Lucky Me (8 page)

“HEY LINCOLN!”

I didn't even bother introducing Jack; I assumed he knew. Jack had been the only thing LAC Elite had talked about all week.

“YOU LOOKING FOR BRENDAN?”

“NO THANKS. I'M NOT THIRSTY.”

Lincoln raised his eyebrows in confusion.

“I'LL GO TELL THE DJ TO TURN THE MUSIC DOWN.”

I didn't know why he was going to sell CJ a tunic gown, but I smiled and nodded, pretending that I had heard what he was saying. Luckily it seemed to be an acceptable answer, because he nodded in reply, turned on his heel and disappeared in the crowd. I shrugged and turned to Jack, not knowing what to do next. I was far from being in a partying mood, and there still seemed to be no sign of my friends or Brendan among the growing number of partyers. Unfortunately, there was also no sign of Meghan, which was always an issue. That girl is a slippery little thing.

A group of guys I only half recognized pushed past us roughly, knocking me backward into Jack. He moved a little closer to me to let the crowd through, slipping his hand into mine as he pulled to the left a little. My heart rate increased almost immediately to the danger zone, and I was pretty certain there was no way it was ever coming down. Of course Jack wasn't bothered by it all; he had only done it to move me out of the way. I clearly didn't have the same effect on him that he did on me, two thousand dollar dress on or not.

I allowed myself three more seconds of pure bliss before pulling my hand out of his grasp and taking the biggest step back that I could in the tiny space around us.

“What are you doing?” I yelled over the music. Thankfully the volume seemed to have reduced, so my ears weren't in so much pain.

Jack gave me a confused look and said, “What?” I held up the hand he had been holding a few seconds before and waved it at him. He realized what I meant and leaned in so I could hear him. “Gia I'm a bodyguard, remember? I can't keep you safe if I lose you in the crowd.”

It
was
a very logical response. Hard to argue with logic, but tell that to my raging hormones.

“You can keep me safe without touching me!”

Jack rolled his eyes as if he couldn't believe how unlucky he was, and I couldn't even blame him. It's not like I wanted to be mean to Jack. It just sort of came out. It was my brain's way of making sure I didn't accidently fall in love with him. But obviously Jack didn't know that. From his eyes, I was just throwing a whole lot of crazy at him and for no reason. No wonder the guy was so desperate to go back to New York.

“Hey, babe!” Some random guy I had never seen suddenly swung his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to him. “I swear I wasn't making out with her! She was making out with me. I was the victim!”

I widened my eyes in alarm and looked at Jack, who was trying not to laugh. I mouthed
help
at him but he shook his head, an infuriating smile on his face. Really? He was just going to stand there and not do anything? So much for his secret service bullshit.

“Um, do I know you?” I asked, pulling away from the guy in disgust. He smelled like what I could only imagine was cat litter.

He looked at me, his eyes drooping a little. His hair looked completely dishevelled and he had a joint in between his lips, only it didn't look lit. He eyed me up and down, raising an eyebrow. He had a red plastic cup in one hand, with more than one ring resting on each of his fingers.

“My b. I thought you were my girl!” the guy said loudly, so that I could hear him over the music and drunken cheers.

His
B
?
I looked at Jack, who was still smiling at me. He nodded at me, giving me a look that said
go for it
. Great. I was being groped by some creep who had his hands all over my extremely expensive outfit, and it was all happening in front of Jack's eyes. By the looks of it, the night was on the right track to crashing and burning.

“We have to go,” I declared. “But I'll take that.”

I reached over and grabbed the cup from his hand, pushing through the crowd before anyone could stop me. I had no idea if Jack was following me or not, but given his freaky bodyguard conduct, I figured he'd be close behind. When I finally managed to squeeze my way out of the living room and into the main hall, where there was a little more space, I took a deep breath and sipped at whatever was in the red cup.

“Oh God . . .” I sputtered, feeling the liquid burning as it eased down my throat. It tasted
disgusting
, whatever it was.

