Ready or Not

Chapter Ten

You know those moments you see on tv? The ones where the graceful girl slowly makes her way down the stairs, lovely as ever and her dream guy is staring at her, a smile on his lips, eyes telling her how beautiful she truly is...
Yeah, I had that all going for me.
My eyes locked with Alair's and I pushed locks of hair behind my ear and made it down the stairs without a problem.
Until the third to last step.
Needless to say, I didn't extend my foot out far enough and the heel of my shoe caught on the stair. I tumbled down and landed awkwardly on Alair.
It wasn't one of those cute little, she falls and giggles as he catches her, scenario. Nope.
This was the one where she falls, taking him down with her, them both smacking foreheads, and her knee ending up in his crotch.
Fuck. My. Life.
"Ow!" Alair groaned out. I moved quickly, but the only leverage I could get was to put my hands on his chest and push up. This had earned me another agonized moan. "Fuck!"
"Sorry!" I apologized as I smoothed my clothes over. "I'm not the most graceful person."
I looked up to see him with a grin plastered on his face. "You're perfect."
I rolled my eyes and pushed past him to enter the sitting room to get my two best friends and leave.
Pru stood as she saw me enter, her brother on my heels. "Wow." She grinned. "I'd bang."
I busted out laughing. "Whatever." I scoff and grab her hand. "Come on lezbo." Again, I pushed past Alair and made my way out the door.
Before the door closed completely I heard Luke mutter, "I think my girl is bi."
"Dude, that my sister!" Alair shouts with a laugh.
I made my way down the front porch stairs without taking anyone's eye out and Pru dragged my down the cobblestone walkway to a sleek white mustang convertible.
"Isn't she a beauty?" Alair asked, running his hand down the hood of the car.
I shrug and open the door to climb in.
Minutes later, while we were at a red light and Pru was babbling about something about girls to Luke, I reply with my honest answer, "I'm a Camaro girl myself." I grin at his reflection as his face drops and he bites his lower lip.
Gosh, he is so cute.
***
The party was crazy.
Music boomed from every corner of the rooms and people crowded the halls and dance floor.
Alair was pulled away hours ago by Dixie, who showed up an hour after us, and Pru and Luke were out back, on the porch, last I had checked.
I danced with a group of girls who were beyond shit faced, had a couple drinks of my own, and was looking for a bathroom when someone bumped into me and I spilled my drink down the front of their shirt.
"Ohmygod! I am so sorry!" I picked up a random soft clothing item that was strapped on the stair railing and started patting down a muscular frame. "I ruined your shirt." I groaned.
Fingers were placed under my chin and my head was tilted back to meet the dark and smiling eyes of a more than handsome guy. "It's okay." He replied in a thick southern accent.
I blushed and dropped my chin, along with the makeshift towel. "Oh well, if you'd excuse me--" I pivoted around him but the mystery guy grabbed my hand and pulled me to him.
"Actually," he paused, taking a deep breath through his perfectly sculpted lips, "I was trying to make up an excuse to talk to you." He looked my face over and smirked a little, exposing perfect white teeth. He turned a little so I could see to where he pointed. "You see, my friend Justin pushed me. It wasn't your fault so you have no reason to apologize."
My eyes connected with a guy I had encountered earlier. We had danced and had a few laughs until he said his girlfriend was there.
"Your friend is a sleaze, you know that?" I tilt my head to the side to get a better look at Mystery Guy.
He laughed a hearty laugh and nods as his hand came up to caress the stubble on his jaw. "He hit on you, didn't he?"
I thinned my lips as I tried to suppress a smile and nodded.
"Then he told you he had a girlfriend." He stated bluntly.
My eyes narrowed and my chin jerked.
He continued to explain, "Whenever we hang out, come to these things, we have each other check out the girl that interests us. We try to have each others backs, just in case the girl is a real nut job."
I scoffed and pushed past him.
I made my way up the stairs and into the bathroom after a burly guy. Before I even had the chance to close the door, I had to plug my nose and try not to up chuck as the stench of shit hit me. I exited the restroom without a second thought and bumped into the same masculine chest of my Mystery Guy.
"What do you want?" I ask in an irritated tone as I put my hand on my hip.
He scratched his dirty blonde hair as if in thought and then grabbed my hand gently. "Come with me."
I pushed his hand away. "Dude, I don't even know you."
"We can go somewhere quiet and talk." He replies as he dragged me down the hall.
I scoff for what seems like the thirtieth time since he bumped into me. "How do I know you aren't going to rape me?"
He stopped dead in his tracks to look at me. "Beautiful, I could never hurt you."
He turned and pushed open a door to his left. "This is my room. There's a bathroom to your right. I'll wait out here and we can go back downstairs if you'd like."
I rushed into the restroom, peed, washed my hands, wiped them on a burgundy towel, and went back into the room to see Mystery Guy waiting on the bed.
