Life After Him

~Two Hours Earlier~

I was standing in the middle of Lydia Tyson's living room with Colten. We were at a high-school party that Lydia was throwing, and you were lucky to have a five inch radius of empty space surrounding you. Just about every high-school student was here. Empty wine bottles and Styrofoam cups littered the floor. Spilled Pepsi seemed to be omnipresent, and you couldn't be within two feet of a mess of any sort.

So, Colten and I, including everyone else, were dancing and drinking. We didn't think much of it just yet. We didn't expect anything serious to happen, so we took the so-called advantage and enjoyed ourselves.

"You look beautiful like this, Laur," Colten whispered in my ear as we began dancing to a slow song. His breath felt warm against my skin.

"You look so friggin' sexy like this, Colt," I said quietly as I looked him in the eye. He smiled at me, then let his gaze roam over my dress. It was a low-cut, strapless black dress. It had sequins around my hips, and ran down to the end. I had gotten it at JCPenny, because I'm not one of those popular girls who shop at only the most expensive and slut-looking stores in the malls. I would rather be buried a hundred times over before even considering walking into the store.

Colt looked up and away for some reason and began to get antsy. I looked up at him again. "Colt?" I asked warily.

"What, baby?" He spoke in that sexy voice of his. Oh, how I loved it when he talked like that.

"Is something...wrong?" I asked.

Colten spoke to me in a rather low tone. Probably to try prevent other people from hearing whatever he was about to say. I mean, the music was basically shaking the entire house, so it wasn't like anyone could hear us over it. He mumbled something, and it sounded like he said 'I was just eating butter without the dressing'.

"W-What? Colt? Could you speak up, please? I couldn't' quite hear-"

He spoke a bit louder this time, enough for me to hear what he was saying "I was just thinking of how much better you'd look without that dress on..."

'Oh, no. No no no no no no NO.' I thought to myself. He definitely had WAY too much to drink tonight. Or I heard that sentence entirely wrong. "Uhhmm...wha-what was that?"

"I was just thinking of how much better you'd look without that dress on." He repeated himself. OK, I'd definitely heard him right the first time.

I could feel myself turning red as I was blushing madly. God, I think he was trying to seduce me. If he was, he was doing heck of a good job at it. I buried my face in his shoulder as I moaned in confusion. Colt must've thought I moaned for other reasons, because the next thing I remember was walking through the mob of people and into a brightly-lit narrow hallway where Colten's mouth found mine. The kiss was hard and intense, and he had me sandwiched between him and the wall. People were beginning to stare. I pulled away the second I had the opportunity.

"Colt, they're-they're watchin' us," I said as I began to get dizzy. And…why did everything seem to be happening in slow motion? Why were the lights suddenly so…bright..? No, no. Not now. I know I had too much to drink, but of all the other times it could've kicked in, it decided to take effect now? Why..?!

"They won't be in a second," he said confidently as he felt around for a doorknob.

I could feel a knot deep inside me beginning to coil. This could not be happening. But yet, I let him drag me into the cold and dark room as he shut the door behind me. I heard him lock it, and that only made my knot coil more.

"Look, baby, I...I don't want to do this-" Colten gently, but firmly, clamped his hand over my mouth. I could barely even see anything because this room was so dark. Yet, I could see the way he stared into my eyes. I began to panic, my eyes were probably going to pop out of their sockets at any moment.

"Shhh...baby. This'll all be over in a minute," he said as he pressed me against the wall again. I could feel his stiffness pressing against me as his mouth found mine once more. He kissed me harder than he had in the hallway, and I struggled to be free of his grasp. I didn't kiss him back either. Colten had his arms wrapped around me as he was failing to unzip the zipper on my back.

Somehow, for some reason, I must've found the will to shove him off me, and he was taken aback as he stumbled backwards and collapsed onto the bed.

"Colten, I said NO." I spoke firmly, and that only disgusted him.

"NO?!" He yelled as he jumped off the bed and dug his nails into my shoulder. I winced in pain as his warm breath escaped his clenched teeth.

"Colt, you're...you're hurting me..."

"Do you think I care?"

"Ow-you should if you love me like you said you have all those times before..."

"Do you think that matters right now?"

"It definitely should!" I yelled as I twisted and shoved my shoulder into his breastbone. He stumbled backwards once again, this time, he stopped. For the longest time, he just stared at me, not saying anything. I walked over to him and rested my head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Colt, but I'm just...not ready for a commitment like that just yet. You understand?" I whispered, planting a kiss on his shoulder.

He ran his fingers through my hair before speaking. "Yeah, baby. If that's what you want." I looked up at him, and smiled. I was rewarded with another kiss. This time, it was like every kiss should be-not hard and intense.

He pulled away first, and that slightly disappointed me, but I didn't let it show. He didn't make the first move on breaking the silence, so I did.

"I think I'm ready to leave. I'll be waiting in the car, baby."

And with that, I turned and left. I didn't wait to see his expression, I just wanted to leave in case his so-far good intentions went out the window and were replaced with...you know what I mean.

Pushing through the crowd, I managed to get to the front door in three minutes. Nobody asked where I was going, and I didn't feel like explaining it, either. I just couldn't wait to be alone in the car with Colten. I smiled at that before opening the door and walking out into the cold, wet night.