Barely Holding On

Chapter 9

The day of the party finally rolled around and I was starting to get super nervous.

Nash had barely talked to me since the other day and it was kind of freaking me out. Was he regretting offering to be my ‘fake boyfriend’?

The whole thing was making me paranoid. I told Maci about it and she told me what she thought, holding nothing back. She told me that if Cameron and I were to somehow get together after this that it would all be based on a lie, and would eventually catch up to me and bite me in the ass. I told her to fuck off, so needless to say we weren’t really speaking. However, she was going to the party too with Taylor.

I stood in front of my dresser trying to decide what to wear. It had to scream mature, experienced, and taken. I sighed. I really needed Maci’s help, I sucked at this.

Suddenly I heard whistling. I looked over to see Nash staring at me from his window. I was so busy worrying about what to wear that I had forgotten my dresser was in the view of my window. I screamed and jumped back.

“Nash! Stop fucking doing that!” I yelled.

He laughed, “We’ve already been over this, stop changing in front of your window! Oh, and you better change fast we’re leaving in like 30 minutes.”

Oh good. 30 minutes to figure out what I was going to wear, do my hair and make-up. Everything was going to work out perfect.

--

As expected I had a freak out and wound up throwing clothes all over my room trying to find something to wear. It was really going to bother me when I got home, I hated things being out or order, but there was no time for that.

I eventually gave up and threw on a black dress and some heels. I straightened my hair and threw on my make-up with a minute to spare.

Nash came crawling through my window looking PRETTY good. He straightened up and just stared at me. I got really self-conscious and started playing with my dress.

“What? Does it not look good?” I grabbed some other clothes and started to head into the bathroom to change.

Nash caught my arm, “No V, you look amazing.” His eyes wondered all over my body and I started blushing. “I mean, damn.” In a weird way, that was the best compliment I had ever gotten.

Nash kept his hand on me for longer than he needed to, and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. He realized his hand was still on me and removed it. He cleared his throat, and then said “Let’s go.”

--

We pulled up in front of the house and that party was already in full swing. I had absolutely no idea whose house it was though.

As we walked up to the front door Nash slipped in his hand in mine. I looked at him shocked.

“We’re supposed to be ‘together’, right?” he said carefully.

“Oh, yeah” I stuttered out. For some reason his hand in mine was doing things to me it shouldn’t have been doing. It was literally the only thing I could focus on.   

I was hoping no one would pay attention, but as we walked into the party everyone paid attention. Almost all eyes were on us. I tried my best to hide behind Nash, but the douche wouldn’t let me.

“V, don’t be embarrassed.” He whispered into my ear, “You look beautiful.” His warm breath sending shivers down my spine. OK. This was weird. Why was NASH having this kind of effect on me?

We made our way over to the drinks, and I immediately grabbed a beer and started downing it.

“Whoa! Slow down!” Nash said laughing. I blushed. Dammit. Why couldn’t I stop doing that?

Nash picked up a beer and started drinking it too. “Want to dance?” he asked.

Uh-oh. I had a fear of dancing in public. He must have seen the worry on my face because he said, “I’ve seen you dance in your room, you’ve got nothing to worry about.” He set our drinks down and then dragged me into the mass of people ‘dancing’. Most of them were just grinding up on each other.

We started dancing and at first it was really awkward, but as soon as the alcohol started to take effect I loosened up.

I don’t know how many songs passed, but we got lost in the music. I was actually having fun with Nash Grier, my sworn enemy since the 3rd grade.

We eventually cleared off the dance floor and got more drinks. I downed another beer, feeling free and exhilarated. No wonder my mom liked this stuff so much.

Nash and I were making fun of some couple dancing horribly, when Cameron showed up.

“Violet!” he yelled and picked me up in a hug, spinning me around.

The carefree smile that was just on Nash’s face was replaced with a far more forced one. I wondered why. Cameron was his best friend…maybe he thought I wasn’t good enough for him…

He set me down and then checked me out. He nodded in approval. “Damn Vi, you look good! Hey Nash, you mind if I steal her away for a little while?”

Nash looked at me and I tried to scream YES with my eyes. He grunted a no and then stormed off. That was weird. However, I soon forgot about it when Cameron grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the dance floor.