Metamorphosis (6 page)

After we each took a shot of
tequila to “get the blood flowing” as Jess recommended, we grabbed a beer and
the introductions began. Jess pulled
Evie
and I from
one group of people to the next, I was overwhelmed by all of the new faces and
names, knowing I would never remember any of them. I smiled, shook hands, I
even got a few hugs from some guys that were obviously trying to press
themselves against my breasts. I didn’t mind though, I enjoyed the attention
and even contemplated a couple of them for my “nightly prey” as
Evie
had so eloquently put it. I tried to keep myself from
looking for Ash’s whereabouts, but failed miserably. However, when the back
door opened, and several people shuffled in from the back porch, I realized
that when Ash was in the same room with me, I would never need to look for him,
I could feel his presence. I turned around to see him flanked by two beautiful
blondes. He guided the one in front of him into the kitchen with his hand at
the small of her back, while the one behind him tagged along, her fingers threaded
through his belt loops. The three of them walked over to the island and he
grabbed three beers from the cooler. I didn’t want to stare at them, but for
the life of me, I just couldn’t stop myself.

“I warned you, didn’t I?” Jess’
voice interrupted my trance but I continued to watch him. “That’s just Ash…
he’s always been that way. I’m not sure he’ll ever find a girl that will make
him settle down. I just don’t think he’s wired that way,
ya
know?” Without waiting for an answer, she bounced off to say hi to some other
people, leaving me alone with my unanswered questions.

Almost as if he could sense us
talking about him from across the room, he looked up
at me
and our eyes locked
. Again, I felt something pass between us. I wasn’t
sure what it was, or if I was just imagining it on my end, but Ash definitely
made my body feel things I wasn’t quite prepared for. Then he cocked his head
to the side and gave me that panty-dropping, dimple-showing smile. I knew he
was only interested in me for one thing, and I’d be damned if I was going to
give it to him. I scowled and broke the gaze. I then turned my attention to the
two girls that still stood on either side of him. They were both looking up at
him with admiration and adoration, as if he was some sort of sex god. I laughed
at the pathetic sight they were and then looked back at Ash. As if he knew
exactly what I thought about him and his entourage, he dropped the smile and
then what I thought was a look of guilt washed across his face. I wasn’t sure
what his deal
was
(
,)
but I didn’t need to spend any more time thinking
about Ash or his dubious expressions and intentions. I rolled my eyes and
turned to go find
Evie
. As I walked towards the back
door, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud as Taylor Swift sang about knowing
trouble when it walked in the room. The timing could not have been more
appropriate. Unable to resist the temptation to sneak one last glance at him; I
turned around and ran straight into a hard chest and stumbled backwards.

“Oh, excuse me, I’m so sorry,” I
apologized as I tried to catch my balance. “I wasn’t watching where I was
going.”

The guy I nearly ran over held me
by both shoulders to steady me and I looked up into his face to see if he was
someone I had been introduced to earlier in the night, but immediately knew I
hadn’t. I would never forget a face like that. He was… wow.

“No worries, little lady. Are you
okay?” he asked not letting go of my arms.

I nodded and bit my lower lip,
embarrassed by my clumsiness. I wasn’t sure who this guy was, but he could give
Ash a run for his money in the appearance department. He looked like an
Abercrombie model. What was up with all of the drop-dead gorgeous guys around
here? His blonde hair was styled in a messy, spiky kind of do. His eyes were a
deep, dark blue and he donned a perfectly straight smile. Dressed in a striped
polo, khaki shorts, and tan deck shoes, he was the image you would find in the
dictionary under “All-American male,” and he was the perfect preppy college boy
to help me win tonight’s contest and forget all about Ash Walker.

“You’re new around here, I’ve
never seen you before. Are you going to be a freshman at St. Thomas?” he asked
in a deep voice with a hint of a Southern
drawl .

