Love Another

Chapter 2: Shawty got Low, more like shawty got busted.

Friday, September 18th

Three weeks have already passed. Time flies. Now and then it goes so slow you'd almost think time froze. But then, if you'd think about it, three weeks is quite fast right? School is still boring as hell, but it's better than being home.

A lot has changed since Lucas dropped the 'I'm gay' bomb. Lauren and I like hanging out with him and feel comfortable around him. It's like we've known each other our whole lives. He's such an energetic and fun person. Lucas' stories are the best.

Beside the whole 'I'm gay, but I have to act like I'm straight' act, his life wasn't all that bad. Not like mine at least. But I still don't know the whole story behind his act. Lucas and I had English last period. We were sitting next to each other on the last row. I actually liked English. The way Mr. Smithers  teaches, makes it so interesting.

There were only 20 minutes left before the weekend finally started. Well not for me. I still had to work until midnight at a night shop in our town. Sounds so like so much fun right now! Note the sarcasm. Most of the time I just sit behind the desk reading magazines waiting for people to come buy booze or a midnight snack. I really wasn't looking forward to that. Man I was so tired. I just wanted to go home and watch American Horror Story with Alec.

A voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Cora? Are you even listening to me?" Lucas asks while razing an eyebrow.

"What? Yeah, of course I am!" 

"No you're not. You doze off all the time.  Do you know that?"

I rolled my eyes and chuckled.

"I guess so?"

"Well whatever, back to what I was saying. So I heard that there is a party at one of the guy's house whom's last names all start with an R or something? I still need to learn a lot. I don't remember which one but i do remember that there will be college guys. Hot college guys. And you know how I feel about them." He smirked.

It was Jake Ryder's 'Back To School' party. His parents were supposed to be out of town the first week of school, but their flight got cancelled. Jake had to cancel his party which was a tradition. His parents were going on a business trip to Paris, I think? That's the reason why he's having his party just now.

You're probably all wondering how I know all of this. Well, I was in the restroom when I overheard some girls talking about it. I don't know Jake personally or any of the R-brothers. In contrast to all the other girls in my school who drool over them, I try to avoid them at any cost. They weren't exactly the type of guys I would want to get involved with. 

Lucas wasn't into high school boys. He found them way too immature and wanted an older guy who's mature. Hence why he has the hots for college guys.

And regarding the R-brothers, I'll explain that later.

"Yeah it's Jake Ryders' party and I don't think so. I have to work until midnight remember? And I'm tired so not in a party mood."

It's not that I didn't like parties, I just wasn't in the mood today. Usually I did go to parties. Not every weekend but when I felt like it. Every once in while I went to one. You'd probably think that I'd never go to parties because of the alcohol and the drugs. I know the consequences and how badly it can end. I would never want to end up like my mother or father. Unlike them I have a curfew and know where to stop before it can go wrong.

"Come on Cor! You work all the time! It's the first party of the year! You aren't going to miss this one are you? Everyone's going to be there!"

"I'll pass. You go with Lauren. And have fun!" I said and just then the bell rang. Everyone packed their things and walked out of the door.

"Well okay then. But next time you're going! Understood?! Even if I have to come to your house and drag your ass out of bed!" He added giving a stern look and pointing at me.

I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, okay! Understood captain! I'll go next time."

"I'd rather be called the Sass King," Lucas says.

"Ofcourse, Sass King!" I laughed as we walked towards my locker where I put my books away.

"Well I'll see you Monday? Bye Cora Bear!" Lucas ruffled my hair, winked at me and took off after that.

I was on my way to the night shop. It is 6:57 PM. The sky is getting darker and the air is getting cooler. I put my earphones in and shuffled my music.

Cold by Nick Hakim started playing. The sound of beautiful music ringed in my ears.

You chill the nerves that live in me

with your eyes, they never lie.

Deep as the ocean, cold like the sea.

I'm lost in your storm.

You poured it out on me.

The cold air hit my chest. A shiver went up my spine, the wind blows into my hair. I started humming with the music.

Cold

she's never coming back to me,

she's never coming back to me.

I was almost at the night shop, just one more block.

I see her in my hands

i know she's my soul

but she left me here trailing

int he coldest of the snow.

I felt a water drop hit my nose.

"Fuck," I muttered, "not now please?"

I absolutely love rain. When I'm inside with my blanket, tea, candles and soft music. I absolutely  hate it when i'm outside and especially if I'm moody. I am on my period so that's why. It's really cold and i just wanna go home. I started running to the night shop. Only 20 seconds later it started pouring. I started running faster, after 5 minutes I finally reached the night shop, totally soaked. It was 7:15pm now.

