Noelle and Hallie hurriedly dashed across the gravel parking lot to the car, Taylor
and Isaac walking slowly behind them. It was cold. Too damn cold to be wearing a dress
with no sleeves and big slit up the side, Hallie concluded. She felt goosebumps rise on
her legs and cursed whoever decided that women should shave their legs. Especially
when it was cold. Noelle was dancing by the front passenger side door, rubbing her arms
with her hands.
“Ike! Hurry up! It’s freezing out here!” she yelled. Isaac sighed and quickened his
pace slightly. Frankly, he wasn’t cold at all. With the, what seemed like, twenty-six layers
of thick clothing that he had on (he was wearing a tuxedo, you know), he felt suffocated.
His bow tie, which had been quickly shed once the dance began was now hanging loosely
from Noelle’s much smaller neck and no longer choking him. The first few buttons of his
shirt were undone and the shirt was no longer tucked into his pants. He carried the green
vest in his hand. The only uncomfortable things left to get rid of were the shoes. He felt
like a tap dancer or something. The glare off the shoes was about to blind him. He pulled
the car keys from his pocket as he and Taylor approached the car. He unlocked the door
and then unlocked the rest of them once his was opened.
“Thank God,” Noelle said, hiking her dress up and climbing to the car, slamming
the door shut behind her. “Heat heat heat,” she chanted as Isaac started the car up. Hallie,
who was sitting right behind her, looked up as Noelle turned around. “I have an idea,”
Noelle said proudly. Taylor buckled his seat belt.
“Wow, hell has frozen over,” he mumbled. Noelle shot him a fierce look which he
returned and then turned her attention back to Hallie.
“I heard that there’s going to be a huge party back at the old Lafferty mansion.
We’re talking free drinks, music, fourteen bedrooms, and an unlimited supply of weed.
What do you guys think?” Hallie tried desperately to mask her surprise. Weed?
“What about post prom?” she asked, trying desperately to find an excuse not to go.
Noelle made a face.
“Only the prudes go and spend time at post prom where the most intoxicating thing
that they have to drink is Mountain Dew because of it’s high caffeine content. Let’s live a
little tonight, what you do you say, Hal?” Hallie looked at the apathetic expressions on
Isaac (who had turned around once Noelle had began proposing the idea of a party) and
Taylor’s faces, and then at the eager look on Noelle’s face.
“Sounds okay to me, I guess,” she said, shrugging. Noelle grinned happily and
turned back around in her seat.
“All right, now, I have this all planned out,” she said, pulling her cell phone from
her purse and pulling the antenna out. “I’m going to call my mom and tell her that there
has been a change of plans that I’m going over to Hallie’s. Ike, you can call your mom
and tell her that you and Taylor are going to stay over at Riley’s tonight.” Taylor looked
at Noelle and Isaac questioningly, but amused.
“Do you two do this often or something?” he asked. They were just a wee bit too
well organized.
“Well, we’ve done it a few times. Do you really think that I spend the night at
Riley’s house that much? I mean, the reason why I always use him as an excuse is that he
has that second Internet line at his house and I just give mom that number so that if she
does try and call to check on me, the line will be busy and she won’t be able to get
through.” Taylor was shocked that his brother could be this deceiving and arched his
eyebrow.
“Well, maybe I am the good son after all,” Taylor said, grinning. Isaac smiled
back.
“Not after that whole clinic mess up. They haven’t caught me, yet, Tay.”
The Lafferty house was enormous. From outside, Hallie could make out possibly
three floors in the place, but lights were only lit on the first floor. A large wrap around
porch surrounded the first floor. A swing hung from the ceiling, but was probably not all
that secure, so there wasn’t anyone seated on it, enjoying the cloudless, star filled
night.
Taylor shrugged off his jacket and put it over Hallie’s shoulders after they had both
gotten out of the car. She looked away from the house and at him.
“Why do people party out here?” she asked as Isaac and Noelle walked ahead of
them and into the house like it was their own. Taylor shrugged and took her hand after
she had put her arms through the sleeves of his coat. They walked slowly up the weed
choked cobble stone path toward the house.
“It’s, you know, way the hell out here so cops aren’t usually around here.
Eventually, after they catch wind of the parties, they will be, but for right now, this place
is ideal. There are about a million rooms and no adults around. It’s like a refuge or
something. It’s a very well kept secret among all of us, so keep it hush hush, okie dokie?”
he said. She nodded. He grinned. “Anyways, a lot of the people here have older brother
or sisters sometimes who are willing to get us kegs or whatever so this isn’t just like
some boring school function.” Hallie tugged on his arm so that he would look down at
her.