He stood as he saw me and grabbed my hand.
I rooted myself in place and pulled his arm back. The music was dim, even though it vibrated through every room and I had a migraine beginning to form. "We can talk in here." He gave me a puzzled look. "I-if that's okay with you?" I stammered.
He nodded and sat carefully next to me, not letting my hand go.
I noticed that he changed his old flannel shirt to a gray Calvin Klein long sleeve T-shirt and had the sleeves pushed up his arms and bunched at the elbows.
"Wanna play 20 questions?" He asked and I snorted at the look on his face.
"Sure.... You know, I have never met a guy who was willing to talk about himself and listen to me before he intended to have sex with me." He laughed and leaned forward, connecting my shoulder with his in a playful push.
"Who said I'm not doing it just to sleep with you?" The gleam in his eye and the smirk on his face had told me he was teasing.
"Well," I licked my lips, "then I think it might work."
I leaned backwards, resting my forearms on the bed and he turned to angle his body towards mine.
"Don't tease me, Killer." After a short pause he resumes speaking, "Okay!" He clapped his hands and rubbed them together with an eager smile. "You start."
I smirked narrowed my eyes. "Name?"
"One." He counted, before answering, "William Concord. But my friends call me Liam. What's yours?"
I held up one finger before replacing my arm back on the bed. "Quincy Bruno, friends call me Quinn or Queen Bee." I thought for a moment and then asked, "What are you here at college for?"
He held up two fingers and then placed them on the hollow of my neck. He trailed them absentmindedly before saying,. "This will be my junior year. Pre-med. I play football too. Linebacker." I smirked and let him continue. "I came here from Texas, got a full ride for football. My dad was a doctor before he bought an oil rig in '03. Thought I'd follow in his footsteps."
"What field?"
He shook his finger at me. "Nah-ah-ah, Killer. My turn." He went back to trailing his fingers from collarbone to collar bone. "Where are you from? I haven't seen you around campus before."
"Me?" I asked, gesturing down the length of my body. "I'm from Michigan. Came here with my two best friends for one of their fathers' wedding. I'm going to be a senior in high school."
His eyebrows crinkled together. "Ohh, girl you're a baby!" We laughed together at his teasing.
I hit his arm and sat up. "I'm only two years younger than you, what are you 20?"
He shook his head and held up three fingers. "Twenty-one." There was a deep pause. "Do you have a boyfriend back in Michigan?"
"Not Michigan." I replied with a slight flutter in my words. "This guy I started talking to here has a girlfriend." I might as well get the question out of the way. "How about you?"
He shook his head once again. "Nope. To be honest, I haven't even really talked to a girl like this since my freshman year."
"I bet thats because you slept around." I giggled and nudged his boulder playfully.
His eyes snapped to mine and I saw them darken, if that were possible. "No, I don't fuck around." He stated sternly, each word holding venom
"Sorry, didn't mean to piss you off." I stood and walked to the door.
As my hand landed on the knob he spoke up,"Why are you leaving?"
Think.
"My friends are probably ready to go. I gotta find them before Luke thinks someone's trying to get with Pru and beats his ass. I gotta see if my ride isn't plastered out of his mind as well." I flung open the door and came face to face with Mr. Perfect himself. "Alair." My hand landed on my heart, trying to calm it.
His eyebrows scrunched together and his green eyes showed confusion. "Quinn? What are you doing up here?" He peeks past me and his eyes narrow. "Liam."
I turned to see him shirtless and with his pants halfway down his legs.
"What the hell?" I asked, confused.
Alair pushed past me. "Did you sleep with him, Quincy?" He asked in a shrill voice.
"No!" I exclaimed. "How could you think so low of me? You know I don't sleep around, and on the first encounter at that!" I was hurt that he thought so low of me.
"Wait, wait!" Liam said, pushing his arms out in a pleading gesture. "I was getting undressed to take a shower after she walked away. She used my bathroom and we talked for fifteen fucking minutes. That's all bro."
Alair's nostrils flared and his eyes darted between the two of us. My eyesight blurred and I felt hot, angry tears brim over. I pushed past him harshly and went down the stairs
How could he think so badly of me?
Then it hit me.
He thought that I was a whore because I fooled around with him the first day I met him.
I spun around and stopped Alair in his tracks. "Just so you know," I glared at him, running my eyes up and down his body in disgust, "you and I, we are nothing." I threw my hands in the air. "Hell," I scoffed, "all we did was fool around for a day and a half and you have a girlfriend on top of all this bullshit."
With that I stormed out and walked, what seemed like miles, until lights glowed from behind me and there was a beep of a car horn. I turn to make eye contact with Liam through the glass of his window. There was a buzzing noise as he rolled it down.
"Do you want or need a ride, Killer?"