Tear (A Seaside Novel) (8 page)

My eyes felt puffy. I cursed Alesha for making me wear mascara. I probably looked like a possessed raccoon.

Alec gently placed me on the couch and flipped on the lights to the living room. My eyes took in the smooth buttery yellow couch he had set me on, the flat screen TV, all the pictures of him and Demetri, and the wide set windows looking out toward the beach.

It wasn’t anything like my house. It was trendy but really comfortable, whereas my house felt sterile and lonely.

I suddenly cried harder, knowing I had to return to an empty house. My mom and dad had most likely gone out. It was date night, after all. The thought of being alone made me want to run back to Evan’s party just so I could crash in one of his guest rooms.

I never did do well with being in the dark by myself.

“Here.” I didn’t even know Alec was in front of me. My eyes fell on a mug of something. I took it and sipped.

Tea. Crap. I had just made out with his brother and he was making me tea, in his house, and telling me it was okay to cry.

“Thank you,” I mumbled.

Alec knelt in front of me. His thumbs wiped the remaining tears from my eyes. “I’m sorry, Nat. He’s drunk. I know that’s no excuse, believe me. But if he was in his right mind he would have never done that. I know he likes you.”

I nodded numbly.

“Want me to beat him up for you?” Alec asked a deadpan look on his face.

“Would you?”

Alec nodded.

The idea did have merit.

“Maybe just a black eye.”

“Done.” He smiled and sat next to me on the couch.

I set the mug on the table and started to get up. “I should go home. I mean, it’s getting late.”

“Fine, but if you go home I’m going with you. Your choices are as follows. Stay with me, while I sleep on the floor guarding your virtue from my brother if he decides to track you down, or I’m crashing at your place. It’s not safe for you to stay by yourself, Nat. Your parents are gone, right?” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Look, I know it’s Seaside and not L.A. I just don’t feel good with you being there by yourself. You should hang here for a while.”

I nodded. “You don’t have to do that, Alec.”

“Yes. I do.” He swallowed and looked away. “So, what will it be?”

I looked around me. It was so comfortable. How ironic that I would be more comfortable at a stranger’s house than my own. “I guess we could stay here.”

“Good, because I already ordered pizza.”

I laughed. “When did you do that?”

“I have my ways. Apparently, there’s an app for that.”

I shook my head. “Always is.”

He grinned then cleared his throat, his smile suddenly vanishing. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Of course.” My answer was too fast and forced.

Alec’s eyes narrowed.

I looked away. “I’ll be fine. I promise.”

“Says the raccoon,” Alec muttered.

“Jerk!” I laughed and playfully pushed him away from me. “I knew I shouldn’t have worn mascara.”

“It’s not like you need it anyways.” Alec’s blue eyes scanned me intently. “You have the thickest dark eyelashes I’ve ever seen. It’s like you’re waving every time you blink. Actually I’d like to think it’s a greeting each time, ‘Hey, Alec. How you doin, Alec?’”

I burst out laughing. “Oh my gosh! That’s kinda creepy, Alec, and I’m pretty sure every time I see you I’m going to blink even harder, because I’ll be thinking about it, and then people are going to think I have something in my eye.”

“Oh, I hope so.” He grinned and jumped up from the couch. “That would be entertaining for me.”

“Yes, and it’s all about you,” I joked.

“No.” He turned back to me and offered a warm smile. “It’s about you.”

My heart stopped beating. Awesome.
Breathe, Nat, breathe!
Finally, my mouth opened and I was able to suck in enough air so I wouldn’t pass out on his couch. Unfortunately, the air was saturated with Alec. Seriously, the way he smelled did things to me. I’d never been the type of girl to fixate on cologne, but wow. It confused me, made me want to jump on him.

Maybe those two sips of rum punch messed with my head.

“So…” Alec politely ignored my second awkward moment that night. “Until the pizza gets here, what do you say we play some cards?”

“Cards? You play cards?”

“Um, yeah? What else do you think there is to do on tour busses?”

“Sing?” I offered.

“I think not.” Alec sauntered to a drawer and pulled out a deck of cards and a pad of paper. “I take a vow of silence while I’m on the bus, saves my voice.”

“A vow of silence?”

He nodded.

“How exactly does that work?”

He smirked and shrugged.

