This must be what it is like to be a celebrity. Cameras flashing, people screaming your name and reaching out to touch you. Glorious parties that follow marvelous performances. Mansions that hold hundreds of people who are all there to celebrate you and the gorgeous boy draped around your shoulders. Expensive dresses and cherry red lips; big hair and skinny heels. This feels like a dream, like I am watching myself from a million miles away in the sky. I wonder if this is what it feels like when you are famous, when you are a celebrity.
Who the hell would want to be a celebrity?
The camera flashes are enough to blind me. Purple and green spots float before my eyes with each snap of the next person’s camera. Brian’s long sidewalk is like a red carpet, wet with the rain from earlier today. I walk the cement carpet slowly, with Anderson right next to me. He wraps me close to him and my steps match his in a perfect rhythm. People throw red and white streamers and confetti at us, and I focus my steps so that my feet do not get tangled in the streamers.
“Great game!” People yell at us.
I smile and wave to all of them. The girls run up to me and I let go of Anderson long enough to hug them. Ethan and Tommie make their way down the steps and shake hands with him.
“Let me get a picture of you guys!” Raina from the cheerleading squad pulls her camera out. The girls gather around me and the boys pose in the back. Everyone puts on their best smile while other people take their cameras out for a quick snapshot.
“This party is insane,” I say to Ivy after we are done taking pictures.
“Tell me about it!” She puts her arm through mine and pulls me towards the house. “It’s even better inside!”
“Be careful, babe.” I turn around and see Anderson still standing on the sidewalk with the guys. “I’ll be in there soon.”
“Okay.”
I know that I will not be seeing him very much tonight. He is the star of this show. Everyone wants to talk to him, take pictures with him, and congratulate him on a great game. Everyone with half of a brain knows that Anderson and the rest of the Boomers played an amazing game. We beat North Lincoln seventy-five to thirty-three last night. And now, we have no choice but to celebrate with the rest of Five Points.
I’d rather claw my eyes out.
But instead, I follow the girls through the crowded living room and into the kitchen. We find a corner of empty counter space and mix our drinks. I pour a couple of shots of rum into a plastic bottle and fill the rest of it with pineapple juice.
“Let’s take a shot!” Reece pulls out a set of glasses and sets them on the counter. She pours cherry-flavored vodka into each glass and hands each of us one.
“To us.” She raises her glass in the air. “To being the prettiest girls in school, the best cheerleaders in the state, and having the best senior year ever.”
“And to having a damn good time tonight,” Lena adds. “Let’s go crazy, ladies.”
We clink our glasses together and throw them back. Even Jade takes a shot. The vodka is sweet and goes down easy. I chase it with my drink. The rum mixed with my pineapple juice makes for a delicious drink that is easy on my stomach. Tonight I plan to go crazy. I plan to let go and give in to being the person they all want to be. Just for tonight, I will be a star. I will be Anderson’s prize girlfriend, and I will like it.
We take another shot before going upstairs and stashing our alcohol in one of the bedrooms. One thing Reece and Lena hate is people stealing their expensive alcohol. So we put the bottles in a bag and hide it in a corner under the bed.
“This house is amazing,” I say.
Lena shrugs. “It’s alright. Nothing special.”
I consider pushing her down the stairs. I could blame in on being tipsy, or say that I slipped. Nobody would question me and she is already drunk, so she probably wouldn’t even care. But pushing someone down the stairs means getting doctors involved, possibly police. So I will settle for getting lost in the crowd of people and not seeing her for the rest of the night.
“Samantha!” Someone calls from behind me.
“I’m changing my fucking name,” I mumble to Jade.
But Jeoff Kente comes up to me and a genuine smile spreads across my face. I was not expecting to see him here, but I assume the guys from the basketball team dragged him out. He looks great, dressed in a button-up shirt and jeans.
“Hey Jeoff!” I hug him. “What are you doing here?”
“The team dragged me.” He shrugged. “They said I didn’t have a choice. But I’m not drinking.”
“That’s a shame.” I cluck my tongue. “Well, I’m so glad you’re here. You looked great on the court last week.”
“Thanks, you too.” He smiles.
With playoffs going on, we are all training for both football and basketball. Between the two sports, I barely have time for anything else. But it is always great to see Jeoff on the court. He is a natural.
“It was great seeing you.” I touch his arm. “Let me know if you want to play a game of beer pong with me. I’ll drink for the both of us.”
“Sure thing, Sam.” He laughs and walks away with Jared from the basketball team.
