Living with the Player

Chapter 2

Tell me why it's midnight and I'm driving to Kenzie's Friday night party.

Actually, I know why. Approximately five minutes ago, I woke up to a massacre of texts from Samaya saying, "come to paarty is fun kite eye." If I wasn't so worried that she's okay, I would've laughed at her drunk texting. Instead, I send my dad a message saying that I'm going to pick up Samaya on the off chance that he comes home from his girlfriend's house. As usual, he reads it but doesn't reply.

The second I enter Kenzie's house, I'm hit with a lovely concoction of BO and weed. My eyes struggle to make out each person as I search for Samaya. Squinting, I try to ignore the slimy feeling of sweaty backs as I push through.

"Hey! Ellie!" a voice shouts in my ear.

My eyes narrow immediately as Nico's lips stretch out into a grin. He doesn't seem drunk, just his usual irritating self.

His teeth are a perfect, pearly white as he smiles a smile too pretty to belong to such a twat. "I'm just playing. I know you! Jennie! We used to play tag and shit."

Ok, scratch that. His breath reeks of alcohol.

"Wow, you remember my name? I'm honored," I say sarcastically, resuming my search.

He doesn't seem to catch the sarcasm. If he does, he ignores it.

"Of course I do. You were such a little brat," he jokes with a laugh. "Arm wrestle me, Nicky! Let me eat your fries, Nicky!" he mocks in a high voice.

"Yeah, well, it wasn't very hard to boss you around," I reply sweetly, pausing to face him.

He gives me a good-natured grin, stopping with me. "I mean, I was used to getting it from my dad. At least you were cute."

I raise an eyebrow. "Are you saying you projected your daddy issues onto my fifth-grade self?"

He throws his head back with laughter, his eyes creasing into little half-moons. For a second, I'm reminded of that little boy who used to play water gun fights with me, and I feel like that little girl again, but it fades quickly. This isn't the little boy I knew. It's a teenage boy with a red solo cup in his hand and an angry red-haired girl glaring straight at him as she dances on another guy.

"Your girlfriend doesn't seem very happy that you're talking to me," I remark.

He follows my gaze and the smile drops from his face.

"She's not my girlfriend and I'm not flirting," is his response.

She's still glaring at me and that's my cue to leave. The last thing that I want is girl drama. "Right. Well, you have a good night, Nico. I need to find Samaya."

I start to turn away when he asks, "Samaya? Is she okay?" His voice seems genuinely concerned.

Boys are such natural liars.

When I don't reply, he walks with me as I start opening doors in search of her. "She texted me drunk," I say finally. "I came to take her home."

His brows knit with worry and he says, "You can check this side of the house. I'll check the left."

He turns to walk away when I grab his wrist to stop him. First of all, I doubt he'll be able to find me again if he manages to get her. But more importantly, who's to say he isn't going to try and take advantage of her, knowing that she's drunk? He doesn't seem the type but, hey, neither did Bundy.

I drop my hand from his wrist. "We can check together," I say pointedly to make sure he knows it's not up for debate.

We alternate rooms, now able to work twice as fast. I walk in on couples hooking up and have to bang on locked doors but she isn't anywhere.

We approach the last two doors. I take the one at the end of the hall. "Samaya?" I call out. My voice catches in my throat as I swing open the door.

My whole body goes stiff as I take in the scene in front of me. Brian looks back from under the covers as the girl below him stretches, unbothered, beneath the blanket. It takes me a second to realize it's Kenzie Fitz.

At first, I'm speechless. Part of me thinks that I'm hallucinating. My breath is caught in my throat and I feel my heart drop to the floor.

"Hey, Jennie! I got her-woah," Nico says as he enters the room with Samaya on his shoulder, giggling wildly. "My bad, guys," he apologizes to Brian and Kenzie and motions for us to leave.

I stay planted. "Don't. Leave," I say through clenched teeth. He stands obediently, slightly stunned at my tone.

I close my eyes before glaring at Brian. "What the fuck," I sneer. "What are you doing?"

He grimaces, completely silent. Scoffing slightly, I cross my arms and stand in silent rage.

"Well?" I ask, stone-faced.

He immediately starts sweet-talking me. "Shit. I'm sorry, baby. I don't know what got into me. It was an accident. Hear me out, please."

My lip curls up in a mixture of disgust and disbelief. "An accident?" I say. " You're fucking another girl right in front of me and you wanna tell me it's an accident? I'm sorry, did you accidentally sleep with her or did you accidentally get caught?"

"I-I don't know." Once he realizes that his pleading isn't going to work on me, he starts getting red. "Come on, Jennie. I said it was an accident! It's not that big of a deal!"

Meanwhile, she's still under him.

As mad as I am, there is one thing that I pride myself on. When I'm around people I don't know well, I never let them show how affected I am. I keep my chin lifted. "Don't bullshit me."

"I'm not! Ugh, I swear you won't even listen to me!" he exclaims, frustrated, before looking straight at me. "It's nothing!"

"You slept with another girl! How is that nothing?!"

"Well, you won't sleep with me so what do you expect me to do? I have needs!" he shouts back.

"No, don't blame me for your shit," I say. "This is on you. You're not my responsibility."

"Uh, should I leave?" Nico says suddenly. My eyes close. I forgot he was even here.

"No," I reply strongly, lifting my chain. "We're leaving." I start to walk away but not before I grab Brian and Kenzie's dirty clothes from the ground to take with me.

"You're overreacting, Jennie! Don't be crazy!" Brian yells from inside the room.

I toss the clothes out into the crowd of sweaty people, one item at a time so it gets lost. Not looking back, I make sure to flip him off on the way out.