Chapter 29 - Lily

Lily

Adrian refused to leave the kitchen, so we stowed him in the breakfast nook eating cake and ventured forth without him. I let Cassie pull me through the throng of people in the hall, now only mildly aware of the unfamiliar pressure inside me that threatened to spring to life with vibrations at any moment.

“You got here just in time,” Cassie shouted to me over her shoulder. “I’ve been trying to get people to dance, and you can help.”

I took another gulp of the amber liquid in my cup, shivering at its overpowering taste. “I can?”

“Yes,” she yelled. “All we have to do is dance in the middle of the room and look like we’re having the time of our lives, then people will join in.”

“Okay,” I laughed. We wound up in a formal living room, crowded on the couches and in the corners but sparse on the rug save for two of Cassie’s friends I vaguely knew, who were bobbing slightly to the music with their own drinks clutched to their chests.

“Hey girlies,” Cassie greeted them. “Avett, this is Hannah and Gabby. Girls, this is Avett.”

“Ladies,” Avett said with a tip of his hideous hat. He looked up at the ceiling lights and squinted. “I reckon I might have a gander around for that Hunter boy.”

Cassie huffed in protest. “Avett! You need to dance too, or else no guys will join in.”

“I’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail,” he told her. “Cross my heart, ya hear?”

“Okay, fine,” she giggled. “Just look for the guy dressed like Ron Stoppable.”

Avett planted a quick kiss on my head and slipped off into the crowd in the hall.

“Oh my God,” Cassie said once he was out of earshot. “He is sooo cute. I mean, you two are so cute together!” She squealed with delight, squeezing my shoulders. Hannah and Gabby nodded their avid agreement.

“You are sooo lucky,” One of them cooed.

“Um, thanks?” I said. What was that supposed to mean?

“I wish I had such an adorable relationship,” she quickly added.

“Oh my God, Gabs!” Cassie grabbed her shoulder instead. “I totally tried to set you up with Avett’s cute shy friend, but he turned out to be gay!”

I nearly choked on my mouthful of whiskey. “Adrian isn’t gay,” I said, wiping my mouth.

“What?” Cassie’s face whipped in my direction. “Why did Avett say he was?”

Shit. Avett had actually come up with a good cover and I’d blown it in an instant. I backtracked. “Um ... He’s actually bi,” I said. “But he has a girlfriend. She lives in Seattle.” I swallowed, the bittersweet taste of my drink still thick in my mouth. Even the thought of Adrian being in some fictional long-distance relationship with another girl made my stomach clench.

That answer placated the girls. “Shame,” Cassie said, shaking her head mournfully. “Poor Gabs will keep on being single, after all.” She chugged down the rest of her seltzer and tossed the empty can on a side table. “Let’s dance our pain away, ladies.”

Laughing, we allowed Cassie to lead us to the middle of the rug. The room felt warm and soft, like the air was hugging me, so it wasn’t hard to move with the beat of the music. Before I knew it, I was pretty sure I did look like I was having the time of my life. We kept on laughing and bobbing and passing one another under clasped hands, spinning until the room did, too, with Cassie rapping along to the verses and me mouthing the repetitive melodies that were easy to remember.

Soon enough, a few more girls drifted to our makeshift dancefloor, and we accepted them by singing the lyrics together as we grasped random hands and arms. “You were right, Cassie!” I enthused, although the words tripped over themselves on my tongue. My cup was empty.

One of her two half-closed eyes winked at me. “Please and thank you,” she said.

All of a sudden, every glaring cold light overhead dropped to a dim, warm hue. Happy shouts erupted from all depths of the house, with us girls on the dancefloor cheering the loudest. “Guess he found Hunter!” I shouted.

“Thank God,” said someone nearby.

I opened my mouth to brag that my boyfriend was to thank, but I was cut off by a sudden sharp jolt to my g-spot and clitoris. “HA—” I gasped, lurching forward. It was the highest setting Sir had used on me, by far.

“You good?” Cassie asked, catching my arm.

“Yeah,” panted, breathing through the shockwaves of pleasure spilling through me until they skidded to a halt. Although they stopped just as quickly as they came, my privates still pulsed with unwanted sensations. I looked around at the lazy walls, suddenly plagued by the fear Avett wouldn’t return. “I’m going to find Avett.”

The girls liked that idea. “Do it,” Cassie urged. “We need some testosterone up in here.”

I swam through the swaying bodies and into the hall. I’d only had half of my two allotted beverages, and I only knew directions to the kitchen anyway, so I decided to stop there first.

“Adrian,” I purred. He was still sitting in the breakfast nook, scrolling on his phone with a graveyard of crumpled candy wrappers around him. I tumbled onto the bench beside him and snuggled up to his side. He smelled so warm and woodsy-yummy. “I missed you,” I sighed.

He looked around the empty kitchen. “Careful. Don’t wanna get caught.”

“Oh, right,” I huffed. “Because of your Seattle girlfriend.”

“What?”

I just laughed in his face. It was too hard to explain. “Perv.”

He tipped his head all the way back, resting it against the wall. His neck arched with the hump of his Adam’s apple. “I’m not in the mood, Lilith,” he said.

I reached up and trailed the tip of my finger down the length of his soft neck skin. “Did Avett come in here?”

His throat rumbled under my finger as he spoke. “For a minute, yes.”

“Where’d he go?”

“I don’t know,” he said, lifting his head. “Downstairs, I guess.”

“Where’s that?”

“Around the corner.” He nodded vaguely to the hall. “Where’s Sir’s coat?”

I looked down at myself. “I couldn’t dance with a coat on, silly,” I laughed. It was probably in a pile in the living room. I stood up, unsteady. I asked, “Do you think you’re drunk already?”

“No,” he said. He looked at the can of hard seltzer I’d just taken out of the fridge. “Why, do you?”

“No,” I lied quickly. I dug my nails under the pop tab and opened it with a hiss and sputter of bubbles. I took a big, silky drink. Much more palatable than whiskey. I burped. “I’m going to find Avett.”

Adrian went back to his phone. “Later.”

Downstairs, downstairs. I traipsed around the corner and found a cracked door spilling low light. Just as my feet hit the carpeted steps, a gentle buzz tugged my attention back to my nether region. Grrr. The vibration was so low it was more annoying than anything, especially because it refused to cease even after several seconds. I clutched the banister in one hand and my drink in the other, breathing through the torment.

The large, finished basement smelled just like Cassie’s weed pen and was cluttered with people on leather couches and chairs. Near the bottom of the stairs, a crowd was gathered around a rowdy game of pool on a shiny wooden table. Against the far wall, Avett sat at an upright piano, digging his fingers into the keys with fervor to rival the thump of the music above. He was playing the chords to a corny country song, and a couple of girls dressed like slutty animals sat nearby screeching the words. The bulb inside me went still, but my guts twisted with rage. One girl was wearing his hat. The other had his precious fringed jacket draped over her shoulders.