Criminal for You |On Hold|

Chapter 11: Safe with Me

Summer's POV:

Katie burst into a grin after Vanessa drove away. She was waaayy more excited and confident than I was feeling right now. Seeing this massive structure towering over me with blinding lights and deafening music makes me feel like cowering in a safe corner until the party ends. 

"So..." I choked out, "who invited you to the party?"

Katie smirked. "Jonathan, James' teammate. He was like 'well I was told to gather people for the party, so you wanna come?' And then I was like, 'I guess. Sure.' But THEN I found out James was hosting it, and then AHHHHHH!!" 

She could barely contain her excitement. "Let's goooo!" She grabbed my hand and took jumpy, excited steps as we finally got inside the gates. She didn't stop marching until we got to the line in front of the main entrance.

I stared at the scene around me, feeling curious, but I averted my gaze almost immediately. A few couples were making out in the midst of hedges and fountains in the main lawn. 

Don't throw up. Don't throw up.

The line was moving along pretty fast. I stood on my tip-toes and tried to see what was at the front, but I couldn't tell. Some sort of booth. I shrugged and waited patiently until we got to the front of the line. 

There were three security guards standing behind the booth. They all had dark sunglasses and a mic attached to their ears. Two were just folding their arms and staying in their positions behind the first guy who asked Katie for her details. Not her number, of course. More like her name and age, and then he checked the list for her name.

"All good," he responded in a low voice. He eyed me through his dark glasses and stuck a thumb in my direction. He had perfect, dark skin and a very muscular body. "She's yo' friend?"

"She is," Katie confirmed. 

The guy nodded and played with the pen in his hand, returning his gaze to Katie. "How 'bout giving me yo' number?" He smirked.

Okkaaayy. I guess he did want her number after all. 

Katie smirked back, being the flirt she is, and scribbled down her number beside her name. She winked and then we made our way inside the building, leaving a flattered security guard behind. 

"Jeepers Katie," I groaned as we moved through the crowd. "Did you really give him your number?"

"Well, you should always keep your options open, just in case things don't turn out well with someone else."

I went quiet after that. The smell of cigarettes, alcohol and sweat mingled with more pleasant smells like sugar, perfume and cologne. It made me scrunch up my nose but I silently followed Katie. She seemed to know what she was doing. 

And about keeping options open... I guess she was right. Whenever I like someone (and that's a rare occurrence) I start giving my full attention and effort to them, and I focus on them and them only. The last time I did that it hurt me a lot, because the guy I liked ended up using me.

Hah. 

"Ah!" I crashed into something warm. My arms flew around to grab the closest thing I could and someone's hands shot out to grab my shoulders.

I gasped. It was guitar-boy, Alex. My hands were clutching onto his torso and he was holding me an arm's length away from his face. 

"It's you again!" His mouth fell open but then he started grinning wildly. "Fancy you being here!"

I let go of his waist and tried to fight off the heat in my cheeks. This is soooo embarrassing. My eyes darted to look at Katie and I almost screamed.