Poisoned Love

09. Unplanned Party

Welcome to the ninth chapter of many!
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There was a slight pause. He sucked in a quiet breath and slowly exhaled it. I can tell that he doesn't want me to ask him about anything. He leans closer and shrugs casually.

"What do you want to know?" He asks. His eyes tell me a story. He's hiding something but I don't know what it is. There's been this question at the back of my mind that I'm eager to ask but I didn't know if I should. I gathered every bit of my courage to ask it anyway.

"Who's Penelope?" I asked, biting my lower lip. I doubt he'll answer that for me. He took me by surprise and actually did.

"My friend's sister. She clings onto me sometimes but that's about it." He says.

"She does?" I laugh. He nodded, expressionlessness still evident on his face. "Have you guys ever hooked up?" I'm not sure why I asked that. Part of me was bugging to know that answer.

"No, never." He says and I can feel relief washing over me. "There are other people on my mind, though." He teases. I lean closer to him and place my arms across the table. Our faces were only inches apart.

"And are they like people from your college or?" I asked. Before I could get a response, the waitress was already back with our food. She placed my plate in front of me and I couldn't resist to wait anymore, I even forgot about getting Ace to answer my question. I munched my first bite and slowly chewed. I shut my eyes, wanting to experience more of the scrumptious burger. A soft moan involuntarily escaped my lips and when I fluttered my eyes open, Ace was looking at me with a wide smile. I could feel my cheeks heating. I didn't even intend for him to hear me.

"You really like your food, don't you?" He muffles his laugh. I smiled in response and continued eating my burger. I wiped the corners of my lips with a napkin and rinsed my hands off in the bathroom once I was done eating. I came back and Ace had already emptied his plate too. He watched my every move until I finally sat back in front of him.

"Would you like to eat dessert?" He offered. My stomach was already full so I shook my head from side to side.

"I don't have money on me, so as my big stepbrother, you kinda have to pay." I chuckled.

"Don't call me that." He says. I can't tell if he's joking or not but from the look on his serious face, he doesn't seem to be joking. He paid the check and we were ready to leave. We got in the car and I kept my mouth shut because I had nothing to say to him at all. I wish Ace would've said something and broke this awkward silence. I turned on some music on a low tone and hummed softly. Ace cleared his throat and I jerked my head to the side to face him. His phone buzzed and it shattered the silence into millions of pieces. I almost jumped. He picked up and bit on his lower lip. I can hear a muffled female voice through the phone but I couldn't make out what she was saying.

"When?" He asks. He pauses for a second. "Alright, thanks, Pen." Ace said nodded slowly and a few moments later he hung up. I wanted to ask him who that was but suddenly everything fell into place. I'm assuming it's Penelope.

"Can I take you somewhere else?" He asks, not looking at me.

"Sure." I muttered. "But please don't kill me." I added, chuckling.

"Don't worry, I won't." He says with a smile, his eyes fixed on the road. A few minutes passed and we sat in silence. It wasn't the awkward type of silence it was because neither of us really knew what to say. I was pretty damn nervous and I placed my hands between my laps. I was picking on the skin around my nails.

"We're here." He says and I'm immediately alarmed. I glanced up and and I saw a huge house standing in front of me. It was more of a mansion than a regular house. Reluctantly, I got out of the car. I can hear music booming out of the mansion.

"What's this?" I asked, pointing at the house.

"It's my house, isn't that obvious?." He says and I gulped.

"Wh-Why did you bring me here?" I asked, unintentionally biting on my lower lip.

"You've got to stop doing that." He says, his tone husky and low. I don't mind it, though. It sounded amazing. I assumed he was talking about me asking so many questions all the time.

"Stop biting your lip, Lydia. It's fucking..." He doesn't continue. I let go of my lower lip and I wetted them, approaching Ace. He fixed his gaze elsewhere.

"So are you going to tell me why we came here?" I asked again. I was really hoping he'd tell me.

"Yeah, there's a party here." He tells me. Why would he bring me to a party? "Before you say anything, I know you don't like parties, I just figured it was because you've never been to one so why not experience this one tonight?"

A party doesn't sound so bad, at least not if Ace was with me. I just met him yet I feel so dependent on him and it's literally killing me. It didn't take long for me to agree. He knew I felt nervous about going inside.

"Fine." I huffed exasperatedly. "But I'm not even wearing a proper dress." I complained, grabbing the hem of my dress and pulling it downwards. Ace looked at the bottom of my dress and then his eyes slowly trailed back to my eyes.

"Your sundress is fine, it's not as bad." He tells me.

"You think?" I ask and he nods. "Well, I just want to remind you that you'll drive me all the way back home again, deal?"

"Okay, just bloody get in already, you're giving me a headache." He says, raising an eyebrow at me. I sucked in a deep breath and looked at the door. If there's anything I'm not, it's party animal. I don't know what to do when I get inside, how to react, I know nothing about parties. Ace realized my anxiousness so he decided to grab my hand. He gave it a light squeeze and I shut my eyes, readying myself to have him remove his hand. Instead, he intertwined our fingers and I swallowed. His touch sent me shivers down my spine. He gave me a reassuring smile before he guided us in.

I watched as multiple people high five Ace and say hello to him. The house was packed with people. My face was flat, I didn't smile neither did I show my nervousness. Someone handed me a red cup but I tried rejecting it. They were already gone so I sat the cup on the table. I'd rather fill up my own drink.

"Nice dress." A girl chuckles but Ace tells me to ignore her. I was aware that my dress didn't fit in with the spanks' dresses but it's not like Ace gave me a choice to change into other clothes. We reached a huge circle of people and they looked like Ace's group of friends. I plastered one of the fakest smiles I can possibly manage.

"This is Lydia, guys." Ace introduces me to them. "That's Jackson..." Ace says as he pointed at a black-haired guy with a lip ring. Tattoos covered one of his arms and he wore a white tank. He waved at me and I waved back, returning a kind smile. A beer glass was curled between his fingers. "This is Kyle..." He points at a guy with dirty blond hair. He wore a welcoming smile on his face, saying hello to me. Ace introduced me to two more guys, a girl and then his head shifted over to the center of the circle. "This is Penelope, Kyle's sister." He says. I almost choked on my own saliva. I forced on a tight smile and she returned a nonchalant one. She sat between Kyle and Jackson.

"Hi." She says in a squealing tone. I don't like her bratty voice.

"Hey." I sighed, sitting down. Ace sat beside me, he was separating a guy from me. Penelope was laying on her back on the couch with her a leg on the floor and another on the couch. There was so little to the imagination when I looked at her. I mentally cringed and looked away. She must be comfortable sitting like this around the group whom are mostly guys.

"You want a drink, Lydia?" Kyle asks and I smiled in return. I was about to say yes but Ace raised his hand in my face.

"She doesn't drink." Ace replies. I was mad at him for answering for me.