Holding On (Memories) (9 page)

Her blonde hair is curled and clipped to the side, flowing over her shoulder. The teal dress she’s wearing hugs every bit of her body, and I can’t stop my eyes from crawling over her. She shifts uncomfortably, and I hand Lexy to Alec without looking away from Jen.

“What?” she asks. “Is something on my face?” She pats her cheek.

I shake my head. “No. I’m just wondering if there’s actually Jen in that fancy dress, or if she’s been swapped for a nicer model.”

Her lips curl to the side. “She’s been swapped for a nicer model, with manners.”

“Ah, so that means if I wind her up she’ll be nice?”

She snorts. “Don’
t get too overexcited, Samuel. If you’re mean to me, I’ll still chew your ass.”

I smirk suggestively. “In that case, I’ll be mean to you all night. I might like it if you chew my ass.” Lexy elbows me from behind and I laugh. “I’m just
sayin’, it’s true.”

Jen’s blue eyes glare at me, and I grin at her.

“I’m warning you right now, Samuel Edwards.” She steps closer to me, craning her neck upwards to look at me. “I’m wearing four inch heels which will be snapping my feet by midnight, so if you piss me off, you should know that I can, and
will
, stick said heel so far up your manhood you’ll need your crown jewels sliced open to get it back out. Are we understood?”

I raise my eyebrows. “Perfectly.”

“Excellent.” She smiles. “Let’s go, shall we?”

I offer her my arm, letting
Alec and Lexy pass by. Jen slips her arm into mine, still fidgeting with her dress.

“Stop messing with it,” I mutter.

“It’s annoying,” she grumbles. I open the front door for her, stopping her just before she goes through. “What?” she asks, her eyebrows going up.

“Just leave it alone,” I say softly, meeting her eyes. “You look beautiful.”

Her expression softens, her face relaxing. A slight flush rises in her cheeks, and she smiles a little. Her eyes sparkle, and her grip on my arm tightens for a split second.

“Thank you,” she says with a slight cough. “You don’t look too bad yourself. Just make sure your trousers stay up, and you’ll pass for civilised.”

I go through the door with her, letting it close behind me, and smile slightly.

God love her defensive sarcasm.

The large hall Emily rented for Si’s 50
th
birthday is perfect. A huge buffet table lines the far wall, and there’s loads of tables in the area surrounding it. The place is already buzzing with activity, and I understand the fancy dress code.

All the women are wearing long dresses, or at the very least, dresses that cost as much as my university tuition for the
year.
The men are in suits, and most of their ties or bows match their wives’ dresses. Like Bing’s tie matches mine.

And let a seagull shit on your hair, does he wear that suit and tie like a pro.

Hey, Daniel Craig, move on over. There’s a new Bond in town, and his annoyingly sexy ass is standing right next to mine. I have to admit, as much as I dislike Bing, if I had to be saved from a burning building by someone, I wouldn’t mind being saved by him.

It
’s the arms. They’re nice arms. Don’t judge me.

Lexy slides up next to me, sipping a glass of wine.

“This is fancy,” I mutter.

She smirks. “Mum likes to go all out.”

“Is this what you escaped being in Devon for your birthday?”

She nods serenely, smiling at someone walking past. “Yep, except mine probably would have been bigger. In Mum’s social circle, eighteen is important. She asked me if I wanted to have a party when we got back to London, and I said not in a million years.”

“I don’t blame you. At all.” My eyes scan the hall, and I find Bing standing in the corner opposite a girl in a red dress and a boy in a suit. I squint a little, and recognise the girl as Jayna, which means the guy with her is Adrian. I sigh, nudging Lexy.

Her eyes dart to the corner, and I can see the tightening of her jaw. “
They wouldn’t actually do anything, would they?”

My grip on my glass tightens. “Well, her parents are here, but I don’t know so I can’t say. Adrian… From that day in the art store, I wouldn’t put it past him.”

