Dirty: The Complete Series (Secret Baby Romance Love Story) (70 page)

Chapter
Five

  
I
was a little intimidated at the thought of going to an upperclassman party,
especially one so far away from campus; but as soon as I walked into the house
with Ty, I felt relaxed and relieved. It was just like the other parties I’d
been to—both as a high school kid and in my first weeks in college. “Yo, Luke,
this is my girlfriend Nicole and her friend Ashley.” Lucas—Luke—was shorter
than Ty, with a shaved-bald head and the beginnings of a pretty decent beard,
with big hipster glasses and colorful clothes.

  
“Welcome
to my humble home, ladies,” Luke said, grinning at us. “Make yourselves at
home, help yourselves to as much punch or beer or cocktails as you want—but I
have to ask that if you’re going to be sick, you try and make it to either the
bathroom or at least outside. It’s a lot easier to hose shit down outside than
to try and clean it up inside. If any dudes bother you or try and make a scene,
let me know and someone will handle it.”

  
“It
sounds like you run your parties like a well-oiled machine,” Ashley said, and I
could see the respect in her eyes for Lucas.

  
“I
try,” Luke said, smiling again. “Of course sometimes things get out of hand,
but this is my second year throwing parties here—I should have a pretty good
handle on how to control a crowd by now, don’t you think?” I agreed and Ty
clapped Luke on the shoulder, giving his friend a quick, manly hug before
escorting me into the party itself.

  
Whoever
Lucas had put in control of the sound system had good taste; he mixed Taylor
Swift with The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs with Kesha, Ariana Grande with OK
Go—and I was shocked that it all seemed to go really well together the way it
appeared on the playlist. Ty found the kitchen and helped get drinks for Ashley
and me. “I’d take it easy on the punch if I was you,” he told us, raising an
eyebrow. “I don’t recommend having more than one glass of it unless you want to
test the theory of whether you can make it to the bathroom on time.”

  
When
I tasted the punch, though, it was delicious; but after I swallowed my first
mouthful I could see what Ty meant. I couldn’t
taste
the alcohol in it, but I could feel the after-burn. It was
definitely potent stuff, and if I wanted another drink—other than maybe
water—after that, I was definitely going to just stick with a beer. As I sipped
my punch and Ty worked on his beer, he led Ashley and me around the house,
“working the room,” as he called it.

  
We
ran into a few people we knew from classes and Ashley immediately got into a
debate about something that had been covered in Economics, while Ty and I
chatted with one of my classmates about one of the professors we had that Ty
had had himself in freshman year, joking about how incredibly boring he was and
how difficult it was to stay awake through the Art History lectures.

  
Ashley
was fine with her friend from Econ, so Ty and I continued about our way; he
showed me the backyard, where the pool was covered up for the winter. “In the
spring, I hope we’re still going out,” Ty said, grinning at me slightly.

  
“Why’s
that?” I looked up at him, trying to resist the urge to smile.

  
“Because
Lucas throws
the
party of the
semester one week before spring break, and I definitely want to see you in a
bikini.”

  
“What
if I’m all fat with the freshman fifteen by then?” I stuck my tongue out.

  
“Even
then. Even fifteen pounds heavier you’d still rock a bikini like a fucking
goddess,” Ty told me. He leaned in and kissed me on the lips. I could taste the
beer on his tongue, the underlying sweetness of his mouth, for just a moment
before he pulled back, letting his hand rest on the small of my back, at my
hip. “Want to go inside and dance for a while?”

  
“Sure,”
I said, straining my ears to catch the opening sounds of a Daft Punk song. “We
need to check on Ashley too,” I reminded Ty. We’d agreed that we’d check up on
each other throughout the night, mostly to make sure that no one was trying to
carry Ashley off—at least not against her will.

  
We
found her in the kitchen, still debating some point from economics; I was
pretty sure she was going to spend almost the whole night there, until she
either proved her point or one of the two of them passed out from exhaustion.
“We’re going in to dance,” I told her. “If you get bored of saying the same
things over and over and want to have some actual fun, you can come find us.”
Ashley rolled her eyes.

  
“I’ll
find you in fifteen,” she countered. Ty led me by the hand into the living room
where the music was loudest; Lucas must have cleared out most of the furniture
that normally sat in the room, because there were tons of people in the middle
of the floor, dancing and drinking and having a good time.

  
Whoever
was DJing the event switched to a slower song, one I didn’t recognize, but Ty
let his hands fall to my hips and I draped my arms around his neck and we
started slow dancing together, swaying to the beat, almost no space between us.
I let my head rest on his shoulder, feeling so happy, so completely contented.
I could barely believe my luck.

