Backstreet Boy

|Chapter 27: The Right Moment|

Isabella

It dawned on me that I must have been making quite a fool of myself because Lizzie was incessantly nudging me.

Eyes averted from Jason, I turned to Lizzie who gawped at me with quite an amused expression. Another thing dawned on me: My mouth was ajar and presumably I appeared to resemble a fish.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" asked Lizzie, turning back to Jason. "You know, before Matt arrives."

The music was loud in the room, but it wasn't loud enough to drown out the hollers of our words. We were all still audible over the blaring sound of a Sam Smith remix song. Consequentially, others were turning around and glowering at us due to the disturbance we were causing to their "synchronised" dancing to the music beat.

Abruptly acquiring the capability to speak once again, I blurted out a, "This is Jason. Jason, this is Lizzie, my best friend."

Jason took a sip of his beer and nodded at Lizzie. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to finally put a face to the name," Lizzie remarked. Then her attention was divided by something behind us. "Hey, Matt! Over here! I'll see you later," she mumbled to me. "Have fun with Jason."

And without further ado, Lizzie strutted off to Matt who had barely walked through to the threshold before he was bombarded with Lizzie and everything that came with Lizzie like her lovey-dovey qualities. Frankly, he was welcome to her tonight... which left me alone or with Jason.

"How did you get here?" I said, leaning close to Jason. My grip was tightening on the crimson cup in my hand as the waft of cologne spread through my nose and intoxicating me more than the alcohol was bound to.

"I drove," he said, taking a swig of beer this time. "You mean the party? You must clarify next time. And I got here because there was this guy I knew who lived in The District but now he lives in The Valley. He told me about the party so I decided to come and check it out. He didn't tell me you'd be here, though."

"Was that disappointment I sensed then?" I asked mockingly. "Considering I had told you I didn't do parties?"

Jason leaned in so his lips brushed inadvertently against my ear. His free right hand held my arm. "It was most definitely not disappointment," he whispered.

Cheeks flushing a profound shade of magenta that I optimistically hoped were not too visible, at least, in the darkness and coloured lighting of the room, Jason leaned back and stood a respectable distance away from me. When I looked at him again, I expected to see him chuckling at the way his flirtatious, somewhat untruthful comment would do to me. Instead, I was taken aback when he was gazing at me with an indecipherable expression. His eyes held serenity and sincerity, but it was perplexing.

Endeavouring to diffuse the tension, I leaned into Jason, taking a little sip of the alcoholic beverage that was formerly fermenting due to the stench of other alcoholic beverages, sweat and maybe a hint of drugs in there, too, and because I wasn't drinking it and it was in the open air. "Don't let Miles see you here. He might just throw you out."

Jason shrugged, swigging down the remains of his beer. "Where's the excitement if I just left? Come on, follow me."

With such a rapid demand, it was moments before the instruction processed in my mind. Henceforth, I was scurrying to the kitchen in my heels where it wasn't much cooler in there, actually, despite there being a shortage of sweaty bodies in here. I was beyond merciful that I had abandoned my jacket in the car. Even Jason wasn't wearing a jacket as he was sporting tight, black jeans and a tight top to swank his bulging biceps. It was becoming progressively more complicated not to gawp at them in admiration. He even wore a chain necklace around his neck which was silver.