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“Jeremey Chen just walked in. Just thought I’d give you a heads up,” he says before walking away.
“Chen is here,” I hiss at Levi. His eyes get huge.
“Kick him out, damn!” Levi says, putting a hand on his hip. God, he can’t confront Jeremey looking like that.
I squeeze through the crowd in search for any sign of Connecticut players among the mass of people, finding Taylor wearing a bumble bee costume and grinding to the music next to Olive. She has a cute little stinger at the end of her costume next to where her tights go straight up her ass. She is the easiest to spot in the sea of black and flashing lights. As I try to get to her, I see Jeremey walk through the crowd, also wearing his jersey like Braylon, except he stands out at 6’5” like me. He walks straight towards Taylor, as if he has his sights set on her. I grind my teeth and push past a pair of guys dressed like reapers, somehow managing to lose her in the crowd.
A guy shoves into me and apologizes but it takes all I have in me not to punch his face. My body fucking hurts. I walk to where I saw her last to find her dancing with her arms around Jeremey to Rihanna. Hell no.
He grabs her ass and looks over to me right when he does, as if he knows she’s mine. As if he is a fucking falling meteor wreaking havoc on my life come to earth just to smite me.
I grab him by his jersey and pull him off her. Taylor looks at me cockeyed, her eyes already glazed over from too much booze. “Get out,” I seethe to him. Taylor stands beside me, confused and playing with her hair.
“Elijah, stop it,” she pounds on my arm, but I can barely feel her feeble attempt at an attack. “He’s barely legal,” I say down to Taylor. “He’s a freshman. Stop being such a fucking slut.”
Jeremey smiles, throwing his hands up. “I didn’t know she was yours, mate.” His nose is still swollen. He’d rather party with out-of-state girls than fix his smug face. Taylor stumbles forward, and he catches her. She reeks of alcohol compared to all the other partygoers next to her. Such a lightweight.
I pull his hand off of her and put her behind me. She stumbles, holding onto my arm to gain her balance. “My girl, my fucking house, you understand?”
“He’s just pissed he lost to a freshman,” Jeremey says, leaning over to talk to Taylor. Without hesitation, I punch him in the jaw. The shock sends him back into a pile of people.
“Come on, Taylor,” I say, grabbing her hand. She shakes her head, her eyes huge.
“You punched him,” she says.
“You’re embarrassing yourself. Just letting any man touch you. Guess those photos I leaked are true?”
She gapes, tears already filling her eyes as I grab her, tossing her over my shoulder, like a fireman. I don’t have time for irony. I carry her up to her room, her body swaying behind me. She kicks and punches all the way up, but I manage to get her to her room where two people are making out in her bed.
“Get out!” I scream to them. They scramble off the bed and out the door. I throw her down on her covers. She looks up at me teary-eyed with her fists balled by her sides.
“Why, Elijah?” she says, her pink pouty lips trembling. She takes off her bumble bee antennas and throws them to the ground. I pull out my phone to check the time. 10:30.
“It’s already midnight. That’s when the party ends, yeah?”
“Oh,” she pouts as she kicks her shoes off, clueless that she’s just been played. Her door opens and a guy peeks in.
“What?” I ask. He steadies himself on the doorframe.
“I saw you take the bumblebee chick. Want to share?” he slurs.
“Fuck you!” I stand up and slam the door shut, locking it behind me.
Taylor sobs into her pillow until she falls asleep about a minute later, and I make myself a makeshift bed on the floor beside her. Guess this is where I’m spending my night.
25
TAYLOR CROMWELL
12 hours earlier
Halloween falls on a Wednesday this year, which isn’t ideal, but I love Halloween so much that it doesn’t matter. My costume came in the mail yesterday. I was worried it wasn’t going to get here on time. It’s so cute! It makes me look like I have a little bit of a belly, but that’s just one example of the lengths I’ll go to represent my precious honeybee.
Stephanie and Olive decided to go as sexy witches, because according to them, witches haveinspiring sexual power. After class, we are supposed to meet here to change and make sure the party is ready for tonight. Having never hosted a big Halloween party before, I can only hope it’s as mesmerizing as it looks in the movies. With Stephanie and Olive’s help, I can almost bet it will be a banger.
I change into a yellow and black striped long sleeve - something I also ordered to wear during the day. I can’t bring myself to wear the costume the whole day, not to mention the back side is basically a thong, so it’d be way too cold.
On the short drive to school, I can already feel the Halloween spirit. I stop by Sacred Grounds before class to grab a latte and wish Eve a Happy Halloween. A new guy works at the front during the weekdays, so I have to shout it to her in the back. The coffee he makes is definitely not as good as mine, but I still tip.
