Finding Heaven

The door opened, making my heart stop for a second.

“Ew, what are you guys doing?” Max exclaimed, staring at us in disgust.

Alex gave me a last seductive look before he moved away from me. My heart pounded, pounded and pounded like crazy.

What the hell.

“The usual,” Alex’s lips curved into another one of his smiles, “Right, Dakota?”

I could feel blood rush up into my cheeks, and my heart pounded even more crazily.

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS IDIOT TRYING TO DO?!?

Max looked at us hysterically and then raised his hands in exasperation, “Whatever. Hope you guys have fun!”

He bolted out of the room, leaving Alex and me alone again.

CALM DOWN, DAKOTA— CALM DOWN FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE!!I chanted on and on inside my head. I scowled resentfully at Alex, who was now laughing like an idiot.

“You jerk! What did you say that for, huh?” I retorted. “What if he actually thought—“ I gulped nervously, “—that something… something…”

I wasn’t able to finish my sentence, because his beautiful cobalt-blue eyes stared almost soulfully at mine now.

“You agreed already, didn’t you?” He clarified.

“Well…I guess. Yeah.”

“So you’re willing to do anything for me?”

“Anything reasonable and sane and possible.”

He grinned before he said, “Come with me to Chase’s party then. As my girlfriend.”

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?

“What kind of joke is this?” I scoffed. “And who the hell is Chase?”

“This is not a joke, Dakota—“ He explained, “I’m dead serious.”

“Why do I have to pose as your girlfriend?”

“What, would you rather pose as my maid then?”

“Touché,” I agreed reluctantly, “But why do I have to come with you anyway?”

“Because I want you to. Isn’t that reason enough for you?”

I gotta admit—that was enough to shut me up and just agree. I don’t know why, but somehow I can’t deny anything Alex asks.

Okay, that was a creepy thought.

~

My arch nemesis greeted me good morning—and no, it wasn’t Alex.

It was the stupid alarm clock.

I slid off my bed, still yawning, and did the usual things. After fixing my stuff, I went outside of my room and knocked on the Alden brothers’ door.

It took about ten consecutive knocks before it finally opened—and yes, it was Alex in a black tank with his boxers—the shameless little punk.

I looked away, “Why aren’t you dressed for school yet?”

“We have school today?” He asked hazily.

“No freaking duh!” I exclaimed, “Grrr. I’m going on ahead.”

“Wait—Dakota!” He stopped me before I even took a step. “You will go with me to the party later, right?”

I glanced at him, and saw some sort of sparkling hope in his eyes.

Or it was probably just the sun and my mind combined, playing tricks on me.

“Yeah, whatever.”

He smiled at me cheerfully—not the same annoying smile he gives me when he’s teasing me—this time it was just a simple smile…

And guess what?

I think I might’ve just thought that he was so darn cute.

~

The rest of the day was so boring that it wasn’t even worth talking about. So let’s skip that part, shall we?

This Chase’s house—no, it doesn’t even deserve to be called only a house—it was a friggin’ mansion! And where the hell were his parents?

Anyway.

Alex and I arrived just in time for the party. The loud hip-hop-slash-dance music reverberated around the room, and it made my tummy vibrate like it had its very own beat box inside.

The smell of various perfumes and food and beer wafted through the air. Every room was packed with teenage crowds talking and dancing and doing their party shizz and stuff.

Beside me, I could feel Alex was excited to just lose himself.

Oh, and in case you didn’t know yet: Alex was a partier.

“What do we do now?” I shouted loud enough for him to hear
.
He smiled the same smile he gave me moments ago—the same sweet smile—as he answered equally back, “We party, what else?”

He grabbed a bottle of beer from the dude who was carrying a bucket.

“Hey, I don’t think you should—“ I was about to remind him, when suddenly Daniella Dwyer and her friends passed by and stopped when they saw Alex.

“You’re Alexandre, right?” Daniella asked.

She was the femme fatale in our batch. And was probably just some stupid girl who liked being surrounded by drooling, perverted guys.

I glanced up at Alex, who in turn, regarded her, “Yeah.”

“It’s my first time seeing you in Chase’s parties,” She said. “Are you a friend of his?”

“Um, yeah,” Alex beamed. “You his friend too?”

This was stupid. I knew exactly where this was heading.

A little flirt here and there, and in any second now, they’ll be making out.

“I’ll go take a breather,” I murmured, not really caring if Alex had heard me. Hell, he probably hadn’t noticed I was already gone.

I took a bottle of beer—although I wasn’t sure if I had the stomach to drink it—and stormed out of the crowd and headed for a quieter place.

~

Luckily, the large house had a backyard with a pool and a couple of garden seats.

I didn’t notice I’d already finished half of the bottle I was holding, (beer is bad for you, so
please do not drink like I am doing now) and somehow I was feeling worse.