It seemed to be a mix of something, most likely some type of cleaning liquid and straight up rat poison. Given how sketchy that guy had looked, it wouldn't be surprising if whatever I was drinking had been conjured up in his basement. But I was going to need something strong if I was going to make it through the party. Jack's presence was making little things seem like a bigger deal than they were. How many of these stupid parties had I already been to? How many times had I forced myself to sip a drink and pretend I liked it? How many times had I watched the people around me completely destroy their livers, and at times, pieces of furniture? None of it was new, but with Jack there, it felt like I was suffocating.

“You sure that's a good idea?” Jack said, watching me force another few sips down.

I gagged, forcing more down my throat. “Yes.”

Thankfully the music in the main hall was even softer than before, so I could actually hear what he was saying at an almost normal volume. I had no idea where the DJ was, but I could see speakers all around the house. Brendan's mansion was absolutely huge, so the DJ could have been in any one of the several living rooms open to the party animals. Even Lincoln seemed to have disappeared without a trace.

I placed the drink down on a nearby table. Half a cup of liquid death was enough for one night. A group of people who were standing in a kind of circle near the far corner of the room were all cheering loudly. I waited until a bunch of girls, who I recognized from a lower year level, finished stumbling past Jack and me, before looking over at the group.

“What are they doing?” Jack asked, watching them in confusion.

“Suck and blow,” I replied, the bitter taste of the drink still lingering on my tongue.

Jack looked at me, widening his eyes. His corner of his lips curved up into a half-smile. “Excuse me?”

I gave him a disgusted look and said, “Get your mind out of the gutter. It's a card game! Haven't you ever seen
Clueless
?”

“Does it look like I've seen
Clueless
?”

Jack turned his attention back to the group of cheering teenagers, who were clearly encouraging two people making out passionately. At least I knew almost everyone playing the game, only now I wish I hadn't. They looked like idiots.

“You suck in air so that the card sticks to your lips,” I explained. “And then you pass it on to the person next to you, blowing out air so that it sticks to their lips. Suck. And. Blow.”

I pointed at two girls who were demonstrating exactly what I had just said.

“So what happens if you drop the card?” Jack asked.

“You have to kiss.”

Jack looked at me, an impressed look on his face. “That's creative.”

Creative wasn't exactly how I'd put it, but sure. Creative was a good path to go down.

“Oh, hey Gia!” I heard someone say, and saw Charlie Kingston coming right toward me in a top with the world's lowest neckline. There almost wasn't even a point to wearing anything on top. It wasn't really covering much.

Charlie Kingston's father is a big time music producer, and not the sketchy type that Aria talks to. Like an
actual
music producer. She was always going on about that one time Ariana Grande invited her to her birthday party, or how hot Robin Thicke looks over brunch. Don't get me wrong, I like the girl. Only I don't
really
like her. It's kind of like talking to Kate Upton. I mean, sure she's stunning and sweet and all. But did she have to be
that
good looking and nice, all in one go? Someone like that has to be hiding some huge skeleton in her closet. Maybe she was addicted to smelling shampoo or something. The other shoe has got to drop at some point.

“Hey Charlie,” I said, giving her a half-assed smile. “Great dress!”

What little there was of it, of course.

“Thanks Gia! Did you want to play?” Charlie asked, motioning toward the group Jack and I had been watching.

“Uh, no thanks,” I said. “I'm good.”

Charlie nodded and looked at Jack, smiling at him hopefully. “What about you?”

Jack looked at me and then back at Charlie. I glared at him, making sure his gaze didn't drop any lower than her nose. Boy, was I going to unleash hell if that happened.

“Oh no, I'm okay. Thanks,” Jack replied politely.

“Oh come on!” Charlie said, tilting her head to one side so that her blonde curls tumbled all the way down to her hip. “It'll be fun!”

“Wel—”

“He's very busy!” I cut in, and Jack looked at me with an amused smile. “Very, very busy. So busy.”

Charlie looked at me uncertainly and said, “Um, okay?”

“Maybe later,” Jack said.

“But then again, maybe not,” I quickly added.
So busy
, I mouthed, giving her an innocent smile.