"Hey Cora!" My friend Jess said when I walked into the shop.

"Hey Jess." I ran my fingers trough my wet hair and took off my soaked jacket.

"Woah you look bad."

"Well thanks Jess it's probably not because I just ran 5 minutes through pouring rain."

"I was just joking Cor. You look fine, just soaked." She winked at me. I sighed.

"So how was your day?" Jess asks.

"I'm so so so tired but okay I guess. How was yours?"

"Good actually!"

Jess started talking and that means there is no turning back. Jess is the kind of person who can't stand silence. She's always talking and never stops. Most of the time I like her energy but when I'm moody and hella tired, not.

She was talking about her day how she went shopping and bought a hamster and then I stopped listening. Oops.

My shift started at 7:30pm.

So Jess took off after her shift ended.

Now it's just me in the store, all alone.

The sound of thunder filled my ears. There was a storm coming up. It was pouring and thundering. I love the things that normal girls would be scared of. Luckily there was a heater inside the shop so it was pretty warm inside. My hair is tangled and curly because of the rain. My top is still a little bit wet and my jeans are dry.


8:59pm

3 more hours to go. A few people came to the store to buy some midnight snacks and booze of course.

I texted Lauren a few times but she was busy watching Netflix and Lucas didn't answer any of my texts, which was weird. But anyways I'm just sitting behind the desk reading an old magazine. It was still raining outside and the sky turned into a deep dark blue almost black kind of colour.

10:24pm

I let out a sigh. Doing nothing is so boring. I decided to read some magazines. I stood up from the chair that I've been sitting on for the past 3 hour. My legs felt like jelly. I did some stretching, my body started to feel sore and I was even more tired than I was before. I walked to the book shelves in the store and picked up a Vogue magazine and grabbed some Cheetos with it. I walked back to the desk and sat back down. Here goes another 2 hours on this chair. Yay! Hear the excitement in my voice?

It was still raining outside. Lauren probably fell asleep because she wasn't answering any of my texts. Neither is Lucas, which was really weird. I opened the bag of chips and ate some Cheetos.

"How can she be so pretty? What the hell!" I muttered to myself while staring at a picture of Gigi Hadid.
"How can you be so skinny?"
"Damn I wish I had those legs."
"Oh my god eyebrows on fleek girl."
"Ugh I love that sweater! How much would that cost? 500 dollars?!! Hell no."

11:29pm
After almost an hour of reading magazines I got bored and decided to put some music on. My shift was almost over and I guessed nobody would come to the store anymore because it was still pouring outside. I was cleaning up the store. I was so bored that I started cleaning. Can you imagine? I was wiping the floor with the sweeping brush.

Low by Flo Rida started playing, which is my ultimate jam.

A smile grew on my face and started singing and dancing right at it.
"Hm hmm hmm."

"Shawty had them apple bottom jeans-jeans, boots with the fur, FUR!" I blasted out. While dancing with the sweeping brush. You can imagine how ridiculous that looked like.

"The whole club was LOOKING AT HER!" I flipped my hair. Started doing weird dance moves with the sweeping brush still in my hands.

"She hit the floor! She hit the floor!" We can't forget to sing the backing vocals can we?
"Next thing you know!" swaying my hips sexually to the rythm. Using the sweeping brush as a microphone. 

"SHAWTY GOT LOW LOW LOW LOW..." With every low going more down.
"Them baggy sweatpants and the Reebok's with the straps!"

"And gave that big booty a smack!" I gave my booty a smack. What do they say? Dance like no one's watching? Yes.

"She hit the floor!" Doing those hand gestures pointing at the floor. You know what I  mean. At least I hope you do.

"Next thing you know!" I was about to drop when...

"SHAWTY GOT LOW LOW LOW LOW LOW LOW LOW" An unfamiliar voice sang.

I jumped at the voice and turned around probably looking like I saw a ghost. I paused the music and fixed my hair real quick.

"Don't stop hun,. We were just enjoying the show," The guy with dark brown hair says. I noticed the smirk on his face. I saw 2 guys standing at the door one was leaning against the door and the other one was just looking at me with a small smile on his face. They were both soaked because of the rain. The one who's leaning against the door is wearing a white T-shirt. Because of the beautiful, wonderful rain, every toned muscle of his chest was visible. I have to thank the rain for once today.

"Uhm do you need anything?" I put the sweeping brush against the desk and bit my lip.

"You can swing those hips of you very well, do you know that?" The guy with the dark hair and eyes said again. He wasn't actually bad looking. Wait, he looks kind of familiar. Shit, that's Jake Ryder. The host of the 'Back to school' party where Lucas is right now. Wait, what is he doing here? Why isn't he at his own party?

