Sunflower

Chapter 3

"Penelope" Andrea screams from downstairs, I put the last of my clothes in the wardrobe before shoving my suitcases under the bed "Andrea" I scream back while giving my room one last look, everything is in its place, everything is clean, and this finally looks like a bedroom I can get comfortable in. She bursts into my room without knocking and smirks "guess who just confirmed to attending our room warming party?" She asks "room warming?" I ask "Besides the point. But Alec freaking Grayson. You've been wanting to get in his pants since freshman year, you know before Nick" Andrea says, I raise an eyebrow at her. I mean she's not wrong I did have a crush on the guy for a little while but I was never confident enough to make the first move, well not until now anyways. This breakup has changed a lot of things for me, the way I dress, the amount of alcohol I consume, my confidence with guys, the fact that I have to smoke every time I drink.

"Not a bad idea actually"  I say with a small smile "not to bask in your misery or anything but I'm enjoying this confident side of you" Andrea says "it's the alcohol" I joke but Andrea just rolls her eyes at me, Andrea never had to grow into herself over the years. She's always just been unapologetically her and confident about it, whereas I had always been shy when it comes to being myself. I take pride in knowing I am not a bad looking girl, with my big round brown eyes, long brown hair, I know I am curvy and it's honestly one of my favourite things about myself. But it took me a while to notice that I shouldn't hate myself for what I look, unfortunately the cheating scum bag of an ex boyfriend I had made me forget all of that, made me hate myself more than I ever did. And I am never stooping that low ever again, I promised myself I would hold my head high and enjoy every aspect of my life and looking damn good while I do it too.

"I think I've lost you" Andrea says moving closer to look at me, I shake my head and chuckle "let's just get ready" I say "lets" she replies and heads out of the room once again.

I have a shower and get changed into a leather skater skirt, black lace bralette and black ankle boots, I keep my makeup pretty simple with a basic winged eyeliner, natural base and lipgloss, I leave my hair to its natural straight look. I can already hear the music blasting from downstairs and the guests pouring in so I go join the party. I stop half way down the stairs and look around the already packed room with a smile on my face before heading directly towards the kitchen to grab myself a drink, whiskey with monster to be exact "so you're a whiskey girl" Theo says leaning against the counter and motioning down to my cup, he's now wearing a plain black shirt, leather jacket and black jeans. A big contrast to the suit he was wearing earlier, but I have to admit he pulls anything off, it's unnerving, how can a man pull off any look in the book? There has to be a flaw and I hate that I'm intrigued by it "I am" I say raising my cup and bringing it to my lips

Theo keeps giving me that lazy smirk, the same one I'm sure that scores him any girl that he wants without having to say a word "I can't sleep with you Theo, don't even think about trying it" I smile, he gasps pretending to be hurt "is that what you think I'm doing here? I am just trying to be friendly to my little sisters best friend and my apparent new roommate" Theo smiles but his eyes are fixated on mine, I chuckle while shaking my head slightly "I don't remember you being so cocky" I say "I don't remember you being so confident" Theo replies "touché" I say raising my cup again "you look good, except something is missing of the girl I used to know" Theo says "please elaborate" I reply

"Well I'm getting a different vibe from you now, you used to be such a sunflower"

"A sunflower?" I laugh

"Yes, all bright and twirly"

"I was 15 last time we saw each other Theo, a lot has changed"

"I can see that"

We stay in silence for a few moments before I let out another small laugh "what is it?" Theo asks "I just can't believe you compared me to a freaking sunflower" I shake my head "sunflowers are beautiful" Theo says "then I will take it as a compliment" I say "there you are, okay so i have two news one good and one bad. What do you want first?" Andrea spurts out of nowhere she next to me, she's breathing heavily as if she ran from wherever the hell she was, I raise an eyebrow at her "what now?" I ask "Alec is here looking really hot" Andrea says, I smile but it fades in a heartbeat when my eyes meet with Nicks from across the room "and I'm guessing that's the bad news" Theo says from next to me "the worst" I reply without taking my eyes off of Nick "that's not the worst of it" Andrea says, I snap my eyes away from him to look at Andrea

