Too Proud to Breathe

A constant shaking woke me up from my peaceful slumper, and making my wonderful dream dissaperate as the seconds passed. I tried to burrow my way back under the covers and return to my serene sleep; however the shaking continued again and I threw my covers off of me, coming face to face with Michael. He had a shocked look on his face that counter-acted my scowl.

“What?!” I shouted, still grumpy from my startling awakening.

“I just wanted to ask if you wanted some food, god, no need to be such a bitch,” Michael snapped back, scowling before turning and stomping towards the door. Before he reached the door I shouted an ‘I’ll be there in a minute!’ in his direction, before going to the bathroom.

I tried fixing my hair, because it had become seriously bedraggled due to my slumber. I also re-aplied some make up to make my face more tolerable.

As I entered the living room, I wish I could have just spun around and ran back to my room. However, Michael had already spotted me. But it wasn’t Michael that made me want to turn around. No. It was the mutant he called his girlfriend, which was sitting next to him, that made me contemplate just jumping out of a window, there and then.

“Babe, why does she have to be here?” Daisy whined in Michael’s direction, whilst keeping her gaze on me, one full of hatred and distaste.

“Sorry, but she lives here. Also, my parents are going to be calling soon so I need her to actually participate in our evening so that my parents don’t get all shitty and rag on my arse,” Michael said reasonable. I just shrugged and wandered into the kitchen, searching for something good to drink.

Daisy always had this attitude towards me when I had to ‘share an evening’ with her and Michael, like I had planned to ruin her plans. Yes, because I obviously wanted to be there when they are sucking faces and talking shit about me (note the sarcasm).

“Keyleigh!” I heard Michael shout from the front room, with a roll of my eyes I followed his voice to where he was.

“What, Michael? Isn’t it bad enough that I have to have a meal with you and that thing, but now I have to come to you on your every beck and call.” I said exasperatedly, finally letting the anger I had built up over the day flow out from its pot.

“Fucking hell, Key! I only wanted to tell you that I’m having some friends over and that if you even dare tell mum and dad then I’ll make your life hell. Got it? And go fix yourself up, its the first time most of my mates have been here and I don’t want them thinking that I live with a tramp, it’s bad enough having to live with you.”

Daisy let out a loud, obnoxious laugh at the way that Michael had spoken to me, but I just ignored them both and went to my room to ‘fix myself up’ as Michael would call it.

________________

The music was already blasting by the time that I was finally ready to go down to see everyone. I was wearing a simple red boob-tube dress and a pair of small black heals. My hair was lightly curled and I had pretty simple make-up placed on my face.

When I got down stairs it was obvious that the party was now in full swing; the music was blaring, drunken people were shouting out to the lyrics and there were people everyone grinding and making out. I sighed a little, contemplating just going but upstairs and having an early night, but decided against it when I saw Tanisha, Taylor and all of his friends situated near the sound system in the living room, laughing at something one of them had said.

“Hi, guys,” I shouted over the music when I was directly in front of the small group.

A chorus of “Hey, Key!” was the reply to my statement. Taylor, who had his back towards me, turned around slowly with a smile on his face and embraced me in a comfortable hug. I inhaled his wonderful sent before he slowly released me.

“Are you okay? God, I was so worried. I’m so sorry I didn’t help you after you feel, I mean, I tried but Michael told me to stay away and then I was going to call you but then I had football practise, then the line was busy, so then...” I chucked and decided it was time to end Taylor’s rant.

“It’s okay, honestly. I understand.” I said, grinning at him. The conversations between everyone started up again and I just stood there, absorbing the information and adding my piece when needed. I felt something touched my hand and looked down, only to see that it was Taylor’s fingers rubbing gently against my hand. He saw me looking down and instantly grabbed my hand and laced our fingers; making it inconspicuous to the others. A smile found its way to my lips, not leaving for ages, just growing in size when Taylor whispered in my ear “do you want to dance?”

I nodded my head, biting my lip out of nervousness. The music turned to slow, melodic music. I thought about how cliché this moment was and felt a slight chuckle escape my lips as Taylor slipped his arms around my neck, whilst I slipped my around his waist. I rested against his hard yet comfortable chest and listened to the sound of his heart beat, letting my body sway along with his.