“Come and dance with me!” Ivy grabs my hand and pulls me into the living room. “This music is hot!”
I follow her and Lena trails behind me. We make our way to the center of the dance floor and everybody cheers for us. The song changes and I find a rhythm wedged in between my two girls and all of the bodies around us. After several songs, Lena steps away to make another drink. Seconds later, another body is pressed against mine.
Hands wander over my side, my back, and my legs. Not all of them are female. Ivy’s touch is gentle but sexy. The male hands are aggressive and greedy. I know it is not Anderson behind me. But with each sip of my drink, I care less and less. His hands move over me, grab my butt firmly and slide over my thighs. He wraps his hands around my waist and touches Ivy too. Her eyes flash and she seems okay with it. Eventually a boy makes his way behind her and our hands wander all over each other. She kisses my neck, and so does the boy behind me. Dancing and moving makes the alcohol charge through my system and send me skyrocketing into apathy.
We move in sync against the rest of the people in the dark room. The flashing strobe light makes me dizzy and even more intoxicated. I dance with Ivy until I can’t see straight. Once a song finishes, I stop moving.
“I need another drink,” I tell her.
“I’ll be here,” she yells.
I turn around to thank my dance partner and am mortified at the face of the person standing next to me. He cowers over me, all tall and dark and covered in leather and dark jeans.
“Nice moves,” Riley smirks.
“You fucking asshole,” I push past him.
I make my way through the crowd of moving bodies and out into the foyer. Riley follows me and calls my name. Everyone around me is either too distracted to notice, or too drunk to care.
“Samantha, wait!” He pulls my arm.
“Get off of me!” I hurry up the stairs and nearly trip in my high heels. I stumble up the rest of the staircase without looking back at him.
He chuckles. “Very graceful.”
“Fuck you,” I mumble.
“Well let’s go.” He reaches for my hand.
“Riley!” I drive my fist into his chest. “I have a boyfriend. And he is very big and very mean and very protective of me. Don’t make me scream for him.”
“Go ahead,” he encourages me.
I don’t scream.
He grins. “That’s what I thought. Where is lover boy anyway? Shouldn’t he have been the one dancing behind you? Does he not realize how easy it is for his girlfriend to get scooped up in a place like this?”
“Shut up.” I cross my arms and look away.
“It’s very dangerous.” He runs his fingers across my arm. “He should be paying more attention. And you should be more careful.”
“You should stay away from me.”
“Why would I want to do that?” His smile is incredibly sexy. Too sexy. And I am too drunk to stop looking at it. “Come in here with me.” He puts his hand on one of the doorknobs.
“You’re crazy,” I whisper.
“So are you.”
He opens the door and I follow him inside. He turns the light on and I hurry to the corner by the bed and pull my bag of liquor out.
“I’m only in here to get another drink,” I say without looking at him. “I’m going to pour a drink, and then I’m going to go back downstairs and find my boyfriend. And then I’m going to make out with him. Because he is my boyfriend. And-“
Before I can finish, he is behind me. He slinks his arms around my waist and pulls himself close to me. So close that I can feel him between my dress and his jeans. He pulls my hair back and lowers his mouth to the back of my neck. His breath on my ear sends me over the edge. His smell envelopes me. It is intoxicating, all spicy and sweaty and twisted. It is enough to reel any girl in and leave them flopping on the floor begging for oxygen.
I am hooked.
The bottle of rum slips out of my hand and rolls onto the floor. I try to remember if it was closed or not, but not a single bone in my body cares. They all scream out for Riley to keep touching me. He must hear the screams because he drags his hands up over my breasts, and then down my dress again. When his hands move under the thin fabric of my dress, my heart stops.
“We can’t do this,” I whisper. “It isn’t right.”
“It’s okay to be wrong sometimes,” he assures me. His voice is raspy, inviting. Dangerous.
“Anderson,” I mumble.
“No.”
And with that he turns me around to face him. With one arm, he picks me up and lays me down on the bed. I do not stop him. He climbs over me and pulls his jacket off. His muscles bulge through his shirt and I rub my hands over his arms. His muscles are not like Anderson’s. They were not created from hours spent in a gym. They are hardened and tough from years of work.
Until now, Anderson was the only boy to lay over me like this. He was the only boy to run his hands over my body. He was the only boy to really kiss me. But Riley does all of that- and more. When you have only been with one person, it is impossible to know what else exists. But tonight, Riley shows me what fire and lust are. He teaches me about body on body heat, tongues exploring every inch of the human body, fingers trailing over the most sensitive places. He is an excellent teacher.
