"Did he hurt you?" I shook my head under Seeley's massive palm. "Did he touch you?" I shook my head again, the nervous feeling in my stomach somehow disappearing. "Did you want him to kiss you?" These were all said through gritted teeth, but I could...
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Screaming out the lyrics to All Star by Smash Mouth as we drove down the street, me, Molly and Thomas could almost be professional singers with the level of our talent. Giggling at my friends as the song drew to a finish, I watched curiously from the backseat as we pulled up to the pavement. Climbing out of the car, using Thomas' outstretched hand, we made our way up to Evie's front door.
Glancing at the house that seemed to loom over me as we neared it, I watched as Clayton from my biology class launched himself out of the door, and projectile vomited on Millie that sat next to me in Italian a few metres away from us. I grimaced at the sight. Poor Millie. Following behind Thomas, Molly in front of him, we entered the house. To say Evie's house was massive would be an understatement.
The hall was giant, with doors leading into rooms streaming blaring music. Thomas disappeared to find his football friends, and I followed Molly into a room that was playing Without Me by Eminem. As we walked in, my eyes found everybody sitting on the floor in a large circle.
Molly took a seat next to Jared, who I hadn't noticed was sitting in front of our feet. I smiled at the gesture, I shipped them. Nothing had really happened between them, but I feel like their vibes matched perfectly. Taking a seat beside Molly, I gave Jared a wave, which he ignored, causing a crinkle to form in my brow. I thought we were kind of friends? Making sure not to burst any more seams in my ripped jeans as I crossed my legs, I felt a large presence take up the space beside me.
Looking over, I found Seeley had taken the seat next to me, completing the circle that took up the entire floor. He looked down at me and gave me a reassuring nod, and then frowned at me. Why was he frowning at me? And then he was looking out into the circle with a stoic expression. I was studying his side profile sneakily, when someone kneed me in the shoulder. I let out a huff of air.
Turning to look at the person on my left, I found that Ross Proby, a boy from the year below, had forced himself in the nonexistent space between me and Molly. He gave me a sloppy, drunken smile, and as I gave him a polite smile I slowly scooted further into Seeley's side across the carpet. Now my whole right side was pressed up against his left side, and I was surprised to find that there wasn't any nervousness building in up my mind. I feel weirdly comforted by Seeley's presence. Without glancing up at him, I tried to relax my tense shoulders and focus on Toby who was now standing in the middle of the circle.
"Alright, listen up boys and bitches," my brow furrowed, "Here we have seven minutes in heaven with a twist; someone spins the bottle and it lands on you, you both have to spend 7 minutes in the cupboard," He pointed over to a nearby shut door. "The only catch is, you have to both leave your tops out here and you only get them back when the seven minutes is up. Capiche?" Whoops resonated around the circle, and I pulled my knees to my chest, trying to lean further into Seeley to get away from Ross' heavy breathing down my neck.
The bottle spun, and the first couple to head into the dark cupboard was Bianca Simmons and Denny Wyatt. Then it was some couple from a few years below me. Then it was Jared and Molly. A blush settled over my face as they made their way into the cupboard, and I flashed her a thumbs up and a smile before the door shut between us. I was nervous for her. They came out, Molly all flustered and Jared tense. The bottle was spun again, and the next thing I knew, it was pointing at me.
I froze.
Then Ross was pulling at my arm, trying to get me to stand so we could go in the cupboard. But I couldn't move, my limbs were stuck. I knew I had a blank smile plastered on my face, but I was mere seconds away from having a full blown panic attack. In seconds, Seeley was standing above me, offering a hand down to me. I looked up at him gratefully.
"Hey, man, it's my turn with her." I numbly heard Ross complain, but I was too focused on my blurry sight and getting a tight grip on Seeley's hand, and being pulled to my feet.
"Shut the fuck up." Everything was muffled as Seeley slowly guided me towards the cupboard, my hand still holding his in a death grip, his other hand resting on my lower back. The smell of his aftershave was comforting me, and I gradually could feel my eyes going back to normal. Just as we got to the opened door of the cupboard, someone shouted over about our tops. Seeley gave the whole room a glare, and then half closed the door, with us on the inside, and peeled off his shirt, chucking outside through the crack. My gaze was still focused on the floor, feeling uneasy after Seeley broke the contact between our hands. Chanting started up from the circle, my name to be exact.
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to." His deep voice said firmly, but I shook my head as the chants got louder. Feeling suffocated anyway, I grasped the end of my top and pulled upwards, making sure nobody outside could see me, and the chucked it out the space in the door. I could hear whoops, and then everyone in the circle quieted down. Toby shouted that the timer for our 7 minutes began now, and Seeley slid the door shut, plunging us into almost total darkness.
My breathing was fine now, and my head lost some of the fuzziness, but my hands were still shaking to the high heavens and there was a dull ring in my ear I couldn't seem to shake off. I watched as Seeley's silhouette lowered to the ground into a cross-legged position. I felt lost, and tense awkwardness began to fill the room, so I plopped to the ground in front of him, and sat in the same position
"T-thank you for that." I said, and then felt my skin burn in embarrassment as I realised I stuttered. My fingers reached down and began fiddling with strands of thread hanging from the rips in my jeans.
"Always." I heard him mutter from in front of me, and the fact that I wasn't able to see his expression comforted me in a way. Like I could say anything and not have to deal with the judgemental looks like I did from everyone else.
"And thank you for getting me out of going with Ross. I mean, could you imagine being stuck in a dark room with him for 7 minutes? Sheesh, I -"
"He wouldn't have." Seeley cut me off. What was this boy on about?
"What do you mea-" He cut me off again. He has got to stop doing that.
"I wouldn't have let Ross in here." My head was already clouded enough from the anxiety, and Seeley's words just made it even foggier.
"But-" I was cut off by Toby's yell through the door that the timer was finished. I stood up nervously, and as Seeley went to open the door, I grasped his forearm gently.
"Could you grab my top for me?" Nerves weaved their way into my voice and made me sound like a scared little baby and I hated it. I could see Seeley's mouth curl into a smirk since I was closer to him, and the shadows moved across his face darkly, catching the blue in his eyes as he slid across the door, just revealing half of his chest to the room as he reached down and grabbed our shirts. I won't lie, I did have a good look at the view. And damn, the boy had clearly not skipped a booty workout day in his life. As he turned back to hand me my top, I caught a glimpse of his chest in the light as he shoved his top over his head.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Wow.
I pulled my top over my head and yanked it down quickly, whilst at the same time trying to hide the crimson blush that was spread across my face and went halfway down my chest. To say Seeley was ripped would be an understatement.
Seeley stepped out of the cupboard, and then reached a hand back for me, engulfing mine as I shyly stepped out behind him. My face was still bright red, and the whoops and yells that followed us back to our seats in the circle didn't help. Molly shot me a 'what just happened' look from the other side of a pouting Ross and I nodded towards the door to the hallway, gesturing for us to leave the game. She nodded and followed me.
