Page 1 of One Night

Chapter One

May

Amber

"Where are you going?" I yell over the music as Megan takes off with some guy.

"I'll meet up with you later!" she yells back, laughing as she stumbles on her heels. We've been at this party less than ten minutes and she's already tipsy. She swigged down two cups of spiked fruit punch which is all it takes for someone as tiny as her to get drunk.

"Amber!" she yells, stumbling back to me. "Todd said he'd take me home later so don't wait around for me."

"Megan, you just met the guy. You sure you can trust him?"

"Todd?" She laughs and waves her hand around. "He's totally harmless. And I didn't just meet him. I met him last week at Shooter's. He's bartending there this summer." She's bouncing up and down to the music. She always gets hyper when she's drunk.

"So he goes to school here?" I ask, looking behind her to see him. He's standing a few feet away, checking his phone.

"Yeah, he's a junior. Pre-law." She checks to make sure he's still there, then whips back to me. "I gotta go."

"So you're just leaving me here? What happened to girls' night? You said we were coming here to drink and dance."

She pouts her glossy pink lips. "I know. I'm sorry. But I didn't know Todd would be here."

I'm pretty sure she did. Out of all the parties we could've gone to, she kept insisting on going to this one, which isn't even at our college. It's on the other side of Chicago at Townsend College, a small liberal arts school I hadn't even heard of until just last week when Megan told me about this party. She said a band would be playing but I'm not seeing any signs of a band. There's no stage. No musicians. We're in a frat house off campus in a living room that's been cleared of furniture and is currently packed with wall-to-wall people. Club music is blasting from speakers, one of which is right next to my head.

"Where's the band?" I yell so she can hear me.

"What band?" she yells back as she moves to the music.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"What?" She leans closer. "I can't hear you."

"Never mind. You better get back to Todd. Just be careful, okay? You don't know him that well."

"I'll be fine. Have fun tonight!" She gives me a quick hug, then runs off into Todd's waiting arms. They kiss and he grabs her ass as she grinds against him. I bet they'll be having sex by the end of the night, or maybe in a few minutes the way they're going at it.

Megan's a free spirit. Wild and crazy and up for anything. We became friends a few months ago when we were on a project together for marketing. We're not close friends but just friends who go out now and then. She's not someone I'd share my deepest, innermost secrets to because she can't keep a secret to save her life. Last March I told her I liked this guy in our class and the next day he came up to me and told me he has a girlfriend. Megan had told him what I said! I was mortified. She said she was only trying to help because I hadn't been on a date in a month but her 'help' backfired and left me feeling embarrassed around the guy for the rest of the semester. Thank God school is out for the summer so I don't have to see him.

I should've known Megan would take off with some guy the minute we got here. Now I'm stuck at this party not knowing anyone. But it's Friday night and I just finished a week of finals so I don't want to go back to my apartment. I want to be out having fun.

I gulp down some of my spiked fruit punch. It's way too sweet and whatever they spiked it with doesn't mix well with the fruity taste of the punch.

"Hey," a voice says from behind me.

I look over and see a blond guy walking toward me. He's tall and thin, wearing a smile that says he's looking for sex and wants to know if I'm interested. Maybe it's presumptuous to assume all that from a simple smile but after attending two years of college and a ton of parties, I've seen that smile many times on many guys and I know what it means.

"How's it going?" he asks, his eyes lowering to my breasts before returning to my face.

"Good," I say. "How about you?"

Instead of answering, he holds his hand out. "I'm Alex."

"Amber." I shake his hand. It's cold and clammy and his fingers are long and skinny and feel awkward wrapped around mine. I won't date a guy if his hand doesn't fit right in mine. Maybe that's crazy, but would you really want to date a guy you can't hold hands with? Or if you do hold hands with him, would you want it to feel awkward?

I've had this debate with Megan and she's told me that nobody holds hands anymore, except for old people and little kids. She said she never holds hands with a guy, but that's because she skips straight to the sex. There's no time for handholding. Her hands are too busy doing other things.

As for me? I like holding a guy's hand. I think it's romantic. If you do it in public, it shows people you're a couple. If you do it in private, it says you can't help but touch the person even if you're just sitting together watching TV.

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