“No… I mean yes… I mean…” I
stammered, feeling my face flush as I continued to embarrass myself. Taking a
deep breath, I tried again to answer his questions. “What I meant to say was
yes I’m new around here, and yes I’m going to be a freshman, but not at St.
Thomas. I’m a student at Rice. I’m just here with my roommate’s cousin, Jess
Johnson.”

“Oh, well, do you have a name or
should I just call you ‘Jess’ cousin’s roommate?’” he teased playfully.

“I’m Scarlett, Scarlett
MacGregor
,” I smiled as I held my hand out towards him. As
a rush of confidence flooded through me, I flirted back, “So do you have a name
or should I just call you ‘guy who likes to flirt with all of the new girls?’”

“Touché, Miss Scarlett. You’re not
only beautiful but witty,” he said while still holding onto my hand. “I’m Dylan
Stephens and it truly is a pleasure to meet you. Would you like to join me
outside for some fresh air?”

His smile made my knees weak and
my heart rate increase; I wanted to learn more about this Dylan Stephens - like
how his lips tasted on
mine
(
,)
and how his hands felt on my body. Just as I was
about to agree, I felt someone walk up behind me and place
their
hand on my shoulder.

“There you are Scarlett, I’ve been
looking everywhere for you.” Ash said in his husky voice. “I’m getting ready to
start playing and I know you had said you wanted to hang around for it.”

I had no idea what he thought I
wanted to hang around and listen to him do, but I knew exactly what he was
doing - coming between Dylan and me. Without turning around, I said in a shitty
tone, “You appear to have your hands full tonight, so instead I think I’ll grab
some fresh air with my new friend Dylan here. Enjoy your playing.” And with
that, I grabbed Dylan’s hand and led him through the back door.

Once we found a secluded area on
the porch to sit and talk, Dylan asked, “Do I even want to know what that was
all about?”

“I’m not really sure,” I admitted.
“I met Ash over at their house right before we came here tonight. I don’t know,
he just rubs me the wrong way and I think it pisses him off that I’m not
falling all over myself trying to hook up with him.” Okay, so that was
partially true.

“You just met him tonight? And
he’s acting like that?”

“Yeah, just a couple of hours ago
or so… why? Should I be worried about something?”

“No, nothing to be concerned with.
It’s just not like Ash to get all territorial and shit…. He usually doesn’t
care what his hookups do or who they talk to…just kind of weird,” he said.

I didn’t want to talk about Ash
and his hookups, or Ash and me, or anything to do with Ash. I just didn’t want
to think about him anymore.

“Look, I’m not one of Ash’s
hookups and never will be, so you don’t need to worry about that. I came out
here to get to know you better, so can we please stop talking about him?”

Dylan and I spent the next hour or
so talking and flirting with one another. We found we had quite a bit in
common, we enjoyed similar music, we both loved watching old Saturday Night
Live reruns, and we wanted to travel to many of the same places. He was an
English major and wanted to go into editing, which of course with my love of
all things books, interested me greatly. We had a wonderful time, Dylan was
funny and he made me feel relaxed and comfortable. And the best part was I
didn’t think about Ash one time while we were outside.

When we stood up to go back inside
to refill our drinks, Dylan grabbed both of my hands in his and pulled me close
to him. My chest was pressed against his and my entire body buzzed in
anticipation. He released one hand and moved his finger under my chin, tilting
my face up towards his. I looked into his desire-filled eyes and the
butterflies in my stomach took flight. Leaning down oh-so-slowly, he lightly
pressed his lips against mine, and then backed up as to gage my reaction, never
taking his eyes off my mouth. I then moved my free hand around to the back of
his neck and pulled his face back down to mine and kissed him with much more
force. I felt his tongue tease against my bottom lip and I eagerly opened up to
better taste him. I wasn’t sure how long we stood there kissing, exploring each
other’s mouths with our tongues.

“
Ummm
… I hate
to interrupt, but I was going to see if you wanted to come inside for an
acoustic session. Ash was going to play and I thought you might enjoy it.” I
turned to see
Evie
standing there with a grin spread
from one ear to the other. “But if you’re busy, that’s cool.”

