I've Found You

Chapter 8

Norman cleared his throat and looked away quite awkwardly as Jai and I picked ourselves up off the elevator floor. I was 99% sure my face was as beat red as a tomato; I could feel the blush all the way down to my toes. From the corner of my eye I took a quick peek at Jai. The bastard didn’t look embarrassed at all! He stood there smirking while he fixed his hair and straightened out his clothes. Thank god he had enough guts to address the men standing before us because I sure as hell did not.

“Sorry about that, guys. We weren’t expecting any company, were we Val?”

I just stared at my toes.

“Well,” began the mechanic as he cleared his throat. “The elevator should be safe to use now. You two can continue, um, whatever you were getting at upstairs if you please….”

“Thanks sir, we’ll do that!” Jai responded with a grin on his face.

The doors closed and we began our upwards ascent again, this time without any difficulties.

We go out of the elevator and walked over to my apartment door. I snuck a sideways glance at Jai as I fumbled around for my keys inside my bag. He was still smiling. I shook my head in disbelief, although by this point a small smile was playing around the edges of my lips, too. Finally, I found my keys and proceeded to unlock the door. I flicked on the lights as I stepped inside and headed towards the kitchen. Jai set my shopping bags down beside the door and followed me.

“So what time is Skip expecting us over tonight?” I asked him, breaking the silence that had fallen over us since the elevator incident.

“Probably between 8:30 and 9 but the actual party won’t start until 10. I should probably warn you beforehand about his parties, though. They tend to get out of hand sometimes. Actually, all the time.”

“What exactly do you mean by ‘out of hand’…?” I asked cautiously. What was I getting myself into tonight?

“Well don’t get me wrong, his parties are always fun. But when he drinks he tends to get into this mindset that it’s a good idea to participate in every stupid activity he can think of. Last time, he thought it would be fun to jump into his pool from the roof at 3am. The neighbours ended up calling the cops. And the time before that he walked out of his house naked and started spraying everyone with a fire extinguisher. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

I laughed wholeheartedly, my excitement for tonight growing even more at this news. I had always loved a good party every now and then, and Skip’s sounded right up my alley.

“You just made me even more excited to go, Jai. I hope he does something stupid tonight. In all honestly, I’ll probably join him.”

“I can’t wait to see that,” Jai replied laughing. “I’ve got to get home now, but I’ll be by around 8:30-ish with my brothers to pick you up. We’ll stop at the liquor store on the way there, sound good?”

“Works for me, see you tonight!”

I walked him over to the door where he hugged me and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. Shutting the door behind him after he’d left, I took a glance at the clock. It was about 5pm now, which gave me approximately three hours to get ready.

Well, I’d better not waste any time.

Three hours and fifteen minutes later I stood in front of my bathroom mirror and admired my handiwork. I liked to think I cleaned up nicely. My long brown hair was straightened to perfection, grey liner rimmed my chocolate coloured eyes, and a peachy gloss on my lips added the finishing touches. I walked into my room and carefully put on the outfit I’d bought today, making sure not to ruin my hair.

Walking down the stairs and into the kitchen, I decided I’d better make myself something to eat. Drinking on an empty stomach was never a good idea, especially when you’re as tiny as me. I popped a bagel into the toaster and grabbed the cream cheese out of the fridge. I stood by the counter waiting for the toaster to pop while I thought about what was in store for me tonight. Surely I’d have fun. That much was clear from what Jai had told me earlier. But would his friends like me? Would he kiss me again? Would anything else happen? I thought it was safe to assume that we both wanted more after the intensity of the kiss in the elevator, and even the conversation leading up to it. But would anything more happen tonight? Should I let it happen? I was pulled from my mental tirade by the sound of the toaster popping, signaling that my bagel was done.

No sooner than I had finished washing the bits of cream cheese from the bagel off my fingers, I heard a knock at the door. I quickly put on my new JC Lita’s and laced them up before opening the door to a now familiar face. Jai was wearing a pair of khaki pants that hung off his hips in an extremely flattering way, white converse, and a blue polo t-shirt. A small cross on a golden chain hung off his neck. I would be the first person to admit that he looked good. Really good.

“Ready to go?” he asked me, offering out a hand for me to take. I nodded enthusiastically and clasped his outstretched hand with my own. We made it downstairs to where Beau was waiting with his car, music fully blasted. It sounded like Justin Bieber, if I was correct. Luke was sat in the passenger seat, singing along and dancing to the music. As Jai and I stepped into the car, Beau lowered the music enough so we could hear him speaking over top of it.

“Alright, so I’m going to run into the liquor store quick before we get there. What does everyone want?”

Reaching into my bag, I pulled out a twenty and extended it out towards him.

“Just a bottle of silver tequila, please.”

“Sure Val, but keep your money. This one’s on us.”

I reluctantly folded my money back up and placed it into my wallet. I had a feeling I was going to have to start getting used to people paying for me everywhere I went if I was going to be spending time with this lot.

Jai and Luke both agreed that drinking tequila was a great idea tonight, and so each opted for the same bottle choice as me. Beau was apparently buying an entire case of beer for himself. I wished him luck.

Eventually, we pulled up in front of skips house and parked on the street. Not a moment after Beau had shut off the car and pulled the keys from the ignition, an already drunk Skip came running out of the house and greeted us quite loudly.

“YALLA MY BOYS LET US GO START THE DRINKING SHALL WE?!”

The boys each responded with a laugh and a holler. I smiled and followed them inside. Tonight was going to be interesting, I could already tell.