Blue Madness: (Blue Raspberry Series #3)

by D. K Lake

  Mitchel is still staring at me, his breathing is uneven and he looks angry.

  "Then don't leave me." he growls.

  "I have to." I manage to pry his fingers off the door and push him aside so I can get the door open.

  "Finally!" the guy says wearing a hoodie with the Radley College design logo on, and his arm is draped over some blond I don't recognize. I quickly squeeze past them.

  "Kelse." Mitchel tries to catch me but I'm too quick.

  "Dude, let her go. There is plenty more good looking girls downstairs."

  I carry on walking but stop when I hear the blond girl screaming.

  I turn around and see the guy on the floor and Mitchel is punching the crap out of him.

  I can't even deal with this. I know he's really pissed at me and he's taking it out on this poor guy, but Mitchel's temper isn't my problem. It's not like I asked him to punch that idiot.

  49

  I don't even make it to the stairs before I hear another girl screaming. But I recognize this scream. I stop along the hallway and watch as Nessie storms out of her room.

  "Vanessa!" JT yells, chasing out the door after her in only his boxers, the rest of his clothes are in a bundle in his hands.

  "In my room!" Nessie screams and I edge closer to the drama.

  "How could you? And in my bed...with that...that skank!"

  "Who are you calling a skank? Skank!" the girl with the turquoise hair appears at the door, already dressed in her mini skirt and glittery boob tube and boots.

  Nessie ignores the girl and tries to run downstairs but JT grabs her and drags her back up to the top step. She screams at him and starts smacking his chest, and he drops his clothes and tries to restrain her.

  "I hate you!" she spits.

  "That's not what you said thirty minutes ago when you were kissing me."

  "Hey...what?" turquoise girl snaps. "You kissed her?"

  JT blanks the girl and she huffs, she then calls him a string of curse words, flips him off and barges past them both.

  "I don't know how to deal with you! One minute you want me then the next you turn into a stuck up bitch and act like I'm dirt on your shoes." JT says angrily in Nessie's face.

  "'Cause you are! That's exactly what you are Jacob Torres. I hate you! I hate you! You're nothing to me."

  "Now I know you don't mean that. You started this, I saw you kissing that guy to make me mad."

  "Oh, get over yourself." Nessie snorts

  "No, you get over yourself. You did it to piss me off and you knew it would work."

  "I didn't tell you to go and sleep with the first slut you found."

  "Be nice, that's my cousin." Boston chimes in, standing on the stairs watching the whole thing.

  "Stay away from me! I don't want anything to do with you. And if I catch you in my bedroom again, I will...I will.."

  JT raise an eyebrow. "I will torch your car." she finally says.

  By the look on her face, I think she actually means it.

  "Get off!" she screams, scratching at his hands.

  "Vanessa! Stop it."

  "No! Not until you let go of me."

  "I've had enough of these childish games. Why don't you just admit how you feel about me?" he asks.

  "Never."

  "So you admit you do have feelings for me?"

  "Yes...I hate you!"

  "You hate me? What about all the times you've kissed me? Did you hate all those kisses as well?"

  I stay quiet and try to blend into the wall. I don't think they know I'm here. I can see Boston but he's flipping through his phone and minding his own business.

  "You mean when you dragged me into the janitor's closet, more than once, and wouldn't let me out until I kissed you?"

  "Oh, come on, you wanted to kiss me."

  "Ugh. You're a disgusting pig! I hate you so much...I loathe you."

  "I'm sorry, what was that? Did you say you love me?" JT says, and I can tell he's got a smirk on his face even though I can only see his back from here.

  "Let go!" she screams and he finally releases her and she slaps him hard across the face and runs into her room.

  JT hops on one leg, trying to get his jeans on as he follows her into her room.

  "What are you doing?" he asks.

  "Changing the sheets!" Nessie yells.

  I stay back and keep out of the way, she's super angry and I don't want to get in her way. A second later she runs out of her room, trailing bedsheets behind her.

  "Vanessa, stop. Just wait a sec!"

