Casually Cruel

"i should've known it was a one night invitation"



Lisa laughed loudly at something that her best friend, Taylor Madison, was saying. Jenna-Lee rolled her eyes and took a sip from the drink that she had been nursing since she and her cousin had arrived at the party about thirty minutes ago.

Lisa's boyfriend, Colton, had picked up the two girls at ten o'clock and spent the ten minute drive to the Bannerman's farm gushing about how excited he was for the night's events. Lisa had joined in his excitement, while Jenna-Lee had simply sat in the back seat quietly, playing with the bangle that was around her left wrist, already nervous thinking about the number of people that she was probably going to meet. So far though, Lisa had only introduced her to Taylor – who seemed to have the same personality as her cousin, only in a taller package.

The girls were standing under a large white outdoor tent that had been set up just outside the entrance to the red refurbished barn. Jenna-Lee couldn't help but notice how the land looked exactly how she would've imagined a farm would look: a dirt road streaming off the main road, leading to a large ranch style house complete with a wrap-around porch and shutters on the windows. Not so far down the dirt road was where the large barn was located. The land was close enough to town to be convenient, yet far enough away so that the kids could have complete privacy.

“By the way,” Lisa turned away from her conversation with Taylor to look at her cousin, “that's Drew.” She pointed across the yard next to the long table where two boys were standing next to each other, deep in conversation. Both were clad in jeans and button-down plaid shirts, however Jenna-Lee found her gaze drawn to the taller boy. His dark brown hair was cut close to his head and from the distance between them, the girl could see that his eyes were dark as well. The shirt he was wearing was a t-shirt and cut off in the middle of his defined biceps, one of which happened to be covered in a tattoo sleeve.

“Wait, which one's Drew?” Jenna-Lee asked, tearing her gaze away and glancing at the shorter boy, who was gesturing wildly to his friend.

“The brown haired one. The short one is Tyler Stanley, his best friend. Everyone calls him Ty, though.”

Jenna-Lee nodded, looking back at the boy she learned was Drew. Even before meeting him, she understood why Lisa had warned her about him – he had an egotistical 'bad boy' appeal that was obvious to everyone.

“Come on,” Lisa grabbed her cousin's hand pulled her across the grass, heading over to the barn where a few other people had gathered. “I want to introduce you to the girls from my cheerleading team.”

Jenna-Lee allowed herself to be dragged behind the brunette, allowing herself one glance back at Drew before turning her attention back to her cousin.