Bing nods his head once, and turns to us, leaving Jayna pouting after him. He crosses the room, turning heads as he walks. Is it wrong I feel a little smug I’m here with the guy all the single women – and some of the married ones – want? No? Okay then, I’ll put my smugness switch on full.

I silently chuckle at my own thoughts. I need a brain to… Brain filter, apparently. Huh.

“What were you doing talking to them?” Lexy bites out, smiling sweetly in Adrian’s direction.

“I was telling him to keep away from you tonight,” Bing replies. “Don’t worry, sister dear, I wasn’t planning on whisking the cheap version of Betty
Boop out of here on horseback.”

I snort. Bing glances at me.

“Something funny, Jennifer?” He smirks a little.

I look at him, an amused smile on my face. “For once, yeah. I never knew you could be funny. Am I rubbing off on you?”

His smirk transforms into a grin. “You can rub off on me anytime, babe.”

“I’d have to be
very, very drunk to do that.” I sip my wine, and he steps closer to me.

“
Then don’t take any drinks from me tonight,” he mutters. “Or I might just take you up on that offer.”

“Offer?” I raise an eyebrow, backing into Alec. Where did he come from? “What offer was that, Samuel?”

“The one where you get very, very drunk, and rub yourself off on me.” He winks.

Alec coughs. “Hi, remember m
e? The best friend to your boyfriend, Jen?”

I spin, tilting my glass towards him. “Don’t blame me for this. He’s the one that turned an innocent c
omment into something indecent!”

Bing steps back innocently. “Don’t turn this around on me, Jen. You know how my mind works.”

“He has a point.” Lexy finally turns back to us. “Rub, or any variation of the word, is a dangerous thing to use around my brother. He could turn a rubber band into something sexual.”

Bing grins wickedly, putting a hand in his trouser pocket, and rocks back on his heels. I can almost see the cogs turning in his brain, making a rubber band into something sexual, and a very small part of me wants to know just how sexual he could make that. It makes me slightly worried that I’m entertaining those thoughts.

But then I accepted a long time ago I’m not mentally normal, so I’m not sure if worried is the right word.

Alec sighs, shaking his head, but a smile is touching on his lips.

“Don’t look now,” Lexy mutters, looking down. “…But this party is about to get a show.”

“I’m not stripping, if that’s what you’re hoping for,”
Jayna’s sickly sweet voice says as she and Adrian join our group.

Ooo-kay
. Their definition of staying away and Bing’s are clearly different.

I glance up at Bing, noting his hard eyes and tight jaw. Yep. Their definitions are as different as sex with a man and sex with a vibrator.

“If you were looking for someone hoping that, you’re about three streets over from the Blind People’s Monthly Convention,” Bing grinds out. His head snaps towards Adrian, and I see Alec glaring at the newcomer out of the corner of my eye.

If there was any more testosterone in this room, I’d have to wonder if I’d walked into a fourteen year old changing room at the leisure centre.

“It’s no wonder you’re single, Bing, with the way you talk to girls.” Jayna glances at him with disdain.

“Who said I was single?” Bing raises his eyebrows.

Woah, woah, woah! Stop right there and pull your thong from your ass. Bing isn’t single?

What?

“What?” Lexy asks, staring at him. “You have a girlfriend? Since when?”

“Since yesterday.” He laughs.

“Yet you’re here with another girl?” Adrian smirks. “Way to start a relationship. Are you sleeping with Blondie too?”

“Your balls are still on my list of Christmas decorations for Big Ben, Adrian. Don’t push it.” I smile at him, my voice deathly calm.

“I thought I told you to stay away from my sister, anyway?” Bing glares at him.

“
Jayna wanted to come over.” Adrian looks at Lexy. Alec steps closer to her, and I bristle as the tension climbs another notch. Someone keep heavy objects away, because it looks like a caveman needs a club.

I fight my smile at myself again. Damn.

