It was only about a couple hours later that I found myself standing outside the doors to April's house. Mia, Lucas, May, Chloe, and I had stopped for a bite to eat, and I'd now reluctantly driven everyone to April's house for the afterparty.
Reluctantly being the word since I wasn't all too fond of April and her pushiness. I couldn't for the life of me understand why the girl couldn't get it through her head I wasn't interested.
Not wanting to ruin the mood, or anyone's fun, I pushed my frustrations aside, refusing to let her ruin my team's celebrations.
As everybody headed up the path towards the house, I followed behind Mia closely, hearing the heavy beats of the music get progressively louder as we approached.
Eyeing Mia, I watched with a smile as she adjusted the neckline of my jersey which had been caught up in her hair. It was the hottest thing ever that she was still wearing it. Fuck, did I mean it when I said I couldn't wait until this party was over because I was in desperate need of some alone time with her.
Lucas or someone must have knocked on the door when I was busy checking out Mia because soon enough the door swung open.
I stepped in line beside Mia as April stepped out wearing a short and tight two-piece red dress. April looked at me and smiled, and I immediately noticed Mia stiffen before glancing down at her body with a slight downturn of her lips. I immediately grew annoyed, pissed at how Mia could look down at a body like hers and frown. She was perfect. I didn't have reoccurring dreams about her for damn nothing.
I immediately stepped a little closer to Mia than necessary, feeling protective.
April appeared to laugh for no reason and finally stopped looking me up and down so she could survey her eyes quickly around the rest of the group. "Hey guys, great to see you could make it," she cheered with a bubbly smile on her face before returning her eyes back to mine.
Irritation flashed through me, and I acknowledged her with nothing but a simple nod and vague attempt at a smile.
I noticed May and Chloe in particular greet her with very stiffened tones as well. I furrowed my brows, noticing clear tension between all the girls. I thought Chloe was vaguely friends with April. What had happened?
I eyed Mia once again carefully and saw the tension in her face, that she was desperately trying to keep at bay.
Okay, it was official â we all fucking hated her. Excellent.
Finally entering the house, people immediately started to cheer and held up their cups. A few guys thumped Lucas and me on the backs in congratulation as they made their way past.
As the rest of our group filtered into the party, Mia stepped closer to me an amused smile to her lips.
"Wow, everyone's making my congratulations look like shit."
I laughed heavily. "That's because it was shit, Chubs," I said, shaking my head at her with fake disappointment.
Mia gasped. "That's mean," she laughed, pouting slightly.
This immediately drew my attention to her lips. Deciding I'd followed enough restraint for the day, I stepped closer to her and cupped her cheek before tracing my thumb softly against the curve of her lower lip.
Mia was immediately silenced, and I watched in satisfaction as she swallowed.
"I can think of a few ways you could improve your congratulations," I whispered as I moved my mouth towards her.
"Ethan, come celebrate with the boys," I heard one of the guys call out, interrupting us.
I let out a deep and frustrated sigh, before once again stepping away from Mia. You'd think the attention-sucking fuckers who'd thrown me a damn surprise party about getting together with my girlfriend would give me one damn second alone with her.
I turned, locking eyes with my friend Roman. "I'm a little busy man," I snapped, an unmistakable irritation to my tone that I was too lazy to remove.
"No, you're not," Mia interrupted with a chuckle. "Go celebrate, you idiot," she laughed as she pushed me lightly towards my friends.
I frowned, pretty happy to start the party celebrating with my mouth on her lips â the way all good parties should start. I could see from the look in Mia's eyes, she didn't agree and clearly didn't want me to be an asshole to my friends.
"But...," I said helplessly.
"Just go. I'll find you later," she said as she rolled those pretty brown eyes of hers.
I finally let out a sigh, realizing I didn't have too much of a choice. "Okay fine. See you in a bit," I sighed.
I gave her a peck on the lips in goodbye before turning and making my way over to the guys.
Roman slapped his hand on my shoulder. "Didn't realize you needed to be bullied by your girlfriend to spend time with us, I'm hurt."
"Oh, shut up," I mumbled with a smile. We soon made our way to the sofas where most of our team sat. I noticed immediately Lucas wasn't present. I put my money that he was either dancing somewhere or making out with May â perhaps both.
"Ay, here come's our champion," Nick called with a laugh, as he thumped me on the back. I fell back against one of the spare sofas with a laugh.
Roman took a seat by Nick on the sofa and looked over at me with a smile. "You know, it's going to be sad now, that we won't have a good topic to take the piss out of you about now that you're with Mia," he mused as he took a sip of his drink.
"I can't express how heartbroken I am," I muttered drily.
Simon took a seat on the armrest with a chuckle. "Lol, do you remember the time, we caught him trying to break the inside lock on the old downstairs music room so he could 'accidentally' get stuck in there with Mia."
As everybody started to laugh, I felt my face burn in shame, knowing I had without a doubt tried to do that.
"Oh, give me a break, I was fourteen and stupid, for fucks sake," I mumbled.
"Nah man, you were at least sixteen don't age yourself down, you were a big man when you did that shit," Simon laughed.
My face burned that much more, remembering he was right. On reflection, it hadn't been the best of ideas considering Mia had close to full-on attacked me when she'd realised, we were trapped.
