by Jae
After the first couple of hours, the room goes from being really packed to breathable due to people going over to the bowling alley. I haven’t seen much of Liam, but I know that he’s been forced to drink three shots already. I’m really happy I did this for him, but I never stopped to realize that drinking leads to a very long night.
“Alright everyone, it’s time to sing Happy Birthday!” Ella exclaims into the microphone at the DJ’s desk in the back corner while pointing over to where the cake is being rolled out by my Mom and Dad to the center of the dance floor for everyone to see.
“Hello, Little Miss Daisy.” I hear Liam whisper into my ear as he wraps his arms around me from behind.
“Hello, birthday boy.” I giggle. “I believe you’ve been summoned by Ella.”
“Come with me.” He playfully whines, pressing a kiss to the spot just below my ear. “Please.”
I nod my head and lead us to the cake, Liam never once letting go of me. When we get there, Liam makes me stop in front of the cake so he can get a good look at it.
“I can’t believe you did all of this.” He whispers so only I can hear.
“You deserve it.” I tell him, twisting around in his arms.
“You are seriously the best girlfriend in the world.” He beams, pressing a kiss to my lips.
“I try.” I shrug my shoulders, smiling back at him.
Liam makes me spin back around and we step a little off to the side while my Dad lights the candles. Once they’re lit, I try to move out of Liam’s grasp, but he only tightens his hold on me. Liam and I look to the side and see Nora and Maggie and wave to them and they both blow a kiss to us in return.
“Alright everyone, we’ll start singing on three!” Ella says into the mike. “One… Two… Three!”
When Ella says three, everyone bursts into the loudest rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ I’ve ever heard in my life. While we’re singing Liam swipes a bit of frosting off the edge of the cake with his finger and then licks it off, whispering in my ear that it tastes really good. Once we’re done singing, Liam leans us forward and blows out all of his candles.
“Did you make a wish first?” I ask him while everyone cheers and he nods his head. “What did you wish for?”
“I can’t tell you, silly, otherwise it won’t come true.” He teases.
I roll my eyes and we both pick up a cupcake while my Mom cuts the actual cake. I’m about to lick the frosting off of my cupcake when Liam nudges it away from my face. I look up to see he has frosting on the tip of his nose and I reach up and lick it off. This makes a bunch of people around us cheer and Liam laugh before dropping a kiss to my lips.
“You taste good.” He whispers in my ear, reaching for the drink in my other hand. “What’s this?”
“It’s Kinky and 7UP.” I tell him while he takes a drink.
“How many have you had?” Liam questions, his voice suddenly taking a more serious tone.
“That’s my third one.” I say trying to take it back, but Liam raises it above his head so I can’t reach it. “Liam!”
“It’s mine now.”
“What?” I ask confused. “Why?”
“Because this thing isn’t even half way over yet and you’re already on your third.”
“You’ve had like ten shots!” I exclaim, reaching for the drink again.
“I’ve had five.” Liam corrects me. “And I’m a lot bigger than you, so I can consume more alcohol before it starts to really affect me.”
“You’re no fun.” I pout, turning to walk away.
“Don’t walk away from me.” Liam growls against my neck as he grips the back of my shirt. “I just want you to slow down, okay? You’re the one driving tonight.”
I roll my eyes, grabbing onto Ella’s hand when she walks past us. I follow her over to the bowling side where we find Tony, Connor, Jack, and Scott getting ready to start a game.
“We want to play!” I shout running over to them and jumping on Scott’s back.
“But we’ve already made the teams.” Jack whines.
“Oh, quit being a baby.” Ella says as she wraps her arms around Tony. “Just add us in. I’ll be on Tony and Connor’s team and Daisy can be on you and Scott’s team.”
Connor chuckles and adds us to the game while Ella and I go to get shoes, Scott still carrying me on his back. After we get our shoes from the guy behind the counter, we go back to where our group is sitting and put them on.
“Is Liam having a good time?” Scott asks me.
“I think so.” I shrug my shoulders.
“What’s wrong?” Scott asks with a small chuckle.
“He took my drink away.” I whine, letting out a sigh. “The same one Ella has and it’s really good!”
Scott busts up laughing in the spot next to me, his head falling onto my shoulder.
“Stop laughing at me.” I grin, nudging him off of me. “It’s not funny.”
“You’re right.” He nods his head, trying to contain his laughter. “It’s not funny.”
At this point it’s now Scott’s turn to bowl. Halfway through the game, Nora and Maggie find me and tell me they’re going to head out and thank me again for inviting them. I tell them it’s not a problem at all and hug them both. In the end, my team wins and we take it upon ourselves to rub it in the other’s face before going to the bar for victory shots.
“We won!” Jack, Scott, and I shout as we walk into the bar.
I hop off of Ella’s back once we reach the bar counter and Scott lifts me up so I can sit on top of it. I look around the room trying to find Liam while I wait for our victory shots that Jack has ordered. I eventually spot him sitting at a table next to the dance floor with some of the guys from his basketball team. As if he can feel my eyes on him after a few moments, he looks over at me with raised eyebrows and I only stick my tongue out at him.