"Love, stop staring and take a picture it'll last longer."

I blushed at his remark. I didn't notice I was staring at him. Maybe Lucas is right. I doze off all the time.

He smirked even more and started walking towards me. I took a step back, my back hit the desk.

"Shouldn't you be at your party?" I furrowed my eyebrows and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Oh, so you know who I am then?" He took another step closer to me still smirking.

"I've heard about you," He was only a few inches away from me.

"Why aren't you at your own party?" I ask him, again.

"I got bored so Mase and I decided to go buy some booze and get drunk on our own."

Typical boys.

"But aren't you scared that your house will get wrecked or something now that you're gone?" Why did I even care?

"Nope," He simply says while shaking his head slightly. "Why aren't you at the party, princess?" He caressed my cheek with the back of his right hand. I smacked his hand away he smirked at my reaction.

"First of all don't call me princess and second I'm working, don't you see?" I say with a 'duh' face.

"Yeah right, but a party is a lot more fun than this. You can skip this and come partying with Mason and I?" He eyed me up. I totally forgot about the other guy who's name is Mason.

"Not today, so what kind of booze do you want?" I ask while walking to the booze section.

"The strongest vodka that you have," Mason says while walking towards Jake and I. Mason's aura is a lot different than Jake's. Mason's blue eyes looked straight into my brown ones. They made me feel relaxed. His eyes looked like the deep blue color of the ocean, the color of the sky on a hot summer day. You can get lost in them. Jake's eyes just scream one thing; lust.

I looked for the strongest one we have and placed it on the desk.

"That'll be 25 dollars, please." Jake handed me the money and I handed him the bottle.

"Well, we gotta go. See you around princess." He winked at me and started walking towards the door. Mason gave me a smile I gave one back and left afterwards.

I totally forgot about the time. It's 12:02am

My shift was finally over! I grabbed my bag, closed the door and took off. It stopped raining. It was cold outside so I grabbed my jacket even tighter to my chest. The store wasn't far away from home so when I was finally in front of my house it was 12:17am. I opened the front door walked in and closed it afterwards. Alec was laying on the couch watching American Horror Story. There was pizza everywhere. I took off my shoes and coat and walked over to the couch.

"Hey Alec!" I say while sitting down next to me.

"Hey sis, how was work?" He says while looking at me. I took a piece of the leftover pizza.

"Just the usual, boring. A few people came to buy something but not that much." I took a bite of the pizza Hawaii. Alec and mine's favourite!

We kept watching American Horror Story and were now at episode 5 of season 2. Season 2 is so scary. I started to think the day through. Am I the only one who does this?
Anyways I was thinking about today in the store. Jake and uhm.. What was his name again? Moris? Maz? Mason! Mason that's it! Should I tell Alec about Jake? And the party? I decided to ask him a few questions.

"Hey Alec do you know Jake Ryder?" I say still focused on the screen.

"Uhm yeah kind of, why?" He answered also focused on the screen.

"He came to the store today to buy some booze. Did you know he was throwing a party?"

"Yeah, are you planning on going? Cause it's already pretty late and I don't like it when you're out so late by yourself." There is the overprotective brother Alec again.

"No! Damn Alec, back at it again with the overprotectiveness. I'm not planning on going. I wasn't in the mood today.." he nodded

There were a few seconds of silence before Alec spoke up.

"Wait, why wasn't he at his own party?" Alec furrowed his eyebrows and looked at me.

"I asked him the same question. He said him and his friend Mason wanted to get drunk on their own." I say while taking another slice of pizza.'

"Oh;" Alec simply said. We both turned our attention back to the television.

"Wait, they didn't buy any strong liquor right? You didn't gave them any? Right Cora?" Alec looked back at me and sat up straight.

"Shit." I say while face-palming myself.

"Cora, what the fuck are you crazy? They're still underage! They're 17 for god's sake! How could you be this stupid! You can get in big trouble for this you know that right? If they get drunk and someone calls the cops and they found out that they got the liquor from you, you could go to jail!" Alec was starting to get mad. Don't get me wrong I love Alec but he is overprotective, like all the time and it is kind of annoying but it also shows that he cares so I'll just accept it, I guess.

"I'm sorry okay! It was already 12 AM when they entered the store. I'm very tired and it isn't even that big of a deal. They would never tell if someone called the police and to be honest I don't think they're that stupid to let themselves get caught by the police. I mean c'mon. Jake has been to juvy."

"Cora... Just please don't do that anymore, I don't want to lose you." He looks at me with sadness in his eyes. This breaks my heart. Alec really cares about me and I completely understand him cause he is all I have and I am all that he has.