  JT grabs onto some of the sheets and she stumbles back a step. She spins around and kicks him in the balls and both Boston and I suck in a breath at how hard she kicked him. I hear someone walk up behind me, they stop right behind me and brush up against me. I know it's Mitchel but I don't even acknowledge him. I cross my arms and pretend he's not here. Nessie leaves JT cursing and holding his crotch area and runs down the stairs with her bedsheets.

  "FUUUUCK!!" JT growls and picks up his boots and t-shirt and follows her down the stairs. "Vanessa!!" he yells and disappears into the party half-dressed and sort of limping.

  Boston sluggishly walks up the stairs and over to where Mitchel and I are standing.

  "Hey, there you are. What happened to your face? Have you been fighting?" Boston asks Mitchel.

  I don't even turn around and try to move past Boston.

  "Did Kelsey hit you?" Boston jokes and Mitchel grunts.

  "Shut up." he mumbles to Boston and I hear him behind me, following me.

  "Kelse...please."

  "Don't follow me. Just leave me alone." I say, hurrying down the stairs.

  I lose him in the crowded room and make my way to the kitchen. I am in desperate need of a drink to erase this horrible evening.

  And the worst is yet to come...I still haven't told Nessie I'm moving.

  I find a beer and take another three with me and go and sit in the garden, within minutes a group of people I don't know all come and claim the seats around me. I stay where I am and refuse to move but they don't seem to mind my presence and carry on their conversation. I silently drink my beer, and the guy next to me offers me a joint which I politely refuse and then he starts talking to me about his pet cat, Rollo.

  I just nod my head and smile. I have no idea who he is but he seems nice enough and he really wants to talk about his cat.

  Mitchel finally spots me when he walks outside with Boston and they sit on the other side of the garden at a picnic table, drinking. The whole time Mitchel's talking to Boston he's looking over at me.

  JT isn't with them, and Nessie has vanished. Probably doing laundry.

  I don't even go and look for her. For all I know, she's in the laundry room with JT right now and they're making out on top of the dryer. She really needs to make up her mind about him, but I think finding him in bed with another girl might have been the final nail in the coffin.

  She's so stubborn sometimes. If only she would admit how she really feels about him, maybe then one of us could be happy. How did this night go so wrong? I wanted to spend the night with Mitchel, not sulking, getting drunk, and trying to avoid looking at him.

  Stephen comes out of the house with a group of boys and each of them is carrying a box filled with fireworks. They spend another thirty minutes setting them up. I decide to go and find Nessie so we can watch the fireworks display together. I think she's had time to cool off now.

  "So, that's my theory on cats having nine lives."

  "Yeah, that's uh...interesting." I say and smile at the boy sitting next to me.

  "I know, right?"

  I have no idea because I wasn't even listening.

  "I just have to, uh..pee." I tell him, standing up.

  The boy waves goodbye to me and I head toward the house.

  Mitchel watches my every move as I make my way around the garden and inside the patio doors. I then have to fight my way around the circle that has formed around a group of people having a dance off. At
least that's what I think they are doing. They are all so drunk they look like drunk monkeys, arms flying everywhere, and I get whacked in the face when I get too close to the inner circle. Idiots.

  I make it upstairs and quietly knock on Nessie's door that is closed.

  "Ness? Nessie, you in there?"

  "Kelsey?"

  "Yeah, it's me."

  The door unlocks and Nessie opens the door for me, mascara smeared down her face, a bottle of vodka in her hand.

  "Oh, babes, I'm sorry." I pull her into a hug as I step into the room.

  "It's my fault. I'm so stupid." she says, pulling away from me and wiping her nose with a tissue.

  "No, you're not. Boys are idiots. No one forced him to sleep with her."

  "Exactly. We were kissing and then...I don't know, Stephen and his friends came into the kitchen and I didn't want Stephen to know I have a thing for JT 'cause he doesn't really like him so I blanked JT and he went off and started chatting to that girl with the green hair, so then I kissed the first person I found to try and get his attention."

  "You already had his attention, you didn't need to kiss anybody else."

