I look away from him and snort my line. I inhale the dust from the rolled up piece of paper and as the drug run through my body I felt a rush of adrenaline. I close my eyes as if I'm trying to memorise this feeling right now. I open my eyes to be met with grey bloodshot eyes. His stare burns through my whole body and chills run through my blood. High or not the way he looks at me always made me feel this way.

"scooch," he says as his hand touches the side of my knee motioning to move. I move next to Luke and he sat down between me and Devon. I could feel him move closer to me and turned his head, staring right at the side of my face. I got this huge urge to look back at him but I knew his face was way too close so I fought my urge.

"Ay, Damien want a line?" one of the dudes asked.

"Nah, I'm good," he said never looking away and I could feel his hot breath hit my cheeks.

"Obviously he's good. He's here right after snorting six or so lines from some girl's very naked chest" Jennifer speaks, uncapping a beer bottle. Hearing those words and the mental image boiled my blood.

Angry?

always.

Jealous?

Maybe.

"You did not have to word it out like that Jennifer," Damien said looking away from me.

"What's up with her?" I ask him and he looks at me.

"Who?" he asks and I looked at him.

"Jennifer"

"Why? you got a problem with her" he says.

"Of course I got a problem. That's why I'm asking" I tell him as there was no point in lying. He would know anyway.

"She's a friend"

"Just a friend?"

"Sometimes". I could say he is enjoying this very much.

"Everyone grab a beer. We are playing never have I ever" Jason says and a smile took over my face I turned to look at Damien already looking at me with a smile on his face too.

"Never have I ever had sex with anyone in this room?" Luke asks next to me and me, Jason, Jennifer and two boys including Luke takes a drink. I turned to see if Damien drinks but he didn't even move his beer.

"I hope that solves your problem" he whispered to my ear and I let go of a breath that I didn't know I was holding.

"Never have I ever given a blow job or got a blow job?". Everyone except me drank. And they looked at me with shock.

"What? I never pleasured a man they pleasure me" I tell.

"Oh, trust me she doesn't need to give a blow job to please you. She's a literal se-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Damien speaks cutting Jason off. And I know that it bothered him that I have slept with his stepbrother. Not my fault that Lily married Jason's father.

It's when I looked around and noticed that Emma is nowhere to be found.

"where's Emma?" I asked.

"And Shawn," the buzz-cut boy said and stood up walking towards a door closed door and kept his ear on it.

"Here we are talking about sex and people are experiencing it," he says and dramatically throws his hands showing his disappointment. So much for showing him what he lost huh Emma?

I was so very shocked for a moment because I did judge her for how she looks. Never in the few weeks of knowing Emma did I think of her doing drugs and having sex with her ex-boyfriend while there was a room full of people on the other side. I wasn't happy nor was I sad because I know what it does to you and I'm not any good either. This girl continues to surprise me and right now I got no regrets about accepting her friendship. I guess we all need someone to survive.

My phone started vibrating in my back pocket. I looked to see my mother calling me. That's very surprising.

"yes?" I spoke answering the call.

"I want you to come home now Rhea" she spoke.

"It's still seven and I'm with Emma, she needs a ride home". why would she want me home?

"Just come home. Please". I did not just hear my mother say 'please'. Concern took over.

"Mom, is everything okay?"

"Yes, I want you home in fifteen okay," she says and declines the phone. Right now I want nothing more than to get home but I need Emma to go home safely and for a fact, I don't trust Shawn one bit, not anyone in this room except Jason who is pretty drunk and I looked at Damien.

"I'll drop her. You get home" he says. How on earth does he know? it kinda creeps me out.

"I swear to God if I hear a single complaint from her tomorrow I'm gonna kill you," I tell him. It's not that I don't trust him. I trust this boy with life but maybe it's just for reassurance.

I got up and said my goodbyes to everyone. I look back at Damien to see him already looking at me. I gave him a small smile and walked out.

***

I parked the car and walked towards my house. I'm not going to lie, I feel very anxious as to what to expect when I walk in. Especially with the relationship I have with my mother right now I'm gonna expect the worst.

It was odd really odd, the usual smell of alcohol and cigarettes wasn't there, the stacks of bills and papers weren't on the corner table and the house looks neat as ever. I walked to the kitchen and I was met with my mother and an older looking man. She walks towards me as soon as she realized that I was home.