Depression and anger and a riot of emotions flowed into me like they wanted to just explode like fireworks.

Stupid Alex! Stupid Daniella! Stupid Dakota!

I didn’t realize that tears were already forming in my eyes.

Stupid Dakota… why are you feeling this way?

“Hey,” An unfamiliar voice patted me on my shoulder, and abruptly I looked up to see a tall, black-haired guy with a pair of beautiful green eyes. “You okay?”

I kept looking at him until he waved his hand in front of my eyes, snapping me back into my senses.

“Oh, um, sorry,” I apologized.

“It’s okay,” He said as he positioned himself and sat cross-legged next to me on the poolside. “What’s your name?”

Dakota, I wanted to say, but I felt dizzy all of a sudden.

And I wanted to vomit.

Please, Dakota—do not make a fool out of yourself now, I pleaded mentally.

“I’m guessing you’re not used to drinking. You look awful.”

“Yeah, I know.” was probably the longest answer I could say right now.

“Do you want me to get something for you?” He offered kindly.

“Toilet.”

“You need to vomit?”

I nodded; my face flushed with embarrassment. I was asking a pretty boy for help.

Man, Dakota, you’ve screwed with yourself pretty darn well.

He assisted me by the shoulder and started moving towards heaven-knows-where.

I could feel the disgusting thing going up in my throat when I saw the bathroom. I sprinted towards it, trying my best not to barf up here and now.

I entered inside and saw the toilet—and I promise you this: the toilet never looked as majestic as it did now.

~

“Hey…umm,” I began awkwardly when I saw him sitting down outside the bathroom. “Thank you—for bringing me here.”

He stood up quickly. “That was nothing.”

“I’m Dakota. Dakota Roth.” I introduced myself, lending my hand out to him politely.

He looked at it for a moment before he shook hands with me, “I’m Chase Tyler.” He smiled a wide smile that could have melted any girl’s heart instantly.

“So you’re the party host, huh?” I asked, attempting to start some sort of conversation.

He laughed slightly, “Who’s our lucky common friend?”

I almost forgot about him.

“Um. Alex Alden.” I said.

“You guys know each other?” Chase raised an eyebrow, smiling quizzically at me.

“Sort of. He’s my—” I remembered what he’d said all of a sudden: come with me to a party. As my girlfriend.

Yeah right, buddy.

“—he’s my neighbor,” I continued. “At the dorm.”

He beamed, “That’s… uhh…good to hear.”

We both chuckled awkwardly.

“I’d better go back then.” I excused myself.

“Oh, right. Crap. Me too.”

“Yeah, you should.” I smiled.

~

I scanned the crowd for Alex. The damn guy completely lost himself somewhere—probably with Daniella or something.

Whatever.

Chase and I made our way through the dance floor, and suddenly I got hit by some stupid, reckless party creature. Strong arms assisted mine so that I didn’t fall completely onto the marble ground.

“Thanks,” I told Chase as he helped me get back on my feet. “I owe you twice now.”

He shrugged and smiled sweetly, “You don’t have to owe me anything.”

“Yes, I do. You just saved my life twice today.”

His eyes lightened up as his smile grew wider.

My heart raced and I couldn’t help smiling back at him.

He was so kind and handsome and sweet and gentlemanly.

Unlike the stupid, arrogant, flirty, narcissistic, ungrateful, idiotic, moronic and super sadistic Alex.

Just thinking of his name makes my blood boil.

“So, where’re your parents?” I asked casually, since I’ve been asking the same question inside my head since we got here.

He smiled—and strangely, I got the feeling that it was half-hearted—and looked at me.

“Don’t worry. I practically own this place now.”

“Um, yeah, I see.”

“Hey, there you are!” Alex shouted from behind me. I turned around saw him with his arm around Daniella while he held a bottle of beer on his other hand.

Disgusting.

“What?” I snapped unintentionally. Maybe I was being overly emotional because I gulped a bottle down myself.

“Who’s this little girl?” Daniella asked hazily.

So Little Miss Lovely here was drunk too—well, of course she is, Dakota, you stupid little girl! She’s the school's femme fatale! The epitome of bitchiness!

“That’s…” Alex began, laughing like the idiot he is. “She’s my slave.”

Alex’s voice was so loud that the people around us probably heard it.

And of course, some of them did.

I flushed with embarrassment and loathing. So this was why Alex invited me here—he wanted to embarrass me in front of other people too.

I could feel Chase— and probably not only him— looking at me, and I stared at him pleadingly.

He nodded like he understood and grabbed my hand.

Behind us Alex was calling my name, but my attention was turned to the person who saved me from being a laughingstock. My heart raced madly, and blood rushed up into my face.

His hand was so warm and reassuring that I didn’t want to ever let go.

This was the first time I'd ever felt this towards someone.

And I think that, I might just be falling for him.

Maybe.