128 - The chapter where Audrey and Savannah are nice
Rose
" Rose, Camille! Wow, you look beautiful!”
I frowned at that unwanted interaction. What does she think she's doing?
" What? " I blinked, stunned.
" You two have really decided to bring this party down, haven't you? " Shavannah gave us a wink.
The two of them kept standing in front of the door, preventing us from leaving the place while they seemed willing to keep talking.
What's going on? Is this a prank?
" Rose, I have to say that I've always noticed a vibe between you and Davis, and I should have known that when you decided to take over it wouldn't be any less bombastic than it was today " Audrey continued to add to our confusion.
" And I have to say you have great taste, I would have invested in it myself at that festival in town if I hadn't realized you two were together.”
That absurd interaction had left me speechless for a few seconds, I crossed my arms in a defensive pose narrowing my eyes at the two girls in front of me.
" What do you think you're doing? If this is about Alicia…”
" Alicia, please Rose..." Audrey sneered.
" We tried to help her because we thought she had some potential…”
"But it's becoming increasingly clear that we just wasted our time with a useless freshman while we could have been taking advantage of a real talent," Audrey interrupted her friend, making my suspicion grow even more, "I should have stopped wasting my time when the Simons warned Wayne that she wasn't the right kind of company for him.”
Great, they think I'm stupid! Camille stood beside me with a surprised expression on her face.
" We have to go," I muttered, grabbing the girl's arm and pulling her towards the door.
"I hope you'll show up for the Valentine's Day party at the sorority, Rose. You won't regret it," Audrey recommended before giving us the go ahead.
" What was that? " Cam whispered.
" I have no idea, but we'd better find the others.”
My gaze scanned the room for our group of friends, expecting to see Allie throwing herself on Christian while her friends distracted us in the restroom, but she was still in the same place we found her before. As soon as we retraced our path, we noticed that a few people had joined our group, including the delta girls and Wayne with his friends, who decided it was about time to offer Liam some special attention.
I walked over to Christian, who had settled back on the lounger, and sat down between his legs, resting my head on his chest, being wrapped in his arms, receiving a kiss on the cheek before he turned his attention to the other people in the group. Wayne gave a brief glance in our direction, before pretending nothing had happened, returning to the subject.
" So Van Derr Waal, have you decided what your party is going to be this year?”
All attention turned to Liam. His parties were one of the most exclusive events on campus. From what Sky told me, he usually picked about fifty people from the campus and closed some ballad or something. But Liam had already made it clear that this year would be different.
" Well, for starters, the invitations will be super limited this year and the person invited won't be able to book anything over the weekend," he began.
Liam was making a big mystery about this event, and although he pretended we had inside information, we were dying of curiosity like the rest of the people there.
" What is it, Van Derr Waal? Is your father tired of spending on you? " Dean, one of the boys accompanying Aaron, quipped.
" As much as you hope that day will come, it hasn't happened yet, Dean. I just decided to make it a little more... intimate..." he declared with a small smile, "We know that six invitations already have a first and last name, so whoever wants to secure one of the remaining twenty invitations will have to please me in the next few weeks.
" Six? " Christian whispered in my ear.
" He's already counting on Wayne," I replied in the same tone.
" I bet it will be unforgettable," Audrey's voice made me roll my eyes.
She's not going to give up?
" My birthdays always are. How can I forget to celebrate the day someone so brilliant was born? " Liam returned without caring about her presence.
" Rose, for real, if you want to beat this guy in the biggest ego in the universe, you're going to have to try really hard " Christian wryly said, receiving a surprised look from Wayne's friends for daring to talk like that to Liam.
" So, Liam, a party as exclusive as this has to be attended by me, right? " Audrey smiled, trying to get back to the previous subject.
Liam gave me a quick glance before turning his attention back to the girl, looking confused by what was happening.
" You heard what I said, Dixon. If you want an invitation, you'll have to please my girls for the next few weeks.”
Great, that explains all the flattery from before!
She just smiled, continuing to stand where she was next to Savannah, her gaze fixed on Christian and me.
"Why doesn't she stop looking at us? " Christian whispered to me.
" I have no idea,” I muttered back.
They stayed close, interacting whenever possible, acting as if their presence was something completely natural. But neither of them were acting in an unseemly or obnoxious manner, so I chose to ignore my sense of self-preservation that screamed whenever they were around, even when once again the group split between the girls and the boys who decided to play something that looked like a mix of football and water polo, dragging Christian along, even if against his will.
" Oh my God, why didn't you tell us before that you were together? " Claire asked as soon as they walked away " I was here talking about how hot your boyfriend is and you were standing there pretending not to care!”
" We wanted to keep it between us " I felt uncomfortable touching the subject
" Between you? I have a colleague who's in the same corridor as you and she said he's been in your room for a few days now", a girl named Mariah commented.
" Well, no one knew for sure,” I said.
" Still, I'm sorry for talking about your man like that! " Claire insisted on the subject.
" 'Don't worry, I didn't take it the Wrong way.”
" 'Yeah, we learned what happens when she takes it the wrong way,' Savannah quipped.
" Poor Alicia even lost her way. I'm sorry for her, I've never felt so embarrassed by a person," Audrey added, receiving a surprised look from Sky and Cam, who were paying attention to the boys' drunken game.
" Ahh yes, she was so confident, she even mentioned that she had bought a pink jacket! " Claire laughed.
" She had a lot of nerve to say that while you're parading around campus in his jacket,' Juddy added.
" But tell me, how long have you two been together? Because last week…”
" We were taking a break! " I interrupted Savannah's sentence, wanting to change the subject immediately.
" Had you had a fight? Because we had to put up with Alicia talking about him for days at the sorority, she was unbearable. It was great what happened,” Audrey laughed.
Sky, Camille and I exchanged an annoyed look, and I was about to make an excuse to get out of there, when Christian's voice cut in.
" Hey, Campbell... Is that competitive demon of yours that you keep hidden under that pretty little face well fed?”
" Who are you calling a demon, Davis? " I crossed my arms, raising both eyebrows as I faced him.
" You know, my little Mondrian apprentice, we're losing badly and we told these guys here that this wouldn't happen if you were on our team. And they're doubting that you can even score a point " Liam explained.
I stared at them dumbfounded, not sure how to react to that. After so long excluding me from any kind of competition, they're calling me up voluntarily? Really?
" Don't bother with that, little princess. We wouldn't want you to break a nail trying," Dean teased me.
" Bad choice, man,' Theo shook his head in the negative.
A smile appeared on my lips as that thirst for victory began to grow inside me.
" So, Campbell, what do you say? " Christian winked at me.
" I'm going to braid your hair, Rose,” Sky took the initiative.
The girls seemed confused by what was going on, Sky worked quickly on my hair while I got rid of my earrings and the body necklace that could get in the way of kicking those assholes' asses.
" You're going to regret this,' Cam sighed, taking a seat on the edge of the pool as I joined the boys, getting a brief kiss from Christian as soon as I got close enough.
"We're not gonna take it easy on your girl, man," one of the guys from the other team warned.
"Hey... I hope you guys know how to lose without crying," I called out to all of them with a satisfied smile on my face.
"And the demon has been successfully summoned, now this is going to be fun," Theo smiled at last.
Yes, this party was getting better and better!