“Here!” Jack exclaims, handing me the shot.
We shout ‘we are the champions’ before downing the shots. I squeeze my eyes as the bitter taste slides down my throat before dropping my glass back down on the counter beneath me. I can feel Liam’s eyes burning a hole into the side of my head, but I refuse to look at him.
“What the hell?” I say a few minutes later when I see a woman in a policeman’s uniform come walk past us. “Is that a cop?”
Everyone around me looks over at the woman as she makes her way back to the DJ’s booth. Suddenly the music is cut off and she’s speaking into the mike.
“I’ve got a black Range Rover that belongs to a Liam Jones parked in a no parking zone; can someone please guide him this way?” She says and a bunch of people start shouting and pointing at Liam. I watch her hand the mike back to the DJ before whispering something in his ear. It takes me a moment to realize that everyone on the dance floor has cleared to the edges and a single chair sits in the center of it. When Liam is finally forced down onto the chair by a few of his friends, the song ‘Motivation’ by Kelly Rowland starts playing.
“That’s a fucking stripper!” Ella shouts, pointing at her.
My mouth drops open while I watch her take off her hat and toss it to the ground before shaking her hair out. Once she’s standing in front of Liam, she kicks his legs apart and begins to move her body to the music while undoing her shirt.
“Who the hell got him a stripper?” I exclaim, looking around at the people by me.
“That would be me!” Drew laughs, sticking his hand in the air. “Come on, Daisy! It’s his 21st birthday! Much like a bachelor party, strippers are a requirement!”
“I suggest someone gets me another shot and one of those kinky drinks!” I practically growl and it’s only a matter of seconds before the alcohol I requested appears in front of my face. I quickly down the shot before picking up the cup that contains the fruity drink I’ve been dying to have another of. By the time I twist back around, the busty stripper is down to her black lacy lingerie and Liam’s tilting slightly to the side with his hands clasped in front of him while s
he rubs her ass on his lap. I swear to God this is the longest song in the world. I watch a few guys toss singles at her and decide that I can’t believe that not only is this really happening, but I’m actually watching it. I grip the edge of the counter and take a big gulp of my drink when she straddles his lap and Liam’s hands land on her thighs.
“It’s almost over.” Ella tells me, handing me another shot that I instantly tip back into my mouth.
A few moments later the song ends and everyone starts cheering. I watch the stripper whisper something into Liam’s ear and Liam tilt his head back laughing. It takes a few more moments before she climbs off his lap and they pose together for a picture.
“See, Daisy, that wasn’t so bad!” Drew grins, patting my knee.
“I have no problems kicking you in the balls.” I respond and Scott holds me back when I reach for Drew’s shirt.
“I’m just going to go this way.” Drew says, pointing his thumb in the direction of Liam.
“Yeah, you do that!” I reply sarcastically, taking another gulp from my drink.
Roughly an hour later all the parents that were invited leave and I’m back on the bowling side trying my best to avoid Liam.
“Daisy! Ella!” Jack shouts over to us and points at some people standing in a line on one of the lanes with their legs spread apart. “Go stand with them; I’m going to bowl between their legs!”
We both set our drinks down and clumsily run over to where Jack had pointed to. On our way over, I’m almost positive I’d seen Liam walking into the room out of the corner of my eye, but brush the thought aside when everyone scoots backward to make room for us.
“Wait!” I yell when I see Scott walk into the room and wave my hands in the air. “Scott, come over here!”
Jack pretends to take a few practice swings while we wait for Scott to jog over. I move so he can stand between me and Ella.
“Don’t drop the ball on my toes!” I shout while Scott grabs onto my shoulders and I twist my arms back and wrap them around him.
“Do it for the Vine!” Jack yells before he releases the ball and we all scream while it flies through our legs.
“It’s a strike!” Someone shouts after the ball finishes knocking down the pins and I remove my arms from around Scott to see that the person is right. While everyone cheers, I jump onto Scott’s back and he spins us around a couple times. I hop off when he’s done, feeling a little dizzy, and double over in laughter. I reach up to grab his hand a few moments later, but before I can someone picks me up and throws me over their shoulder. It doesn’t take me long to realize it’s Liam.
“Put me down!” I demand, pounding on his back.
“Knock it off, Daisy!” He grumbles, smacking my butt as he pushes through a side door that leads to the alley outside.
“What the hell, Liam?” I shout when the door slams shut and he sets me back down on the ground.
“I could ask you the same thing!” Liam shouts back, pressing me up against the brick wall behind me.
“What are you talking about?” I roll my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest.
“You being all over Scott and flirting with him.” Liam growls while catching my chin between his fingers.
“I’m not doing anything with Scott, unlike you.” I respond, swatting his hand away from me.
“Excuse me?” Liam asks with a chuckle. “What have I done?”
“You and that stripper!” I shout, throwing my hands in the air.
“That was hardly anything.”
“Yeah, I might’ve agreed with you if it wasn’t so obvious that you were enjoying every bit of that lap dance!” I scoff.
“How would you know?”
“Because I saw you, Liam; I saw the whole thing!”