"Ethan, man, you're so lucky she agreed to date you otherwise your ass would have a restraining order by now," Nick called out with a laugh.
Once again, everyone broke out into too much laughter for my liking, even though Nick was probably right. That's when I felt the weight of a body drop down close beside me on the sofa.
I turned around and found myself staring into the eyes of April who was roaming her eyes over my face with a smile.
"Hey, Ethan," she said brightly.
I shuffled back a little bit into the armrest, not all too fond of how close she was sitting to me. "Oh erm...hey," I said awkwardly.
"I got a spare drink; did you want one?" she asked as she held a red-solo cup out towards me.
I glanced down at the cup. "Erm.."
"It's just beer, a pretty weak one at that," she said with a light laugh.
I paused for a second, then shrugged, admittedly kind of thirsty. "Sure, appreciate it, thanks," I said with a weak smile as I took hold of the cup and took a swig. I figured one couldn't hurt.
Her eyes fell to my lips as I took a sip, and I suddenly felt ten times more uncomfortable. I wonder how rude it would be to get up and leave.
I took an extra long sip out of awkwardness and looked away while cramming my body even further into the armrest.
I gave the guys widened looks with my eyes, hoping they'd get the message to help me.
Roman cleared his throat and shuffled over. "Hey, come sit here April, let's catch up," he said as he patted the seat beside himself.
Have I ever mentioned how much I loved Roman sometimes?
"Thanks, but later, I'm comfy here for the moment," she replied back with a smile.
I caught Roman's eyes and he shrugged before subtly mouthing 'sorry,' in my direction.
Irritated, I downed the rest of my drink, looking for any distraction at this point to stop myself from snapping at her.
For the next five minutes or so, I tried my best to focus on the conversation my friends were having, and joined in with their jokes while trying my absolute best to ignore April to the best of my ability.
Doing a casual glance around the room, my eyes widened with surprise as I locked eyes with Mia who was rocking her eyes between April and me with irritation from the far side of the room.
My heart sank, terrified she was getting the wrong impression. It would kill me if she thought I was even capable of betraying her after everything.
Suddenly, something in her eyes changed, and had me suddenly sitting up alert. The next minute she was striding straight toward me with a confident yet foreign look in her eyes and a slight smile on her lips that was so irresistibly sexy, I forgot whatever the fuck I was previously talking about. Heat instantly pooled down my body.
I opened my mouth to say something, but words were robbed from me when Mia shocked me half to death by wrapping both her arms around her neck and crawling ever so sexily right onto my lap. My heart instantly started running a mile a minute, as she settled her face inches from mine while straddling my lap. Fucking hell.
All, I could do was stare at her in shock for a second, wondering what on earth had changed in her in the last ten minutes. I was vaguely aware of April glaring at us from the corner of my eyes and a few of my friends whistling at me, but I couldn't give one less inch of a flying fuck.
Recovering slightly from my shock, a cocky smile tugged my lips, and I snaked my arms around her waist with a swallow as I tried desperately to keep my desire for her at bay.
"I'm not sure what's happening, but by all means, continue," I chuckled, my eyes fanning hers with perhaps a bit too much excitement.
Mia's smile broadened and she reached out and started playing with a lock of my hair, causing my breath to suck in and my fingers to dig even tighter into her waist, as I fought against doing something I very well shouldn't be doing in public.
I leaned a little closer to her ear. "Do you want to go to another room?" I whispered lowly, knowing how badly I needed to be alone with her right now. The fucking things I wanted to do to her.
"Nah, I'm perfectly fine here," she whispered back confidently to my frustrations. Before I had time to respond, Mia's lips were on mine.
I groaned immediately in pleasure, the hunger to her kiss, driving me to insanity. There was an undeniable possessiveness to each movement of her body that was undeniable, and I wasn't sure whether to question it or just enjoy how fucking sexy it was.
Tugging on her waist, I pulled her body flush up against my own, needing that room alone with her now more than ever. Fucking hell, did I mean it when I said I was sneaking her into my room tonight.
Each move of her lips and every press of herself closer to me seemed to scream, 'Mine, and only mine,' and I loved it.
My hands drifted to her thighs, and I massaged them through the fabric of her leggings and savored the friction of her movement as I kissed her.
God, did I need that room.
Finally, Mia pulled away, and looked down at me, still breathing heavily.
"Well, that was fucking awesome," I said, looking up at her with a smile.
Mia let out a light laugh, her eyes shining amusedly.
My eyes fanned over hers curiously, still not quite understanding what was going on. "What even got into you? You didn't eat another plate of cookies, did you?" I half-joked, remembering she was acting awfully similar to how she did that night. And she had just gone to the kitchen...
Mia having seen the brief panic in my eyes, rolled her eyes lightly. "Nah of course not, I'm just bored," she shrugged.
I paused my eyes working over hers with a furrowed brow, sensing her lie. As sexy as what she'd just done was, I couldn't help but acknowledge there was something wrong with it. Like there was something she wasn't telling me.
I watched as she glanced at the space on the sofa beside us, and her eyes fell a little as she noticed the place was empty. I wasn't sure if I was imagining it, but she looked like she felt guilty.
It was weird, and at the back of my mind, I instantly knew something wasn't right.
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