“Oh, very funny.” I narrowed my eyes and ripped the deck of cards out of his hands. “So a vow of silence. So you’re like a monk?”

“Sure.” He smiled. “Just call me Ghandi.”

“Was he a monk?”

“I have no idea. That’s why I’m in school, to learn smart crap like that.”

I laughed and shook my head. I loved this side of Alec. He was so funny and different. I cleared my throat, hoping it would clear my head as well. “So what game are we playing?”

“Go fish,” Alec said without smiling.

“Seriously?”

“Oh, absolutely.” Alec grinned and reached behind him revealing a giant pack of Swedish fish. “So, this is how it works, every time a player says go fish, you have to literally go fish, but you can’t use your hands.”

“What do I use?”

“Your mouth.” He winked. “And you can’t let your lips touch the counter, it has to be all teeth. Cheaters will be punished.”

“You’ve played this before?”

“Oh, honey, if this was an Olympic sport I’d have more medals than Phelps.”

“Crap.” I quickly dealt the cards and so started the game.

Within ten minutes I had already eaten five Swedish fish and accidently touched the table with my lips twice. The punishment he spoke of was the other player licking the Swedish fish and placing it on the cheater’s cheek. You had to stay that way until it fell off, and then you had to eat the fish.

Good thing he had a five pound bag, because with the way I was playing it was going to be gone.

After the first game, I had successfully eaten fifteen fish. Alec had four.

A knock sounded at the door. “Oh, that’s the pizza.” Alec shot out of his seat toward the door, then abruptly turned back. “No cheating!” He placed his cards farther away from me.

I was never one to listen and had always been a rebellious little girl. Plus, I had the biggest sugar high. I grasped his cards and swapped them so he would have to keep eating the fish.

By the time he came back, the smell of pizza filled the living room. My stomach growled.

“I knew you were hungry.” Alec went into the kitchen and returned with a couple plates and napkins. “You gotta eat before you go to a party, Nat. That’s like Partying 101. Never drink on an empty stomach, kay? Promise me if you ever go to a party again and plan on drinking, that you will eat beforehand.”

I nodded. “I promise, Mom.”

“Thanks, sweetie.” Alec patted my head and laughed.

It was so easy with him. It was like, oh gosh, I’m totally going to kill Stephenie Meyer and
Twilight
. It really was like breathing. Sorry Jacob and Bella, but it’s true. And I’m sorry, but being with a werewolf would not be like breathing. It would be like dying.

It was unexpected and completely confusing. I didn’t expect Alec to be so relaxed, or fun, or even protective for that matter. Alec moved casually around the kitchen and grabbed some forks for us. He was so normal. It was as if I was the most important thing in the world, the most important person in the room. Even though it was just us, his phone kept buzzing off the table. He never once looked at it.

When it rang for the tenth time, he threw it on the couch and stuffed a pillow over it.

We ate our pizza in silence. I attacked mine like a woman starved. I usually didn’t eat junk food, but oh my gosh, the greasy cheese was like manna from heaven. “Thank you,” I finally said after devouring three pieces.

He had five, so I didn’t feel as bad.

“Anytime.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin and took our plates back to the kitchen. “How about one more game?”

“You’re on!” I giggled. Oh no, I’m giggling like a middle schooler. He’s totally going to know I cheated.

“You cheated,” he announced when he sat back down across from me.

I giggled. “No I didn’t.”

“You’re giggling.”

“I’m a girl!” I fired back.

His eyes narrowed. “Fine, I’ll play. But if I lose, I’ll know, Nat. I’ll know.”

“I’m not afraid of you.”

He leaned across the table, his face inches from mine. “You should be.”

Wait, were we still talking about the game?

My gaze fell to his lips, then flashed back to his eyes.

He jerked back and cleared his throat. “Do you have any sixes?”

“Go fish.”

He glared and leaned over to pick the fish off the table, his lips grazing the little red gummy. I gulped, suddenly hot all over watching his tongue slip out of his mouth and attach itself to the fish. I’d never had that type of response to two guys before. It scared the crap out of me.

And, great. I’m jealous of a candy.

His lips never touched the counter. He ate the fish and grinned triumphantly. His grin, however, was short lived. Some ten fish later, he was losing horribly, and I still didn’t have to eat any more fish.

“I think I may be sick,” he announced before having to go fish again.