"Okay, I'm sorry" I looked at my hands. Then I felt something vibrating. My jacket was vibrating, it was my phone. I furrowed my eyebrows and thought: "Who could be calling me at 1 AM? It couldn't be my parents they don't even bother to call anymore." 

I looked at the ID-caller and it said Lauren babe.

Why would Lauren be calling me at 1 AM. I hope that she isn't sleepwalking again. Oh man she's calling in her sleep now too? Damn Zombie Lauren is smart. How is that even possib—the sound of my ringtone filled my ears and broke my trance. Of course I dozed off again.

I picked up.

"Lauren?"

"Cora? C-Cora are you there? I need help." So she isn't sleepwalking thank god. But this sounds serious?

"Yes, Lauren what's wrong? Where are you? Why do I hear people on the background?"

"I'm at Jake's party, well I just arrived but I need your help. We need your help."

"Wait, why are you there? It's freaking 1 AM and who is we?"

"I'll explain everything when you get here. Just come as fast as you can. Lucas needs our help."

"Stay there! I'm on my way." With that my phone died so I don't know if she heard me or not.

"Stupid phone, ugh" I threw it next to me on the couch.

"What's wrong? Who called you?" Alec asks.

"Lauren. Something is wrong with Lucas. They're at the party. She said they needed my help so I'm going to the party. Don't wait on me. I'll be back as soon as I can." I say while I was putting on my jacket.

"But –" Alec started but I was already gone.

I took my bike and drove as fast I could to Jake's house. Now you'll probably ask yourselves: "How does she know where Jake lives?" Once again the restroom. You learn a lot in the restroom, people.

When I arrived at the party, well it looked like a scene from 'Project X'. I swear if his house burns down any second it's going to be a 'Project XX' because his house was chaotic.

Toilet paper, red cups, liquor, drugs, random furniture, broken glass, music, lights...it was everywhere! But one thing that wasn't at the party was Jake. I didn't see him anywhere. Why did he leave his own party? This is so messed up. There must be over 400 people here. That's what I call a crazy ass party. I started making my way to the front door that didn't even look like a front door anymore. His parents are going to kill him if they find out about tonight. It looks bad. Very bad. I entered the house and started to look for Lauren.

"Cora over here!" I heard Lauren shout from the living room. I made my way to the living room and saw Lauren sitting on the couch, she was wearing her pajamas and her glasses. Not exactly the sexiest look.

"I know, I'm not dressed like I'm going to a party so stop staring! I was having a romantic date with my boyfriend Netflix until I got a call from I don't even know who, who said there was a guy named Lucas looking for 2 girls named Lauren and Cora. That person called me and said that Lucas wasn't holding up very well. I came to check but I didn't think it would be this bad. Cora, HELP!" Lauren shouted.

She moved aside and I saw Lucas sitting on the ground with hid back against the couch. He looked like a mess. His shirt was ripped and his eyes looked bloodshot. He reeked of weed, cigarettes, alcohol and a lot more crap. 

"Cora bear y-yieou've made ittt!" He slurred and raised his hand which soon landed on my foot.

"What the hell happened to him?" I ask

"I asked a couple of people but nobody seems to know. They found him like this. He looks so bad Cor what are we gonna do?" Lauren says while running a hand through her hair.

"How is this possible? Did nobody see him? Like nobody? Nobody knows who did this to him? This is so bad oh my god. I don't know L. Let's take him upstairs and get him freshened up.

"Yeah okay let's do that. You take his left side, I'm going to take his right okay?" Lauren says and stands up.



After 20 minutes, we finally made it to a guestroom.

We put him down on the bed. I started walking in circles.

"Should we ask him things? Like what happened and stuff?" I asked Lauren.

"We could try but I don't think that any of it will make sense to him right now," Lauren answered.

"Well okay we can try. So Lucas how are you feeling?" I sweetly ask.

"I'm veeeeerrryy good Cora bear! I feel like a bird! I'm very high in the sky!! Can't you see me? Weeehh!" He started making bird movements with his arms.

"Do you know who did this to you?"

"Hihihih your hair looks soft babe" Lucas giggled

"Lucas I'm serious, who did this to you? Do you know his name?" Lauren asks slightly mad yet more annoyed.

"He was veeeeery pretty! Pretty blue eyes! That's his name."

Lauren looked at me pointing at the bathtub.

"One! Two! Three! Lift! Ugh he's so heavy damn you Lucas"

I let the water run. We laid Lucas down in the bathtub and he started doing weird dinosaur moves.

"He has to sober up. I hope that he'll still remember some things."

Lauren nodded.

"So......... The important question is, who's going to stick their fingers down his throat?"


© Liese & An