An Accidental Murder

Chapter 24

"That night, pulling up to the frat party in Ryan's Audi turned a lot of heads. Jessica couldn't have been happier climbing out of it as we noticed Chad Haas and several other hotties standing out near the curb. In fact she made even more of a show bending over to "fix" a strap on her shoe unnecessarily. Cassie and I looked at each other rolling our eyes and walked passed her into the house where it was a little bit warmer.

The music was loud and the house was packed. Kids were overflowing out into the front and back of the house and the stench of alcohol permeated throughout the place. Cassie and I struggled making it through the chaos to get to the kitchen for a drink. We were stopped multiple times by people trying to start conversations or hit on one or both of us. Some girls stopped us to fawn over our dresses and wanting to know where we got them and how much. We were quite a hit at the party and we'd only been there about thirty minutes.

Someone handed me a beer in a solo cup, which I was thankful for. I definitely needed a drink after how my day had gone. I intended to have a good time that night, including getting as wasted as possible.

An hour into the party and I had already had a few too many, but I was feeling good and there was nothing getting in my way. Cassie and I danced and danced, drank and danced, talked and danced, but before long Cassie found some guy to run off with and disappeared. My attempts to find Ryan in the crowd were futile and I eventually parked myself on a stool in the corner of the living room where I watched the crowd for about fifteen minutes.

At some point, later in the night, it had begun to rain outside and the crowd crammed into the small flat to avoid getting wet. I spotted Jessica on a sofa making out with Chad and chuckled imagining how she must have circled that poor unsuspecting guy relentlessly like a hawk hunting down its prey. I didn't know how she always did it, but when she had her mind made up to connect with some guy, it always happened.

Chad Haas was the son of two very well known surgeons. His pockets were loaded, but he was mostly modest and frugal, a good looking guy, black hair and gray eyes, tall about 6 foot 3, not very athletic, but super smart, a double major in engineering and computer design. He was in the top of his class. Not a bad catch, aside from the fact that he played the field and never settled down with just one girl.

It eventually became kind of awkward watching Chad and Jessica's smooch fest, so I slowly trudged through the swarm of damp bodies in search of Ryan. I grabbed another drink and ventured towards the bathroom where I found Cassie reapplying her makeup. She told me that she had really hit it off with some guy named Matt. I assumed Matt was the guy I'd seen her walk off with earlier, but I wasn't overly interested in the details. I was beginning to feel nauseated from drinking so much and all the body heat and hot breath blowing around was really getting to me. I decided against looking for Ryan and instead headed for the rain chilled air outside.

By this time, it was getting somewhat late and a few people had begun to go elsewhere, but the majority still lingered together in the cramped house packed tight like sardines. I was relieved to escape and feel the cool rain against my face, the brisk autumn wind blowing through my hair. I lifted my face up toward the sky and let the gentle rain drops kiss my skin. Raising my arms out into the air I spun around in the rain like a child, laughing gleefully, carelessly, until I got so dizzy I felt myself tipping over.

"Whoa, there,beautiful!" I heard someone say and firm hands clamped tightly around me.

I whirled quickly around to see who'd caught me and my eyes met the sparkling gray eyes of some guy. His dark black hair was wet and hanging loosely about his face. He smiled at me and helped me to steady myself on my feet.

"You just about face planted in that puddle of mud," he joked pointing to a big muddy mess beneath my feet. "Can't let a pretty face like yours get dirty," he continued.

"Thank you," I blurted, embarrassed.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Amber," I stammered.

"Amber, like, The Amber Olson?"

"Yes...how did you know?" I stepped back, distancing myself from him. He looked so familiar, but I couldn't place who he was and my nerves were frazzled by the fact that he knew who I was. I didn't like it.

"Who doesn't know? Everybody knows who you are," he responded.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and a chill went through my body.

"You know, you do look kind of familiar," I said, putting my hand up to his face and wiping the dark hair away from his eyes. "How did I not know? I would recognize that face anywhere!"

He smiled.

"You look the same like you did that night...your hair wet like that. You know you have the most stunning eyes I've ever seen." I murmured, drunkenly.

"What are you -"

"Shhh, shhh, shh," I told him holding a finger up to his lips. "I'm just so glad you're here and you're okay. Come on!" I snatched up his hand and dragged him along behind me. "I need Ryan to see this!"

I dragged him around, shoving people out of my way and shouting Ryan's name.

Eventually, Ryan found me, still holding the hand of this guy.

"Look, Ryan! Can you believe it?! It's Michael!"

At this point, everyone around us was staring. Ryan's eyes grew large, his head slowly moved back and forth, and his mouth silently formed the word no.