Never Been Kissed

Ch.27 ↬ J

FIVE YEARS AGO

I was told it would be the big finale to senior year.

This house party was the house party to end all house parties. What a mouthful, huh? All day I struggled to remove Vincent's persuasion out of my head in order to coerce me into attending. I struggled. And I failed. I caved. I succumbed. He was just so damn influential. And truthfully, I was desperate to let loose tonight.

Senior year exams had been kicking my fucking ass and I'd abstained from parties until they were finished, despite attempts from other girls to get me to attend just so we could have a party of our own. The last thing I wanted was to disappoint my parents with abysmal grades to graduate high school with, so I responsibly revised and I think I rocked the shit out of them in the end.

"Jenny's really hot friend will be there tonight," Vincent said to me via a phone call.

We were both getting ready at our respective homes but for some reason Vincent felt the need to call me up and ensure I was attending tonight, and if I wasn't, he was well equipped to supply me with further persuasion.

And as much as Jenny's friend—I knew who Vincent was referring to—was hot, that wasn't the incentive I wanted. But yes, I could have done with getting laid. It had been so damn long and I wasn't about to resort to using my hand as frequently for much longer.

Jenny was Vincent's high school sweetheart and they'd been going strong for a while now... until a pregnancy scare, actually. It had been rocky between them since the pregnancy scare a while ago, but as much as I suspected Vincent was over it, there was something distinctly holding him back from Jenny. I think as soon as the summer was over, he was going to break up with her. It wasn't cemented or anything, but it was a theory I was willing to bet money on.

"Do you even know the name of Jenny's friend?" I asked, placing the call on speaker so I could slip a tight-fitting graphic T-shirt over my head.

He though about it for a moment. "Freya," he replied correctly.

I sighed. "Vince, I already told you I'm going. I'll meet you there in like half an hour, okay?"

"Did I mention Freya really likes you?"

"See you there, Vince."

Without waiting for a response, I hung up and locked my phone, striding to my mirror to inspect my reflection. I looked good. I was slimmer than I was muscular, but I'd slacked on my usual workouts during exam period, substituting it for revision. While I was in the process of getting the definition back, I was still in good shape now. Really fucking good shape if I said so myself.

Running my fingers through my hair, I tousled it to create the effortless-but-shaggy look. Satisfied, I scooped up my phone and traipsed downstairs to discover Mom and Dad watching some sappy romcom. Mom had the box of tissues at the ready beside her while Dad seemed oddly amused by the entire ordeal.

Mom and Dad were always cool with me attending high school parties. I suppose if they knew what I truly did during them—I wasn't a typical relationship type of guy as I did the majority of my hooking up at parties—they would retract that and probably thwart me attending any more. So that was one of my best kept secrets, and let's be honest, what guy tells their parents about their high school trysts?

"I'm off now," I told them.

Dad paused the movie. Despite his aversion to sappy romcoms, he watched them for my mom, and he paused them just for her so she never misses out. It's something I've always witnessed him doing. He was selfless like that. During the day he was CEO of Kelly Industries, inheriting that position from his dad who created the company, but when he returned home, he was an absolute family man at heart. He would do anything for both Mom and I. I learnt very quickly to never take that for granted.