“You were watching?” He asks, his eyebrows rising.
“I was the first one to see her walk in.” I roll my eyes again while trying to walk away. “And if you weren’t so focused on that bimbo grinding her ass on your lap you would’ve noticed me watching. It’s not like you were in a private room by any means.”
“I’m sorry.” Liam says while grabbing my arm and pushing me back against the wall.
“You’re sorry for what?” I ask, shoving his chest. “That you enjoyed it or that I had to watch the whole thing?”
“Both.” Liam sighs, moving forward and pinning me against the wall with his body.
I try to push him off, but it’s no use; I’m more than tipsy and he’s a lot bigger than me.
“I was just surprised as you were when I saw her.” Liam explians as he nuzzles his face into the crook of my neck once I’ve stopped struggling against him. “It just happened all at once and I went with it.”
“It was disgusting.”
Liam presses a kiss to my neck. “You can’t be mad at me though. It’s not like I was cheating on you.”
“I wasn’t cheating on you either.” I shoot back.
Liam doesn’t respond this time, he just keeps working his lips against my neck. I try my best to stay unresponsive and upset with him, but my drunken haze makes it too difficult and before I know it my arms are wrapping around his neck and my legs are wrapping around his waist. Our embrace becomes extremely heated quickly. My mind is telling me we need to stop, we’re standing in an alley where anyone can walk by, but my body is screaming otherwise. Wanting to save some part of my dignity and not ultimately embarrass myself, I let my mind win and gently push Liam back by his shoulders. My actions prove to be much unexpected on his part, making it easy for me to slide out of his grasp.
“Not here.” I tell Liam when he gives me a confused look.
“The car?” He asks, but I shake my head no. We could just as easily be caught there.
“Later.” I grin.
Liam reluctantly nods his head and pulls out his phone to check the time and informs me there’s a little over an hour left of the party and he thinks he can manage to wait that long. We then move back inside and decide to get a lane to ourselves so we can finally bowl together. We stop drinking any alcohol and start drinking just water to help sober us up a little bit. Our actions in the alley have left me feeling wide awake and refreshed, but I know that no matter how good I feel, there is still plenty of alcohol running through my system. Liam teases me about how horrible of a bowler I am and I take every bit of it because I know it’s absolutely true. In the end, Liam wins by a long shot and decides he wants a victory kiss from me instead of a victory shot of alcohol to celebrate. I keep the kiss short and sweet, not wanting to draw too much attention to us and also knowing that if I let it escalade just the tiniest bit we’ll be leaving much sooner than we should.
When the party has ended, the girls and I help clean up while the boys make sure everyone has the appropriate rides they’ll need. It takes us roughly an hour to get everything back in order and pack up the food and any gifts people left for Liam. Once the car is loaded up, Liam and I say goodbye to our friends and head back to his apartment. Liam is a bit iffy about me driving, but I do a few ‘sobriety tests’ to prove I’m fine and pass with flying colors. The entire ride home Liam gushes to me about how much he loved the party and rubs soothing circles on my thigh with his thumb. I’m absolutely over the moon that he’s happy about the party and not upset that we didn’t exactly spend the one-on-one time together that he thought was planned.
I help Liam carry everything we’d brought back with us into his apartment and put the food in the fridge so it won’t spoil. I never got a chance to eat any of the food that was prepared, but Liam reassures me that it was delicious and I will definitely get some at some point due to all the left overs. After Liam scarfs down a cupcake, we move into his room and then into the bathroom for a shower. As sexy as Liam looks right now, I’m desperate to get the smell of alcohol and sweat off the both of us. As soon as I feel the hot water hit my body, I lean my head against Liam’s chest and tightly wrap my arms around his waist. I smile when he buries his head into the crook of my neck and presses a ki
ss to it.
“Best birthday ever.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I stretch my arm out across the bed as I roll over, expecting to come into contact with Liam’s body. My face scrunches up in confusion while I pat my hand around the empty space next to me. Finally opening my eyes, I slowly sit up to find I’m the only one in the room. Grabbing my phone off of the nightstand beside me, I’m less than surprised to see it’s nearly 3 o’clock in the afternoon and that I have a few missed phone calls and texts from my Mom and the girls. Climbing out of bed, I stretch my arms above my head and make my way into the bathroom. I take a much needed shower and brush my teeth before getting dressed in a black muscle tee with a large design of a white diamond on it, bleached jean shorts, and a pair of black faux leather Street-Chic Plimsolls shoes. I part my hair on the side, letting it dry into its natural waves, and apply a minimal amount of makeup to my face.
I call out Liam’s name as I walk down the hallway, checking the bathroom and the kitchen before ending up in the living room. I lean against the doorway when my eyes land on his long, muscular body pacing between the TV and coffee table. He’s wearing a dark gray t-shirt that slightly hangs off of him in that perfect way, black jeans, and a pair of all black Chuck Taylor All Star Converse shoes. I take in the way his eyebrows are pulled together in concentration while he quietly mumbles to himself and sometimes shakes his head while running his hands through his hair, over his face, and patting the front right pocket of his jeans like he’s checking to make sure something is there.