt tears spring to my eyes, but they weren't for me. They were for my sister. For the twins sitting at the apartment with my mother.

"Did. . . did you just slam her head into the wall?" I'd never felt so relieved to hear Tanner's voice in my life. "Mia?"

As I peered up and through my hair at Tanner, I saw something dangerous enter his eyes as he realized what the man standing over me had done. His eyes jumped back and forth between the two of us, hands clenching into fists at his sides before he stalked over and tried to grab my hand, but the lanky boy blocked him.