The Players Next Victim

Chapter Twenty-One

“What's wrong?” Austin asked sincerely.

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Did Tyler say something to hurt you?” Austin guessed, still not believing that there was nothing wrong with me.

I'm not upset, or angry or sad. I'm just confused. In a really weird way, I wanted to speak to Tyler more. I wanted him to start a debate or argument. I wanted him to say something stupid which would make me laugh and carry on a conversation. But instead he walks away because he thinks that I'm going out with Austin, who, if you didn't know, is his enemy in more or less words.

But Tyler knows we're not going out. He's just warning me. And that's where I get confused. I know they don't like each other but why does he warn me about Austin? Austin is nice and friendly – maybe he's not like Tyler, but he is a really good guy.

And because I have these strange feelings for Tyler, I hate having to see him walk away from me when he sees Austin. But then, when I hang out with Austin, I feel more calm and wonder why I 'like' Tyler.

“No. Seriously, there's nothing wrong with me,” I insisted, smiling. “So, you having fun?”

“Yeah, I suppose.”

“Suppose?”

“I dunno. It's a little boring for a party!”

I laughed. “Boring? What were you expecting apart from drunk people, people with alcohol in their hands, couples kissing, people who don't know each other kissing... you know, just that usual thing?”

“Something interesting! At every party, there's always something that happens. This party just doesn't seem to have that spark!”

“You're just like Olivia,” I told him, even though they don't seem to like each other.

“Really? 'Cause, I don't think so.”

“You're not exactly the same but you both want something 'interesting' to happen at a party,” I said, making air quotes with my fingers.

“I get the feeling she doesn't really like me,” Austin told me.

Instead of telling him what I feel, I decided to twist the subject about Olivia around. “Speaking about Olivia, where is she?” I asked, starting to walk back into the house again.

“Ignore the subject, why don't you!” Austin shouted behind me but when I turned around, I saw him walking back into the house too.

~*~*~

As soon as we had walked into the house, I had found Olivia in the kitchen. Surprisingly, she wasn't alone. She had been talking to this senior who didn't even go to our school.

At first I thought she was talking to the random guy to get Matt jealous but when I asked her she said that she was 'completely' over – she said that she's only angry at him for going out with Natasha straightly afterwards which made him seem like he didn't even care for Olivia at all. Which I can understand. I would be extremely angry at my boyfriend if he did that.

Talking about boyfriends, Olivia thought it was okay for her to try and set me up with another guy at the party. Obviously, Austin backed me up about the idea being stupid. But that didn't stop Olivia.

“So, yeah. I'm not really a type of party guy. Like I said, I know it a little unusual but hey, that's just the way it is,” he said. Olivia had managed to find a sweet guy, who I couldn't tell straight up that I wasn't interested because then I would feel really bad.