Summer

Chapter 32

We're on our way home from the bar when I get a text message from Cassie begging me to pick her up from Greg's house. Apparently, he threw some kind of party. What else is new?

When I mention the party to Noah, he looks unfazed, and something tells me that he knew about it before he picked me up earlier. I wonder why he didn't mention anything to me. Or why he didn't want to go.

When I ask Cassie if everything is okay, all she responds with is, "Kyle and I got into a fight."

We make it to Greg's in about 15 minutes, and when we walk up to his house, I'm shocked to see what's happening before me.

Justin.

Kyle.

Justin's hands around Kyle's neck.

"Justin, bro, what the fuck are you doing?" Noah shouts as he runs up to his best friend. He hooks his arms underneath Justin's shoulders and tries to pull him away. "Calm down, bro, it's not worth it."

"I'll fucking kill you if you hurt her," Justin spits at Kyle.

Hurt her? Now I'm even more nervous.

I run up to Justin, who's still looking at Kyle with venom in his eyes. "What happened? Where's Cassie?" I ask worriedly, but before Justin can answer, I get a text message from Cassie saying that she's in the bathroom. "Stay with Justin," I instruct Noah. "Whatever you do, don't let him out of your sight. I'm going to find Cassie." But before I can walk away, Noah tugs me back.

"Like hell you're going in there alone."

"I'll be fine, babe. I promise," I say, pecking him on the lips, surprising myself when I call him 'babe'.

This party isn't as big as Greg's first one, and I'm thankful for that. One less person I have to push out of my way.

I spot Cecilia and her clique on the couch holding red cups in their hands. As soon as she sees me, she rolls her eyes and mumbles something to Samantha, who's sitting next to her. I'm too focused on Cassie to even worry about that nonsense. 

"Cassie, open up!" I bang on the door and shout as soon as I approach the bathroom. "It's Sophia."

Cassie finally opens and she's hysterically crying. Like, mascara-running-down-her-face crying. I'm convinced she's drunk because her cheeks are flushed, and she looks like a hot mess.

"What happened?!"

"Can we just get out of here?" she pleads.

"Cassie, what happened?" I ask again.

"Let's get out of here and I'll tell you everything, I promise. I just need to leave."

I put my hand on her back and guide her to the front door. We make our way outside and when Justin sees us, he runs up to Cassie, making me feel like there's more to their current status than she leads on.

"You okay?" Noah comes up from behind me and asks as he glides his fingers across my back.

"Yeah. I just hope she's okay," I say, nodding my head at Cassie.

"Crap," Cassie shouts. "I left my bag on the couch. I'll be right back."

The last place she's going is back inside, so I volunteer instead, despite Noah's reluctance.

I spot Cassie's Prada tote on the couch, right next to Cecilia. In an effort to avoid her, I quickly grab it and attempt to make a run for it.

So much for that because Cecilia grabs my arm, stopping me in my tracks.

"Sophia, hey," she says, and all I'm thinking is, this girl has 5 seconds to let go before I lose my shit.

"Cecilia," I say in a monotonous tone. "Look, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got to go. My friends are waiting for me outside."

"You mean Noah?" I know that I should just ignore her question and continue walking, but for some reason, my feet won't move. "You guys a thing now or something?"

"A thing?" I mock.

"Yeah. Are you guys having sex?"

"Excuse me?" I turn around and say. I can't believe she just asked me that. The last thing I need is for Noah's friends — let alone Cecilia — to think that we're sleeping together when we aren't. I'm a virgin for crying out loud.

"Hold up," she chuckles. "Don't tell me he hasn't tried to screw you yet." It takes everything in me to keep my composure.

"Just because you were easy, Cecilia, doesn't mean that the rest of us are," I fire back. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I said I had to go."

I head for the door again, but, her next words stop me. 

"Sweetie, don't tell me you think that Noah takes you seriously." I turn back to face her, staring blankly. "Oh wow, this is great," she detects my frustration and says. "Sammie, do you hear this?" She taps her friend on the shoulder, even though she's already engaged in another conversation. "Little Miss Goody Two Shoes over here thinks that she and Noah are like dating or something." She then walks towards me. "A little piece of advice...the last thing you should ever expect to be is Noah's girlfriend. You see, Noah doesn't do girlfriends, so don't mistake your hanging out with him for anything more than him just trying to see what you're like in bed."

The closer she gets, the stronger my urge gets to slap that smug bitch look off her face.

"Let me tell you something about Noah — rich girl to rich girl," she continues. "Noah might be the most gorgeous guy to ever walk this planet, but he will never be enough for someone who comes from the kind of lifestyle that we do. Besides the fact that he could never give you want you want emotionally, he's not one of us — socio-economically speaking. He can't offer you anything. You're from two different worlds."

The screen on my phone lights up with Noah's name. He's probably wondering what's taking so long, but I'm too riled up to walk away from this conversation.

"If that's the case, Cecilia, then why are you so obsessed with him?"

She gapes at me and laughs. "You think that I'm obsessed with Noah? Honey, you couldn't be more wrong. I just think he's hot as shit. You think my parents would ever be okay with me bringing someone like him home? Fuck that, they'd disown me."

"Not that it's any of your business, Cecilia, but Noah and I aren't anything, so no need to pretend like you care about my well-being."

"That's how it always is at first with girls when it comes to Noah. Until they fall harder. Trust me, I've seen it happen. With lots of girls actually. Noah takes them out, tells them what they want to hear, and then once he screws them, he kicks them to the curb like the pieces of trash that they are. You think I don't like you, but the reality of the situation is that I just don't want to see a nice girl like you get hurt." Cecilia's eyes move from mine to the front door, which instinctively make me turn around.

Noah just walked in.

"Look, at the end of the day, it's your choice," she says. "If knowing that your family won't approve of you and Noah isn't enough to make you want to end things with him, then maybe knowing that he isn't capable of loving someone will. You decide."