“Aw, too many fish? We can just call the game now. I mean, it’s not like you’re going to win.”

He quickly picked up the fish and then spit it at me. Shocked, my mouth dropped open, then I reached into the bag and began pelting him with the fish.

“Ah!” He jumped out of his chair and tackled me to the floor, trying to force a handful of fish into my mouth.

I closed my eyes and shook my head back and forth. His weight nearly crushed me. There was no way I was getting out from underneath him.

And then, it was as if at the same time we realized what was happening. I slowly opened my eyes to see him staring at my mouth like a man starved.

My breath grew ragged as Alec’s eyes dilated. He licked his lips and leaned down. I closed my eyes.

“Alec!” The voice jolted both of us away from one another. Alec cursed and helped me up. Demetri was walking through the door… well, stumbling and winding through the hallway was more like it. He was still smashed.

“I can’t find Nat! I messed up! Where is she? Is she okay?” Demetri’s words were slurring together. “Some guy told me I was making out with a chick that wasn’t Nat. I didn’t know, Dude. Where the hell is she?” This was not the time or place to have this discussion, especially considering Demetri was drunker than a skunk.

He tumbled into the living room, still not looking in my direction. He smelled like cigarettes and whiskey. “Where’s she, man?”

I cleared my throat.

“Natalee!” Demetri opened his arms, I stepped back.

“Just sleep it off, bro.” Alec tried to pull his brother back toward the stairs, but Demetri fought him.

“No! Natalee, I’m so sorry, Babe. I’m so sorry!” He fell to his knees and looked like he was ready to cry. “It wasn’t what you think! I’m so drunk — she had blonde hair, I thought she was you!”

I knew it was stupid to argue with a drunk person, but I couldn’t help myself. “Really? And when you found out you were wrong you decided to do what? Kiss her back?”

“I’m so sorry!” He ignored my question, still on his hands and knees.

“Sleep it off, Demetri.” Alec moved to grab his brother, but Demetri jerked away then took an awkward swing at him, throwing himself off balance even more. He stumbled and rocked back on his heels.

“A promise is a promise,” Alec muttered before punching his brother directly in the eye.

Demetri cursed as he tumbled to the ground and promptly passed out.

I was frozen in place.

“Is he okay?”

Alec shrugged. “Besides having a headache and the black eye I promised, yeah, he’ll be fine.”

I nodded, still in shock.

“Come on.” Alec held out his hand. “Let’s go upstairs and get you into bed. I don’t care what you say. I’m sleeping on your floor just in case the drunk wakes up and decides to apologize again.”

“Okay.” I felt bad leaving Demetri on the floor. Alec noticed me staring and rolled his eyes, moved back to him, and lifted Demetri, depositing him on the couch.

“Happy?” he asked.

“Yes.” Alec’s mood had changed again, it wasn’t as lighthearted. More irritated and crazy protective.

I followed him down the dimly lit hall. There were at least ten doors that led into different rooms. He took me to the last room and opened the door, allowing me to go first.

I gulped.

It was his room. It had to be. I was almost alarmed at how clean it was. Didn’t boy rooms usually smell bad?

His windows were open, so the curtains were blowing in the slight breeze. It smelled like Alec and the ocean. I decided it was my favorite smell, even more so than his cologne by itself, because it was a mixture of him and home.

The room was huge and had a bathroom off the side of it. His large bed was near the windows and seemed menacing. “I’ll just grab you some sweats to sleep in, kay?” Alec scratched the back of his head then went to a walk-in closet and turned on the lights. His closet was bigger than my room.

He reached into a dresser and searched. Within seconds he was tossing me a t-shirt and sweats. “Will these work?”

“Yeah, they’re fine.” I grabbed them.

We stared silently at one another for a minute or two.

I shifted on my feet and Alec quickly looked down at the floor. “Do you want to shower?”

“Kind of, I mean, if that’s okay. If not, it’s totally fine. I can just go to sleep and—”

“Nat, stop talking so fast, you’re making me nervous.”

Right I’m making
him
nervous.

“I’ll just sit out here and read for a bit. There’s fresh towels hanging up, and you can use whatever’s in the shower.” He stretched his arms above his head, giving me a spectacular view of the lower part of his abs and the low slung jeans on the V of his hips.