  
Ty
was definitely right about the punch, so when I finished my first plastic cup of
it, I decided it was going to be all of that particular drink that I would have
that night; instead I switched up to water while Ty and I took a breather from
the sweaty, humid, oven-hot dance floor, hanging out in the kitchen and
listening to Ashley and her classmate debate some more. I let Ty walk me to the
bathroom—to use the toilet, not to puke—and then I grabbed a beer and we were
out in the living room once more, dancing as hard as we could.

  
Ashley
finally joined us, picking one of Ty’s friends and dancing with him for a
while, or “stealing” me from Ty for a few dances so we could dance together. I
was having a better time than I had ever had at a party before in my
life—really feeling like I was having a real college experience, like I was
where I was supposed to be, in a way that I had never felt in any of my
classes.

Ty and I took a break from dancing and
decided to visit the backyard again; since it was chilly there weren’t very
many people out there, and I was dripping with sweat from the living room dance
party.

  
Ty
found an empty lounge chair underneath one of the outdoor heaters Lucas had set
up, and we sat talking, looking up at the stars, or discussing the other
couples who had made their way outside for a little bit of privacy and a break
from the noise. I didn’t know whether Ashley had found her way back into the
kitchen or if she was still dancing with Ty’s friends, but I thought that based
on how she had been when we’d left the room, she would be fine at least for a
little while.

  
“Did
you see that guy in the living room dressed in all lime green? He had to be at
least seventy,” I told Ty, remembering the sight of the guy in question; he’d
been really going for it, dancing to a Nelly song, looking completely oblivious
to how strange it was to see an old man in a lime green suit dancing his ass
off.

  
“Oh!
Yeah, that’s Lester,” Ty said, nodding. “Luke, me, and a few of the other guys
used to go to karaoke pretty regularly back in sophomore and junior year, and
he was always there—always singing his heart out with like, Notorious BIG songs
or Juvenile songs. So when Luke threw his first party here, we invited him.” Ty
grinned. “It was kind of a joke and not a joke at the same time, you know? He’s
never tried to lay a finger on any of the girls, he’s always good to drive at
the end of the night, and he’s a good time.”

  
“Actually,
that’s kind of cool,” I said, smiling. “I like that idea a lot. And hey—it’s
not like there’s an age limit on who’s allowed to party, right?”

  
“Exactly,”
Ty agreed. “So we invite him to all the parties, and he comes or he doesn’t,
and he’s a good time.” He gave my waist a squeeze, pulling me closer to him on
the chair.

  
“Is
that your oh-so-subtle way of hinting you want to do more than just talk?” I
looked up at Ty through my eyelashes and he grinned, nodding. I shifted closer
to his body on the lounge chair, careful not to flash anyone—my dress was a
little on the short side, even with my jacket draped over my legs—and I brought
my lips up to his.

  
Ty
deepened the kiss almost immediately, swiping his tongue against my lips and
letting his hands wander a little bit over my body bit by bit. I moaned as
softly as I could, opening my mouth and letting him in, and for what felt like
maybe an hour we lay like that on the lounge chair, kissing and touching,
teasing each other; we managed—I thought, at least—to keep it PG-13, not
exactly groping each other or doing anything too lewd, but every moment I could
feel myself getting more and more turned on, and after a while—I had no idea
how long—I was sure that if we didn’t cool things off a bit, I would be
slithering underneath Ty, begging him to take my panties off under my dress and
fuck me right there in the middle of the backyard.

  
I
broke away from his lips and took a deep breath, shivering at how much colder I
felt away from the heat of Ty’s body. “Are you okay?” I looked up into Ty’s
gray-green eyes and laughed.

  
“I
am awesome and miserable at the same time,” I told him, licking my lips. They
still tasted like him, and I knew it wouldn’t be much longer before I found an
excuse to make out with him again. “I am so freaking horny right now I almost
wish I could have sex with you right here.” Ty chuckled.

  
“I
think I have to draw the line at public sex,” he told me, nodding and
pretending to scowl. “But if you want, we can go home soon and make out all you
want—and once you’re in bed with me back at the dorms, we can have as much sex
as you want, too.” I giggled, biting my bottom lip as I thought about that
really tempting possibility.

  
“We
should probably check with Ashley,” I pointed out. “I don’t want to either
strand her here, or make her have to leave earlier than she wants to just
because we’re getting all hot and heavy in the back yard.”

  
“That’s
fair,” Ty agreed. “Let’s go inside and find her, and see what she thinks about
how long she wants to stay. Sound good?” I nodded.

  
“Sounds
great,” I said.

  
We
managed to get out of the lounge chair we’d taken over and I smoothed my dress
over my body, looking around to make sure no one was staring at us or laughing
at us. Everyone else in the yard seemed to be pretty much completely involved
with each other, lost to the rest of the world, so at least I didn’t have to
feel embarrassed about my hot-and-heavy session with my boyfriend.

