salem tried to dress as nice as she could, but also as comfortable as she could. she needed to make sure ryan knew what he was missing out on, but at the same time, she wasn't going to give up being comfortable just to impress a boy.
she wore a short, black, silk dress that was cinched at the waist, so her curves were accentuated. to match her dress, she wore some black heels that she was sure she was able to walk in.
to top it all off, she did her makeup in a minimalistic way. only applying highlighter, blush, mascara, lip gloss and doing her eyebrows.
she strutted out of her room, into the view of tavia. the aforementioned eyed her best friend from head to toe, then let out a "damn."
salem blew a kiss to tavia, winked at her, and then laughed.
"you look so fucking hot." tavia said in awe.
"you do too, babe. matt is one lucky son of a bitch." salem responded with a compliment.
tavia was wearing a tight, burgundy dress that showed off her midriff. a quick glance at her showed how fit she was.
"you ready to go yet?" tavia asked.
"hold up, lemme get my purse."
she rummaged through her purse, making sure she had everything she needed. she stumbled across photobooth photos with ryan and in a tiny fit of anger, she ripped up the photos and threw it away.
she smiled, satisfied with her work, and slung her bag over her shoulder.
"alright, let's go."
tavia's boyfriend, matt, was hosting the party, along with the 200 hundred other people he lived with. their house was fairly large, so it was perfect for parties. another bonus was that tavia and salem lived less than ten minutes away from the house, so they could visit the boys whenever they wanted to.
salem didn't visit the house as often as tavia did, considering she didn't date anyone that lived in the house. she barely knew the people that lived in the house. she knew maybe about, three people: ian, merlyn, and matt. other than those three, she had no clue who else lived inside the house.
the music was audible from outside the house, and people littered the frontyard.
before walking in, tavia asked if salem would be fine on her own, to which she responded she'd be just fine. she just wanted tavia to have fun and go find matt.
"okay, text me if you need anything."
"i will." salem smiled, and the two walked through the front door of the house.
instantly, they were met with booming music, and the smell of alcohol and sweat.
"jesus christ." salem mumbled under her breath as she made her way to the kitchen.
she knew it wasn't a smart idea to drink her problems away, but that's exactly what she planned on doing.
she hummed to herself as she poured some random bottle of alcohol into a red solo cup. when she turned around, she encountered ian, where she let out an "oop" and almost spilled her drink.
"okay salem, you look 'bout fine as fuck." ian said, causing her to laugh.
"i'm tryna let ryan know what he's missing out on. bitch broke up with me on the phone right before the party and had the nerve to tell me not to come! so naturally, i came." she smiled innocently.
"clearly he has such a big ego that he sucks his own dick." ian mumbled, which made salem laugh even harder.
"where's jaden?" salem asked, taking a sip of her drink. whatever she was drinking was strong, as it burned her throat when she swallowed. her face contorted in disgust, but she still decided to drink it.
"right here." jaden said, putting an arm around ian. it was as if he had come out of nowhere, or maybe it was a combination of his sneakiness and salem's unattentiveness.
"y'all so fucking cute." she smiled.
"we know." was all jaden said.
"hope you enjoy the party. don't get too wild." ian winked at salem, causing her to roll her eyes.
she made her way to the living room, where everybody was, but a wave of instant regret washed over her as she saw ryan. she knew he was going to be here, but she still said fuck it anyway!
she frowned, deciding to go to the backyard, to get away from the scene.
surprisingly, the backyard was more vacant than the frontyard had been. it was just a few people talking and smoking.
she sighed, leaning against the wall and taking small sips of her drink at a time. she stared at the poolwater, thinking about how five months of her life were just wasted. she was on the verge of thinking about something else when someone disrupted her from her thoughts.
"aren't you matt's friend's girlfriend?" a deep voice asked.
"if you're talking about ryan, then no. he dumped me right before this party." the thought made salem want to down the rest of her drink.
"oh, sorry about that. i'm ciarán, by the way." the mystery man finally had a name, and he stuck out his hand for her to shake.
she looked at his hand before lifting her own hand and gripping his. she finally looked up at his face, stunned by how unconventionally attractive he was.
"the name's salem." she smiled.
his brown hair was long, messy, and covered part of his eyes. he had a nose ring and a single, dangling earring.
"do you mind doing me a slight favor?" salem asked.
"what is it?" ciarán brought the cigarette in between his fingertips up to his lips and took a drag.
"so," salem started playing with a strand of her hair, a habit she had when she got nervous, "my ex is here."
"and?" ciarán raised an eyebrow at her, but she couldn't tell since his hair was in the way.
"pretendtobemyreboundforthenight?" salem asked, hoping he'd understand and say yes.
she waited for his reaction, but all he did was laugh.
"you gotta say that slower, baby girl."
the nickname left salem's mouth agape. ryan rarely ever called her that. she loved pet names, but he always seemed to just call her salem.
"i was wondering if you wanted to be my fake rebound for the night." she said, enunciating her words this time.
ciarán smirked, "so, where exactly is your ex-boyfriend?"
a/n:
i feel like imma lose motivation for this book once my break ends
