Forte Knox

5. Party

In all honesty, I was more than grateful for Cher. If it wasn't for her, I would've died having to sit through game night alone, with no idea as to what was going on on the field. Cher was surprisingly patient, I'll give her that. She spent most of the game explaining the rules and the points system to me, though I'm still not quite sure I understand all of it.

We won the game, of course, and Landon was the MVP. And, of course, there was an after party to celebrate our first victory of the season.

"Can you believe it?" Landon grinned, slinging an arm around me as we made our way across the street towards the supposedly littest club in town. "Your first real party!"

"Oh please," I rolled my eyes, though in all honesty, I was pretty hyped. He was right, it was my first real party, with alcohol and hormonal teenagers and, presumably, drugs, and everything (no, I was not about to try taking drugs). I can't wait to finally experience it all.

We stopped at the side of the entrance, letting Landon's football friends pass us by. Cher gave me a bright smile and a small high five before going in with some other girls.

"Okay," Lan started. "Remember what I said abo -"

"No excessive alcohol, no removing of clothing, no sex, no drugs, yeah, yeah, I got it, dad."

He chuckled and pushed my head a little with his index finger. "Okay, okay. Call me if you need anything, alright?"

I nodded.

"Right, go have fun. But not too much fun."

I laughed. Giving him a quick parting hug, I finally walked through the glass doors and found myself in the middle of a party, just like how I had always imagined it would be.

Picking my way among dancing bodies, I made it to the bar, deciding that it would be much more fun to party a little intoxicated.

I settled for some vodka shots, and since I'm best friends with Landon, I basically had to pay next to nothing as it'll all be all under Lan's account, and his account was taken care of by willing sponsors. By the time I was downing my fourth shot, I could feel River Andrews slipping away, and I knew that it was time to get on the dance floor.

Except I don't think I really did make it to the dance floor.

Because just as I turned away from the bar, I literally ran into someone, and then as he steadied me, I realized who it was. And because River Andrews was no longer fully in control, I pulled him down and plastered my lips against his.