“Cool,” Charlie said, looking at me like I had lost my mind. “Well, you know where to find me.”

She winked at him and walked off without even acknowledging my existence. I watched her through narrowed eyes.
You know where to find me?
Oh please. I did know where to find her, and it was nowhere classy.

“What was that?” Jack asked. I crossed my arms over my chest defensively, bag still in hand.

“What?” I replied, shrugging nonchalantly. “I was doing you a favor.”

Jack raised an eyebrow and said, “Oh really?”

“You don't want to go there, trust me,” I told him. “For health reasons. Bad idea.”

Okay, so that was a total lie. Not a
total
lie, because she really did get around, so the chances of a rash were high. But a little exaggeration never killed anyone.

Jack looked like he wasn't buying a word of it, his smile unwavering. “Oh.”

“You're welcome.”

A girl I didn't know walked past holding a Jell-O shot in one hand. I pulled it out of her reach as she approached us, gulping it down without thinking twice about it.

“What the hell?” she said, as I placed the empty glass back in her hand.

“Enjoy the party,” I told her.

Hey, it was my boyfriend's house. I could do whatever the hell I wanted. And by the looks of it, I was in the mood to make extremely bad life choices. Jack rolled his eyes again and wrapped his hand around my wrist, pulling me away from the girl. This time I didn't bother yelling at him for touching me.

“Where are we going?” I asked Jack.

“Somewhere quiet!” Jack replied. I guess he took the lack of a tantrum as a go sign, because his hand trailed down from my wrist and slipped into my hand as he slowed down to let a few people squish past us.

I looked down at our hands, our fingers intertwined. The birth of my first-born child would probably not match up to how it felt holding onto Jack's hand right after he had met someone like Charlie Kingston. The heavens above really did have an angel watching over me, and boy, that angel was doing one heck of a job.

I mentally slapped myself and pulled my eyes away from our hands. I was at my own boyfriend's party, daydreaming about some other guy's hand! I was a terrible person and there was no denying it.

“I'M DRUNK BITCHES!”

A random guy wearing a Hawaiian printed shirt and a Rasta hat with fake dreadlocks attached to it jumped in front of us with his hands in the air, clutching what seemed to be a Ukulele in one of them. Jack came to a sudden halt and I crashed into his back, steadying myself on my heels. Was it legal for Jack to smell that good? Probably not. Plus, the basement deluxe drink I had downed wasn't settling well with my mind. The Ukulele guy high-fived someone next to him and started chanting the lyrics to the Flo Rida song playing. Jack turned to me and grinned, as if he couldn't believe he was actually at a party like this. I shrugged. I'd seen all this before.

Jack opened the door directly to his right, and having been to Brendan's house many times before, I knew it was one of many lavish bathrooms in the house.

“Oh! Sorry . . .”

Aria and some attractive, slightly exotic guy were sitting on the edge of the empty bath, passionately making out.

“Hey Gia,” she said, slightly breathlessly.

“Hey. Who's this?” I asked, glancing at the guy adjusting his shirt.

“Oh,” Aria said, looking at him with a sheepish smile. “This is . . . uh . . .”

I widened my eyes expectantly. She didn't even know the guy's name! Typical Aria.

“Marco,” he said, with an awkward wave and a slight Italian accent.

“Marco.” Aria repeated, with a firm nod. “He's from Spain.”

“Italy.” He corrected her.

“Oh, Italy.”

“Right, well nice to meet you Marco.” Jack said, giving me a sideways look.

“Hey, have you seen Brendan?” I asked, still holding onto Jack's hand.

“No, sorry. Try the kitchen? He was there with the caterers before.”

“We'll leave you to it then.” Jack told her.

I mouthed
nice work
to Aria, motioning to Marco who was looking at his feet, and just managed to catch her wink before Jack closed the door.

“Marco seems nice.” Jack said, raising his voice slightly to be heard over the music.

I just smiled. Aria always ended up with some amazing stranger at parties, it was just who she was. What did I always end up with? Putting a drunk Brendan to bed while he sang the
Friends
theme song and completely missed the part where you clap
.