And I am a willing student.
He kisses my hands, my arms, my shoulders. When I cannot stand it anymore, I pull his shirt over his head. His body is beautiful. He is thick and perfectly sculpted. I run my hands over his chest and abdomen. He stares into me with dark coffee eyes and smiles. That damn smile.
“Should we stop?” He whispers in husky voice. He lowers himself to kiss my neck. “What do you want me to do?”
I do not know if it is me or the alcohol that answers. Perhaps it is not either one. Perhaps it is the burning fire that is roasting me from the inside out, begging me for something new, something dangerous. And Riley is certainly willing to fuel that fire. When he sits up, still straddling me and waiting for my answer, I do not hesitate. I return his crooked grin and stare into his eyes.
“Turn off the light.”
Riley is amazing. An excellent teacher. My mind doesn’t think about the fact that I am lost in the sheets with him and that anyone could walk in at any minute. When someone opens the door and sends a ray of bright light towards the bed, I am drunk and lost enough to ignore it and keep kissing Riley.
“Gross,” a voice whispers and shuts the door. A few seconds later, he opens the bathroom door and shuts it again.
“Who was that?” Riley asks.
“Who cares?”
And Riley shows me that he doesn’t care either. A little while later, someone else comes into the room. I ignore them, too and focus on Riley moving over me.
“I’m sorry.” This time a female voice. She opens the bathroom door too and I wonder if they are doing the same thing I am. I am banking that whatever is going on in that bathroom, it is not as incredible as this.
When we are done, we lay on opposite sides of the bed, still naked. We do not cuddle, and my head is too heavy to try to sit up and put my clothes on. The scene plays in my head again. I do not know whether to cry or pull Riley on top of me and beg him to do it again. I try to remember how this happened. I just cheated on my boyfriend with the one person that I cannot stand. I am a cheater, one thing I said I would never be.
And yet, Anderson still has not come looking for me. I assume he is still downstairs, getting wasted and playing stupid beer pong. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was dancing with some whore, probably Evelyn.
Wait a minute. I am I allowed to call her a whore anymore? Am I on the same level as Evelyn now? Am I a whore? I would hope that I am at least better at it than she is. Before I can turn to ask Riley, someone busts into the bedroom and turns the light on. I pull the blanket over our heads and pray that it isn’t one of my friends.
“Get out of here,” a male voice says. I am pretty sure it is Brian. “And take the geek with you.”
“Brian, what happened to you?” Ruby St. Clair. I had no idea she was here. “What’s going on?”
I swallow heard and wait for Brian to answer. Riley puts his hand on my bare thigh, but this time it is not with fire. He must hear my breathing quickening. He strokes me softly to soothe my sudden wave of fear.
“The cops are on their way.”
When Brian and Ruby leave a few minutes later, I pull the covers off and sit up. I pull my dress over my legs and run my fingers through my hair.
“Slow down,” Riley says. “Just calm down.”
“I can’t be calm, Riley.” I consider putting my shoes on and decide against it. “Didn’t you hear Brian? The cops are on their way. And we’re drunk.”
“I realize that.” Riley sits up. “But if we just stay here, they’ll never find us. Cops can’t search the house unless they have a reason to. It’s true-“
“I don’t care, Riley.” I stand up. “I have to find Anderson and my friends. I have to get out of here. I know you don’t understand, but I’ve got too much going for me to get in trouble.”
“And I wouldn’t understand that.” He lowers his head.
“That’s not what I meant,” I insist. “I just meant that-”
“I get it.” Riley pulls his shirt over his head. “Just go. Find your boyfriend.”
Rather than stand and argue with him, I hurry out of the room and down the stairs. My friends are standing in the foyer.
“There she is!” Lena points to me as I stumble down the stairs. “Where the hell have you been, Sam?”
“I’m sorry,” I stutter. “I was…”
“She was helping me.”
I turn around and see Gabe leaning over a trash can. He looks at me and I know that he knows. He must have been the other person in the bathroom with Ruby.
“Gabe got sick,” I say. “And I was just taking care of him. Is the party over?”
“Jesus, Samantha.” Ethan rubs his hand over his hair. “Do you have any idea what is going on?”
Before I can say anything, Ethan points towards the living room. When I turn, everything shatters like the glass I realize I am standing on. Reality punches me in the stomach and twists its claws into my chest. I realize that I am not a celebrity. This is not, in fact, just a dream. And I am not on the red carpet. I push Gabe out of the way and shove my head into the trash can.
Everything escapes me.
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