"What is he even doing here?" I ask "I don't know, you know how out of hand college parties get" Andrea says "what's the worst of it?" I ask going back to her previous point "he's here with Jessica" Andrea says, apologies written all over her face, I nod with a soft hum. Jessica is said friend that I caught Nick balls deep in "is Gabe here today?" I ask "yeah, why?" Andrea asks, Gabe is a gorgeous man who Nick has always been very insecure about, with his beautiful glowy dark skin and hazel eyes and amazing sculpted body from soccer, Gabe has always been almost every guy's competition but it was different for Nick, Gabe and I were very close friends at freshman year. And when I say very close I mean we were friends with benefits until I started liking Nick and we became JUST friends "you're not going to-" Andrea begins to say "Penny" Gabe says happily while approaching me, he instantly pulls me into a hug before I can even function that he's here

"I see that Jess just walked in with Nick, so are we doing this or what?" Gabe whispers in my ear. Oh yeah I've already had this conversation with Gabe during a drunken night right after the breakup. Plan is if they ever show up to a party we are both at, we put on a pretty show for them to watch, it's petty and some may see it as immature but I can't help the satisfaction I feel when Nicks face turns red and he drags an also stressed out Jessica away. As coincidental as it may be, Jessica cheated on Gabe with Nick, now everything just falls into our petty hands

I pull away from Gabe "of course we're fucking doing this" I reply, Andrea is staring at me waiting for answers "dance with me" Gabe says, I down the rest of my drink and set my cup on the counter before letting Gabe drag me away. We walk closer to Nick and Jess subtly "ready?" Gabe asks, I grab his hand pulling him closer and he smirks down at me before glancing over my shoulder, he gives me a wink and pulls me closer by my waist in a passionate yet slightly aggressive way. Which even I can admit is extremely fucking hot, our bodies sway to the music in sync while his eyes are stuck on mine with deviance written all over them, after everything ended Gabe and I became platonic with a capital P, everything beyond that became a lot less satisfying and a little more weird. Except for moments like these Gabe and I are strictly on the friend zone

Gabe spins me around and pulls me closer once again so my back is pressed tightly against him, his hands rest on my waist and mine rest over his making sure he stays there. To everyone else watching this looks like a movie scene, bodies pressed against each other, Gabes face resting against my neck, I mean if it were anyone else I would be making a move to get into his pants any minute now. I glance around the room subtly, I feel Gabe kiss my bare shoulder, then make his way up to my neck while I stifle a laugh, in a moment like this it's more ticklish than it is hot "they're watching very closely, are you ready for the grand finale that will send them running?" Gabe whispers once he gets to my neck, I giggle giving him the last signal

Gave twists me again, pulling me to him so fast I slam against his chest, he smirks down at me while running his hand up my back until it's tightly around the back of my neck before slamming his lips onto mine, I tiptoe leaning into the kiss while my arms snake around his neck. He pulls away and glances up before letting me go "and they're out the door" Gabe says, we both laugh and high five "we still fucking got it" I say "now I'm going to go after the girl I actually wanna bang, I'll see you later" Gabe winks before stalking off, I go back to the kitchen for another drink

"That was quite a show" Andrea says, Theo is nowhere to be seen "well I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did" I joke, she hands me a cup "I don't know how you guys keep it so professional, he's so fucking hot" Andrea practically drools "I'm sure if you made a move he would definitely fuck you senseless" I say taking a sip of the extremely strong drink she's made "are you giving me permission to break the pact?" Andrea asks "we made that pact in high school, plus if it's just a hook up and not someone we actually had feelings for then I don't see the issue" I reply "good point" Andrea says raising her cup

"Now what do you say we get fucking wasted"

"I say, what the fuck are we waiting for"

We bump our cups together and down it in one go