The Perfect Candy

Chapter 21: Heart to Heart

Candice was having fun. She'd knocked back a few more drinks to help with the anxiety she felt surrounded by so many people, but she was still having fun. She even allowed Cooper to pull her close as they danced to the music, laughing whenever she stumbled. A few other girls had tried to sidle up beside them and gain his attention, but his attention had stayed on her and it felt amazing. "Kiss me!"

Cooper gave a surprised laugh as she fell toward him, letting him catch her around the waist. "We're in public, and you're drunk."

She shook her head and grinned up at him. She was feeling great and she didn't care about anything other than continuing that feeling, so she pushed herself up on her toes and leaned in. "Do it anyway. Please?" He did, pulling her closer as he did it. And it was nice. No wonder this was all her classmates thought about, how could they think about anything else?

"Alright you two," Cyn shouted over the music right next to them. "Wrap it up. Jay's about to shut it down. People are leaving."

"Oh," Candice pulled away from Cooper with a frown. "Already?"

"God, you've been corrupted," Cyn laughed. "You've never stayed this long anyway. Hope, Matt, and I are crashing here. Jay told Faith that you'd snuck out? You should probably head home anyway. It's already just past four."

Pouting, Candice stepped fully out of Cooper's grip and turned towards the corner where the drinks were being kept. Somewhere in the back of her foggy brain, she knew another drink was not what she needed, but she didn't care.

She stopped short of falling into Matt and he gripped her shoulder to steady her with a laugh, "Easy, Candy. You doing alright?"

"I just wanted to grab another."

"You've had enough." The words came from two different directions and she turned to spot the voices, blinking in some odd attempt to focus. Both Jay and Cooper were frowning at her.

"I don't want to go home yet," she announced, glaring at the two people denying her. "Everyone else is staying. We could watch a movie, or play a game, or−"

***

"I need to get you home before your mom gets home," Coop interrupted Candy's rambling, pulling out his keys to jingle them at her. "You don't want to get caught breaking the rules, do you?"

Her brown eyes glittered mutiny and her chin came up as her jaw locked. Coop found himself sharing an exasperated look with both Jay and Matt. As it turned out, a drunk Candy was not nearly as predictable as a sober one. "If you don't want to stay here with me, then I'll just go find Faith and the girls. There's the door." She slapped his hand away when he would've reached for her and pushed/stumbled past Matt to reach the cooler.

"You've got your hands full," Jay muttered with a half laugh. "We're going to need the girls if we want to even stand a chance talking sense into her."

Coop grunted his agreement, moving toward her and snatching the drink from her hand before she even had a chance to open it and switching it for a bottle of water. "Hey!" she snapped, shooting him an annoyed look.

"You've had enough."

"I'm having fun," she said stubbornly. "I want to stay."

"I have to take Spence home too, you know."

She crossed her arms and stood her ground, "So go. I'm not stopping you."

"You're being a real brat right now, Candice."

This time, her eyes were glittering with tears and her mouth began to tremble. "Don't say that. Don't call me that. I don't like it when you call me Candice."