Page 60 of Boundaries

“No Chrissy.” I didn’t say anything mean about her size as she was insecure about her weight. It didn’t help her to have two sisters that were both quite scrawny in comparison. It would come off eventually, once she lost her puppy fat. She didn’t do herself any favours though, eating crisps and drinking cans of pop all the time but what could you do? Sixteen-year-olds had to find their own way.

“Betty meeting us there?” she asked as we made our way downstairs.

“No, she should be here now. She’s picking us up and then leaving the car in town. Wynter can’t make it.”

“That’s a shame.”

During the journey, all the girls talked about was boys. Betty and James were having problems. I didn’t say anything about Mason, how could I? Not with Chrissy there.

When we walked into the club, we drew attention and there were some fit-looking guys in there. I had decided I would enjoy myself tonight and hopefully remove Mason McKenna from my memory banks. For the time being anyway. I wouldn’t do anything stupid, just some mild flirting maybe.

The music was loud and the bar area was crowded. I bought a round of beers and we all went to linger near a cluster of fit-looking guys. It wasn’t planned, there were guys everywhere and only a few groups of girls. The dancefloor was half full which was a surprise, considering it was only ten in the evening.

The conversation flowed well between us. Betty looked stunning in a long black maxi dress and she had her hair tied up. We had only been standing there for around half a bottle of Bud when three guys joined us. Muscled in more like, but we didn’t mind. They were all quite good-looking. The guy I got talking to was called Adam. He was tall with an athletic build and was an accountant and twenty-four. Considering how boring his job sounded, he was quite funny and listened to what I had to say. I hated that active boy listening thing that most guys did.

We were still in a group in our usual ‘girls stick together’ rule. We watched out for each other and never left our drinks unattended. Drink spiking was a regular occurrence in the city.

Adam had a great sense of humour with defined pretty boy looks. I didn’t usually go for red-haired men, but it had more brown in it than ginger and he had proper designer stubble. I wondered how it would feel to kiss him. The others were on the dance floor, leaving Adam and me standing beside one of the mirrored roof supports. He was a bit close to me, considering we’d only be chatting for the last forty-five minutes, boys cracked on quickly in the city apparently.

I glanced behind his shoulder to check on Chrissy, she was dancing with her guy, Rory I think he’d said his name was. He still looked a little old for her but he seemed harmless. Betty was close by and I could see she kept shooting a glance toward my sister. We were both quite protective. The guy she had been with had faded away, probably because Betty kept texting on her phone.

“You have stunning eyes,” Adam suddenly said, before placing his beer on the shelf behind me next to my clutch. I did the same as my phone vibrated in my back pocket, I wanted to check it, but I didn’t want to appear rude.

“Does that line usually work?” I grinned playfully.

“Not once,” he confessed with a boyish smile. He had dimples, I could deal with that. Adam told me not to run off whilst he went to the bar for a refill. He offered me a drink and I said no of course. I wouldn’t drink anything that wasn’t opened in front of my eyes.

Sliding my phone out, I keyed in my code and a jet of adrenaline fizzled into my chest as I saw I had a message from Dickhead.

Of course, Dickhead was in fact, Mason. Maybe I needed to change his name, considering I’d now slept with the soulless bastard.

I tapped the box to see the whole message.

Where the fuck are you?

What the heck? Where did he get off on asking me where I was, I felt like shooting back, where were you? Highlighting his fucking disappearing act on Sunday morning.

I tapped my phone against my chin as I thought about a good comeback. I could see Adam queuing at the bar, his arse certainly looked nice in those dark jeans. And he was an accountant, so he was clever.

I thumbed in, NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, but then deleted it. I wanted him to know I was out having fun and had not thought of him all night. Yeah right. The guy was on my mind every other minute.

I’m out in town getting shitfaced and talking to an accountant. Why?

I reread what I had put about three times before I clicked send. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long for his reply.

Don’t end up doing what you usually do.

The conversation was snappy. What do I usually do?

Something stupid.

Fuck you. I literally thumped this into my screen with my finger so hard that the screen should have cracked.

You’ve already done that. He was such a frustrating prick.

At that point, Adam came back but I had lost interest. I excused myself and went to the ladies, found a stall, shut the lid, and sat down on it.

In the time it took to tell Adam and the girls that I needed the loo and then found them up about fifty odd fricking stairs, I’d received three more messages.

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