The Saddest Song - By Susie Kaye Lopez Page 0,34
to his dark corner ready to scare his next victim.\Max held me tightly and asked anxiously, “You okay?”
I loosened my death grip on his arms and made a feeble attempt at a laugh. “Yeah, just wasn’t expecting that.”
We entered into the kitchen and more strobe lights flashed making it difficult to locate Sophie or Rylee amongst the costumed bodies. A line wrapped around the room waiting for the keg of beer that was on the floor by the pantry and the counters were filled with trays of what looked like sushi and sliders.
Another witch cauldron sat on the floor filled with water bottles and soda cans. Max and I both reached for a bottle and crossed into the family room, where I spied Sophie and Ethan dancing. Sophie was dressed as a southern belle and looked gorgeous in her pale pink ballgown. Ethan wore an old fashioned suit and hat. He looked gorgeous also, even in the dated costume. They were oblivious to everyone around them as he held her as close as was possible considering the full hoop skirt.
Instead of strobe lights, this room was lit entirely by candles flickering from every surface. Sophie finally noticed us and tapped a female vampire on the shoulder. She was dancing with another vampire who looked a lot like Colin. They pushed through the crowd of dancing couples and Rylee hugged first me then Max, exclaiming over our costumes. I hugged Sophie and then the guys and we shouted over the music. Soon we were all dancing together in one big group, stopping for water every now and then.
People were everywhere, the living room with the wall full of graffiti was at capacity. We all stopped dancing and went to watch people search for places to sign the wall when Sophie pulled me and Rylee away from the guys and into the kitchen. We grabbed more beverages and filled plates with sushi and sliders. As we headed back to the guys, the music stopped abruptly and Colin’s voice boomed over a microphone.
“Hey everyone! Thanks for coming tonight. Hope you’re all having a good time. I thought I’d play one of my new songs for you, if that’s alright.”
A cheer rose up and we hurried back to the family room. I saw Ethan standing near Colin and looked around for Max. Not seeing him, I pushed through the crowd gathered to listen to Colin and made my way to the living room. I halted in the doorway and swept my gaze across the room until my eyes landed on Max, his face lit up with laughter. I followed his eyes downward until I saw the petite brunette that grinned up at him. She had her hand on his arm and was leaning in close. His expression was carefree and I felt a twinge when I realized he was enjoying their flirtation.
Feeling awkward, I decided to turn around and go in the other room when Max caught my eye and waved me over. Not having much choice, I squeezed through the crowd and handed him a bottle of water. The girl looked at me, her smile abruptly disappearing, and dropped her hand from his arm.
“Lalie, this is Rainey. Rainey, this is Lalie. She is Colin’s neighbor.”
“Hi,” I said, smiling.
“Hi,” she replied, her eyes checking me out. Her eyes went from Max to me and I knew what she was thinking. She thought he was taken. I opened my mouth to tell her I wasn’t the girlfriend, but held my tongue as she hurried away. I watched her push someone out of the way as she exited and realized with a start what she was wearing. Lalie was dressed up as a cat. A black cat.
As we stood at the back of the family room, Colin played three more of his songs to an enthusiastic audience. I clapped when necessary but I didn’t hear a word he sang. My mind was replaying Kara’s words at lunch last week. Her cryptic message about the black cat and how I felt when I saw it kept me distracted. How did she know this would happen? That a girl dressed as a black cat would flirt with Max, and that I would care? I had seen Max flirt a million times. I had double dated with him. I gave him advice on girls even, when he asked. Max was one of my best friends in the world. So why had I felt the way I had? Jealous. Possessive.