“No, no, it’s fine. We were just
coming inside anyways. I need a glass of water,” I said as I turned and walked
towards her. The look on her face was
priceless,
she
was beaming at me like a proud mom.

“Have you met Dylan?” I asked,
trying to not sound like an equally giddy
school girl
.

“Yes, I think Jess introduced us
earlier, but honestly, I’ve met so many people tonight the names are all
starting to run together,” she replied. “It’s good to meet you again, Dylan.
I’m
Evie
.” He smiled at her and shook her hand, “You
too,
Evie
, very nice to meet you.”

We all went back in the house,
grabbing drinks as we moved into the living room where everyone had gathered.
The couches and chairs overflowed with bodies and the floor was almost full as
well. Jess called out for us to join her, she had saved us some room. We made
our way over to her and Jacob, trying to not step on anyone as we climbed
through the people, and took our seats on the floor. As I scanned the room, I
found Ash sitting in a chair by the fireplace with a guitar in his lap. I made
the mistake of bringing my eyes to his and he was staring at me again. I looked
away quickly and wished away the uneasy sensation he stirred inside of me. I
glanced over at Dylan hoping he hadn’t noticed Ash paying attention to me, but
his eyes were locked on Ash. Abruptly, Dylan claimed he wasn’t comfortable with
how he was sitting and repositioned us so that his back was supported against
the couch and I was nestled in between his legs, my back pressed against his
chest. He wrapped his arms around my stomach and softly kissed the top of my
head. I looked over at
Evie
and
Jess,
both of their faces were full of questions. They were questions I didn’t know
the answers to, so I just shrugged, smiled, and decided to make the best of it.

“So Ash, what are you going to
play for us tonight?” asked bimbo #1 who was sitting on the floor by his feet.
I didn’t see bimbo #2 around so I thought that maybe she didn’t make the ten
p.m. cut list, but a few minutes later she joined her sister-in-
sluttiness
on the carpet.

“Because we have some new faces at
the party tonight,” he looked up in the direction
Evie
and I were sitting, “I thought we’d do a little variety, mix it up a bit.”

For all of my life books, music,
and dance had been my only outlets, my only escape from my parents, and they
were the things I felt most passionate about. I loved to watch live music, to
see the emotion and passion on someone’s
fingers,
on
their lips… it was awe-inspiring to me. I couldn’t wait to hear Ash play and
sing, but at the same time I was scared shitless of the feelings it would evoke
in me. I had assumed he would be good. I was pretty sure he was good at just
about everything he did; he was just one of those guys. However, nothing could
have prepared me for how amazingly talented and incredibly sexy he was when he
made music. It took every ounce of will in my body to not look at him while he
performed. There was no doubt he was extraordinary; I looked around and
everyone in that living room, both male and female, was completely mesmerized
by Ash’s voice and the music coming from his fingers. I could hear the sex
dripping from his voice, radiating from the strings of the guitar.

At times I could feel him looking
at me, like he was singing to me, but I refused to turn in his direction. I was
pretty sure that Dylan sensed it as well because several times when I knew Ash
was staring, he would tighten his arms around me and nuzzle his face in my
neck, leaving behind soft sweet kisses that made me tremble with desire.

“Alright, I’m going to do one last
song and then turn the guitar over to anyone else who wants to play,” Ash
announced. “Feel free to join me singing this one.”

I released a huge breath of air
that I had not even realized I was holding. One more song, I could get through
one more song. Ash decided to close his set with “Let’s Get It On.” It was if
he purposely picked that song to irk me or get under my skin. It felt like he was
trying to make fun of me. Of course, everyone else in the room thought it was
awesome, they screamed in approval as the opening line left his mouth and most
of the room joined him in verse. I cringed and tried to block him out; I didn’t
want to give him the pleasure of knowing how he affected me, but I couldn’t
take it any longer. I didn’t want to make a scene and walk out the room in the
middle of the song, so instead I did the next best thing. I turned around in
Dylan’s lap, straddled his legs, and kissed him… hard. And I didn’t break away
from his mouth until the song was over.