We Were Barely Seventeen, and We Were Barely Dressed

I woke up the next morning and quickly got dressed into my denim skinny jeans and a black shirt with a grey heart on it. I straightened my hair and put on my makeup before slipping on my black converses. I heard a horn honk as I grabbed my wallet and phone before running downstairs and yelling to my mom that I’d be back later. When I got to the car I noticed Violet in the front seat.

“Hey, Cassidy. What’s up?” Adam asked.

“Not much. What about you guys?”

“Eh, just going to Starbucks. As you know,” said Vi.

I nodded and stared out the window until we parked in the lot and walked inside. I ordered a vanilla bean crème and walked towards the table that Haylee, Mick, and Chace were sitting at. I sat down at the end of the table and quietly took a drink. Adam and Violet walked over and sat down. I hadn’t noticed that Maria and Rylan had gotten here until they sat down. And after Maria hit me with her purse. Eh, she seemed dumb.

“So, Cassidy, why did you move to this hell hole?” Maria asked glaring slightly at me.

“Oh, umm My dad got a new job.” Half true.

“Oh. My dad owns multiple car dealerships,” she said, bragging.

“Uh, cool,” I said, awkwardly.

She started drinking her drink and everyone started talking asking me random questions along the way.

“I got your picture. I’m coming with you. Dear Maria, count me in. There’s a stor-“

I quickly grabbed my phone and pushed ignore noticing it was only my mom.

“I love that song! It’s like they wrote it about me!” Maria exclaimed, excitedly.

“Um, do you even know what the song’s about?” I asked.

“Who cares. It says my name,” she said back.

“Maria is a stripper. In case you didn’t notice,” I said. Everyone got quiet before they busted up laughing.

“Oh, really, Miss. Smartypants?”

“Umm yeah. Alex Gaskarth said he wrote it about a girl he knew who said she was going to be a stripper. Her name is Maria. Plus the lyrics give it away,” I explained, looking at her toss her fake red hair.

“How do the lyrics give it away?” she asked.

“Are you deaf or just stupid? ‘When the lights go up, I want to watch the way you take the stage by storm, the way you wrap those boys around your finger.’ Come on. You can’t be that dumb,” I stated. She started turning bright red.

“Actually, she can,” said Adam.

“She looks like the hulk! ‘Don’t get me angry! You won’t like it when I’m angry!’” I quoted.

People turned and started looking around at us.

“Who do you think you are?” Rylan asked.

“I’m Cassidy fucking Graham!” I yelled a little too loudly.

He looked shocked at my random outburst.

“Cassidy, you are going to fit in perfectly,” Chace said. I smiled, glad to be accepted so quickly.

I glanced at Rylan who looked beyond pissed. He had his arm around Maria’s shoulder. I could tell she was pretty pissed too. Serves her right.

“Hey, Maria?” I asked.

“What?”

“What’s your natural hair color?” I asked with genuine curiosity.

“Brown.”

“Why don’t you leave it? You would look more attractive as a brunette.”

“Umm…I don’t know.”

I turned away and drank the rest in my drink before we left. Apparently we were going to Adam’s house. Well Adam and Violet’s. I found out that Violet got kicked out of her house and has been living with Adam for about three months. She was waiting for her parents to cave. She said they had always been pushovers and would give in soon.

We arrived at Adam’s a little before everyone else. Adam gave me a tour once we walked inside. He had a decent sized house that had very modern looking furniture. Everyone started to come inside a few minutes after we had arrived. They immediately went to the living room and lounged around lazily.

“Hey, Cassidy?” Rylan asked.

“What?” I replied with an annoyed tone.

“Are you lying to all of us about something?”

“N-no. Why would you think that?” I stuttered. And he knew it. Damn it.

“I just feel like you’re hiding something from all of us,” He explained, giving me this look that said there was no way in hell he was buying any of this.

“Nope. I don’t even know you guys. Why would I lie?”

“Who knows,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. He stared me down as he put his arm around Maria’s shoulders. I didn’t realize how hot he actually was. He had natural black hair and bright icy blue eyes. It looked like he might have snake bite piercings beneath his bottom lip. Some people can’t pull it off, but I think he would be able to.

I quickly looked away before he or anyone else saw me looking. I looked over to the couch and saw Haylee and Mick getting cozy. They were a cute couple. They both seemed kind of shy, but I haven’t really known them enough to see if they were that shy.

I walked over to the small love seat couch and sat down. Adam came and plopped down right beside me.

“Okay, since Cassidy is the newest member of our group, she gets to pick the movie we watch,” Adam stated, smiling at me.

“Well, what movies do you have?” I asked.

“They’re in the cabinet over there. Go pick one out and give it to Chace to set up.”

“Hey! I set it up last time! I think it’s Rylan’s turn,” he said, smirking in Rylan’s direction.

“What?!? No way. Mick’s up,” he defended, quickly.

“Ugh! I’ll do it!” Vi said, sick of their bickering. I think I heard her mutter “boys” under her breath before standing up and starting to get the tv ready. I walked to the movie cabinet and searched around before noticing Despicable Me. I quickly handed it off to Vi while she laughed putting it into the DVD player. Thank God they didn’t have a blu-ray. I’m sick of marketers switching the movie forms all the time. You can’t even find a VCR player anymore. The damn things are like obsolete. Vi finished setting up the tv before taking a seat on the floor by Chace. They so need to get together. They would be perfect. I watched them for a couple of minutes and Chace would catch Vi looking at him from the corner of her eyes. She would quickly divert her attention back to the movie, trying to hide her blushing cheeks.