“Van.” I managed to pull my mouth away from his.
He automatically went to my neck and began to suckle.
“Van, stop it!” I wiggled my head around until he finally pulled back.
“What?” Now, he sounded totally pissed. Still drunk, but now a pissed off drunk.
“I didn’t come over here to be raped by you on the deck in front of everyone.” Okay, there wasn’t a lot of people still around us. It seemed everyone moved their little party someplace else once Ashley and I showed up, but I still didn’t want to be felt up and undressed while we were out here in the open.
Van held up his hands and moved away. “It wouldn’t be rape; you’re my girlfriend. But fuck Mara, why they hell did you wear that outfit if you didn’t want to get something going with me?”
I took a deep breath and tried to control my anger. I wasn’t going to explain to his drunken self that yes, it would be rape if I said no, even if he was my boyfriend. “I was just hoping that maybe you would say that I looked good, not want to fuck me on the deck with everyone watching.”
Van picked up a beer can that someone left on the railing. He took a long drink then tossed the empty over the side. I hoped that was his, because who knows what some people would put into one as a joke. “You know what, Mara,” he said my name in a sarcastic manner. “Why don’t you get yourself a beer, loosen the fuck up a little bit, and then maybe come looking for me. I’m out of here.” He walked back to the house and disappeared into the crowd.
I stood there for a few moments. Like did that shit just happen? Just because I didn’t want to fuck him on the deck, he gets all pissy. A few more people came out to join in on the big party out here, well really it was just me since everyone else disappeared. I so wanted to go home and leave all this shit behind. I knew if I didn’t leave, Van and I would get into some nasty fight and who knows how long that would last—come to think of it—do I care? That’s all we ever do anymore is argue and fight. We both need some serious help or just to step away from each other for a while or maybe call it off for good this time.
I walked back into the house in search of Ashley. The crowd had seemed to thicken since I was in here last. I saw her with Reese and several other people that we hung around with on a regular basis. She looked like she was enjoying this party way too much for us to leave early.
“Mara!” Ashley squealed and pulled me into a tight hug. “You know I love you, right?” Her speech seemed slurred, and she stumbled a bit backward after she let go of me.
“Yes, Ash. I love you too.” I patted her back and leaned her up against the wall so that she would have some support.
Ashley cupped my cheeks. “Why do you look so depressed? Is it because of Van? You know he’s an ass. You can have any guy here.” She waved her arm to all the people that were partying in the living room. “Well, except for Reese.” She snuggled under his arm and leaned her head on his shoulder. “He’s mine. Well, at least for the night.” She giggled and snuggled deeper into Reese’s arms.
“I might go home early. Are you going to stay with Reese tonight?” I wasn’t in the mood to drink and party. Van sort of ruined my evening with his rant of me not giving it up on the back deck.
Ashley looked up at Reese.
He nodded his head once.
“I am, but don’t go.” She pulled on my hand. “Stay with me. Get a beer and have some fun. Forget about Van for the night.”
“Yeah, well we’ll see.” I took a step back from their little group. “I have to see what kind of mood he’s in. I haven’t seen him since our little dispute.” I gave Ash another quick hug and promised that I would come back after I found him.
I looked all around the downstairs, but I didn’t see his brown head of hair bobbing around anywhere. His team was over at the beer pong table, but he wasn’t. The girl that was hanging around him earlier was with another guy right now, so I knew he wasn’t with her.
“Hey, do you guys know where Van went?” I asked the guys on the team, as they continued to toss the small ball.
They looked at me then back to one another.
Just that look alone, and I knew that something was up. “Okay, where is he?” It was more like where was he and who was with him.
“Last I seen, he went upstairs.” The kid that told me where he’d seen him got nudged by one of the other guys. He shook his head no about telling me anymore.
“Whatever.” I marched away from them and headed for the steps that led to the upstairs. I was off to see if my boyfriend or possibly my past boyfriend was doing something that he shouldn't.
The upper hallway was quite active. Couples were making out against the walls, and it looked like each of the four bedrooms had their doors closed. I didn’t see Van with anyone along the wall, so my guess was either the bathroom or he was behind one of the closed doors.
I knocked on the bathroom door and opened it slightly. A girl was sitting on the floor with her head tilted back against the sink. She looked to be entirely wasted and by the heaving of her chest, she was about to puke. I quickly shut the door before I had to witness something that would get my gag reflex going.
I was afraid to open up any of the other doors. There were just some things I didn’t want to see right now, my classmates naked. “Van,” I whispered as I tiptoed past the couples waiting in line for the next room to open up. “Van.” This time, I was a bit louder, so he would hear me if he was here.
“Master bedroom.” A guy hissed out between kisses to tell me where he was. I guess he was tired of me peeking over shoulders and interrupting everyone with my loud whispering.