  "I know." She sits down on the edge of the bed and offers me the bottle but I shake my head. She shrugs and chugs some more.

  "Who did you kiss anyway? Is he already in a body bag?" I joke, wondering if JT beat whoever it is up.

  The Torres boys seem to deal with everything using their fists.

  "Richard." she says and turns her lip up. "I don't know what I was thinking."

  "Richard? Well, he moved on fast." I mutter.

  "Huh?"

  "Nothing. So did JT hit Richard?"

  "No. He just grabbed the green-haired girl and stuck his tongue down her throat and I left the room. I didn't see them head upstairs."

  "If it makes you feel any better, I don't think it really meant anything to him. He just blanked her as soon as he realized his mistake."

  "Yes, but what if he thinks that about me every time we kiss? What if he's only doing it to confuse me. He probably doesn't even like me. I'm just another girl to him."

  I know this is the drink talking. When it comes to JT, Nessie is usually a locked box.

  "I don't think that's how he sees you. You're not just another girl to him."

  "It doesn't matter anymore. I can't go out with someone like him anyway. And now that he's expelled I doubt I'll see much of him anymore."

  "You believe that?"

  "I hope so. It will be easier to get over him if he's not around."

  "I hope you're right." I say, thinking of my situation with Mitchel.

  "What?" she mumbles.

  "Nothing." I smile and pick up the clean pile of sheets on the bed.

  "Do you want some help to remake your bed?"

  "Whose shirt is that?" Nessie asks, looking down at the shirt I borrowed from Richard.

  "Oh..it's Richard's."

  "Why do you have Richard's shirt?"

  "Mine got wet and he let me borrow his."

  Nessie gives me a funny look, she knows how much Richard and I don't get along.

  "It's a long story." I simply say and get to work making her bed.

  She tries to help but I end up doing most of it for her because she's so drunk on vodka that she keeps getting the sheets in a twisted mess.

  "Stephen is setting up the fireworks display outside. You wanna come and watch with me?" I suggest.

  "Nooo...I think I'll stay up here for a bit. I can see from my window anyhow. But you should go."

  "I don't want to leave you."

  "I'll be ok on my own. Anyway, I need to be close to the bathroom. This drink is going straight through me." she giggles. "It's fine. I'll be down in a little while."

  The door flies open and Zeke Tellerman stumbles in.

  "Bathroom?" he asks confused, looking around the room.

  "Three doors that way." I tell him and he pulls the door shut again. "I'm feeling kinda hungry and there is still food on the barbecue, do you want any?"

  "Nah, I'm good."

  "Ok, well I'm going to get some food and watch the fireworks."

  "Hey, if you come back this way, could you bring me another drink?" she asks, sloshing the remains of the vodka in the bottle.

  "Please tell me you didn't drink all of that?"

  "Of course not. I found it in the kitchen nearly empty. I'm not that druuuunk."

  "If I come back I'm bringing you water."

  "If you bring me water I will chuck it over your head." she giggles.

  "You know you're going to blame me when you wake up tomorrow with a killer hangover."

  I know I'm tipsy but I'm not as drunk as Nessie is right now. She can still function so I'm not too worried about leaving her, and usually, when the drink really kicks in she just passes out.

  "I'm going to bring you a burger and some water."

  "Uh-huh." she responds, looking at her cell.

  "Ok...I'm leaving."

  "Wait! I'm coming too. I need to empty my bladder."

  She heads in the direction of the bathroom and I hold onto the banister and make my way downstairs.

  How is it when you've been drinking you just want to fly down the stairs? I find myself constantly leaning forward on the stairs. And how is it that I could make a bed standing up but trying to get to the kitchen is becoming a problem? I keep to the edge of the room, feeling my way around the wall...furniture, lamp, random couple making out. So maybe I'm drunker than I first thought I was.

  I stumble into the kitchen and decide I'm not hungry, just thirsty.

  Oh, who cares? It's not like I'm going home tonight, I might as well have another drink.

  I get creative and pour myself a cocktail, forgetting all about my rule to only drink beer.

