Page 43 of Aftertaste

Thalia flipped her long auburn hair over her shoulder as she squealed to a stop and parked between two sports cars. “They always have a party after the game.”The game.The game that they’d won tonight, just like they had every time they played our school. Sports were a big deal where I lived, football, track, baseball, but nothing compared to the basketball team. And our biggest rivals, Lakemere Prep. It may have been in the same town as Lakemere Public school, but that was where the similarities stopped.

“And you just happened to overhear where the party was going to be?” I raised a brow at her as I undid my belt. Thalia had been my best friend since grade school and we were polar opposites. Where I liked to stay safe in my bubble, she liked to jump out of it and try anything and everything she could. She was the yin to my yang, the Thelma to my Louise.

“Yep.” She slicked some gloss onto her lips, smacked them together, then pushed out of the car. I followed, not wanting to be left alone in a neighborhood I didn’t know.

“Wait up,” I whisper shouted, rushing to catch up with her. She laughed, the sound echoing around us, but it was soon erased by the beat of the music coming from the other side of the vast gates surrounding what could only be described as a mansion. “Holy shit.”

“Agreed,” Thalia said, halting at the bottom of the driveway as we both stared in awe. Neither of us moved for several minutes as we took it all in. The large lawns sat in the middle of the huge circling driveway and came to a stop in front of the biggest water feature fountain I’d ever seen. People were milling about around it, but not one person stood on the perfectly cut grass. They were respectful of the property, a complete contrast to how people behaved at public school parties.

Lights from the mansion illuminated the outside area, and as we finally took steps toward it, I felt more and more exposed. These kids were wearing what was sure to be designer clothes, and here I was in a tank top and denim shorts with my beat-up combat boots. I was out of place; not dressed at all for a party like this.

I was the odd one out, especially as Thalia was dressed to the nines, her dress gripping every inch of her body as the heels she wore clicked on the paved driveway.

“I’m not dressed right,” I murmured, keeping my gaze on anything but the students gathered outside of the mansion.

“Psssh.” Thalia pulled me closer. “Head up high, Sage. Show no fear.”

“What?” My eyes widened. “Why are you acting as if we’re about to go into the lion’s den?”

“Because we are,” she whispered, then pulled me through the open door that was as big as a wall in my small bedroom.

I opened my mouth, about to tell her we should leave. We shouldn’t have come here in the first place. We weren’t like these people; we never would be like these people. They may entertain us for a short while, but we didn’t belong here.

Thalia pulled me through the vast rooms in the house, acting as if she knew exactly where she was going. The kitchen was full of people, but more than that, jampacked with alcohol. Beers sat in the porcelain sink on a bed of ice, and a refrigerated wine cellar was filled to the rafters with spirits. One thing they had in common with the Public parties were the red solo cups. Seemed like even they didn’t discount the benefits of being able to throw them in the trash once they were finished with.

Thalia poured us both a drink and handed me one of the red cups, but I shook my head at her. I wasn’t good with alcohol. I was a lightweight, and I knew it. So, drinking at a party where the only person we knew was each other, didn’t seem like such a good idea.

“Come on, Sage. Loosen up a little.” She wiggled her shoulders for effect, a giant grin on her face.

“Nope.” I shook my head and took a couple of steps back, only stopping when my back hit the island in the middle of the kitchen. The cold marble cooled my palms, relaxing me a little.

“Take it,” she ground out, pushing the solo cup into my chest then letting go. I had no choice but to catch it. She raised her brow at me as she swayed her hips left and right to the music blasting throughout the house. “You don’t have to drink it,” she continued. “Just hold onto it and make it look like you are.”

I brought the red cup up to my nose, sniffed it, then nearly gagged. Whatever it was smelled disgusting, and just the thought of drinking it made me want to throw up. Thalia on the other hand downed hers and was already making herself a second drink.

I wanted nothing more than to tell her to slow down, but I stopped myself, biting down on my bottom lip. It wasn’t my place to tell her what she could and couldn’t do. We were seventeen-year-old high school students. We were meant to be out having fun and going to parties. This was what I should have been doing.

It was Friday night and I was out with my best friend. I didn’t get to do this often, so as I watched Thalia make a beeline for the makeshift dancefloor, I decided to do exactly what she’d said—to let loose and have a little fun. It was only one night, right? How bad could it really get?

Sleeping Beauty

Storm

I only had one rule when I had a party after a game: No sleeping over. But apparently whoever was snoring away in my childhood bed didn’t get the memo. Her blond hair covered half of her face, her mouth parted slightly, showing her plump, soft looking lips. She was beautiful, but in that raw, natural kind of way.

Frowning, I tried to place her face. I felt like I recognized her, but I wasn’t sure where from. She definitely wasn’t one of the students from school.

The sun had come up several hours ago, and I’d already been for my usual workout in the gym attached to the guesthouse, which was also where myactualbedroom was. I hadn’t slept in this room since I was thirteen years old, not since Dad had given me the guest house and let the housekeeper do all of his parenting. He was always too busy either in the office, jet setting to his latest business deal on his private plane, or entertaining his latest conquest twenty years his junior. He didn’t have the time or energy to be my actual father, not unless it came to my basketball career.

I tilted my head to the side, not taking my attention off the girl as I glanced down her body. Her tank top had ridden up, showing a strip of her stomach, but it was the denim shorts showcasing her legs that had my nostrils flaring. Girls I hung out with would never have worn an outfit like that, and especially not with scuffed up combat boots.

I liked it.

She wasn’t from around here, that much was clear, but I was intrigued. Curiosity waved over me, so I sat on the edge of the bed. The house was silent, the only sounds her soft snores. Everyone else had left by five am, but she hadn’t. She’d stayed, and I couldn’t help but wonder why she’d ended up here. Everyone knew I lived in the guesthouse next to the pool, so why would she have come up here?

I whipped my head around to face the en suite door, suddenly realizing she may not have been alone, but when all I saw was the empty bathroom, my shoulders drooped. I had no idea why the thought of her being here with someone else had me on edge, but I wasn’t going to overthink it, not yet anyway.

I was captain of the basketball team, the king of my high school. I didn’t want for attention from girls, but I also never really cared to give them any either. I fucked liked I shot hoops: fast and furious. I lived each day like it was the last one I was going to have on this earth, but as I stared down at Sleeping Beauty, I wondered what it would be like to live in the moment. To not worry about what everyone else thought of me. To not have to live up to expectations.

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