The Sturniolos' Assistant

Chapter 9: Friday Night Chris' POV

After Matt and Malia leave, we head to the lobby. The lights are off and the DJ starts to play music. It kind of reminds me of a cruise where the adults leave and there's a dance party for the kids- I mean here it's like a young adult party because everyone seems to be eighteen to mid-20s. I see Cassie making something behind the bar. This girl is so confident and persuasive. I'm not sure what she must've said to the bartender to convince him to let her behind the bar. Cassie walks back to me holding two red solo cups. She looks super-hot in that red dress.

"Here, try this." Cassie hands me a cup. "It's my own special recipe."

"What's in it?" I asked, smelling the drink.

"Don't worry, it's a mocktail. I love that you're sober. I'm not drinking either." She places a hand on my shoulder and leans in to whisper in my ear, "It's fruit punch with pineapple juice, orange juice, and a cherry." She looks into my eyes as she takes a sip from her cup. "It's sweet. You'll like it."

I take a drink and she's right; it is sweet. I finished the whole thing. We dance together and I see Nick dancing with Louis. I wish Matt had stayed but I know he'd rather be with Malia. James looked down for a bit, but he found another girl to dance with. The laser lights in here make it feel like a club and it's fun and all, but I would much rather chill back at the villas.

It's as if Cassie could read my mind because she says, "Let's get out of here." She gets the rest of our group to follow her and I'm not sure how she did it, but she got all of us up on the roof of the lobby. I'm out of breath as we reach the top. I lost count of the stairs we had to climb to get here. It's a nice outdoor lounge area with couches and a fire pit that's already lit. We sit around the fire. Cassie sits so close to me she's practically on my lap. She looks at me and says, "Truth or dare?"

Normally, I'd pick dare, but I'm not sure what she'd make me do in front of all these people, so I say, "Truth."

"Is it true that there's something going on between Matt and Malia?"

Nick and I briefly make eye contact. We know what's up. James is staring at me so hard right now it's almost like he was trying to access some sort of mind-reading power so he could find the answer in my brain. Too bad for him the question wasn't "Does Matt like Malia?" Not that I'd rat out my boy and honestly, I'm annoyed that Cassie put me on the spot with that question. There's nothing going on between Matt and Malia. I know that for sure, but Nick and I both know Matt likes her.

"No," I say. I don't really want to play this game, it seems corny as hell, but I feel pressured to keep it going. "Ray, truth or dare?"

"Truth." He laughs.

"Was your shark attack story real?"

"Yes... alright fine. I made it sound more dramatic. It didn't exactly go down like that." He laughs again. I knew it. He looks like a tough dude, but no way would he pick a fight with a great white and survive without a scratch on him.

"Louis, truth or dare?" Ray asks. 

"Dare," Louis says, surprising me.

"I dare you to jump off of the roof."

What the fuck? I look at Nick to make sure I heard correctly, and his jaw is dropped, too. They all laugh, including Louis. I'm relieved that it was a joke, but then my blood turns to ice as I watch Louis run toward the end of the building and jump.

Nick and I stand up at the same time and run to see Louis. I peek over the side of the very tall building and see Louis smiling and waving up at us. What. The. Fuck? I'm speechless. I turn back to look at James, Cassie, and Ray and they're all laughing. I want to throw up. Then Ray runs toward us and jumps over our heads right over the edge. This makes Cassie and James laugh harder. I hold onto Nick's arm. I know we both want to leave and get as far away from these people as we can, but we're frozen to the ground.

"Let's go swimming!" Cassie suggests and dances over to where Nick and I are standing like statues. I have enough energy to shake my head. "Alright, suit yourself." I wished I could've moved away from her, but I can't, and she gives me a quick kiss on the cheek before gliding off of the roof. Nick and I look over the edge again and watch Cassie, Ray, and Louis run to the ocean.

"What the actual fuck was that?" Nick whispers to me and I hold onto him tighter.

"Dude, let's go."

As we turn around to leave, James comes up to me and Nick with a malicious grin and pushes us off of the roof.

It's like we're falling in slow-motion. I can still see James' face looking down on us. I don't know how the others jumped and walked away perfectly fine, but I can feel that this is going to be different. I try to hold onto Nick, but we're forced apart. I close my eyes and pray that we don't feel any pain or that by some miracle we'll survive. If not me, at least Nick.

It feels like we've been falling for hours. When I finally land on my back the ground feels soft. I open my eyes and see my room in the villa. Nick is next to me, and I realize that we had just fallen onto my bed. I'm too tired to question it.

We fell asleep safe and sound.