New Ways

THIRTEEN

Amery

As Jean-Pierre and I were still not on good terms and I've just had the longest and most nerve-wracking day of my life, I wasn't in the mood to apologise to him just so he could accompany me for dinner. Instead, I settled with getting Alfred to drive me over to Gwen's condo as she had sent me a text earlier saying that she had ordered pizza and I was welcome to join if I was hungry.

I wasn't hungry. I was starving. Mad starving.

And I didn't wanna wait while my maids slowly prepare my dinner if I had decided to go home. So yeah here I was, ringing the doorbell impatiently until someone finally opened the door.

"Patience, young lady," Derek greeted me teasingly, topless as his washboard abs almost blinded my eyes.

"Why are you... topless?" My eyes widened, still fixed on his perfect torso. I felt my face turn hot, lucky for me the boy was still wearing his jeans otherwise I would have really gone blind. In a good way, of course.

"We were just playing some games," he smiled shyly, obviously noticing that I was checking him out. "Come on in."

Games? What games? What kind of games would Derek be playing with his stepsister Gwen, my best friend that required him to be half-naked like this? How dare she not include me in this!

As I strode along the hallway and into the living room, I immediately saw Gwen, half-naked too, in her lingerie, making out with another girl. My eyes almost bulged out of my sockets but I tried to mask my shock from the piercing stare of two or three more other guys in the room. They were all seated in a circle, some half-naked as well and some still fully clothed. I spotted empty beer cans and bottles lying around on the floor, and one specific bottle by itself in the middle of the circle.

Truth or dare, yeah of course. I rolled my eyes.

Gwen stopped kissing the girl, who I recognised as someone both of us shared a class with. She was kinda hot. Long straight medium blonde hair, lightly tanned, deep blue eyes, clad in a black summer dress with white palm trees printed on it. She nodded at me as a form of acknowledgement, and so did Gwen. "Hello, bestie, pizza's on the counter. Help yourself."

I turned away from the small crowd and walked into the kitchen. Derek was leaning against the counter, scrolling through his phone. Sadly he had already pulled a tshirt on, the shape of his muscular arms and chest still showing through the shirt. How hot, I thought, as I kept my eyes on him while opening the pizza box.

"How was it?" Derek suddenly glanced up at me, and I felt my face burn again. I quickly turned away, pretending to be interested in the contents of the other box of pizza.

"It was, uh, good," I muttered, taking the second bite of the pizza I had in my hand. It was a Hawaiian pizza, not my favourite since I actually preferred pepperoni but in this case beggars can't be choosers.

"She's awesome, isn't she?" Derek asked with a hint of excitement in his voice.

I shot him a glare. "Who is?"

"Sigrid, our new vice president," he replied with a duh tone.

"No, she's not," I almost groaned the answer, but I didn't want Derek thinking that I'm such a horrible person. Although he probably already thought that, when I harshly rejected his idea of organising an LGBT anti-bullying campaign in school this year. Still, I wanted to stop jeopardizing my chances of being with my only love interest in Parmont.

"Hmm?" Derek raised his eyebrows, prompting me to go on.

"She's not awesome. She's the best," I almost threw up as I said that. My sarcasm earned Derek's laughter and soon as he was done, he gestured for me to come and give him a hug.

I did and as soon as Derek enveloped me in his arms, I felt a drunk Gwen jumping at me from behind and hugging the two of us. Ugh, thank you, Gwen. I really needed you to ruin this magical moment for me.