Page 15 of The Lies We Tell Ourselves

“Hurry up, man. Ava wants to add some extra sparkle to you.”

“And your halo! Don’t forget that, Mal.”

“Ow! What was that for?”

Ava’s answering cackle scared me as I opened the door to find her poking Mal like a voodoo doll. He tried to bat her away with his hands, but he was as ticklish as anything and kept cracking up instead.

“You guys ready?” I turned and headed to the door. I had my hand on the handle, ready to make a quick escape.

“Not so fast, mister,” Ava said as her hands latched onto my shoulders steered me toward my desk chair. Once I was situated to her liking, she grabbed her bottomless bag and pulled out foundation, concealer, mascara, and two pots of glitter. One, a holographic gold, the other, rainbow.

I swallowed. “All that for me? I knew I looked bad, but…” My throat felt thick, and it was hard to swallow. My anxiety pounded through me, ratcheting up higher with every passing second.

Ava dropped down in front of me, her blue eyes glassy, and rested her hands on my knees. “It’s going to be okay, Jamie.” She looked up at Mal. “Whatever happened today, you know you can talk to us, right?”

I nodded, unable to speak past the lump lodged in my throat, and placed my hand over hers and squeezed. She gave me a sweet smile, pointed to the items she’d put on my desk, and explained her vision while Mal put on some music. The soft haunting notes of Last Resort, the reimagined version, by Falling in Reverse filled the room as I sat back and let Ava work her magic on me.

Mal’s phone buzzed, letting us know our rideshare was here as Ava did her finishing touches. Rainbow glitter flakes floated through the air, shimmering like the room was filled with magic. With nothing to do over the past twenty minutes, Ava’s words had allowed me to lock down most of my anxiety. We slipped into the silver sedan waiting right outside our building, Ava in the front and Mal and I in the back. Campus passed by in the blur, the lights fading until we hit the outer limits of Whinthrope.

The streets were busy for eight-thirty on a Saturday evening, but then again, it’s a college town and the semester was just about to start, so I guessed everyone was blowing off some steam before the real world hit us.

Trepidation crawled over my skin as the car slowed to a stop at the bottom of the drive of what looked like a modern McMansion-style home. As soon as we stepped out of the car, the thumping bass music hit us, and the windows lit up with an array of colors. Cars were parked haphazardly up the driveway and across the front lawn, making it difficult to get to the house.

Ava wore a wide smile, and Mal’s sea-glass eyes sparkled with excitement. “It’s gonna be fun angel. I promise,” Ava said.

“We’ll take good care of you and introduce you to some of our other friends,” Mal added. He linked his fingers with mine as Ava stepped through the door and led us through the throng of writhing bodies into a modern kitchen. The pulsing beat of EDM music assaulted me, the vibrations rattling every surface and making bottles of liquor move across the white quartz countertop.

“What do you wanna drink?” Mal shouted in my ear. I could barely hear him over the volume of the music, even though his lips were brushing my ear.

“Nothing strong,” I said as I turned to face him. From a distance, it probably looked like we were having an intimate moment, but there was nothing between us other than a budding friendship. I was already feeling the effects of Ava’s gold standard mimosa as it sloshed around inside me, creating a light buzz.

“I’ve got you!” Mal kissed my cheek and sauntered around the island to where the red solo cups were and started mixing bottles of liquor with some fruit juices he pulled out of the large fridge.

I’d never been to a party like this. Not that I’d been to any in recent years, having never stayed in one place long enough to form any friendships. Ava bounced through the crowd with the goth girl from Bean There attached to her hip. The girl looked at Ava like she hung the moon. It was a look I recognized well, as it was one I’d worn once too.

CHAPTER

SEVEN

DILLON

EDM music pounded through the room, the base so heavy it vibrated through my legs as I sat at the edge of the dance floor with Elise writhing on my lap like I was a piece of furniture. Her long blond hair kept brushing over my face as she rolled her body to the beat. Her tight red dress—if the scrap of material could be called a dress—left little to the imagination, but she was all about appearances. She continued to rub herself on my crotch like I was some kind of pogo stick, but I was deader than a doornail. She irritated me more than a fucking mosquito.

Elise had spent the first hour sitting on my lap, holding court with her bitchy plastic friends, taking her role as queen bee to the nth degree. She was the ‘IT’ girl at Briar U. All the girls wanted to be her friend, and all the guys wanted to fuck her. She came from old money, and her daddy was a senator. She was addicted to power, but she was a vapid airhead who was still living in her high school years. The quarterback and the head cheerleader, her and me, that was her goal. I’d rather jump off a fucking cliff.

“Baby,” she whined as her hand worked its way up my chest. “I’m gonna dance with Karri.” She bit down on her over-inflated lip, trying to be seductive. “I’m going to put on a show you won’t forget.”

“Sure,” I grunted, swallowing down a mouthful of my beer that was now warm because she’d prevented me from drinking it. I watched her saunter into the middle of the makeshift dance floor with her friend, Karri, a curvaceous brunette with an ass the size of a small country. They started grinding together, legs entwined, but I was more interested in how soon I could leave without raising questions.

“Fuck, that’s hot,” Vieck said as he sat on the arm of the chair I was sitting on, swigging his drink.

“Ahh, this is the life.” Stevens groaned and adjusted himself before taking a seat on the sofa on my other side. I wanted to be anywhere but here. Fuck, this shit was boring. Talk, get drunk, fuck, then repeat at the next party. They were all the same, and as a junior, I was now done with this scene. I’d rather be at the gym.

“So, is tonight the night you’re finally going to make her dreams ‘cum’ true?” Vieck snickered. “Get it? Cum, as in your cum.”

“I get it, and no. Not interested.”

“What the actual fuck, man?!” Stevens yelled. “She’s the hottest piece of ass here and she’s been begging you to fuck her since lat year.”

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