Hopelessly Devoted to You

Chapter 17- Party at Jakes

After the first day I was pretty exhausted. We did a lot of walking around and following everyone that I really just wanted to go lay in bed and cuddle with Grayson. But I know he wants to go hang out with his friends so I sucked it up and went to the party so he could have a good time. When we walked in, people started screaming.
"Aye! My buddies!" Jake yelled and hugged the four of us. He walked us in and everyone was chilling on the bed and couch listening to music and talking. We sat on the foot of the bed and joined the conversation with everyone. I was pretty happy with how this "party" was going. It was super chill. Not nearly as crazy as I imagined it to be. Jake, Logan, Nash, the jacks, Madison, Carter, Matt, and Cameron were all there. While everyone talked about their experience today, I kept catching Carter looking at me. Every time we would make eye contact he would smile at me and sometimes throw a wink here and there. Each time I would look at Grayson to see if he was looking but he never was. He was very engaged into his conversations with everyone else. I laid back on the bed and closed my eyes. I got really tired and was seriously ready for bed. But moments later a few other viners came in and we're ready to start the party. They brought in a ton of alcohol and were extremely rowdy, which made all the others rowdy too.
"You want something to drink?" Grayson asked me. I wasn't going to but maybe it would help wake me up.
"Sure." He got up and walked over to the table with drinks on it. I went on my phone as I waited and someone came over and sat next to me.
"What's a pretty lady like you doing hanging around a bunch of losers?" The voice said. I looked up to see Carter smiling at me.
"Losers?" I asked.
"Yeah. All these vine losers. I don't know I just feel like you're too good to be here." He said.
"Too good?" I laughed. "Oh no."
"Hey." Grayson came over with two drinks in hand.
"Hey, thanks." I said as he handed me the red solo cup. I took a sip and scrunched my face to the strength of the alcohol. "Oh baby, what is this?"
"I don't know. Jake made it. But I know it has Bacardi, and maybe coke?" He answer. He sat on the other side of me and put his hand on my thigh and started to rub my thigh with his thumb. "So, how's about you and I take up Jakes offer about getting a room after this." He winked and bit his lip. I started to giggle and nodded my head. "Sweet." He replied into my ear and kissed my temple.
"Hey! Grayson!" Grayson and I both looked up and to the direction of the voice. "Come here bro!" Cameron yelled. We walked over to them and they had lines of shots on a table. Ethan was sitting at the table on the opposite side of us. "Ready for who's the better twin part 2?!" Cameron yelled in his ear.
"For sure!" Grayson said and took a seat.
"You're on buddy." Ethan said rubbing his hands together.
"Alright, whoever can drink all six of these shots first wins. You ready?" Nash announced and pointed at the boys. They nodded and he scream "ready, set... GO!" They start pouring down the shots at the same time for the first four but then they started to slow down.
"Shit man." Grayson said after downing another shot.
"It burns." Ethan barely said. Everyone started to laugh and cheer.
"Two more!" Jack Johnson yelled. I looked over at Ellie who was reacting the same as I was; a mixture of laughing, concerned, but still cheering like everyone else. A hand grabbed my arm and started to pull me. When I looked back it was Carter. He smiled and motioned his head to the door.
"Where are we going?" I asked. As we headed out the door. He let go of my arm and answered me.
"Just wanted to get some ice. Didn't want to go alone you know." He said. He pushed his hands in his pockets and swayed while he walked. I started to giggle at his dorky smile and funny walk. "What?" He laughed.
"Nothing." I answered him.
"So, I don't think I ever learned your name."
"Alex." I said.
"That's it?" He asked. "Alex what?"
"Alexandria Miller." I laughed.
"Alexandria? That's beautiful." He started to pour ice into the bucket. I started to blush.

Grayson's P.O.V.

I took the last shot and won. I stood up and threw my arms into the air.
"Winner!" Cameron yelled. I gave Ethan a high five and pulled him in for a hug. I looked around for Alex but I couldn't find her.
"Where's Alex?" I asked Ellie.
"She left with Carter." She pointed at the door.
"What?" I said and went to go look for her. I like Carter. He's a cool guy. But I don't trust him enough for him to be around Alex alone. He's always known as a player and I know he would try and get at Alex. When I got to the elevator I could hear laughing from down the hall. I followed the laughing and talking to the ice machine and saw Carter and Alex together.
"Alexandria? That's beautiful." I heard Carter say. My stomach started to turn, and my jaw clenched.
"Alex!" I said in a stern tone.
"Gray." She said surprised.
"What are you guys doing?"
"Just getting ice." She answered. I looked at Carter who was smirking at me and back at Alex.
"Look man, it was nothing. We were just getting ice." Carter got in front of Alex. That made me even more angry because it was like her was trying to protect her from me.
"Alex, come on." I said. She started to walk to me but Carter stopped her.
"You're not the boss of her." He said.
"I'm not the boss of her but I am her boyfriend." I clenched my fist tighter and got closer to him.
"Stop!" Alex said.
"Just because you're her boyfriend doesn't mean you can control her. She can be with me if she wants to."
"Carter, why don't you but out of my relationship and try having sex with someone else."
"Oh yeah, because getting to know someone, means having sex with them oh yeah!"Carter yelled back at me.

