Eucalyptus & Honey |H.S.|

Chapter 2 - Gets Into Parties Without Invitation

My confidence seemed to leave me at precisely the same moment I exited the studio. Heat flooded my cheeks as my open flirtation with Harry played on repeat in my mind. I mean, seriously, what the fuck was that?

I had a hard time determining if it was worth it. The touch. The flirty tone. I decided it was. The look on his face, the way his eyes darkened, made any extra humiliation absolutely worth it.

I loaded my bass into the back of my white vintage Mercedes and dialed Jamie's number. I felt like I should at least warn him that I just completely embarrassed him, considering he's the one that recommended me to Harry. The engine roared to life as I listened to the trill tone of the ringing, Jamie picking up on the third ring.

"Stevie? What's up? How'd the audition go?" Jamie's low voice spoke into my ear. The gruffness sent shivers down my spine. I'd always thought Jamie was hot, and we'd hooked up a couple of times, but that's all it ever was. Sex. Average sex at best. But still, he had a hot voice.

"Oh, you know, completely fucked it up, probably destroyed Harry's trust in your judgement, and will likely be receiving a restraining order from Harry himself." He breathed out a laugh into the speaker. 

"That bad, huh?" I put Jamie on speaker, set my phone in my lap, and pulled out of the parking lot. Traffic was as awful as it usually is in Malibu, and I quickly found myself at a complete stop. I only lived about 5 miles from the studio, but that could take up to an hour and a half to drive when the traffic was heavy like this.

"Yeah, that bad." I gave a humorless laugh. "I fucking killed the actual audition, played better than anyone else there, but he fucking hated me. For no fucking reason." My anger rose as I thought back on Harry's immediate hostility. It made no fucking sense. If he didn't remember me, why did he seem to hate me so much? But if he did remember me, then why the fuck did he seem to hate me so much?

All this thinking made my head pound and my fingers itched for a cigarette, but I had a strict rule about no smoking in the Mercedes. The smell seeps into the leather, and even I'm aware of how revolting that is. Stale cigarettes in stale leather.

Knowing I wouldn't be able to fill my mind with that sweet smoke made my anger rise even more, and I thought I should probably end the call with Jamie before I freaked the fuck out on him for no good reason. "Look, Jamie, I gotta go. I just thought I should warn you about my potential sabotage of your relationship." I began to hang up when I heard Jamie's voice say, "Wait," stopping my thumb before it reached its destination.

Realizing I hadn't hung up yet, Jamie hesitantly spoke. "I, um—There's this party tonight. You wanna come with?" he asked, a faint sense of nerves hidden within his voice. "Lots of big people are gonna be there, you could form some connections, since you seemed to have fucked this one up already," he said with a laugh. I gave a forced one in return.

I wasn't really in the mood to party or 'make connections', and something in his tone sounded off. I could also tell that he probably wanted to fuck me if I went. But I could use a good fuck, and maybe this party and its 'connections' could take my mind off of Harry's dickish attitude and stupidly fucking perfect face.

So I agreed and asked him to send me the address, telling him I'd meet him there. I never partied without my own ride. People are hard to trust when their inhibitions are nowhere to be found, and I've been abandoned at enough parties to always take the precaution.

Next, I called my roommate, Margot. We'd been friends since we met our freshman year at UCLA and, as cheesy as it sounds, had been inseparable since.

She picked up on the first ring. I expected nothing less. "Stevie! How'd the audition go?" She already sounded excited and I groaned inwardly at having to explain what happened. She'd known about mine and Harry's history—if you could even call it that—and I didn't want to have to break the news that he was a right dick.