Chapter 10 A Night Of Revelations

• Ambre
• Leaning against the kitchen counter, Tyler leans toward me, his eyes already slightly bloodshot from alcohol. He keeps running his hand through his hair, biting his lips and trying to flash me a seductive smile. Even drunk, he remains handsome, but the charm he exuded a few weeks ago seems to have evaporated for some reason that escapes me. Yes, he's still totally my type, I know what attracted me to him, but maybe I'm starting to realize that we're not meant for each other...
• "Are we still on for our date?" he brings me back to reality.
• "Of course," I mutter. With my hands on his chest, I keep a certain distance between our faces, pulling my chest away from him a little. I feel nothing, no joy, no shudder. He doesn't excite me anymore, and if he tried to kiss me right now, I don't think I would let him.
• "Monday night? Just you and me, having a drink," he smiles at me, his eyes filled with desire and happiness at the thought of spending time with me like before. I feel remorse for the hope I seem to be raising in him. I, who have tried to maintain our camaraderie since we parted. Tyler has always been attractive to me. When we started dating, it felt like fate. But very quickly he showed signs of weakness. At first he was friendly, interested, and protective, but once he succeeded in luring me into his trap, he quickly became distant. Maybe the game wasn't worth the candle to him anymore. In any case, he had a lot of fun, whether with me or with other girls. Still, I can't bring myself to resent him. I've always adored him and I don't want to lose him. Agreeing to have that cup of coffee with him seemed logical because we are still friends. But is he really of the same mind?
• "Ambre, come on, let's dance!"
• The angelic voice of my best friend brings me back to reality. I turn my head toward the kitchen door and see Holly with her messy ponytail, a large red glass in her hand, and already barefoot. I pull myself away from Tyler and follow my friend into the living room. I'll think about it later. Tonight is the time to enjoy without worries! Not for Tyler or anyone else... Holly drags me by the arm onto the impromptu dance floor between the two couches as the sounds of the latest popular music echo through the room. The bay windows in the living room overlooking the garden are open, allowing people outside to enjoy the music as much as we do. It's crowded and the crowd keeps coming and going in a constant back and forth. Esther joins us, excited by the song she hears, and starts grooving to the beat at our side. It's stiflingly hot, and the trance-like swaying of the bodies doesn't help.
• "I'm going to get a drink, I'm parched!" I look at my friends, showing them my empty hands. They decide to follow me into the kitchen, where a light breeze from outside gives our bodies some respite. On the way to the fridge we meet two or three people, but there's no alcohol.
• New mission: Find Cameron so he can tell us where the "emergency drinks" are hidden!
• I look around, but the only familiar face I see is Jayden's. Great. I grab an empty cup to signal my intentions. He nods and takes two steps out of the room. A few minutes later I see him cross the threshold of the kitchen with two bottles in his hands. He approaches where I'm leaning with the girls and places them in front of me.
• "Put them back in the garage later." Then he leaves as quickly as he came, without so much as a glance at me.
• "Icy," Esther grimaces.
• "But so hot," Holly adds.
• I shake my head, determined to continue my "have a good night, ignore Jayden" phase, and grab the bottle of alcohol.
• "Come on girls, you know the forfeit!" Cameron, Tyler and Garret stare at us, eagerly waiting for us to do the forfeit for losing our beer pong game. We have to go to the sea, a typical idea of a group of drunk friends.
• "Come on, it'll be fun," Holly says, more than happy to take a dip.
• With a big smile on my face, I grab my friends' wrists and lead them upstairs. We climb the stairs completely drunk, almost falling on the steps. We quickly put on our swimsuits and then change back into our clothes so as not to attract any more attention from the guests. With equal delicacy, we come down the stairs, barefoot, ready to complete our forfeit. We arrive arm in arm in the garden where the boys are already gathered. Obviously they don't care about getting their boxers wet.
• "Last one there drinks a full glass!" I shout before taking the girls by the hand and running like a madwoman towards the sea. In the distance I hear the deep laughter of the boys, who soon catch up with us. We quickly undress before covering the few meters that separate us from the water. It's relatively cold for a May evening and my skin starts to shiver - especially when the swimming turns into a general session of splashing and the boys never stop soaking us!
• "We didn't bring any towels!" Cameron yells when we finally get out of the water half an hour later.
• Damn, it's true...
• With my arms around my body, I try to stop the shivering that has begun to move my lips. I move my hands vigorously to warm them, but nothing helps. We grabbed our dry clothes and started running back to the house. When we reached the entrance to the garden, the girls and I hesitated for a few minutes before stepping onto the lawn. The boys, on the other hand, had already put on their T-shirts, leaving only their wet shorts and legs visible.
• "Here comes our savior!" Cameron shouts, arms outstretched, a big smile on his face. Jayden appears in my field of vision, his arms laden with clean towels. He lets the boys serve themselves before he bypasses them and comes over to us.
• "Thank you so much."
• "That's lovely!"
