Operation: Break Up

Part 16- People Can Surprise You

When Zack and I walked through the door, hand in hand, the party was in full swing. "Hey Everybody!" Zack yells to the drunken crowd, and everyone holds up their red solo cups as a greeting. As soon as he shuts the front door, I am accompanied by someone at my right. I look over to see the birthday boy himself; Jackson Woods.

"Blynn! I wasn't sure you'd make it. Nice necklace!" he tells me while bumping fists with Zack. Throughout all of this, I'm still holding Zack's hand. I guess you could say it was the nerves that were forbidding me from letting go so quickly.

"Good to see you man," Zack says enthusiastically, "I'd love to just stand here blocking the door but, I need to get my lady here a drink. What do you want, babe?" Zack addresses the conversation to me. I kind of spaced out with the atmosphere I was in, but still responded just as quickly.

"Yeah. Just a coke is fine." Both Jackson and Zack laugh at my decision. What's so funny?

"Yeah, haha, coke is fine. Whatever babe. Just take a seat on the couch and I'll be right back." Zack tells me before stalking off into the kitchen. I do as he says and place myself on the brown leather couch laid out in front of me. Closing my eyes for a second, I feel the motion of someone sitting next to me. I open my eyes to see Caden next to me, smiling.

"Glad you made it tonight." He said to me before looking around. "Killer party, is it not?"

"Nope." I say dryly, mixing a little bit of sarcasm in my voice. I grin at him. "What brought you over here?"

"Not much. Just saw you come in and figured I'd come say hello."

"Pfft, whatever. What do you really want?" I eyed Caden carefully, but only ended up rolling my eyes at his response.

"You." He grins, thinking he's clever. Yeah right, one simple comment isn't enough to win me over; even Caden, of all people, should know that. Instead of swooning over him, I scoff a laugh.

"I'm serious, Blynn," he whispers in my ear, "this isn't just another fatal attraction."

I look at him with a not-so-amused look on my face. "Really?" I ask him.

"Really really." He says. "Anyways, I think I'm going to head outside, if the party gets any more exciting, just come find me." Caden winks at me before getting up and walking out the front door.

I sat there for a second, watching him leave, before internally arguing with myself whether I should just leave or not. Spotting Forest and Riley in the corner, I knew that would raise too much suspension so I stay planted in my spot. Zack returned shortly after, holding 2 bottles of Corona. Both the bottles had yet to be popped...literally. I wasn't sure about drinking tonight because I was afraid I would be dragging my wasted butt up to Good Shepherd in Longtown just incase my father were to wake up for some odd reason. Yeah, I guess you could say it was a long shot; I was still hoping, however.

"I haven't popped the tops off yet, in case you haven't noticed." He tells me, sitting himself down beside me. I take my beer from him, eying it carefully.

"Why not? And what happened to my coke?" I ask Zack skeptically.

"Well, they ran out about 45 minutes ago. And because, I think I'll need to be sober for the next 20 minutes to an hour." Smirking at my obliviousness, Zack gets up and grabs my free hand, leading me towards the back door. We pass by our target and Zack eyes Forest as if to send him a telepathic message. Forest motions Riley to the back door as well, hot on my heels. Zack begins to let off some of the pressure on my wrist, bringing my circulation back to it's regular state. He pulls me closer to his body as we are headed towards the forest; and I don't mean the human that is slowly trailing behind us. I hug Zack's arm, trying to get closer to him, and whisper as soft as possible. "Where are we going?"