“Well she’s here. You can always go and get yourself a drink, Adrian.”

“I think Lexy can speak for herself, Bing.”
Jayna looks between brother and sister, and I narrow my eyes at her. So what if I’m imagining what she’d look like if someone
accidentally
tipped wine all over her head?

“I can, and I think it’s best if Adrian leaves.”
Lexy’s words are quiet but firm, and there’s no doubt in my mind that wasn’t a request. No, she was telling him to go. I feel like I need some pom-poms or something to cheer her on.

“Lexy,”
Jayna implores. “We’ve been friends for years-”

“Things change, Jay. I’ve changed. Clearly I’m the only one that grew up this summer. The only reason you’re here is because your parents are friends with mine, and the only reason they’re here is because I befriended the lost little girl in year eight when she changed schools,” Lexy says coldly. “When I leave this hall tonight, that part is over. Friendship is a two way thing based on respect, and rubbing yourself against your “best friend’s” boyfriend the first time you meet him is not, by any stretch of the imagination, respectful. You have your life, and I have mine.”

Jayna sucks her bottom lip into her mouth, glancing at me sourly before looking back at Lexy. “That much is obvious. No need to get your knickers in a twist, Lexy.”

Adrian’s mouth curls up on one side. “Yeah, your boyfriend might not be able to untwist them for you.” His eyes find Alec’s. “But I’d be
more
than happy to help you do that.”

I move at the same time Alec does, jumping in front of him. Once again, I find myself nose to nose with Adrian, and this time I’m more pissed than a mama bear.

“You have five minutes to make an excuse and get your sorry ass out of this hall before I put you out myself,” I threaten. “Do not underestimate me. I’ve already told you once. No-one fucks with my friends, especially not the ones that are like family. Fuck with them, and you fuck with me.”

Clearly not done, I prepare myself for the smartass comment that will come with the curve of his lips.

“I might have to carry on then, because failing Lexy, you wouldn’t be a bad person to fuck with, would you, Jen?” he whispers.

My hand shoots up. It meets another, larger hand. The fingers of the other hand link inside mine and lower it. I’m tugged to the side, and I find myself pulled through the throngs of people by Bing. He nods to someone stood by the stage where the DJ is set up, and they nod back, moving into the crowd.

“Who was that?” I ask as he drags me from the main hall.

“Security.”

“Security?” I realise he’s holding my hand. “Get off me.” I shake my arm.

“Nope.” He shakes his head. “I can’t trust you not to go running back after Adrian.”

I grind my teeth together. “I wouldn’t do such a thing.”

He looks back at me disbelievingly, and opens a door. He pulls me through it into a small room, and after he shuts the door, he lets me go. He leans back against the door.

I look around for another door. None.

“Let me out, Samuel.”

“No.” He smiles, crossing one ankle over the other, and folds his arms over his chest. It’s a dangerous pose in that suit, and as a bit of my anger at Adrian slips away, the anger at myself for being attracted to this prat grows.

“You can’t keep me in here.”

“I can. I have the key.” He grins. “You’re not going out until you calm down.”

“I’m calm. Who isn’t calm?” I shrug. “My glass is also empty.”

“You held your glass the whole time?”

“It’s Vino. Hello?” I wave my glass, sigh, and place it on the table behind me. I perch on the edge of it. “So I’m supposed to stay in here until you think I’m calm enough to go back out there?”

He nods. “Pretty much.”

“Yep. Because being stuck in a room with you is guaranteed to calm me down. I mean, why wouldn’t it? You are my favourite person after all,” I scoff.

He crosses the room, stopping right in front of me. “You might like me if you give me a chance instead of bitching at me all the time, Jennifer,” he says softly. “That wouldn’t kill you, would it?”

I look up, right into his warm eyes. “Probably not, but I don’t want to take the risk.” He shuffles a little closer, and I swallow. I might not like him, but my body sure as hell does.