1460 Hours

Chapter 2

I step out of the car, taking in the cool night air and the stars which have settled above us. A fresh waft of air brushes past my bare legs. I am in a sparkly mini-dress and heels. My dirty blonde hair is half-up-half-down and my eyeshadow presents my grey eyes intensely. 

"Wow, wow, wow." Becca says as she stands next to me, looking up at Mateo's large villa. She's turned up in a red skirt and white t-shirt. Simple but beautiful. 

"You're really getting into the party mood now, am I right?" She says, smirking. I am not letting her think that I'm having fun, although it's nice to finally be out again. 

We enter the house and see Mateo standing at the entrance, handing everybody what looks like a raffle ticket. I take one and he simply says, "I'll explain when everybody gets here." 

Becca's eyes widen as she gets hers and says, "What is this? I thought this was a party, not a game show." I really do love Becca but sometimes she can be a little too honest, so I don't react.

Once everybody has arrived, Mateo gets up on a table and shouts, "Welcome everybody, to my party. We are going to play a party game! As you all know, I have handed you raffle tickets. In this room there is one other person who has the same number you have on your ticket. Find the person and stand next to them. I'll explain more once you've done that." 

I look down at my ticket and then at Becca next to me. My ticket number is twenty-seven. I look around searching for the person who has my number, praying that it is someone nice. Eventually I hear a familiar shouting, "Who has number twenty-seven? Who has it?" 

My heart drops and I regret going out. Jake. What is he doing here? Of course his blonde hair is gelled back, and he is holding a bottle of beer in his hand, like always. His voice is its familiar croaky self. I can't do this. I turn around just before he finds me and try to find someone besides Becca that I can run to. 

I spot Emily on the other side of the room. She is not my best friend, but we do talk a lot. I walk towards her and plead, "Hey Em, listen, Jake has my ticket number and I can't even stand being in the same room as him. Can we swap tickets please?" 

Emily looks a bit bothered and says, "Fine, have mine, but don't blame me if we need to make out with our partner because you were the one who wanted to swap, okay? Not me!" 

I chuckle and say that I won't. She hands me her ticket and I head off to find number thirty-four. Out of the corner of my eyes I can spot someone holding ticket thirty-four above their head. Someone with floppy brown hair and green eyes. The dimples next to his mouth show what a gorgeous person he is and soon enough I realise that it's Jonathan. 

"Hey Zara, which number do you have?" He asks, coming up to me. 

"Oh, thirty-four." I say. 

A smile spreads across his face and he says, "Great, because I do too." 

When everyone has finally found their partner, Mateo gets up again and shouts, "Okay so you have all found your partners I see." 

Everyone nods and cheers. 

"We are going to play an updated version of spin-the-bottle."

My heart drops. I don't know what to think. I don't even care about Emily and Jake at the moment. All I can think about is Jonathan. Jonathan. The nice guy. 

"One team will spin the bottle, and the team that the bottle points towards, do whatever they are dared or asked, by the team who spun the bottle." Mateo finishes. 

Everyone looks excited and my heart starts to pulse even more in my chest. I walk towards the forming circle with Jonathan, and we sit down next to each other. Mateo takes the empty wine bottle and hands it to Jonathan's friend, Luke. He spins it and it lands on two people who I've never met before. They are dared to make out. 

Then they spin, and it lands on Becca who is paired with Bruno. I'm really happy for her because she really wanted to get closer to him, but there is no way in hell that she got his ticket number by chance. She must have purposely swapped tickers too. 

The game goes on until the bottle lands on Jonathan and me. I start shaking and look across at Jake. His gaze has drifted out of the window as if he really doesn't care about what is going on, although given his attitude, I know he does. We are told to kiss

I look up at Jonathan and he smiles. I tell myself that I can do this because he is just Jonathan. A nice guy who I've become quite close with over the past few months - but I can't. I can't randomly just kiss someone. Even if it is just a game. A kiss is a kiss. I try to get up, but Jasmine holds her gaze onto me and motions for me to sit back down. 

"It's just a game." She says in her high-pitched poisonous voice. 

Before I can do anything else, Jonathan's lips press onto mine. They feel soft and sincere, as they move on and off of mine in a rhythm. There is some sort of fullness between us. Something special. Jonathan pulls away and smiles as his dimples fully accentuate his face. 

The kiss felt wonderful. It felt special. 

The last thing I can hear him say in a weirdly upset tone, is, "Kiss, not make-out. Remember?" before it's the next peoples' turn.