As I moved to stumble forward, Thorn grabbed my wrist and held me in place. His eyes were ablaze with some sort of wicked passion, demanding me to stay where I was.
I submitted to his silent desire, cowering back so that I was stood directly beside him.
"Sky, I'm- I'm sorry. There's so much I should tell you, but I don't think I can. It's stupid and ridiculous, a completely unacceptable explanation for everything I did to you, but I can't make myself say it." His voice was soft, breaths shaky, and a few tears trickled down his flushed cheeks.
"I'm presuming he already told you about why he's here?" I nodded solemnly and Ash let out a short, halfhearted laugh.
"Well tonight I was going to tell him I didn't want to hurt you anymore, that he could go back... but something tells me that he wouldn't want to leave unless you went with him."
His gaze flicked upwards so that he was looking into my eyes, guilt pooling in his teary orbs. My mind was spinning, a whirling tornado of confusion and doubt.
I wanted to run over to him, wipe his tears away and forgive him for anything he's done. However, I knew that was complete ludicrous; it was just my hopeful mind thinking he could make me happy.
"Then why did you do it, huh? Why did you do all of those things to me, Ash."
He looked taken aback at my sudden outburst, mouth opening to speak before shutting immediately after.
"Why did you play with my feelings? One second you were pulling me in, and the next you were pushing me out again. I'm not just some toy for you to play with when you feel like it and throw me away once you're done. So why?"
He struggled for words, hands balling into fists at his sides and he tried to conjure up an answer.
"I was confused. I didn't know what I was doing. For the first time in my life, someone actually made my heart beat faster." He paused, wiped the tears from his cheeks with the sleeve of his black suit, and then sniffed.
"It's not like I've never felt attraction before, or like I'd never kissed anyone before... but you were different. You weren't like the others, not whiny or annoying. No, you were so much more. You made me feel things others couldn't." Ash smiled sadly to himself, clearly trying to hold back any tears still remaining.
Suddenly the idea of Thorn hearing all of this made me uncomfortable, and I couldn't help but want him to leave for the moment. However, as soon as the thought crossed my mind, I refused to admit I actually thought it.
"What? So you're saying that you did all of that because he makes you happy? Sorry, Min, but that just doesn't add up." I was about to scald Thorn for getting involved when then the realisation hit me.
Min?
I glanced up at Thorn before swiftly moving my gaze over to Ash who certainly didn't look happy. In fact, he looked rather annoyed.
"Min? W-what do you mean Min? Who's that?" Considering the fact that I had no clue what was going on, the pair could have been a little more understanding about the whole ordeal. Although, under the circumstances, I get why they weren't.
Thorn looked between me and Ash, clearly amused at his angered expression. "Oh you are kidding me, right? You didn't even tell him that?" The boy beside me let a smirk find its way onto his lips, his attitude changing to that of a bitchy teenage girl. "You still expect him to pick you even though he knows nothing about you, and I doubt you know anything about him?"
Ash looked hurt by his statement, and even though it wasn't exactly incorrect, I didn't want him to speak that way. Especially when it was obvious that Ash was struggling enough to word his thoughts already.
"Thorn, that was uncalled for. But for the record, I'm not picking between you two! I don't want to at all, so I definitely won't be right now. Now, if that's all you're here for, then leave."
I had moved away from Thorn, giving an equal distance between the two so that neither decided I was taking sides.
Glancing between them, I saw Thorn giving Ash a death glare, but the usually very outgoing boy only replied with a sheepish look. I cocked my head to the side at him, eyebrows furrowing, but he didn't meet my gaze.
Silence surround us completely, so much that you would have heard a leaf drop from centimetres away from the ground. "Well... I'm going to go back to the dance, and I'm taking both of you with me. I dare not leave you two alone together in case you rip each other's eyes out."
Storming over to Thorn, I grabbed his wrist and forcefully pulled him over to Ash. Guilt overtook me when I got closer to him, as looking up into his bloodshot eyes played with my heart.
