Masked Attraction

Chapter 32: Good and Dandy

Jeremy drives us all over to his luxurious fraternity so we can meet up with the rest of our crew there. When we arrive, we make our way down into the basement. The entrance has dangling chains hanging from the ceiling with caution tape littered across the floor. Pushing them aside, we emerge into a room full of pumping music, strobe lights, and loads of vampires and angels walking by with beers in their hands. I easily spot Jess and Jared and wave in their direction.

"Hey!" I say as I walk farther into the chaos to meet them halfway. I glance around at the exorbitant costumes of college students surrounding our group but realize we are missing a presence.

"Where's Luka?" I ask momentarily confused.

"He's out on a date," Jared informs me smugly, his arm looped around Jess's shoulders. Jared is dressed as a millionaire with fake bling and money taped onto his currency striped shirt. Jess has her hair pinned in springy curls and is in all leather with red heels coming just below Jared in height, sporting a Sandy look-alike from the Grease movie. Looking at them arm-in-arm they come off as a very intimidatingly attractive couple.

"Oh really?" I say growing delighted for Luka.

"Yeah, but he didn't tell me anything so don't ask," Jared responds smirking a little at the secret.

"Drinks!" Jamie announces coming back with multiple cups that I don't how she got so fast. She puts one in my hands and I take a sip, the liquid burning down my throat and I cough slightly from the discomfort. Jamie and Jeremy take their drinks together. After downing hers, she hands him her phone to take a picture of us. She wraps her arm around me and she strikes a pose. I smile and Jeremy hands back her phone as she glimmers in excitement. "These are hot Emma. I'm posting them," she declares.

"That's fine," I mutter taking a bigger sip of my drink growing more accustomed to the taste.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Becky pull Ray away after Ray stares at the alcohol a little too long. I look after her concerned ready to follow after them, but Jess and Jamie pull me back into the crowd urging me to dance. "Come on!" Jess says rocking her body to the music. I tentatively smile and dance with her and Jamie much more conservatively. After finishing my drink, I start to loosen up.

"Wooooh!" Jamie cheers on filming us dancing on her Instagram story. I dance more boldly than I normally would, getting into the groove of the music and the atmosphere even waving at her camera to her story giggling.

Jamie gets us more drinks about two more times and somewhere along the way, a red-headed guy joins me smiling. I giggle a little exorbitantly and start dancing on him.

"I'm Ron," the redhead introduces himself to me or he could have said John, I can't hear and I don't care at the moment. He leans down and meets my lips with his, kissing me. My eyes remain open for a fracture of a second before I just go with it. It is not as romantic as I like, but the alcohol flowing in my veins encourages me. He tastes like alcohol and cigarettes which I would normally find repulsive. He runs his fingers along my body and I press into him more intensely. It feels pretty good to let loose. I faintly recall in the back of my mind we are making out pretty heavily for being in public so I pull away to go and grab another drink.

I get two cups from the bar and stumble upon Jess and Jared on my path deep in the middle of an argument. I squint at them trying to hear what they are saying. I take a step closer to ask what's wrong, but a guy bumps into my back and I spill some of my drink. I scowl down at it. At least it's not down my back this time. When I look back to Jared and Jess, she appears furiously shouting about an old booty call or something at him. I slowly edge away, my ears ringing as I swerve around them, trying not to spill any more of my drinks. They don't even notice me I travel back to where my Ronald Mcdonald was where I last saw but he is missing.