Can't be Bought

Chapter 7 - Party Time

I look up and instantly meet his green eyes. 

"Maddox," I state.

"You scared me for a second there." placing my hand over my heart. I let out a small giggle and look back up at him.

He smirks, raising an eyebrow. 

"Sorry bout that." He pauses. 

"I wouldn't expect to see you here," He adds.

"And why's that?" I reply wittily, a little annoyed. What's that supposed to mean?

"You just don't seem like the type to like this shit." He responds. 

"You seem better than all this." Maddox points his finger up and moves it around in a circle, indicating everything around us.

"You could be right." I pretend to respond seriously with a hint of humor as I am only joking. 

"What about you? Is this your type of Friday night?" I ask, inquiring to learn more about him.

"Nah. Not my thing really." Still standing over me, he starts to walk over a bit and sit on the chair across from me. He puts his feet up, places his hands behind his head and closes his eyes. He starts to speak. 

"This doesn't count as the date by the way." He opens one eye to look over at me, testing my reaction.

"Okay..." I say, questioning him rather than a statement. I let out another small giggle, something I don't normally do.

Maddox smirks, closes his eye and moves his head back. After a few seconds he opens his eyes and looks up to the sky. 

"You see that?" He asks me while staring up above with raised eyebrows. 

"What?" I reply, looking up. I don't see anything but a dark empty sky. I look over at him. I watch as Maddox reaches his arm up, pointing to the only star in the sky.

"That's the first star out tonight." He says quietly. I watch as he lowers his arm, resting it on his stomach. I stare at his outfit which consists of black skinny jeans with a light gray sweatshirt and green bomber jacket. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows. He has white Adidas sneakers on and they look brand new. His hair is pushed out of his face, those dark brown curls seem hard to control. 

I realize I haven't said anything so I quickly spit something out. 

"Yeah, it is," I reply several seconds later, shaking myself out of my trance. I look back up to the sky and look for other stars to prove him wrong. I decide against it as it's already awkward and embarrassing enough. 

I look back at Maddox to see a small smile instead of a smirk this time. He seems satisfied with our conversation. I watch as Maddox sits up, moves his feet to the side of the chair and faces me. Moving his feet closer to mine, he flashes a smile with those dimples. We stare at each other for a few seconds, not saying anything. I finally look behind him to see Mary and Meghan smiling at me. He notices my stare and turns to look back at them. Luckily, they pretend to not have been paying attention. He turns back around. 

"See ya round Cammie." He smiles and puts his hands on his knees to slowly stand up. I watch as he adjusts his jacket and walks inside, but I pretend to not care. 

I relax back in the lounge chair, closing my eyes, silently yelling at myself for being so stupid. I am a bit confused as the conversation was sort of strange. Brooklyn and Breanna missed the entire thing, as they were too busy laughing with some boys.

Mary and Meghan, however, saw the whole thing, I know it. They walk over to me with my eyes still closed. Meghan clears her throat. 

"Ummm, what just happened?" Mary asks calmly.

I open my eyes to see Mary and Meghan with brand new drinks in hand, smiling wide with curiosity. 

"I'll take one of those," I say, grabbing the drink from Mary and taking a sip. I feel like I need something to take that strange conversation out of my head. Big mistake. I wince at the taste of alcohol, as I don't really drink much.

"Nevermind, that's nasty." I wipe my mouth and laugh. Still trying to get the taste of vodka out of my mind, I continue. "Nothing really happened except me being stupid as usual," I say handing the drink back to Mary.

We all laugh and talk, enjoying the party. I don't mind it too much, but I would have rather spent a girl's night in. I'm a bit bored so I end up looking around, watching everyone. I watch as Justice and Dash flirt the night away. I watch Meghan make her own dance floor outside and watch as people join her. Brooklyn and Breanna sit with me cracking jokes and hanging out at a nearby table. I'm not really sure where Mary went off to but we will find her sooner or later.

By 1:00 am, we decide to head back to my place to go to sleep. We quietly enter the house, laughing and whispering. I'm not sure which roommates are home and I don't want to wake them up. A few of us go into my room and a few go into Meghan's as we head to bed. We say our goodnights and fall asleep quickly. 

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The next morning, we wake up around 10. Justice and Meghan have pounding headaches and Breanna doesn't want to wake up. I suggest we go get coffee to which everyone agrees. With that, we head out, deciding to walk there as it's not too far.

We gossip about Justice and Dash kissing and Mary talks about meeting a cute boy named Mason. We all laugh about the stupid things we did last night, showing funny snapchat videos to each other. 

We head to the beach afterward for some reason. The day is a bit gloomy, but we just want to hear the ocean waves. Instead of going onto the beach, Mary and I sit in the trunk of the car, watching the tide.

"At the party, I was talking to that boy Mason and Maddox came over," Mary says and then pauses. I give her a face that says, I'm listening. 

"I heard him say that he saw you," Mary replies, looking at me again. 

"Me?" I ask, unable to hide the fact that I care about what he said. I quickly recompose and collect myself. I relax my shoulders and lean back on the seats. 

"Yeah, his eyes lit up and he nodded to you sitting by the pool." Mary smiles. 

"I could tell he was excited to talk to you. I didn't say anything, I just smiled and watched him head your way." Mary grabs my knee and shakes it. 

"Someone likes you." She jokes, flashing her perfect smile.

"He doesn't even know me," I reply. Thoughts begin to race in my head. Why was he so excited, when we've barely talked? I continue to think about our conversation last night, the words replaying in my head.

Mary interrupts my thoughts. 

"He doesn't have to, you glow from the inside out." She replies, the corners of her lips turn up as she pokes my cheek making me smile and laugh.

"Oh whatever, you big mush." I punch Mary in the arm lightly and we both laugh. I close my eyes and inhale the ocean air, deep breaths in and out. I can't help but form a small smile.