Cursing quietly to myself, I stood on my tiptoes and used my free hand to wipe his tears away, satisfied when a small smile made its way onto his lips. Although, Thorn made it quite obvious he wasn't when he cleared his throat loudly.
I rolled my eyes when I knew he couldn't see, but the small snigger Ash gave ensured me that he himself definitely saw. A smirk tugged at my lips and Thorn gave the two of us a confused look, to which we passively brushed off; we didn't exactly want to start another fight tonight.
As soon as we were back in the corridor leading to the main room, I let go of them and turned around to give them a quick lecture. "No more arguments tonight, okay? You're not allowed to get mad at each other." I spoke firmly, using my index finger to poke them both in the chest accusingly.
Neither of them made eye contact with me, and they were basically staring at opposite sides of the room to one another. "Good! Now, let me enjoy this night with Harry and Lila... with no interference."
Once I was sure they got the idea, I span around on the heels of my white converse and made a beeline for the door. I was desperate to get back on the dance floor, meaning that the second my hands came into contact with the handle, I pushed it open.
The atmosphere was exactly the same as when I left - hyper and fun - which was quite different to the one I just left. I searched the crowd for Lila and Harry, eager to start dancing again, but after a few minutes of unsuccessfully locating them, I began to get suspicious.
"Rivvy! There you are! You won't believe what just happened. James Whitner just came up to Harry and I asking where you were! He said that Thorn dragged you off. Is that true?" Contrary to my earlier thoughts, nothing was wrong over here, and I was abruptly pulled back to Earth when Lila fired words at me like bullets.
Taking a moment to absorb all of the information, I looked at her strangely. "Uh, yeah. I mean what? James was asking about me? Oh- Oh. Shit, I just left him there. Where was he? I need to talk to him." I began looking around hurriedly, trying to see if the tall boy was anywhere in sight.
"I think he went to get a drink over there," she paused, jabbing her thumb in the direction of the busy stand littered with a large variety of fizzy drinks. "Seemed pretty urgent that he found you though. Anyway, what happened with Thorn? WAIT! Did you two make out or something?"
Lila pulled at my sleeve, trying to gain my attention from the stand across the room. However, when I pulled my arm away, she seemed to get the message. "No. Me and Thorn didn't make out, Li. Sorry but I've gotta go find James, so I'll talk to you later. Go dance some more and I'll meet up with you soon."
Without giving a second glance, I began pushing through the tightly packed crowds, only stopping when some random guy pressed himself up against me.
"You're reeeeeally sexy, y'know. I don't know why I dint realise 'fore." I cringed when I smelt his breath, the stench of alcohol burning my nostrils.
How the hell did they managed to get that in here?
Deciding that this was a waste of time, I shoved him away and continued forcing my way through the never ending mass of sweaty people. I spotted Scarlett and Lizzy walking with glasses of Fanta and decided to corner them, wondering if they saw James over there.
"Hey! Did you see James by the drink stand? I'm trying to find him and it's like he's vanished off the face of the earth." They looked at me with curious expressions, but thankfully decided not to ask.
"Yeah, I saw him in the queue only a few minutes ago. Hurry though, he wasn't far from the front." After thanking them, I scurried off towards where they pointed to, sighing with relief when I saw him carrying two cups of lemonade.
I rushed over with a bright smile on my face, and his eyes lit up when he saw me. "James! There you are. Sorry about earlier, Thorn just wanted to talk to me. Anyway, that's not important. What were you going to say?"
He stayed silent for a moment before smiling awkwardly, clearly embarrassed about something. Although, I didn't miss the way his eyes scanned over my exposed chest when he started talking.
"I- erm... I got you some lemonade. I hope that's okay. I remember seeing you drinking it one lunch s-so I just presumed you liked it. Sorry if you don't though, I can- I can get something else." He held the cup out for me to take, cheeks visibly red even through the blue lights shining down from the ceiling.
