COVER-UP

Hey! I'm a Virgin!

1) The character pictured above would be Zoe. 

2) Recommend listening to this song while you read (there's lyrics in the chapter from the song, and it's great background!)

__________________________________________

Friday snuck up faster than you could say 'The Feminists are taking over'. Next thing I knew, I was standing in a crowded kitchen with a Red Solo Cup I'd scribbled my name onto, Brendon Urie blaring 10 feet away. The real party was outside surrounding the massive pool that Miles Johnson's house sported. The views were stunning, a panoramic of Reno and all it's casino's lighting the valley. Red, yellow, green and blue dots line the streets. Signs shining with indistinguishable fonts scattered along every block, barely noticeable from way up here. I would have been lying had I said I didn't enjoy looking onto it all from the kitchen's balcony. I leaned against the opened wooden doors and smelled the dusty breeze. It had rained the prior day and the wet aromas still lingered in the surrounding hills.

I couldn't say exactly why I ever showed up to these parties or any social gathering for that matter. I wasn't shy, but I didn't have enough friends to prove otherwise. Adam and Zoe were pretty cool, but they hadn't shown up yet. Practically connected at the hip, his towering figure and her smile were an entrance nobody missed. I shifted my attention to the changing music. The first lines echoed from the backyard

Troubled face

Headphones on

Forgetting time and place

All he wanted

Having never heard the song, it soon lost my attention and I looked back to the quiet valley. The inconsistent chatter stayed loud, but I could make out splashing and yelling from the pool, inevitably from someone thrown in.

Resting my head softly against the frame of the doors, the hair on my neck stood up when I felt someone's gaze resting against me. A piercing gaze. Brayden? I lifted my head and turned 180 degrees to face the quiet stare of Zoe. She was smiling softly and took several steps through the kitchen before strangling me in a grandmotherly hug.

"I didn't hear you guys come in!" I admitted, trying to hide my disappointment. Thinking Brayden had found me again sent my heart on a wild goose chase.

"We just got here, Adam's mingling with the band kids," She laughed. She had such a pretty laugh, it was carefree and light. Like a child's. "What're you doing out here, loner?" She questioned.

"I've been waiting for you two to get here," I shrugged.

"Well, don't I feel special. I'm gonna go find Adam. You want to come?" Zoe smiled and looked over her shoulder, obviously already anxious without the giraffe by her side.

"No." I answered quickly, "I'm gonna look for someone else really quick," I quietly admitted.

"I saw Brayden out in the front yard!" She smiled brightly, eyes squinting knowing she'd caught me. "Adam tells me everything Tristian, stop trying to find hook-ups in the library! He was in my Calculus class, he's a cutie," My eyes only widened in realization and panic set through my veins. Two people knowing was too many.

She continued anyway, "You know what they say! All the cute ones are either taken..." She baited me to finish the rest:

"Or gay." I sighed in defeat, "Thanks, Zoe."

"Anytime! Text me how it goes later!" She winked and turned to find Adam.

"Hey, don't let him tell you anything! I'm a virgin!" I called after her, "I don't hook up with the kids in the library!"

There was a deep laugh behind me. Definitely not Zoe.

"That's good to know." It spoke. Definitely, definitely not Zoe.

I turned to face the balcony again in utter humiliation, and there he stood. In all his blue-eyed glory.

Brayden Carr.