The Lines We've Crossed

NINETEEN

Not wanting the party to end, Heather and Rafe walked beside each other to the kitchen. "Go find your friend," Rafe ordered, pushing her by the waist towards the kitchen, he put his phone up to his ear, mouthing to her that he'd find her later, and she walked away.

She stopped in the kitchen for a refill, asking one of Tyler's lacrosse teammates, Jake working the bar- to fill a cup up for her. He greeted her with a sultry smile as she handed him her empty cup.

He mixed some vodka with fruit punch for her, filling a whole solo cup. The first taste only tasted like a fruit punch. "How much vodka is in this?" She asked skeptically.

"Why? Too strong?" He asked. "No. It's not strong enough." She said, taking two or three big sips. "Trust me; it's strong enough. Go easy." He warned her.

She took another sip and marveled over how she couldn't taste the vodka. "This shit is dangerous." She laughed, backing away to one of the living rooms. She never really enjoyed Kook parties, since they were usually thrown by Kooks. But at the moment, she was loving it. In each room, she went to, she'd find all the girls sending her looks because their preppy boyfriends were focused on her. That might sound bitchy, but it's so fun to mess with the Kooks.

If she was sober, she'd be keeping a low profile, but sobriety is nowhere to be found tonight. So the low profile was no longer low! Backing out of the kitchen she bumped into someone.

"Oh, sorry, hey!" A buttery voice said happily, and she turned around to face Hunter, the gorgeous, athletic hunk. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall flirtily. "We've met before, haven't we?" he joked.

"Yes, we have." I clarified. He laughed at me, his head falling back, and said, "Where? I can't put my finger on it." He said and she laughed. "I'm Tyler Whitmore's sister," I told him and almost like a light bulb appeared over his head, he jumped up excitedly. "You're Tyler's cute sister!" he said and I laughed.

"Yup... That's me" I laughed and struggled to make eye contact, looking over at the entrance to the room, where I found Rafe poking for someone or something, and I quickly asked, "Dance?"

He seemed momentarily shocked; his eyes grew wide and met mine, which were blinking hurriedly with a sense of fear. But I didn't retract my offer, so he obliged and let me take his hand and bring him to the room where the loud music was pumping.

Bodies moved all around us, and our bodies were just two inches apart, neither moving at first. But he stepped an inch closer, taking my hand and letting me spin around. Probably not the best considering my notoriously weak stomach.

His hands made their way to my back, holding me close and watching as I wrapped my arms around his neck, our bodies comfortably connecting to the song's rhythm.

I would have stopped dancing if many other strangers had not surrounded us. It was awkward and lacked chemistry, but bad dancing doesn't lead to nasty sex, right?

By the second or third song, I could feel his hands going lower than expected, and I was ready to pull away when...

"Heather?" Our awkward moment was fortunately interrupted by an all-too-familiar voice. "What the hell are you doing?" "What does it look like I'm doing?" I said smartly, spinning around to face Rafe, my backside pressed against Hunter, and Rafe grimaced. I suddenly felt more feisty with Rafe here, even though we just had a heartfelt moments before I liked having him watch me dance with Hunter like this.

"We need to go, come on." He motioned with his head, and when I gave him a puzzled look, he replied, "I'm glad you had fun, but we have to go."

"She doesn't need to go if she doesn't want to." Hunter butted in, his hands meeting my hips. Rafe took a deep breath, "Look, as much as I love watching you grind on my cousin, you're drunk. And I promised Tyler I'd take care of you tonight. So come on."