"Rhea! you're home. I want you to meet someone". The hell is this.

"Uh, Mom"

"Dear, this is John and John this is my daughter Rhea." She says. It's not that there's a man in this house whom I have never seen, It's how everything had changed so quickly. My mother looks like she has been living a perfect life, there is no sign showing that she has been drowning her sorrows in alcohol but most of all she looks like she never wished her own daughter to be dead. I'm not that dumb to not notice that she is introducing her supposed love interest. The last thing I would've thought was mom liking someone other than my father. Indeed, they weren't good parents but they were amazing as a couple. They loved each other more than their own children.

"Hello, Rhea. It's really great to see you" he says with a smile and pointed his hand for a handshake.

"Rhea?" my mother called out as I was just staring at his hand inviting me to shake it. I looked behind me when someone else walked into the kitchen.

"Uh, mom can I talk to you in private for a second"

"Yeah, sure," she says and walked out of the kitchen with me before giving these strangers a small smile.

"Mom, what the fuck is going on? How come you never told me this beforehand" I tell her and she holds my wrist.

"Listen, I want you to behave and be nice to them. That's the least you could do" she said with anger in her eyes. Her eyes showing the same disappointment she always showed me. I wince when her nails dug deep into my wrist. She let go of my hand and walked back into the kitchen. I unfold the arms of my flannel to cover up the bleeding wrist and I walked back in. Why won't I show the least I could do?

"So, john how did you meet my mother?" I ask as I sat down in front of him.

"We just moved into town and I was visiting your mom's bar after a tiring day of work and she impressed me with her kind hospitality," he says proudly just as the stranger boy which I assume would be the son enter with my mother and dishes of food in their hands.

"How romantic," I tell. And everyone sat down at the dinner table. I got to say that this is the first time since the day we moved in here, that me and my mother sitting at the table eating dinner together.

"And you are?" I asked the boy sitting next to me.

"Mason," he said giving a small.

"Mason, here will be going to your school from next week," mom said.

"I know cool right, maybe you could give a tour," Mason said next to me.

"I would rather die than walk around the school with you or anyone in that case"

"Maybe you should rethink that especially when your mom gets to know that you smell like marijuana," he said whispering. Blackmailing are we?

"Go ahead, be my guest". He messing with the wrong person.

"Is it just me or does it smell like weed in here" He spoke loudly. Props to the audacity though.

"To tell the truth it does, nothing surprising though it always smells like that in, here" I muttered earning a look from my mother. I wasn't lying now was I?

Everyone dropped to complete silence until I decided to break it, "So mom, does Jared know about this amazing dinner?". Now Jared would be a deal-breaking topic for mother's new facade.

"Who's Jared?" John asked looking at my mom in confusion.

"Uh, he's my son," she says throwing a fake smile at me.

"I didn't know you had another child". So he knows nothing about her other children. This is gonna be fun.

"Where is he?" he asked ignoring my mother's silence.

"He's living with my sister. For educational purposes you know". 'Educational purposes' my ass. Couldn't she come up with any better excuse?

"I would love to meet him someday," he said. Come on John if I were you I would've dug deep into this matter.

"So, Rhea how was your home town like?" Mason asks. How on earth am I gonna answer that question.

"The shittiest town to ever exist," I tell keeping it short and sweet.

"It wasn't that bad" my mother spoke and confusion took over me.

"Out of all people, you know what a hell hole that town is. And excuse me, I lost my appetite" I tell and stood up from my seat.

"Rhea, you barely touched your food" John spoke and I turned to face him.

"You know John, there's one thing that I always listen to what my father said; Never force yourself to eat if you cant". That was unnecessary but what would this dinner be if I don't bring up the ex-husband. I turned around and walked up to my room.

A/N - NOT ME WRITING ABOUT DRUGS THAT I HAVE NEVER TOUCHED IN MY LIFE 💀. SO CREDITS OF THIS CHAPTER AND THE PREVIOUS ONE GOES MY RIGHT-HAND MAN GOOGLE :)

!! GENTLE REMINDER TO VOTE !!

THANK YOU FOR READING

- PEACE