The Game of Seduction

-- Back to third person

"Kia, are you seriously okay? What really happened last night?" Rachel was driving Jeremy's silver Lexus back to Jessica's house. Rachel’s really such a sweet girl but a scary driver. If only her driving was more graceful like her dancing. Kia was surprised that Jeremy would even let her drive his car.

"I'm fine. Nothing really happened... I guess. I can't really remember," Kia half mumbled.

"You can't remember? You've always been a pretty conscious drunk."

"Yeah, well I had a lot to drink. They were free. You know how I feel about free drinks," Kia smiled

Rachel turned to look at her, "Was it Ian that-"

"Rachel, eyes on the road!" Rachel had swiveled into the opposite lane. A car honked at them, but it was hard to tell if it was the car from behind or the other lane.

"Okay, okay!" Rachel was freaking out a bit.

"Jeez, maybe I should drive," Kia suggested.

"No way, Jeremy entrusted his car to me. You'll wreck it."

"What? It's a surprise that he would even let you drive it without his supervision. And hello, I drive better than you. I don't feel safe," Kia said and hugged her seat belt tightly.

"I drive perfectly fine. Now, stop going off topic."

"Okay…," Kia said, but not believing it for a second.

"Was it Ian? I bet he deliberately got you drunk." Rachel made a loud gasping sound, "What if he put something in your drink. I mean, how can you not remember? I knew it! He's so bad..." Rachel shook her head disappointedly.

"Um, I very clearly remember you and Jeremy continuously saying that he's not all that bad."

"Well, people could be wrong. Jeremy is probably giving him a scolding right now."

"Huh?” Kia turned to face her. “That's what he wanted to talk to Ian about?"

"Yup," Rachel said, sounding a little too happy.

Oh… I feel bad. It wasn't all Ian's fault. Oh no, he's so gonna save his own ass and tell Jeremy what really happened. I can't trust that little bastard to keep his word. If he tells Jeremy, then Jeremy will tell Rachel and then she'll probably tell Jess.

"What's wrong?" Rachel gave her a quick glance, but not quickly enough because the car swiveled a bit.

"Uh…" I might as well just tell Rachel. It'll probably sound a lot better coming out of my mouth. It's bad to keep this kind of thing to myself, right? And now, I don’t think we should ever go back to Mix, or at least not let Jess send me off with some stranger. "He's not all that bad."

"You mean Ian?"

"Yeah… he kind of… saved me last night, even though the situation was kind of his fault and kind of Jess' fault too. But really, it was my fault for being naive and stupid and unable to multi-task my thoughts and actions," I rambled on.

"What?" Rachel sounded totally confused.

Kia told her the jest of what happened: Jess' good-turned-bad idea, making out with John, Ian attacking her with his lips, Kia going back to John when she didn't really want to, Ian following her, Kia drinking something that was spiked and john trying to take her away but Ian stopped him just in time. The rest was a blur.

"Oh, my god! Kia! Are you seriously okay?" Rachel turned to look at her.

"Eyes on the road!" Kia yelled, which made Rachel jump.

"Okay!" Rachel quickly looked back onto the road.

"I feel fine. Just a little bit of a headache, but that's reasonable considering that I drank a lot and was drugged."

"You have no idea what Ian did to you?" It sounded more like a statement than a question.

"I don't think we did much. Make out a bit and… definitely got a bit naked, but that's it."

"How would you know?" Rachel exclaimed. "You were drunk and roofied!"

"Calm the hell down, you’re driving," Kia warned her. "That's what he told me. Otherwise, I have nothing else to go on -besides the waking up half-naked part."

"Kia, you trust him? Ian?" Rachel still sounded a little wound-up.

"Well, he's not all that bad right, that’s what you and Jeremy kept telling me. It's like you guys were trying to set us up."

"Well, not anymore," Rachel said definitely.

"You were trying to set me up with that player? Kia exclaimed. "What's wrong with you?"

"We are taking back that 'not that bad' comment."

"I doubt Jeremy would take that back. They are best friends. If Ian was a tad worst than 'not that bad,' I doubt they would still be friends."

"Who knows, we'll have to see when they are done with their little talk." Rachel looked like she was gripping the stirring wheel a little too tight.

It was a good feeling to know that Kia's friends cared so much about her. "Rachel, just chill out. I, well, as hard as it is to say this... I trust the guy enough to know he's not lying... this time."

"You trust Ian?" Rachel asked with an incredulous laugh.

"Yeah," Kia confirmed.

"You don't actually like-him like him do you?" Rachel turned her head to me.

"Road," Kia pointed forward and Rachel quickly snapped her head back. "And no, I don't like-him like him. I've just gotten to know him enough that I trust… he wouldn’t take advantage of me when he knows that I'm utterly intoxicated and didn't have any real intentions to have sex with him."

Rachel let out a laugh, "No real intentions of having sex with him?"

"What?" Kia glared at her.

"Oh, come one. It's so obvious that you do. You both do. It's amazing that you haven't done it yet, considering the crazy amount of sexual tension between you two. You still haven't right?"

"No." Why do people say that? "Are you suggesting that it would be a good idea for me to have sex with a stinkin' player like Ian?"

“No, not exactly, but why don't you just stop playing this game?"

"Oh really? Why don't you ask Devin why he would have a party and let someone like Ian Foster into his house? Why don't you tell Dylan Green to never show his face in front of me again? Why don't you ask your boyfriend, Jeremy, why he would invite Ian and I to the same pool party, the day right after St. Patrick's Day?"

"Well," Rachel let out another laugh. "People were just inviting themselves over to Devin's party that day. It was just your bad luck that you were in the same room with Ian, alone. And really, why didn't you ever find the gust to tell Dylan to never come near you again? That was just your own self-induced misery. And it really wasn't Jeremy's fault. He didn't know that something happened between the two of you the night before."

"Augh…" Kia rubbed her forehead with her hand. "If only one of those three things didn't happen then this game would not have started. Life would be the same. No complexity. I would be the same…"

"Kia, no offence, but I like the girl that you are now.” Rachel suddenly sounded calm and serious. "You're more open to talking about yourself now. It's nice. When Dylan was giving you trouble, you never talked to us about it. You're more lively and spunky now. It's really great… even though Ian pisses you off and whatever. It's nice that you feel that you can talk to us about it."

That’s true. I have been more open and lively. I'm less timid around new people or people that I'm not close. "I do realize that I've changed. He just provokes me to act differently, to be somebody else. But that isn't really who I am, right? Once we stop all this, I'll just go back to acting like how I was before.

"Not if you don't want to, Kia. It's not like you only act that way around him. We all see the change. People grow, Kia. Experiences change who we are and just because that experience ends that doesn’t mean you revert back to who you were before.”

That makes sense, but still… “I understand that.” Isn’t it too much to have Ian be such a pivotal point in my life? “But I’m confused. Are you saying that Ian is good for me or bad? You’re contradicting yourself a bit.”

“Oh, uh…” Rachel pondered. “Hmm. You know what? I don’t know anymore. I guess I can agree that he’s not a bad person, but is he good for you, I really can’t say. It’s the game… you can’t– It’s just… you know.”

“I know,” surprisingly, from that gibberish. “Things will one day take a bad turn and inevitability this game will end.”

“Well… it doesn’t have to be like that, really. You guys can decide. You can end the game soon or something and it doesn’t have to all turn bad.”

They just turned down Jess’ street.

“Rachel, this game is just for fun. It’s a challenge and it’s exciting, nothing more. I don’t expect him to fall in love with me or anything and never intended for him to.” From the very beginning, Kia had no such expectations. She knew well that reality varied far from the likes of TV teen dramas.