“Are you kidding?”
“You’re underage, Eden. I’m not giving you-” he stopped to take a sip and then rolled his eyes, pulling the cup back from her. “It’s spiked.”
She kept a hold of it. “Let me try. You’re only a year older, Noah. Get off the parental guidance train.”
Not really caring whether she drank or not, Eden let him pry the drink from her. He set the cups down and sighed. “Should have known there wouldn’t be anything alcohol free.”
She laughed. “What is up with the teetotal?”
He shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest. He leaned casually back against the ‘bar’, way cooler looking than any of the guys around him who thought they were cool with their beer, pong, and designer wallets. “I don’t get drunk easily. Anyway I’m with you and I don’t want to get you wasted, so we’ll abstain.”
She mirrored his movements, crossing her arms over her chest and eyeing him incredulously. “So, why did we come here if not to get wasted?”
Noah’s light eyes swept the room. “Thought it might be nice to just hang out. Like normal teens.”
“Huh. I like that we don’t hang out with these cretins.”
He shrugged again. “You might change your mind. Some of this looks… fun.”
Frowning, Eden looked around her. Lucy Stevens had been persuaded to ignore them by her friends and it looked like she had turned her attention to berating one of her minions for something. To Eden’s surprise she caught Lucy’s boyfriend Doug staring at her over the rim of his beer cup. He looked swiftly away when he realized she’d caught him. Not everyone in the room was drunk, but there was a lot of public fondling and tripping over one’s own feet going on. In general, everyone did look like they were having fun. And they didn’t seem to mind that Eden and Noah had crashed. “So what do we do?” She turned back to her best friend.
Before he could answer, a sophomore – Eden couldn’t remember her name – sidled over, her eyes bright with alcohol, a flirtatious smirk on her lips. The girl grazed Noah’s arm, as she greeted him softly.
“Hey.” He gave her a small smile in return. “What’s up?”
“Not much. Want some?” She offered him a sip from the bottle of vodka she held.
To Eden’s surprise, Noah nodded and took it, his fingers brushing the sophomore’s, whose face flushed in pleasure with the contact. For some inexplicable reason the interplay between them made Eden want to rip the sophomore’s pretty brown hair out. Instead she smirked at Noah as he took a swig from the bottle. “I’m going to check out the kitchen for some soda,” she told him pointedly. “I’ll leave you to,” she gestured sarcastically, “whatever this is.”
Waving her hand at him dismissively, Eden turned and made her way out of the sitting room. She sighed wearily. Even the halls were crowded with teens. As she past their laughing, chuckling, teasing faces, Eden wondered why on earth she didn’t feel the need to ‘partaay’ like them. It held no interest for her. This drunken, out of control-ness made her shudder. Imagine the damage she could do if she ever got out of control.
She thought bleakly of the brunette coming on to Noah.
The sophomore was now a ten. A definite ten.
The kitchen was surprisingly quiet, compared to the rest of the house. When she saw the bowls of food almost depleted, she guessed why. The animals had already eaten everything. Swiping some M&M’s that had been missed, Eden huffed and nudged a kissing couple out of the way of the refrigerator. They glared at her but moved off pretty fast when they recognized her. She smiled a little at that. Sometimes it paid to be her.
Finding some O.J. Eden began hunting for a clean glass. Why had Noah really brought her here? Had his teenage horniness finally caught up with him and he had decided he needed to get laid and Eden was his wingman? Wow. That was depressing.
“You lookin’ for a glasshh?”
Eden spun around as Doug sauntered drunkenly into the room. His pupils were huge and he was wearing this leering smile that made her back up into the counter behind her.
“Um, yeah.”
He stopped and reached up into a cupboard she hadn’t checked and produced a glass. She watched in total confusion as he brought it over, still grinning that slimy grin. He stopped inches from her, completely invading her personal space. He smelled of beer and Cheetos. The hunger in her chest unfurled, tasting his soul so near. “Here.” He tilted the glass at her.
Warily, Eden reached up and took it from him. “Thanks.”
Doug grinned and stepped even closer, their t-shirts brushing.
“Hey man, you wanna back it up a little.” She pushed at his chest in annoyance.
The senior didn’t say anything. He angled his head, his eyes narrowing as they peered at her. He licked his lips and sighed. “You know, you’re kind of hot.”
Despite it coming from this moron, Eden found herself flushing a little. “OK. Whatever. Back up, Romeo.”
“Nah.” He reached out now, his fingers brushing her hair. Eden automatically smacked his hand away. “Hey come on,” he cajoled. “I’m jussht tryin’ to get to know you.” He was slurring badly now. “You’re what they call it? That word?” he clicked his fingers, looking dumber than a post. “An igma. Yeah an igma.”