“Thank you.” I walked down to the end of the hall and stood outside of Tori’s mom’s room. My body trembled, and my stomach felt like it could heave up the dinner I had several hours ago, but I needed to do this. My hand shook as I turned the knob. There was no squeak, unlike my bedroom door that could be heard from downstairs when I opened it. I gently let the door open up a smidgen. I could see two bodies on the bed and clothes that were tossed about on the floor. I knew the shirt belonged to Van because I bought it for him for Christmas. Now, I wanted to go over and start ripping it to shreds, but that would have to wait. I heard moaning and loud gasps of pleasure. Oh my, God, this was going to be one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, but I had to do it. I flipped the light switch on and heard Van yell out a ‘what the fuck, dude?’
“I’m not a man, asshole.” I saw two faces look over to me, and I felt my jaw drop to the floor. I got floored over what I saw.
Van looked shocked to see me standing there. His face looked flushed, which could be because of his recent activity or the fact that I caught him red-handed cheating on me.
The girl, or should I say, woman, grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around herself. “Mara—I, u-uh…” Obviously, she had no words for what was going on.
“Sorry, Mrs. Walsh, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” I looked over at Van, who had his head lying on the pillow. “It’s over…like really over this time.” I couldn’t keep the tears from falling. I knew he cheated on me before, but to have him say he would never do it again, then to catch him with Tori’s mom blew my mind. I had to get out of there and far away from this party. I slammed the door shut on the way out. I raced down the hall and ran down the steps. I heard Van yelling my name from the second floor and knew he was going to try and find me.
My eyes were all blurry from crying, but I could make out Ashley still in the same spot as I left her. I touched her arm to get her attention. “I have to leave.”
“Mara, what’s wrong?” She tried to follow me as I walked around all the other kids but stumbled as if she had two left feet.
I could see my destination of the front door wasn’t too far away. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I have to be alone.” I gave her a final wave and raced out to my car before Van could find me.
I grabbed my keys off the passenger seat and started my car. I was thankful that this group of kids wasn’t i
nto stealing cars since a majority of us usually left our keys in our cars so that we wouldn’t lose them. I pulled out of the grass area where I’d parked and onto the small road that led to the main street. My head was pounding, my eyes were burning from the tears, and makeup runs and my heart felt like it had been ripped out and stomped on until it was in a million pieces. I saw that the main road was coming up and made the left turn that would take me home.
The images of Van with Ms. Walsh kept flashing through my mind. I slammed the steering wheel out of anger and frustration. Why did he have to ruin everything again? Why couldn’t he just wait until I was ready to have sex? Why did he have to go and sleep with Tori’s mom? So many questions kept popping into my head. So many questions, but never any answers. I leaned my forehead on the steering wheel for just one second. Just one second to regain my concentration and to get my eyes focused amidst all the tears.
I looked up and thought I saw someone standing in the middle of the road. I swerved my car so that I wouldn’t hit them, but when I looked back in my rearview mirror they were gone. The loud honking, the sound of something crashing together, and the bright light were the last things I saw and heard before it all went black.
Chapter Three
I remembered the sounds and flashes of light when I woke up. I felt fine, so obviously I wasn’t hurt by whatever had happened. I tried to undo my seatbelt, but it wasn’t there. In fact, my whole car wasn’t here. I gazed around the area, and it looked like the road that I would take home, but then again, it didn’t. Okay, maybe I did hit my head since I’m having trouble remembering where I’m at and what exactly happened.
Oh hell, yeah I remembered Van being with Ms. Walsh and me running out of the party, but after that, it seemed like a blur. I remember putting my forehead on the steering wheel and wiping my eyes when a loud honk, the sound of metal crunching, and a blinding white light stole my breath away. ‘Oh my God. I might have hit someone or something. But if I hit something, where’s my car and where’s the wrecked car?’
I walked down the street a bit to see if maybe someone had moved our cars. I didn’t see anyone else out and about or any signs that there was even an accident. ‘What the hell happened?’ I probably needed to get back home, get some rest, and maybe figure this all out in the morning.
Wait—maybe none of this is real. Maybe someone put something in my cup at the party when I wasn’t looking. Now, here I was freaking out over nothing. I’m probably hallucinating or something. I am like so going to kill someone when I wake up.
I continued walking down the road, which seemed to be well lit for this time of the night. There weren’t any other cars or people out, so it was kind of nice and quiet. If this was what every hallucination was like, well shit I might have to do more of whatever they gave me. I felt so relaxed and not worried about anything—not even Van.
The best part of this whole experience was that I wasn’t even getting the least bit winded from my physical activity. I’d been walking for like forever, but I was still feeling great. But wait—if this was all in my mind, then I wasn’t walking. Oh well, there went my high hopes of becoming physically fit.
My house came into view, but there were no cars parked outside. Everything looked the same, but it seemed eerie too. It just felt like I was floating along in a separate world from everything else. Wouldn’t that be so cool? Like no more school, no more parent’s demands, no more guy problems, but then again, I would miss Ashley. And being here all alone would get kind of boring. Oh, my God, when will this drug wear off, so I can get back and tell Van off once and for all?
I guess since I was there all alone inside my head, I could do whatever I wanted. I started twirling around in the middle of the street, not watching out for cars since there are none in my dream world. I jumped, I skipped, and I even did a backflip, something I was not able to do when I was in my right of mind. I didn’t know how long I kept this little performance up, but as long as I twirled and danced I never once got tired or dizzy.
