Brett and Jesse didn't seem amused in the slightest.

They were staring at Samuel and Roman with narrowed eyes, and once again, I could feel the anger radiating off Jesse.

"How did you two even get in here?" Brett snapped, his eyes focused on Samuel, "isn't there some abandoned house you should be in? The people here are a little out of your league."

Samuel laughed, his grin growing even larger, "I wish I could tell you just how wrong you are."

My eyes flickered towards Clara, who was biting down on her lip. We both knew what Samuel was referring to. We both knew the words that he left off the end, and those words were I fucked your girlfriend.

My stomach was in knots because I was simply left wondering what Roman and Samuel's intentions were. Roman and his sly comment about me being good at games, yet here he was, playing a game of his own. While my game was simply out of self-preservation, I couldn't say the same for theirs. Their game, well it felt like the only goal was to make us all uncomfortable at the best. They were about to unleash a serving of secrets at worst.

"So, a game?" Roman asked us, again. I glanced at Jesse this time, who was clutching his bottle of beer so tightly I was worried his fingers might break the dark brown glass, sending the glass pieces flying towards us all.

"Don't you have someone else to piss off?" Jesse asked, his voice almost a growl.

"Oh, what's wrong?" Roman chimed out, completely unaffected by Jesse's tone. "Scared we might show you up in front of your girlfriends, again?"

My eyes practically bulged out of my head when I heard the word again, but thankfully Jesse's testosterone was running too high to register the word. What the hell were they doing? After all the bullshit Roman said, about how he could be there for me... yeah, right. The way he was acting, he was only proving my point. Kissing him was a mistake, believing him... a mistake. A huge one.

"You think you can show me up? Me?" Jesse scoffed, a dark chuckle closely following. My eyes only bore further into Clara's; we both knew nothing good could come of this.

"Unless you're scared," Samuel answered. He took a step closer to Clara, who had suddenly seemed to sober right up, like the alochol had evaporated from her blood completley.

"You're not scared... not of us, not after all that talk, right Jacob?" Roman finished his sentence. The way he was standing, his shoulder's broad and standing to his full height, he was intimidating, and I wasn't sure if we trying to be.

"It's Jesse, asshole," Jesse spat, "there's nothing to be scared of. I could beat you in anything, blindfolded with one hand tied behind my back. Name the game."

"A couple of jocks like you two should have no trouble beating us in, let's say, a friendly game of beer pong?" Samuel mused out. He already had a ping pong ball between his fingers, and he began tossing it back and forth between each hand.

Jesse let out a chuckle, and I knew why. He and Brett were the reigning beer pong champions, probably because they spent hours every weekend playing that ridiculous game. Brett joined in on his laughter, and the two of them fist-bumped. I studied Roman and Samuel, instead of looking discouraged by the other boy's show of confidence, they looked at each other like they had an inside joke, one that was absolutely hilarious. Roman's eyes had a certain shine in them, and the corners of Samuel's mouth began to twitch upwards.

"You're on," Brett boomed, his newfound smile plastered to his face.

They moved towards the designated beer pong table, Brett and Jesse seemingly forgetting Clara and mine's existence. Roman and Samuel however, both looked back towards us. They didn't provide any sort of gesture, no facial expressions that we could try to decipher. Their eyes lingered for only a moment before they turned to play their game.

I didn't bother to join them, I moved straight to Clara instead. I turned to her, both of us being left behind as the other people at the party seemed to sense an epic game was about to go down. They all crowded around the table, leaving Clara and me alone to talk.

"What the hell was that?" I asked her, grabbing onto her arm. "I thought Samuel was cool about everything. I thought they would at least try to be low-key."

"I have no idea," Clara told me, looking back and forth between me and the game which seemed to now be in full swing, judging by the cheers and curse words emitting from the crowd. "I don't know what they were doing. I really don't. What happened between you and Roman?"

"What? Nothing," I stuttered, caught off guard by her question.

"Nothing? Lilly, that tension was not nothing," Clara raised her eyebrows, the same look she always gets in her eyes when she knows I'm not being truthful surfacing now.

"There's no tension," I brushed her off, looking away from her, and towards the boys instead. "Nothing happened."

Clara opened her mouth, about to answer when she closed it suddenly, and I know why. An intense string of curse words was flowing from the table, and I knew the voice who was saying them belonged to Brett.

"Should we go?" Clara asked me, motioning with her eyes towards the drama, "it might be fun to watch them get their asses kicked."

I pondered for a moment, before deciding that we should in fact go see what was happening. Not because I wanted to watch Jesse play, quite frankly I didn't want to watch Jesse do anything at all, but because I knew there would be questions aiming at my head like I was a dartboard if I didn't watch.

Clara grabbed my hand once I nodded, and she led me towards the table. People parted ways for us instantly, allowing us to squeeze by them without any trouble. As soon as we were beside the table, I knew why Brett was cursing. Brett and Jesse had only two cups remaining, while Roman and Samuel still had five. I shot Clara a knowing look, noticing that she was trying to fight her own smile.

I watched as Jesse pulled his arm back, the small white ball between his fingers. He looked like he was in deep concentration as he stared down at his intended target. He took a breath before he launched the ball, and I watched as it hit the rim and bounced back onto the table. I rolled my lips together, knowing how pissed Jesse likely was by the laughter that was now emitting from the onlookers.

Roman had the ball now, but instead of focusing his eyes on a cup as he drew his hand back, his eyes found mine instead. I stared right back at him, partially because I was stunned at how ballsy he was being, and partly because it felt like the moment our eyes connected, a jolt of electricity shot between us. We were both connected to it, and I knew we were both able to feel it. I didn't want to feel it, though. I wanted to sever all ties, so the electricity had no way to find me.

I didn't see whether Roman's ball hit its target, because I turned around instead. I wasn't going to stand here and be played with like this. Didn't Roman realize? He can't play games with me, because I'm already being played with. I'm already someone's toy, I'm already someone's pawn. I went to walk away, but I only took two steps before I heard Jesse's voice.

"Lilly, get your ass back here! What the fuck are you doing?" Jesse yelled, causing the crowd around us to go silent. You could drop a pin, and it would be heard loud and clear. Which was saying a lot, because we were surrounded by drunk teenagers. My stomach clenched together, my chest began to tighten. Jesse knew better than to use that tone in public, he knew better than to speak to me like that in front of people.

I stood still, the gears turning in my mind like a well-oiled machine. I was debating on what I should do. I didn't want to turn around, and I didn't want to go back to Jesse. I wanted to keep walking, and never look back, but I knew what would happen if I did that. So, I stood still. Again, my feet were glued to the spot. I couldn't move.

"Lilly, are you fucking dumb? Did you not hear what I said?" Jesse continued to yell, causing people to start mumming in hushed voices. I closed my eyes in regret, the regret of his actions for himself. He must either be extremely drunk or extremely pissed off to make a mistake like this.

"You need to watch your mouth," I heard Roman's dark voice. I had heard Roman's voice in many ways before. I've heard it when he was smug and cocky, I've heard it when he was hurt. I've heard it when he was flirting and when he's trying to be funny. I've heard it when he was being honest, and I've heard it when he was being vulnerable. I have never heard it sound so dangerous, and it caused chills to run down my spine.

I turned around at his voice, and I wasn't sure why I did. I knew I didn't want to see whatever was coming, I knew it wasn't going to be good. Yet, my eyes acted like one's eyes when they're drawn to a sunset, or a car accident, or Clara... I just couldn't stop them.