  
We
went inside together and I saw that Ashley wasn’t in the kitchen. “She must be
in the living room again,” I told Ty. He nodded and we made our way in that
direction. I figured that we’d dance a little bit, sound Ashley out about her
feelings on how the night was going, and make a decision about how much longer
we would stay. Ty followed me into the packed living room and we started to
dance together a little bit while we looked around, searching for my roommate.

  
But
instead of finding Ashley amongst all the dancers, as I looked around, my gaze
fell on my ex, Dillon. He was dancing with a girl I’d never met before, and he
was pretty clearly—to me at least—more than a little trashed. I stopped short
in my steps, staring at him. What the hell was Dillon doing at the party?

Chapter
Six

  
I
felt Nicole’s body language change in an instant and immediately looked around
to try and figure out what the problem was. I wondered if maybe she’d seen
someone doing something inappropriate with one of her friends, or something
like that—but when I looked at what she was looking at, all I saw was a
drunk-looking guy in a polo shirt and khakis dancing like a slob. Nicole turned
her back on the sight and I could see she was really upset.

  
“What’s
wrong?”

  
She
looked up at me with slightly watery eyes and then looked around the room and
shook her head. “Let’s go somewhere more private,” she said, her lips pressed
almost up against my ear.

  
I
nodded and took her hand, guiding her through the crowd of people dancing in
the living room and through the entry of the house to the front porch; if there
had only been a handful of people in the backyard, the front yard was
absolutely deserted—there was a couple on the driveway talking about something
in low, intense voices, but other than that we were alone.

  
“So
what’s going on? What’s your problem with that guy?” Nicki bit her bottom lip
and took a slow, deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. She exhaled
sharply and then opened her eyes, looking up at me with a little more calm.

  
“That
guy was my ex, Dillon,” she said slowly. “I…I think I just wasn’t expecting to
see him probably ever again—definitely not at a party like this, or drunk, you
know?” I nodded; I could understand all too well how something like that would
make her feel.

  
“It’s
always kind of a wrench in the night to run into an ex,” I said, leaning
forward and kissing her on the cheek.

  
“It’s
not just that,” Nicole said, shaking her head. “I just…it brought back
everything about the end of the relationship, you know?” I glanced around and
saw that Lucas had put in a bench swing.

  
“Want
to sit down with me and we can talk about it? Do you want another beer or a
water or anything?” Nicole considered my questions and shrugged, smoothing her
skirt over her hips and sitting down. “Let me get you another beer. I feel like
this is going to be a decent-length talk.”

  
She
smiled weakly and I ducked back into the house, crossing the living room as
quickly as I could. I spotted Ashley in the kitchen and told her that Nicole
and I were on the front porch—and that we might be getting ready to leave soon.
I didn’t know if Nicole would actually want to leave, but she didn’t look like
she was the kind of upset that would make her want to spend the rest of the
night at a party, trying to ignore her ex.

  
I
came back out of the house and Nicole was still there, sitting on the porch
swing and swinging slowly. I handed her one of the two beers I’d grabbed and
took a sip of my own.

  
“So,
tell me the story,” I suggested, reaching down to pat her knee in a way I hoped
wasn’t condescending.

  
“So
Dillon and I started dating in junior year of high school,” Nicole said. She
took a sip of her beer. “At first, everything was great. He was great, it was
fun and sweet and just…” she shrugged. “You know. Normal high school relationship.”
I nodded.

  
“But
obviously that part didn’t last,” I said. Nicole smiled wryly.

  
“It
took a while for me to start seeing it,” Nicole explained, “but bit by bit it
just started to seem like nothing I wanted was good enough—I wasn’t smart
enough, or I wasn’t ambitious enough, or whatever enough for him.” She sighed.
“And at first I started to try and be smarter, more ambitious, all the things
he kept complaining about, because he was—I thought—this great guy, and I
couldn’t afford to lose someone like that. And I thought that if I could just
be what he wanted and needed me to be, that we’d be happy again like we were at
the beginning.”

  
“But
you did eventually wise up, right?” I smiled a little bit, meeting Nicole’s
gaze. “I mean you kicked him to the curb, and here you are—smart, beautiful,
talented, and with a guy who thinks you’re amazing.” Nicole’s weak smile became
a little warmer and her eyes started to regain some of their sparkle.

  
“I
did eventually tell him to get the hell out of my life,” she admitted. “I’d
changed myself a lot to fit his expectations, and after a while I sort of
realized that I was the one making all the changes, doing everything to suit
him. Never once in the entire time we were dating was there something I wanted
to have different actually change.” She shook her head again. “It was like
everything had to be about him all the time, and eventually I had enough of
it.”