• Great, the girls. With clean towels in hand, they coo at the supposed "bad brother" with big eyes and open mouths. What support. With my arms still crossed over my chest, I refuse to move to take the towel. He can go to hell with his perfect Mr. Nice Guy attitude. I'm starting to feel the effects of the alcohol. When Jayden notices that I don't move to take the last towel he's holding, he covers the few feet between us and gently places it on my shoulders.
• "Here. Dry yourself off," he says calmly.
• I don't look away from his eyes, all the while repeating my new slogan to myself: to have a good evening, you have to ignore Jayden! A slogan I feel like I'm forgetting as he pulls out of his secret box a kindness towards me that I don't know. It sucks. I take the towel he put on my back to wrap it around me and dry myself properly. Behind him, Tyler watches me closely, as if trying to figure out what just happened. A little thrown off by his attention, I blush slightly at the thought that with one look he could connect my discomfort with my attraction to Jayden. Without giving him time to analyze me, I move around the group and invite the girls to follow me upstairs. We retrieve our dry underwear from my bed and change.
• "I'm starting to sober up," Holly remarks. "I need a drink, and fast!"
• "Me too! Hurry up, let's go back," Esther urges.
• "I'll meet you there. I have to pee."
• I let them leave my room, talking and laughing loudly. Despite the music echoing throughout the house, I hear them running down the stairs. My head spinning, I make my way to the bathroom. Unable to hold myself upright, I cling to anything nearby until my butt touches the seat. Finally, I think I've had enough. I giggle to myself on the toilet, watching my feet and anything else that catches my eye until my never-ending pee is finished. I take one last look at my appearance as I pass the mirror. I wipe away the makeup that has run under my eyes, undo my misshapen braid, and tie my hair up in a bun. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing. When I open the door, I almost have a heart attack: Jayden is staring at me, leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed over his chest.
• "You scared me!" I put a hand to my chest, trying to slow my breathing. My heart is beating way too fast and I'm struggling to get to my feet. I lean against the door frame and glance at my silent interlocutor.
• "You should cover up, you're going to catch a cold." He looks me up and down, lingering again at the beginning of my breasts on either side of my dress. It's clearly him who's going to give me a cold with his ever changing moods.
• "Since when do you care about me?" I ask.
• "I'm not worried, I'm just giving you advice," he says, pushing himself away from the wall. "It's your loss if you don't want it."
• "Advice? And yesterday when you asked if I was okay, that wasn't concern either?"
• "No. That's called pity," he snaps after a moment of hesitation. "Consider yourself lucky to be able to elicit at least that kind of feeling from me."
• With that, he walks toward me, determined to push me aside to get to the bathroom. I put a hand on his chest, which stops him in his tracks. He looks down at where my hand is touching him and doesn't move.
• "What did I do to make you so uncomfortable with me?" I ask.
• He looks into my eyes and I feel his heart racing beneath my fingers. But he doesn't answer.
• "You can be so nice one minute and so rude the next," I continue. His eyebrows furrow, his heart rate doesn't slow, and he still doesn't say anything. I don't know how long we stay like this, staring at each other, eyes locked. My hand doesn't leave his muscular chest, and with every irregular, jagged breath I take, the emanations of his woody scent fill my nostrils.
• "Why do you hate me?"
• I choked out the last words, hoping they would get through. He remains silent and stares at me, probably waiting for me to let him pass and stop complaining. There's no way I'm going to give in. Just to annoy him even more, I grab the doorknob with my other hand and close the bathroom door behind me, pushing myself even closer to him. He doesn't move, doesn't speak, but keeps his icy gaze locked on mine. However, it's a completely different glow that seems to appear deep in his eyes the moment our bodies make contact.
• So, not really sure if I'm doing it to provoke a reaction or because I really want to, I stand on my tiptoes and bring my face closer to his. He's still stone-faced, but his heart is racing under my hand. Thinking he'll push me away, I continue my crazy climb, letting his warm breath tickle my face. Just a few millimeters from his lips, I stop. Waiting for him to finally speak, to push me away, to do something. He does nothing.
• Everything about him is a contradiction. His words should sting, but his body seems incapable of pushing me away at this moment. So I do the stupidest thing and press my lips to his. It's tender, it's soft, it's a roller coaster in my heart. Damn, what am I doing? I'm about to break what I've just started, my sanity begins to take over my brain, but his muscular arms wrap around my hips.
• I keep one hand on his chest and wrap the other around his neck. The pressure of our mouths against each other grows stronger, more yearning, more indecent. His teeth tease my lower lip as he presses me against the wall, one hand on my hip, the other on the wall next to my head. My tongue seeks his and I deepen our kiss, letting out a small moan against his lips.
• But suddenly he pulls away from my body. Breathing heavily and with my legs shaking, I try to regain my composure after what has just happened. I see his chest heaving with urgency, showing that he's experiencing the same turmoil as me.
• "You should never have done this, Ambre," he says, shaking his head from side to side and running a hand through his hair. He doesn't look at me and turns away, walking quickly to the stairs and hurrying down them. And he's right: it was really stupid...