Southern Summer

Chapter Twenty

Shelby's house was a ways out of town, so it was a prime spot for parties in the summer. There was already a long line of cars down the road as I pulled up. Normally, I would have been self conscious about walking into a party alone, but tonight I was bursting with confidence with revenge on my mind.

I parked at the end of the line and walked to the house as two girls passed through the doorway. I could hear the music and the noise only grew as I walked up the steps. I took a deep breath before walking inside and reminded myself that I could be a total bitch tonight and it wouldn't matter. I would never see these people again. Shelby would get what was coming to her.

It was fairly dark inside the house, with different colored lighting and throngs of people milling around. None of them took notice of me right away as I scanned the rooms. Loud music and loud voices filled my ears as I made it to the kitchen.

Someone recognized me finally.

"Oh my God! Cara Evans is that you?!"

It seemed like the party stopped for a moment. Everyone turned to see me. I heard some guy mutter ,"Holy shit." And another whistle.

I grinned, "I'm back for the night!" I called.

There was a collective cheer and someone came from the kitchen and handed me a drink. I sniffed it cautiously. It smelled sweet and fruity.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Malibu and pineapple juice," The guy replied before heading back to make more drinks for people.

I nodded and took a cautious sip. I could barely taste any alcohol, but it warmed my throat the whole way down. I'll find a ride, I thought, and took a full drink.

More people greeted me and hugged me and commented on my hair or my makeup or my outfit as I milled through the crowd. I reached what must have been the dance floor and began to shake my hips to the beat of the music.

"Damn Cara when did you get so hot?" I heard a gruff voice say before a hand pulled my hips toward another set of hips.

I smiled awkwardly before shimmying away. I had to find Shelby, or Jason, or both.

I found Jason at the beer pong table, playing against one of his football buddies. I watched for a moment before finding the perfect person to help me carry out my plan. It was some young guy I'd never seen before, probably a freshman at his first party.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him towards me, he looked like a deer in the headlights, and it made me grin.

"Do you know who I am?" I asked.

He nodded dumbly and said, "You're Cara Evans." he mumbled.

"Good. Okay. I need you to do something for me. You have about ten minutes and I need you to find Shelby and get her here. Do not tell her I'm here though."

The freshman blinked at me.

"I repeat. Get Shelby here in ten minutes, do NOT tell her I'm here, okay?"

He nodded.

"Alright," I said, spinning him towards the crowd and giving him a nudge, "Go."

I watched him walk away for a moment before turning back to watch Jason play pong.

"Nice shot," I commented, after he sunk his second to last cup.

"Thanks," He said with a glance over his shoulder. He did a double take and turned around to stare at me.

"Cara Evans is that you?" He asked with a flash of his perfectly straight, perfectly white smile. A Smile that would have made my knees week a few months ago. A smile that I used to gush about to Shelby. Things were different now. But he didn't know that.

I gave him a coy grin, "It is me," I confirmed.

"Shoot," He said, running a hand through his hair, "You look... good."

"I know," I said, spinning a strand of hair around my finger.

"Dude! It's your shot!"

Jason whipped around, "Shit, sorry," He said as he fumbled and missed the shot, and the next, one, and the next, and then he lost the game. I smirked.

"Sorry," He said with a lopsided grin as he strode over to me, "I might have won if I didn't have such a gorgeous girl distracting me."

He really thought he was a charmer didn't he? My grin widened, but not from his words.

"So what brought you back finally? You missed me right?"

I chuckled, "Yeah that was it. I couldn't stand to be away from you," I said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Jason's eyes glittered with amusement.

"No I'm just back for tonight," I said, forcing sorrow into my tone. I lifted my left hand to brush his arm lightly as I locked eyes with him, "I leave in the morning."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Jason said in almost a whisper.

I had a hard time believing he gave a crap whether I was here or in China, but I played along.

I bit my lip as seductively as I could manage.

Shelby needed to show up soon. Like now. Before I got kissed for real.

Jason stared at my lips intently as he took a half step closer.

"Did I mention that you look extremely good tonight?" He muttered as he leaned in close.

I swallowed and fought the incredible urge to pull away. His lips were about a centimeter away from mine. He wanted me to lean in the rest of the way. I knew this because Aaron had done this to me before. Aaron. He would probably rip Jason to pieces if he saw Jason right now. I almost smiled at the thought.

"I want you so bad, Cara," he whispered, "I always have. Let's go somewhere."

"Jason? Seriously?!"

And queue the jealous girlfriend, right on time.

Shelby pushed Jason away, "What the hell Jason!" She yelled.

I suppressed a grin.

She turned to look at me, then did a double take.

Really, the double takes tonight were great, I loved it.

"Cara? Cara. What?" She furiously looked back and forth between me and Jason.

"What?" I asked. Everyone in the area had gone quiet and they were watching us.

"You thought you could just sleep with your best friend's crush and not get a taste of your own medicine?"

Shelby's jaw dropped and she glanced nervously at the crowd whispering and laughing behind her.

"He- he didn't want a prude like you anyway," She tried to fire back at me, her voice faltering.

I scoffed, "That not what I just heard, was it Jason?"

Jason rubbed his jawline nervously, staring at the ground, while Shelby glared at him.

"I want you so bad Cara," I mocked in my best boy-voice, and the crowd of people began to laugh and holler, "I always have, let's go somewhere."

Shelby rolled her eyes, crossing her arms, "You made that up," she said, "Really Cara, that's pretty desperate. Everyone knows you're a desperate virgin that's never going to get a guy to actually be attracted to you."

I smiled, masking the fact that Shelby had actually stung me pretty bad. Ouch.

I just shrugged, "I guess you're right, Jason did take a pretty easy route with you. Everyone knows that  too."

The crowd erupted at that. Shelby's face turned bright red, she couldn't think of a comeback.

I grinned and shook my head, "Karma's a bitch Shelby, just like you."

With that I spun on my heel and strode out of the house.