Page 8 of Sweet Punk
I watch out of the corner of my eye as Kellan gets Lux’s attention. I don’t know if he’s trying to be sly about it, but I can totally read the look in his eyes. He wants her to take me out of here.
And because she’s a good friend, and it’s not an awful idea, she obliges. “Let’s go sit in the guys’ suite.” She holds out her hand to me. “Come on, let them handle this. They’ll come get us if they want you to make a statement. We’ll watch a movie or something. And maybe we can work on getting rid of all the bloody Halloween makeup while we’re at it.” Her eyes connect with Raven’s. “Can you grab some of those makeup remover facial wipe thingies and meet us across the hall?”
Raven nods and scurries into her room, calling over her shoulder, “Yep, I’m on it.”
I draw in an unsettled breath and let Lux guide me out of the room, but I hear the guys talking. In low tones, Kellan begins to relay how he found me on the floor outside my room, shaking. And I’m sure he’s about to tell them about the stuff at the party, too, and why I left without everyone else in the first place. The question is does he realize it’s probably all connected? Will anyone put it all together?
Lux ushers me to the couch, and I curl up on it, dragging a pillow to my chest before she goes over to the fridge and pulls out bottles of water for us. “I know this look. You’re completely overwhelmed. Breathe, Star.”
I nod, looking up as Raven comes into the room, her arms full of supplies. She has the package of wipes, fulfilling Lux’s request, but also Oreos and some of the Halloween candy her parents had sent her in a care package—adorable that her parents are sweet like that—and packets of hot chocolate. She gives us a sheepish look. “I dunno, I went for anything chocolate.”
I bite my lip, trying not to lose it. “That’s sweet of you.”
She gives me a tight smile and drops everything onto the coffee table before turning and planting herself on it as well. Digging into the Halloween candy, she hands me a Hershey bar. “Tell us what’s going on.”
I rip open the chocolate packaging and break a piece off. Chewing on it slowly, I close my eyes and shake my head before answering. “It started at the party.”
“Yeah, Ryleigh found us. But we didn’t know what the hell was happening and neither did she, really. She said she was talking to Kellan and they spotted you across the room, waved, but then you were scrambling through the crowd to get the hell out of there.” Lux frowns. “Why didn’t you come find us? You know we would have come back with you.” She glances up, momentarily distracted by the commotion outside the suite door. I think the cops, or at the very least the campus police, are here.
I shove that out of my head for the time being, even though it makes me nervous that there will be someone poking into what’s happened here tonight. I clear my throat. “There was this guy. We were dancing—”
Raven’s white-blonde brows lift. “Oh yeah?” She studies me while Lux comes at me with the makeup remover wipe, moving the pillow out of the way so she can peel the nasty stuff off my stomach first.
“It wasn’t who I thought it was. And it—” I exhale raggedly. “I was upset. And embarrassed. Let’s leave it at that.” I throw up my hands.And then this happened.
Lux gives a sharp laugh. “No. Let’s not. At least tell us who you thought it was. It’s time for some honesty, Star.”
I blink rapidly, then lean forward to set the rest of my chocolate bar on the table. Pressing my lips together, I eye each of my friends in turn. As quietly as I can, I whisper, “I thought it was Kellan.”
They exchange a look before Raven asks the obvious. “Why would you think that?”
And this is where everything gets all messy again. “Well, he had aScreammask on for one.”
“But there were lots of those. There must have been another reason you thought it was him…” Lux picks up an Oreo and shoves it whole into her mouth, watching me as she chews.
“Has something happened? Between the two of you, I mean?” Raven glances over toward the door, but it remains shut, even though we can hear other people over there. “Maybe that’s why he took off after you so damn quickly yesterday?”
My cheeks burn with embarrassment as I stare at my friends. “I sorta pepper sprayed him. Like a week ago. You know I’ve always been a little anxious about someone breaking in here, and then with the fire alarms, someone following me isn’t any different—”
“Wait, what?” Lux’s gaze immediately narrows in what I think might be fascination.
Oh my God, my cheeks are on fire.
Raven’s pale-blue eyes have become comically large. “He was following you? And you hit him with your pepper spray.” The second part isn’t even a question. “Wow.”
“Yes, he was following me. Technically. He was behind me on the way home one night and it was dark, and… I freaked.” I let out a disbelieving sigh. “I totally sprayed him good, too. But then I helped him flush his eyes, and it was okay. We were okay. I think.”
Lux’s forehead pinches. “I’m not following. How did we get from him following you and you pepper spraying him to you thinking he was dancing with you… and liking it?”
Jesus, they’re going to make me say it. “I kinda thought there was something there. That day I helped him. He looked at me. Like really looked at me. I thought we had one of those moments, you know?” I lift a hand to cover my mouth. “Oh God, I’m an idiot.”
“No you’re not. Would either of you have seen me ending up with Maddox? Why is it weird that you’d like Kellan? And vice versa?” Raven grabs an Oreo and twists it apart, not even waiting for us to comment before she continues. “So, when you thought you were dancing with him…?” She scrapes the filling off her cookie with her teeth, her eyes never leaving mine.
“Whoever the asshole was, he touched me. You know, kinda possessive… like he knew me. Like he wanted me.”
“Oh, man. Some dude got handsy with you and because he was wearing the same mask Kellan was, you thought it was him. Now I get it.” Lux groans. “What a mess. Forgive me for focusing on a potentially less important detail. But, did you like the way this guy was touching you because of what he was doing, or”—her head tilts—“because you thought it was Kellan?”
“I don’t know the answer to that.” I bite down on my lip as heat surges to my face again. I don’t. But the intensity I’d felt was definitely because I thought it was Kellan. And now that I know it wasn’t, and it could have been—fuck, probably was—Milo, it’s throwing me into a tailspin.Shit.
