*Edited*
Since Mae had brought me here, I couldn't exactly leave the party, so I did the next best thing.
I dashed upstairs to the second floor of the house to find a room to lock myself in. My eyes were already watering and I knew it was only a matter of time before I started bawling.
Trust me, I wasn't one of those pretty criers by any means. My eyebrows and nose scrunched up, I drooled a bit out of the side of my mouth, and I whined kind of loud at the same time.
Like I said, not pretty.
When I reached the top of the stairs, I took my mask off so my tears wouldn't ruin the feathers. I threw open the first door on the right and couldn't realize what was happening right away.
I stood there, trying to figure out who the two people were making out on a huge king-sized bed, for quiet some time. I gave them enough time to notice me.
"Veronica!" One of them yelled when they both flew apart to separate sides of the bed.
I immediately recognized Mae and Quinn and threw a hand over my eyes, trying to find my way back out of the room. I stumbled into a stray box still on the floor from not being fully unpacked.
"Shit! I'm sorry, crap. I swear I didn't see...anything! Carry on!" I shouted, still trying to get out of the room. I slammed the door shut behind me and ran to the room at the end of the long hallway. I placed my hand around the doorknob and twisted it.
I froze.
What was I doing? Was I seriously about to go lock myself in a room to cry over a boy?
Oh, hell no. I angrily wiped my tears away and took my hand off of the doorknob. Elijah didn't deserve my tears. I took a shuddering breath and straightened up, sliding my mask back on.
As I walked by the room Mae had been in, the door opened and she stepped through it, almost bumping right into me. When she saw me, she smoothed down her hair and her face reddened. I held up my hands.
"Don't worry, Mae. I won't tell anyone and I really didn't see anything. You guys separated too fast for my eyes to register what was happening," I babbled.
She glanced behind her into to the room Quinn was still in and held up a finger before shutting the door.
"Don't worry about it, V," she said. I liked how she shortened my name, giving me a nickname. It made me feel like we were even closer friends now. "I'm worried about you. You looked like you were about to cry. Did something happen?"
I waved a hand in the air. "Pfft, I'm fine. Seriously," I said when she gave me a look like she knew better, "Go back to Quinn. He's waiting for you." I winked, giving her a nudge.
Her face broke out in a grin and she wrapped her arms around me. I hugged her back as she said, "You're a great friend. Go enjoy yourself and don't worry about anything, okay?"
I nodded, pulling away. "Okay, see you later," I said, heading back downstairs as I heard the bedroom door shut behind me.
I wasn't exactly in the mood to go back downstairs to dance again in front of all these people with masks on. Without the masks, I knew I hated every single one of them anyway.
So, with dancing and crying out of the option, I decided to head outside to the backyard where there was peace and quiet. It was kind of chilly to be wearing only a tank top outside and I shivered when I sat down on the edge of the porch. I'd received a few strange looks when I had shoved my way through the house to get outside, but I didn't care.
For tonight, I was the girl in the blue mask.
The moon was shining bright and a few stars had already come out. I rubbed my arms for warmth as a small breeze came by, ruffling the feathers on my mask.
No matter how hard I tried not to, I kept thinking about my freaking neighbor with the green eyes. I honestly couldn't believe what a jerk he was. I'd never met anyone like him, but even just thinking about him made my heart pound.
Another breeze went by and I shivered. The slider door behind me was pulled open, but I didn't care to turn around to acknowledge who it was.
A warm, fleece sweater was dropped around my shoulders and the door slid shut again. I tightened the black sweater around myself as I spun around to see who it had been. I just barely caught a glimpse of a guy with black hair and a matching mask.
Without thinking, I jumped up and barged right back into the house, tearing the sweater off as I chased after the guy. I caught up to him in the kitchen and yanked on his arm to get him to stop.
Elijah's eyes glowed in the darkness as he narrowed his eyes on my hand on his arm. I kept it there as I used my other arm to swing the sweater at him. He effortlessly caught it in one hand before slinging it over one of his shoulders.
"Why did you give that to me?" I demanded, squeezing my hand around his arm. It didn't even faze him.
He gave me a look as if I were an idiot and deadpanned, "Because you looked cold."