  
Nicole
sighed and looked down at her beer. She took a long drink of it and looked up
at me again. “But it does kind of suck watching him drunkenly hit on girls.”
She bit her bottom lip and I saw the color leap into her cheeks. “Not—not that
I want to have anything to do with him anymore,” she said quickly. “Just
because…I guess there’s a part of me that still feels bad about not being ‘good
enough’ for him, so to see that he’s…” she shrugged.

  
“To
see him hitting on girls like that makes you wonder if you’re worse than he
said, or if he was right somehow,” I finished for her. “You’re not, and he
wasn’t,” I told her firmly. “You are an amazing woman, and I’m already in love
with you even after only knowing you for a couple of months.” Nicole smiled up
at me, really smiled, and it almost took my breath away. “I have an idea,” I
said, reaching out and finding her hand. I gave it a squeeze. “Let’s ditch the
party. Before you say anything—we won’t go straight back to the dorms. There’s
an eighteen-and-up club I know about downtown, and we can all go. It’ll be even
better than this.”

  
“Eighteen-and-up?”
she glanced at her beer. “What if they smell alcohol on me?” I shrugged.

  
“They
probably won’t, and even if they do they won’t care,” I said. “They’ll put a
black X on your hand so you can’t buy alcohol at the bar, and we’ll just spend
the rest of the night dancing and having a good time. Ashley can come with us
too. It’ll be great.” Nicole licked her lips and considered it. She knocked
back some more of her beer and smiled up at me.

  
“This
is probably the last beer I should have for the night anyway,” she pointed out,
glancing at the half-empty bottle. “Are you okay to drive?” I nodded.

  
“I’m
still mostly sober—I’ve been sticking to just the beers, and only a couple of
those over the past few hours,” I told her. “We’ll go to the club, dance until
we drop, and then go back to the dorms and I will show you exactly how much I
think you’re the most wonderful, special, amazing woman in the world—how about
that?”

  
“I’ll
have to check with Ashley, but it sounds awesome,” Nicole said. She took a
quick breath and carefully climbed off of the porch swing, steadying herself as
she adjusted to the lack of movement. “Did you see Ashley inside?”

  
“She
was in the kitchen again when I got the beers,” I told Nicole. “I told her we
were out here and that we might be thinking about leaving soon—since you looked
so upset.” Nicole smiled. She leaned in and kissed me quickly on the lips.

  
“I’ll
grab her and we’ll talk about this, and make a decision,” she said. I nodded
and sat back on the porch swing, letting it sway back and forth in the slightly
chilly air as I sipped my beer. It only took Nicole a few minutes to come back,
and then there she was with Ashley in tow.

  
“How
would you feel about hitting up an eighteen-and-up club?” Ashley shrugged,
glancing at Nicole.

  
“
Dillon
somehow managed to find his way
into the party,” Nicole told her roommate. “I just…ugh, seeing him trying to
put the moves on other girls is so gross. I don’t want to deal with running
into him and I don’t want to even have to think about talking to him, but I
don’t want to just go back to the dorms either. What do you say?”

  
“I’m
not ready to call it a night,” Ashley said, shrugging. “I’m game to see what
this eighteen-and-up club is like, sure!”

  
“Let
me just say goodbye to Lucas and explain the situation,” I told the two girls.
“Here, I’ll give you the keys to the car and you can get in and warm up a bit.”
Nicole giggled when I handed her the keys, but she nodded and the next moment,
she and Ashley were headed to where we’d parked.

  
I
found Lucas overseeing a shot-taking competition in the back room of the house.
“Hey, man,” I said, giving him a pat on the shoulder. “Me, Nicki and Ashley
have to head out.”

  
“What’s
going on?” Lucas grinned at me sardonically. “Better party elsewhere?” He
gestured around the room.

  
“Not
a better party,” I told him quickly. “Just one where my girlfriend’s ex isn’t
drunkenly hitting on a bunch of girls in front of her.” Lucas cringed.

  
“Ah—yeah,
that makes sense,” he said. “Give me a name and unless someone here just
absolutely loves him, he’ll be dis-invited from all future parties at La Casa.”
I smiled; Lucas was a genuinely good guy—he let people into his parties based
on word of mouth, but if word of mouth ended up later suggesting that someone
was not as great as he originally thought, he was perfectly willing to keep
that person out of the good times to keep the rest of his guests—especially
long-time friends—happy.

  
“I’ll
get his name from Nicki later when she’s in a better mood,” I said. Luke and I
gave each other a quick goodbye hug and I clapped him on the shoulder again.
“I’m taking her to Ibiza; I don’t think she’s ever been.”

  
“Pretty
tame end to the night,” Lucas said with a shrug. “But then—that’s probably not
the end of your night is it?” He smirked.

  
“If
I’m lucky and get her out of the bad mood, nope,” I agreed. “Catch you in
class, dude.”

  
“Get
me the name, man,” Lucas said. He turned his attention back onto the
competition and I left, more than ready to get in the car and get to the club.