The Quarterback, Outcast and Me ✔

Chapter Thirteen - One Drink Too Far

As soon as we reached Stacy's house I opened the door and left the car, ignoring both Jace and Carrie as they called after me. I had gotten halfway up the stone pathway when someone went in front of me and blocked my way.

"Get out of the way Jace, I'm on my way to a party," I said, trying to move around him, but he was persistent.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" I looked at him and noticed that he was holding my backpack, the one with my spare change of clothes in it. Oh.

"Oh." I took it from his extended hand just as Carrie, Keith and Taylor reached us.

"What's the rush, Chloe?" Carrie asked. I sighed, knowing I couldn't keep acting like this or I'd be sure to ruin her night as well as my own. Not that it wasn't already ruined by mister No-Show.

"Never mind, let's just go get changed." Carrie grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me with her.

Stacy's house was almost as big as Jace's. Almost. It was a big, white, rectangular house with large, white pillars in the front. A neatly trimmed yard ran along the side of the house and went around to the back on both sides.

Lights illuminated the small stone paths that ventured around the side of the house. We followed the main, wide one up to the front door, and without knocking Jace went right in.

The music was already loud and the party in full swing. I could feel the rhythm of the bass vibrating deep within my body, but like with all these big houses, there was some distance to the next-door neighbor, more like next-block neighbor.

People were all around us as we went along a long, spacious, white-walled hallway. Almost everyone had a red cup in his or her hand. Many had no doubt started the party early, pre match. When people spotted Jace and the boys, they immediately started cheering and reaching out to slap him on the back.

I got shouldered several times, one almost knocking me straight to the hardwood floor, but luckily, Jace kept a firm grip on my wrist. It even earned me a few deathly glares from some of the girls around us.

"It's like they're thinking about all the ways to kill you," Carrie muttered in my ear. I was keeping a hand on her so we wouldn't get separated.

Finally, we made it into the spacious kitchen. It was gorgeous, of course, but for some reason I didn't think it held a candle to Jace's and mine. This place felt cold and sterile, much like it's owner.

Jace turned around and pulled me closer to him, nodding to Keith and Taylor who immediately stepped up behind us, cocooning us in a small circle. Very small circle.

"Okay, listen. Don't accept drinks from anyone other than me, Keith or Taylor," Jace said to Carrie and I, looking at us both with such a serious expression it was kind of hard to take him seriously. I stifled a chuckle, but earned a hard glare from Jace. 

"Chloe, I mean it. There could be older guys here, just waiting for the opportunity to drug a young girl and..." He seemed to be trying to reign in some emotions, his face strained. "Just, don't accept drinks from strangers." He was looking at me now and I felt myself blush a little. If he could reign in emotions, then damn it, so could I.

 "No drinks from strangers, got it," I said, knowing it was what he wanted to hear, but really, how stupid did he think we were? Hadn't we seen enough teen movies and TV-dramas to know what happened when a girl got roofied? Fat chance of someone pulling a date-rape drug on me. I wasn't even sure I wanted to drink at all.

 "Let's go find a bathroom and get changed," I said to Carrie, needing to practically shout into her ear just so she could hear me over the excessively loud music.