  Mmmm....what is this?

  I have no idea what I'm drinking but it tastes good, but I'm drunk so pretty much everything tastes good.

  Ha...I can't feel my tongue.

  "Kelsey, the fireworks are going off in five minutes, you should come outside." Stephen says, walking past me.

  I don't respond because I'm too busy trying to make my drink pink with some red alcohol I found.

  Pink is so pretty.

  "Err...Kelsey, are you ok?" Stephen asks, giving me a funny look.

  "Hi, Stevie." I smile and take another sip.

  "Stevie? I don't think you've called me that since we were six."

  "Stevie, Stevie, Stevie!" I sing.

  Stephen laughs. "How much have you had to drink?" he asks.

  "I don't really know. Just a few beers. And this!" I hold up my cocktail.

  "What the fuck is that? It looks like dishwater."

  "I have no idea but it tastes good."

  "Sure it does."

  "I'm fine. Every thing's fine!"

  "Uh-huh. You don't sound fine. You're in the kitchen on your own getting drunk."

  "That's because Nessie won't come downstairs, she's in her room hiding from JT."

  "JT? Did he do-"

  "Noooo, nothing like that. He had sex with Boston's cousin, Nessie got upset, JT and Nessie got in a fight, Nessie slapped him and now she's hiding."

  "I told her to stay away from the Torres brothers. That includes you."

  "Well, that won't be a problem because I'm leaving on Monday." I blurt.

  Did I just say that out loud? Stupid mouth. Stupid alcohol. I can't feel my tongue.

  "Kelsey, stop biting your tongue."

  "Whaaat?" I say with my tongue between my teeth and realize what I'm doing. "Oh, yeah." I giggle.

  "What did you just say about leaving? I didn't quite catch what you said with your tongue between your teeth."

  "I saaaaid..." Wait a minute. I'm still doing it. "I said, I'm leaving on Monday."

  "Leaving? Are you going somewhere with your mom and sister?"

  "Yes. Moving. To Nebraska."

  Stephen spits out his drink. "Say what?"

  An explosion of pretty colors ou
tside the window distracts me and I beeline for the back door.

  "Kelsey....wait!" Stephen calls.

  I hurry out the back door, bumping into a stranger and sloshing my drink down his shirt and he shouts something along the lines of "Gee thanks, my shirt was thirsty, bitch."

  I pretend not to hear him and find a safe spot on the grass to sit. I avoid any type of chair because I don't think I can sit in a deckchair without falling backward.

  See, not that drunk, I can still use my brain.

  Another explosion of red swirls light up the sky and I sip my drink quietly, watching the display.

  Time soon slips by and I have no idea how long I've been here. I reach into my pocket to check the time on my phone but I can't find my phone. A drunk couple stumbles over to where I am sitting and stands on my hand and I barely get out of their way before they fall onto the grass and roll around giggling and start dry humping each other right next to me.

  "Excuse me." I say and crawl across the grass to the stone wall.

  I stand up and lean against the wall and look around the garden at all the different faces but I don't see anyone I recognize. I find a sunlounger and lay down for a few minutes, watching the random people as they splash around in the pool and watching the fireworks in the sky.

  I close my eyes for a minute and when I open them again I notice the garden has suddenly emptied and there are hardly any people outside and the fireworks have stopped. When did the fireworks stop?

  How late is it? I pat my pockets and remember my phone is missing and find toilet paper strewn all over me, so much so, that I resemble an Egyptian mummy.

  Huh? I must have fallen asleep. I look around and see more toilet paper in the trees and all over the garden. I have no idea what the time is or how long I have been outside. I stand up and straight away I need to pee. I know I won't make it inside so I quickly duck into the trees at the side of the garden. After I've dealt with that I walk back onto the grass and notice my legs are cooperating better than earlier.

  Strange. I was drunk a minute ago.

  I can still hear the music from inside the house, but it's not as loud and through the windows, I can see most of the people have left the party.

  I walk over to two girls that are cuddled up under a blanket on the grass, looking at a phone.