The City of Lies

Chapter 5: Expect the Unexpected

An hour before the party Lydia and I had gotten dressed up in my room at Clover Manor and pre-gamed enough to feel buzzed for the party. Lydia had promised me that drinking was okay since her problem had more to do with cocaine than anything else and that it's not something she would fall back on ever again. A few tequila shots in and we were confidant enough to show up to Eli's. Stella stood at my doorway and stared at us, "Don't even bother going we don't need Lydia snorting coke and over dosing again." I looked over at Lydia and she looked down in disappointment. The tequila got the best of me in that moment because I decided to blurt out, "I'm sick of your shit Stella are you so insecure that you need to take the time out of your day to tell us to not come to a party? Check yourself because you're coming for the wrong girls." I slammed the door shut and looked back at Lydia. 

"Bad ass alert." Lydia smiled. 

"Ready to go to Eli's?" I muttered. 

"Bay I'm beyond thankful you stood up for me but I don't think I should go." 

"Does this have to do with Stella? Cause I'll make sure she doesn't bother you anymore." 

"No I just realized I'm not a hundred percent ready to go back out. Maybe next party?" 

She could see the sadness in my face when I began to frown, "Yes next time. I'll tell you all about it." 

Lydia left and I went with John to Eli's. To no surprise I lost Eli as soon as a school cheerleader took him from me to introduce him to the rest of her friends. I'll be seeing her at Clover Manor in John's room tonight. I didn't know anyone and I felt weird standing in the middle of the room looking everyone up and down to see if they were worthy enough to make conversation with until I saw Eli begin to walk towards me. "Look who decided to show." 

"I came for the booze."

"Then you came to the right place, I'll lead you to the keg." We walked into the kitchen and he poured me a drink. For some odd reason I could feel someone watching me as I sat on the kitchen counter waiting for Eli to finish filling my cup. My intuition was correct, one of Luke's friends from the other day was looking at me. It was one of the guys Luke told I was the help of the Manor. When we made eye contact I quickly looked down and spoke to Eli a little more, "So should I call you Gatsby for throwing this party to try and get me to come to your mansion?" 

He gave me a smug look and giggled the same way he did the first night I met him, "Like I said Bay you are one interesting person." 

"Well I'd hope so if you threw this party all for me." 

"Stella cheated on me." 

"Slow down Eli I'm not trying to date you it was a friendly joke." Sarcasm was shown in my voice. 

"You're funny too. But now I know who not to go to for advice." 

"You don't need advice. People like Stella are always looking for the next thing that's gonna benefit them which makes it hard for them to stay in relationships. No one deserves to be cheated on and you would be stupid to go back to her." 

"Lets take some shots, follow me." Eli takes my hand and I hop off the counter table. We walked into a library with a bar at the back wall where people were throwing back shots like it was water. I was ready to just let go and have fun which is what intrigued me about Eli. He always knew how to have fun without being too pushy and always keeping me on my toes because there has always been a mystery to him. I wanted to get to know him better and fill my mind with his secrets but at the same time he was Stellas whether she cheated on him or not it didn't seem right of me. I had asserted myself into Stella's and Luke's lives and it seemed like I had already stirred up a bit of drama which couldn't have been easy for them. Eli handed me a shot and I swallowed it in a matter of two seconds. 

"I'll be right back Bay I have to make sure nothing's broken." 

I shot him a smile and took a seat at the bar on a small stool next to people I didn't know waiting for Eli to get back when suddenly Luke's friend who has been staring at me earlier sat on the empty stool to the left. 

"You live with Luke right? I'm his friend Alec." 

"Lovely another narcissist!" I said clearly enough for him to hear over the loud music. 

Alec runs his fingers through my hair making me feel uncomfortable, "You are one of the prettiest girls to come to this school you know that?" 

I pulled my face away to signal I didn't want him to touch me, "Thanks but I'm not interested." 

"Oh come on Bailey." He slowly put his hand on my thigh and began moving up towards under my skirt. 

"Please don't touch me." 

He ignores what I say and leans in to kiss me and places both hands on my thighs gripping them hard. I tried my best to push him off of me when Luke comes up behind him and grabs him hard enough to lift him off the chair. 

He shouted in Alec's face, "Don't touch her. She said to stop!" 

Alec yelled back at Luke, "What the fuck does it matter to you? You said she's the help so she's worthless anyways. Seemed to me like she wanted it." 

When Alec finished his statement Luke wound up his right hand and hit Alec right in the face, hard enough to make him fall on the ground. 

"What the fuck is wrong with you bro." Alec yells from the ground while holding his bloody nose. 

I looked Luke straight in the eyes and I could feel everyone's eyes on me now. He embarrassed me in front of everyone and now I'll be the talk of the school and it could have easily been prevented. I couldn't be here anymore and I ran out of the house. 

Eli Yelled after me, "Bay wait!" 

The last thing I wanted was to talk to anyone let alone Eli. All I wanted was to go to bed and sleep until the school year was over. Lydia will have a field day with my incident when I tell her how the party went. I was able to make it back to my room at 2:00am and it felt good to put on my silk shorts and tank top. My door bursts open and Luke makes his way into my room before shutting the door. 

I was livid and began to speak, "Whatever you have to say save it you embarrassed me tonight at the first party I've been to at this school. On top of that you punched your friend for no reason, I had it handled. You looked crazy there was no need to-." Luke leaned in as I was rumbling on about how mad I was and kissed me.