Hello Stranger

Chapter 8

Not even an hour later the house was filled with guests. Not only people from our school but people I had never seen before too. Even students from Grenville Academy were at this party. I swear some of the people here looked like college students, not that I minded. If they were cute, I was all for it. I navigated my way through the crowd of people trying to find Ellie. I swayed a little due to all of the drinks I had before the party even started. Ellie had texted and said she had just got here, and I was trying to find her. I was failing because I kept getting lost and distracted.

A really cute guy stopped me before I could make my way back to the living room. The only thing going through my mind at that moment was how cute he was. He tried to get me to dance with him, and I almost did, but I saw Aaron watching me. He had some kind of drinking in his hand but he just stood there watching. He wasn't talking to anyone or enjoying himself. So, I decided against dancing with the cute guy. I sadly declined and kept moving. I realized that there were too many people to push through to get to the living room. I sat down on the staircase but almost fell doing so. Maybe I drank a little too much, but sometimes you just need to let loose.

I saw these pretty black heels stop in front of me. The second I saw them, I knew who they belonged to. I stood up and hugged her tightly, but seeing as I was drunk, I almost knocked us both down. "You're here!" I slurred out happily.

"I told you I was. And you're really drunk," Ellie laughs. I step back to take in her appearance. She wore a blue two-piece set. The skirt reached mid-thigh and the top was a heart top with no sleeves. It pushed her boobs up and made them look really nice.

"You look hot! Why do you look so good," I exclaimed looking at her outfit still.

"I had to look good for my dance partner. Who by the way, looks hot as hell in her dress," Ellie says talking about me.

I giggled and grabbed her hand. "Come on, let's go dance." She nodded not bothering trying to respond. We both head to the room between the corridor and the kitchen. It seemed to be where everyone was dancing besides in the living room. Without letting go of each other's hands we started dancing with each other and on each other. Swaying our hips and grinding on each other, giving anyone watching a show. We danced with no care in the world.

It didn't take long for Ellie to get drunk too. It didn't stop our dancing though. But we did feel space get slightly more crowded. But it didn't look like many people had come into the room. Had they gotten closer to us? I think they did. But I didn't care enough to stop dancing. Besides, I wasn't dancing with them, I was dancing with Ellie. Even when the surrounding guys got handsy, I just moved their hands away and danced closer to Ellie. They all seemed to take a hint and leave us alone eventually, but they still didn't give us much space.

I felt a hand touch my lower back and I sighed getting ready to push off another drunk idiot. But when I turned I was faced with a very angry looking Drew. Drew was at the party. I shoved him back hoping he'd get the message and leave me alone. But he didn't. He didn't touch me again, but he didn't leave.

"Can we talk?" Drew asked over the music. I glanced at Ellie to see her dancing with some girl. I wanted to ask her if we could go somewhere else to get away from Drew, but she looked so happy dancing with the girl. So, I let her be.

"No, Drew. We can't. You shouldn't even be here," I slur facing Drew. Then there were four of him and I wasn't sure which to look at.

"Please?" He asked. For a moment I felt bad for him. He looked like he felt bad. Maybe he did, maybe he felt guilty and was going to apologize.

My face hardened when I realized what I was just thinking. It doesn't matter if he's sorry. It doesn't take back what he did or the pain I felt. "No, Drew. We can't talk. And I'm not going to tell you to leave the party because that's not fair when all your friends are here," I rant. "But you do need to leave me alone. You can't be around. Especially because if certain people knew you were around me, you'd be in big trouble. And I'm not going to get involved. So, just leave me be."

Drew held up his hands in defeat and backed away. I watched as he frustratedly ran his hands through his hair. Drunk me was so much nicer than sober me would've been. I watched him leave until he was out of sight. I was going to go back to dancing with Ellie, but right before I did I saw Grayson standing next to the stairs watching me and Ellie. He obviously didn't care much. I turned my back to him and found the nearest cute guy and started dancing with him. I figured I wouldn't bother Ellie yet, but I would have my fun.

The guy placed his hands on my waist trying to keep up with my movements but was failing to do so. Of course, I had to choose a dance partner with no rhythm, just my luck. I continued to dance with the guy anyways hoping maybe he'd figure it out. But, then an arm snaked around my waist and spun me around to face them. I gasped a little at the sudden movement. Grayson.

He placed his hands around my waist and began to dance with me. He could keep up with everything I did. He was the ideal dance partner. Hot and could dance. I found myself putting my arms around his neck as we danced closer. Rubbing and grinding on each other. He watched my every move and responded with the same energy, matching each other perfectly. He must've been drinking if he was actually willing to dance with me. But I wasn't complaining. Until somebody came over and stopped our dancing.

Somebody came over and whispered something in Grayson's ear and made him stop dancing with me. He released his hands from my waist and I suddenly felt empty. Grayson's mood changed and he looked angry. Without saying anything else he walked away with his phone to his ear. The guy who spoke to him was still there but was now looking at me. It was Emerson who said something to Grayson.

"Is Xavier here?" He asked me. I swear I saw him blush when he asked. Blush! He was actually kind of adorable. But it might just be the alcohol talking. I nodded. "Okay." Then, he was gone just as quickly as he came.

I let out a sigh. Well, I lost both of my dance partners. Now I'm bored. I start stumbling through the crowd trying to find something else to do. That's when I saw Ethan standing on the stairs leaning against the rail watching the party. He looked like he was deep in thought. He didn't even notice me stumble as I went to stand next to him. "Penny for your thoughts?" I saw him come back to reality and look at me.

He let out a sigh and said, "That dress is dangerous."

"That's what you were standing here thinking about?" I ask jokingly.

"I probably would've been if I saw you in that dress earlier," He says in return. I couldn't actually tell if he was serious about it or not. He let out another sigh before adding, "But no."

"What's going on?" I ask grabbing his arm to prevent myself from falling down the stairs.

"Well, it's about..." Ethan paused mid-sentence and he looked confused. "Drew?"

"What? You were thinking about Drew?" I asked. Did Aaron tell him? I wouldn't be surprised, but that was awfully quick.

"No. Drew is leaving with your brother," Ethan says. I follow where he's pointing and I see Asher walking outside with Drew. "Come on." Ethan starts going down the stairs and I follow closely behind. I grabbed the back of his shirt to make sure I didn't get separated from him and to make sure I made it through the crowd. But by the time we made it outside Asher's car was already driving away.

Even though we were in a rush, Ethan opened his car door for me. We got in quickly and started driving the way we saw Asher go. Asher was driving fast so we couldn't find them at first. But when one direction turned out to be a dead-end, we realized he must've gone the other way and turned around. I felt like I was going to be sick because of the speed and alcohol, but I didn't say anything. We followed the road until we found his car.

But it laid in the middle of the street, upside down with broken glass everywhere. "No!" I cried out. By the time I finally managed to get my seatbelt off, Ethan was already out of the car running toward Asher's, calling 911.