I stopped and looked around to where I ended up. I was back where the whole night started, back at the party. Except now, there weren’t any cars, drunk people, or Van getting it on with Tori’s mom, it was just an empty house sitting idle.
A movement to my side, just a little flash of something may have moved, turned my attention to the side of the house where the tree line filled the empty void. That had been the first type of movement I’d seen since someone had drugged me. Maybe I’m finally coming out of my hallucination…was that a good or a bad thing.
I took a step closer to where I thought I’d seen something move. The leaves on the trees blew softly again like there was a small breeze moving them. Nothing else moved except for those tree leaves, so I wasn’t sure what the heck was going on.
“Hello?” I called out to the nothingness. There was no response, so I assumed that whatever happened was all part of my imagination again. I turned back around and stared at Tori’s party house. It was so odd to see it completely unoccupied when it was a hustling and bustling mega event last time I was there.
“Mara.”
The soft sound of someone calling my name just about scared the shit out of me. I was the only one supposed to be in my head. It wasn’t a voice that I recognized, so maybe my mind was playing tricks on me. He had a slight accent about him, like an English accent mixed with a bit of someone who was from the U.S. I took a deep breath, got my courage up, and slowly turned my head in the direction the sound came.
Right where I’d seen the leaves on the trees rustling around, there was a guy about my age or maybe a little older. I don’t ever remember seeing him before, so I’m not quite sure how he would end up here with me.
“Max?” Where the hell did I just come up with that name? I didn’t know any Max, and I didn’t know anyone from England, Australia, or wherever country produced that accent. I don’t know how or why, but I knew that voice and presence. I turned around fully, so I could face him. It didn’t look like he was going to run and attack me, so I let my guard down for the moment. “Why am I even talking to you? You’re just in my head.” I rubbed my forehead and then my eyes. I tried to get this apparition to disappear. That was one of the reasons why I hated to go to parties. I didn’t like the feeling of being drunk and not having control, but now it was quite apparent that someone spiked my cola. Here I am freaking going insane, either seeing things that weren’t there or having people talk to me and then I talk to them inside of my head.
The guy in front of me shook his head slowly from side to side. “I’m not really in your head. I’m here just like you are.” He took another two steps closer to me.
I held up my hand. I didn’t want him getting too close; he could be some psychopathic serial killer. Not that he looked like it, but the way my luck was going, I would probably die right here in my delusion. “Are you friends with Tori? Or let me guess, Van set this all up because he’s pissed at me, right?” I knew there had to be some logical explanation for what was happening.
The image stopped like I indicated him to do and shook his head no to my guesses of what was going on.
“Ashley, didn’t do this—did she?” I knew she wanted me to loosen up and enjoy the last party I said I was going to, but this was taking it a little too far.
Once again, he shook his head no.
“Okay, then tell me what the fuck is going on?”
“I can’t tell you right now.”
Okay, what the fuck was that? First, this unknown, gorgeous guy just shows up in my dream and then he says he can’t tell me what is going on. I put my hands on my hips and tried to get my bad-girl attitude going on. “Why can’t you tell me?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I did tell you. You’ll remember, eventually.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. You’re not going to be here when I finally wake up. And when I do, I’m going to kick whose ever ass that did this to me.”
“What do you think happened?” This Max guy took a
nother step closer then stopped. It seemed he didn’t want me to get too anxious by him suddenly moving too close to me.
I still couldn’t figure out how I knew him. Maybe it was from one of Van’s basketball games; maybe he’s on another school’s team? Yep, I bet that’s it. Van was friends with all the basketball players from every school. I got introduced to a lot of them as ‘this is Mara.’ It was never this is my girlfriend. She's the one I cheat on every chance I get, and she still takes me back. Nope, never anything that signaled we were together, I was just ‘Mara.’ It seemed Van made friends with every and anyone, guys and girls, alike. He just was more bodily friendly with the girls.
The guy in front of me chuckled. It was obvious that he was laughing at me since there wasn’t anyone else around.
“What?” I hated when people either said or thought of something negative against me.
“Nothing. You’re just funny.” Max stopped laughing and got a more serious expression on his face.
I could tell that it was all fake because his lip quivered like he had a smile that wanted to pop out at any moment. I brushed my hair back with my hand and tried to remember what he’d asked me. “Oh yeah, that’s what you wanted to know. It’s not what I think; it’s most likely a definite that someone put something in my drink, and this is all just part of the whole big fantasy from whatever it is they gave me.”
Max nodded his head once. “Maybe you’re right, but I doubt it.”
Okay, his going nowhere answers were starting to annoy me, See, even in my dreamlike world men still find a way to irritate the fuck out of me. I squeezed my eyes shut and waved my hand in his direction. “Vamoose, get out of my head.” I peeked one eye open, and he was still there, just shaking his head. Okay, now I felt like a real idiot.
“Let’s walk.” The guy motioned with his hand for me to walk down the road with him.
Somewhere In-Between (Breathless #1) Page 2