"Come on Piper, it's just one drink. Tomorrow's your birthday, after all."
"Okay, just one."
"That's a good girl."
Ryan nuzzels his mouth against my neck and everything inside me melts. I peek up at him through my curled lashes and see his bright blue eyes gazing into mine. The music is blaring around us; it's loud, concert loud, but I don't mind. The most gorgeous guy in the room is talking to me. Not to the perfect cheerlead girls decorating the packed room with their short skirts and tight tops and ridiculously perfect hair. Me. I give him a hesitant smile and he winks. I can't help the girlish giggle that escapes from my mouth, and I feel my cheeks heat up.
I drink from the red plastic cup he firmly pushed into my hands, even though I don't like the taste of the bitter beer. Normally, on a Friday night, I'd be at home reading or watching Johnny Depp movies, but tonight was different. I had a date. An actual date. As he pulls gently on my fingers, I follow him through the crowd of celebrating seniors, weaving in and out of the jocks and preppy girls all in various stages of drunkeness. I watch Ryan's back and he walks gracefully in front of me. The contours of his muscles move deliciously beneath his football jersey as he moves around our classmates with determined ease. I want to reach out and touch his back but he has one of my hands in his and the other is carrying this stupid plastic cup, so I just stare. I barely notice we are going up the steps to the second floor until we reach the top and my gaze is pulled from Ryan's backside as he turns down the hallway, still tugging me behind him. Where is he taking me?
I almost think he heard my thoughts because he turns to look over his shoulder to smile at me. "It's quieter up here."
"Oh, okay." He wants me all to himself! I struggle to keep from jumping up and down with excitement and smile sweetly back at him instead. Play it cool, Piper, jeez.
We pass two closed doors and one that must be the bathroom because there are several girls waiting for it; flipping their long, shiny hair across their shoulders and glowering at me as I walk by with 'the' Ryan Burke. They're jealous! Of me! Something inside me laughs at them and I find it's not hard to keep my smile plastered to my face as I walk by. I take another sip of my beer, eager to finish the cup so I can put it down.
The room he picks is at the end of the hall, and looks like it might be a guest bedroom. Once inside with the door closed, he flips on a switch and two bedside lamps fill the room with a soft yellow glow; warming the dark blue bedspread and casting deep shadows around us. A giant mirror hangs just above the headboard of the queen-size bed and it reflects the light well, but the room is still shrouded in a sort of romantic darkness. What are we going to do in here?