"Well I wasn't," I spat.
In the blink of an eye, Elijah twisted in my grasp and had me pinned against the kitchen counter with his body. He leaned down so his lips were just inches from mine, making it next to impossible for me to concentrate. He smirked when my eyes slipped to his mouth.
"Why were you so angry about that?" He asked, huskily.
I almost asked, Angry about what? when I realized what he meant.
"Because one second you're hot-"
"Oh, so you think I'm hot," he interrupted, somehow getting even closer to my lips. I forced my eyes to stay on his.
"That's not what I meant and you know it. You're all over the place, Eli. You say you don't have feelings for me and then you go and give me your sweater because I was 'cold'. How did you even know I was outside?" I pointed out.
His bottom lip skimmed across mine and I gasped as he muttered, "Damnit, Ronnie."
I swear he had been about to seal his lips to mine when an unknown force pulled him away from me. I stood up straight as I saw my mystery guy clench his fists while he faced off against Elijah.
"You can't just go and take my girl away," my mystery guy growled from when Elijah had dragged me away from the game of kiss pong. Hmm, it seemed to me like I was being fought over. I couldn't be sure though since I've never been in this situation before.
I almost laughed at how silly it looked to see two guys wearing green and black masks while they argued with each other. I covered my mouth to keep from bursting out in fits of giggles, but that had been before Elijah opened his mouth.
"She's not your girl," he countered.
I suddenly didn't feel like laughing anymore as my heart literally stopped beating in my chest for a second. My mystery guy shook his head, making his blonde hair flop into one of his eyes.
He impatiently shoved it back as he scoffed, "Yeah, not yet, but she will be."
I remembered what Elijah had said about him being a douchebag and a player, but he never told me the guy's name so I wasn't sure if I actually believed him or not.
"She won't ever be yours," Elijah threatened, menacingly, "because she's mine."
My jaw practically hit the floor as I stood behind him. My mystery guy looked around Elijah to flash his eyes to mine.
"Is that true?" He asked me, raising his eyebrows.
I looked between the two of them, positive my blue eyes were huge. I couldn't think. Was Elijah being serious?
No, he couldn't be. We had broken up and he was dating Allison. I didn't know why I even thought for a second that he had meant what he said. I had no idea why he said it, but it was probably just to make fun of my feelings.
Elijah noticed the change in my attitude as I processed everything and he knew I was about to deny being his. He was being awfully possessive of me for not even being his girlfriend in the first place.
I stepped away from the counter, earning a glare from Elijah as I strode right past him into the awaiting arms of the guy with the blonde hair and green mask.
"The next time you want to play games with me, just know that I never lose. I don't play by your rules, I play by my own. Let's go," I said, pulling my mystery guy away. He gave Elijah a satisfied smirk and it took all I had not to slap it away.
The truth was, I hadn't exactly chosen this guy over Elijah. I just wanted Elijah to think I did. At the back of my mind, I was begging him to come chase after me as we walked back into the living room.
When Elijah gave no sign of following, I collapsed on one of the couches.
"Can you go get me a drink?" I asked my mystery guy.
"We were just in the-"
He shut up real quick when I gave him a dirty look and he headed back into the kitchen to get me a drink. I wasn't thirsty, I just wanted to be left alone.
Was I overreacting about all of this?
Ugh.
I shut my eyes and laid back when the couch dipped under someone's weight. Crap, he was back already. I opened my eyes and reached out a hand before I realized the person who was sitting here wasn't who I had expected it to be.
Elijah stared back at me. I couldn't catch a break, could I?
"Ronnie, don't choose him," he said.
I sat up straight, facing him. "Why not, Eli? Why do you even care who I'm with or what I do?"
He surprised me by closing the gap between our faces and pressing his lips to mine. He titled his head to give himself better access to deepen the kiss. I squeezed my eyes shut as I kissed him back without thinking.
"Now do you know why?" He mumbled against my lips.
"No. Tell me," I said, breathlessly. I'm sorry, but you didn't just go around kissing girls like that while you were dating someone else and claimed not to be in love with the person you kissed.
He sighed. "I haven't exactly been truthful with you."
"No shit."