Alex's P.O.V.

I couldn't believe the way Grayson was acting. It was definitely because of the shots he took. It's bad that Grayson is so protective of me, so when he's drunk it goes over board and he gets really aggressive. I knew the only person who could snap him out of it was Ethan. I pulled out my phone and called him. After a few rings he picked up.
"Alex?" Where are you and Gray?"
"In the hallway. I need you to come out here right now."
"You okay?" He asked.
"Just get out here!" I whisper yelled. Grayson and Carter where still arguing and when I hung up the phone Grayson pushed Carter.
"Grayson!" I yelled. I ran over to them and tried to pulled them off of each other. Without realizing Carter pushed me into the wall. Grayson looked at me and stopped for a second extremely concerned but he got even more angry and tackled Carter into the ground.
"Grayson!" Ethan yelled as he ran over to pry him off of Carter. Jake followed him to help. I couldn't believe my eyes. I couldn't believe this was happening. Ellie came over and helped me up.
"Are you okay?" She asked me.
"I'm fine." I answered her.
"That's enough!" Ethan yelled at them when he pulled them apart. Jake had Grayson in his arms and Ethan was in the middle of Grayson and Carter.
"That's enough. You're done." Ethan told Grayson. He escorted him to his room and Ellie and I followed. I went in there with Jake and Ethan and they were trying to get what happened.
"What happened bro?" Jake asked.
"Yeah what the hell happened?" Ethan added. Grayson was looking down, he was definitely disappointed in himself. He looked over to me and his expression went from disappointed to concerned.
"Alex!" He got up and push Jake out of the way. "Baby are you okay? Are you hurt?" He hugged me and started to examine me, looking for bumps or bruises.
"I'm fine, what the hell happened to you?" I shrugged him off of me.
"I- I don't-" he started but got cut off by Cameron walking in.
"Jake, I think we're gonna head to our rooms now. Just wanted to let you know." Cameron said.
"Alright cool man, see you tomorrow!" Jake waved at him. When Cameron shut the door, all attention went back to Grayson. He looked and me and looked down to the floor and sat down. He sighed and answered my question.
"I don't know. I lost some respect for Carter after I heard about the video incident, so when I heard he left with you I got nervous. And then I heard him flirt with you, and he pushed you behind him like he was protecting you from me and I'm suppose to be the guy who protects you, you know? I'm suppose to be that guy. And let's be honest, I'm pretty drunk right now so that's just another thing to add on to the list of stupid things I've done tonight. And then when he pushed you, I completely lost my shit because I can't let anyone hurt you. So when I saw you hit the wall and fall to the floor, I don't know it was like fuel to the fire. I'm sorry." He said. A part of me really wanted to be angry at him, but he was drunk. It was stupid of him, but he knows it's stupid. Carter didn't matter to me. I just met him, but I still wanted to make sure he was okay and that he wasn't hurt. I sighed and played with the hairs above his ear.
"You drive me insane. I don't know if I'm mad at you, or if I forgive you yet. But the person you really should be apologizing to is Carter. I mean what you said could be pretty valid but he's your friend. You need to make it up to him." I told him.
"Okay. First thing tomorrow." He wrapped his arms around me to kiss me but I stopped him.
"No. Now." I said. He ended up giving in and went to go apologize to him but I had him go clean up first so I could talk to Carter.

"Carter?" I knocked on a door down the hall. The door opened and Carter was standing there holding a bag of ice to his cheek.
"Alex. Hey." He answered.
"Are you okay?" I asked him while he let me in.
"Yeah I'm fine. Are you okay? I'm sorry I pushed you. I didn't mean to."
"It's fine. I'm fine." I answered him.
"I really didn't want this to get out of hand. You just seemed really chill so I wanted to get to know you."
"I know. But Grayson's super protective and now that he's drunk he gets even more protective and aggressive. It's not the first time he's done this but it's the first time he got this crazy." I explained.
"He should learn to trust you more." He said.
"He does. Trust me. It's just the alcohol." I said there was a knock on the door and Grayson opened it.
"Hey, Carter. Look-" he started.
"Grayson, I'm not looking for trouble okay?"
"No, I came to apologize. I shouldn't of acted like that. I was stupid." He said.
"I know you wouldn't act like that if you weren't intoxicated. It's okay." Carter said and they hugged each other.
"Alright, you ready Alex?" Grayson held out his hand. I got up and grabbed a hold of his hand.
"Good night Carter." I said.
"Good night guys." He said. We left and went into our room to go to sleep.

AN: this was a really long chapter but a lot happened so it's worth it. Lol. Also, I know a lot of you guys have a lot of strong opinions about Carter and what happened. But I got to the point where it's a mistake, we all make mistakes. But anyways, I used him because I didn't really imagine this situation happening with anyone else. Other than that, thanks for reading guys! 💞