Giggling, I gently retrieved the drink and took a small sip. "Thanks James. But seriously, stop freaking out. I love lemonade." He relaxed as soon as I spoke, posture dropping to his usual stature. "And while you're at it, try and keep your eyes up. It's not that I mind of course, but it tends to make me a little flustered when I catch cute guys staring."
Whatever I just said about him having a relaxed posture, forget about it.
"S-Sorry. You just look r-really nice." I cooed at his compliment, a soft blush making its way to my cheeks because of it, but quickly decided I'd had enough of standing around and talking.
I tightened my grip around the clear plastic cup and threw my head back, causing a few drops to miss my mouth and go trickling down my chest, yet it didn't bother me at all. He looked at me in shock when I crushed the cup and placed it down on the table beside us, yet even more confused when I grasped his hand tightly in mine. Although, he soon caught on and made quick work of discarding his drink, and I bounced excitedly when he smiled down at me.
"Come on! Let's dance!"
By this point I was fed up with the people who were stood around not dancing but didn't seem to be planning on moving out of the way either, so I gave up caring about being a little rough while pushing through. However, it seemed that my problem was solved when James took the lead as, being the tall, muscly guy he is, moving people out of the way was no issue.
It only took a minute or two to be in the centre of the floor, and as soon as we were comfortably facing each other, I began dancing to Love Shot by EXO that was blasting at a painfully loud pitch out of the slightly crackly speakers, but that didn't matter right now.
James laughed when I started spinning us around in circles, but the happiness reflected in his golden brown eyes proved it was only from adoration. We spent a while dancing together, just enjoying the feeling of freedom, yet when I felt someone shove me straight into James' chest, things suddenly weren't funny anymore.
Our lips were mere centimetres apart and, after a quick mental panic, I couldn't tell if it was just me desperate to close that small distance or both of us.
My hands were wrapped around his muscly upper arms, not purposefully, and the fact that his hands had somehow found their way to my ass wasn't helping at all.
I felt his breath fan over my lips and the strong scent of lemons filled my senses, yet when I tried to move away, he wrapped his arms around my body and held me tight against him.
"Don't."
That word alone was enough to make me let go, finally realising that I was too deep in the pool to try and stop myself from drowning; so when I crashed our lips together, it was like all of the oxygen from my lungs had been sucked out.
It was messy, desperate and definitely not something that should be happening in front of hundreds of teenagers, yet everyone was too caught up in their own dancing or chatting to notice the two guys making out in the middle of the dance floor.
He broke away first but I could tell we both wanted more, so in a flurry of raging hormones and dazed thoughts, we rushed out of the bustling room and into the empty corridor.
The second the door had clicked shut our lips met again, only this time, it was softer. Lonely by Yoe Mase was playing in the room beside us, and since there was no lights on in this particularly area of the school, the ambiance suited the mood.
He backed me up against one of the cabinets in the corridor, used for storing god knows what, and lifted me up onto it, still keeping our mouth locked together. His hands were roaming over my entire body, particularly my chest and waist, before finally moving to pull at the few buttons on my waistcoat that were actually fastened.
Letting out a soft whimper, I dragged my lips down his neck and ripped the top half of his shirt open, kissing along his collar bones. He let out a breathy sigh, tilting his head back to allow me better access, but when the door creaked open, we both went rigid.
"What the hell is going on?"
Shit. I know that voice.
I pulled away from James and he jumped back almost half a meter when we realised who it was.
"Sky, why the fuck are you making out with my best friend? And James, what- what are you doing?"
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There's only going to be 24 or 25 chapters in this book so there's around five left, but I can't wait for you all to read the end!
What do you think by the way? Tell me about your thoughts down... here:
Thorn:
Ash:
James:
River:
Anyone else(?):
Thank you for reading everyone! See you next chapter ;)
- Storm ð¹