“Are you going to drink?” she asked.
“Why? Do you not want me to?” he asked.
“I don’t really care. I mean, I’m not going to, but if you want to, I’m just glad that
I’ll be here and sober to take care of you.” He smiled down at her and then kissed her
forehead.
“I won’t get drunk, I promise. I’ve done that once already and I didn’t really care for
how I felt afterwards, so I’ll just drink a little. All right?” Hallie nodded.
“That’s fine.” They walked the remaining few yards to the porch and climbed the
creaking steps, then opened the door and stepped into the house. There was little
furniture. A few mismatched chairs were scattered in groups, most likely left over from
the last bash. They were early. There were about twelve people in random places around
the room, most with plastic cups in their hands already. Hallie was glued to Taylor’s side
as he walked through the vast front room and into the kitchen where all the drinks were.
There were oak cabinets lining the walls. Millions of plastic and Styrofoam cups were
stuffed into them. Taylor smiled and greeted a couple of guys that Hallie didn’t know
who were lifting a keg up onto the counter top. Various bottles, some empty, some full,
were scattered about the kitchen on the counter top and on the rickety looking table.
Hallie could barely believe that she was in a place like this. Just like two months ago, she
was in a strict all girl school with uniforms and stuff in New York and now she was
going to parties where there was drinking and weed and had a boyfriend and everything
was different.
“You don’t want anything, do you?” Taylor asked, accepting a clear plastic cup
filled with foaming beer. She shook her head.
“Nah. I don’t think I’ll have anything.”
A half hour after they had first arrived, almost thirty more people had come.
Someone started playing DJ and music began shaking the house.
Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, Hallie began surveying the room,
Taylor by her side. He was laughing at something a guy whom everyone simply called
“Bon Bon” (and Hallie wasn’t sure that she wanted to know why) had said. A bottle of
beer was held in one of Taylor’s hands while the other hand resided on her right hip. Ike
and Noelle were nowhere to be seen. A few couples were dancing while more were
seated either on a ratty, stained piece of furniture or around a card table, concentrating on
an intense game of seven card no peek. Still more teenagers had already retured to the
second floor of the Lafferty mansion. Hallie suspected that Ike and Noelle had probably
gone up there as soon as they had stepped into the creaky old place, perhaps taking a few
drinks with them.
Tense and more than a little worried about the events that would be taking place that
evening, Hallie kept her eyes wide open and alert, although it was nearing one o’clock in
the morning. A few people walked out of her line of vision and a figure appeared that
made Hallie close her eyes and sigh. It was Helen, and she wasn’t alone. She had her arm
around the waist of Ryan Taylor.
Taylor felt Hallie’s body go tense (or perhaps more tense, if she could possibly get
any more tense than she already was) and looked away from Bon Bon and the other guys.
The smile disappeared from his face and he stood up a big straighter, narrowing his eyes
at the couple. He pulled Hallie just a bit closer to him, wanting it to be painfully obvious
that she was his and no one had better question that. He looked at her face and saw that
she had one eyebrow arched and was chewing a little on her bottom lip. Her arms were
crossed over her chest. Taylor turned his head, his eyes still on Ryan and Helen and
kissed Hallie on the cheek.
“Relax,” he whispered. Hallie averted her gaze from Ryan and Helen up to Taylor’s
face. Just seeing him there made her feel a bit better. She loved that face.
“I am relaxed. I just wish that she wasn’t here.” She continued looking up at him
and noticed a sour expression cross his face.
“I wish they both weren’t here.”
“I know.”
burning is my condition, baby
I’m burning with everything that I see
burning is my solution, baby, now
I know you think that you’re better than me
Helen looked in the direction of Hallie and Taylor and smiled. She pulled Ryan with
her as she began to walk over to them. Hallie began to inspect the dress that Helen was
wearing and immediately felt like a cow in hers. The tight red tube dress hugged Helen’s
thin body, showing off her narrow hips, tight stomach, and bust that was considerably
larger than Hallie’s. Ryan looked reluctant to come over to them. He looked at Hallie
with his apologetic green eyes and smiled slightly. Somehow, Hallie had the feeling that
Helen had tricked him into coming.
“Hi!” Helen said to Hallie and Taylor. They said nothing in response. It didn’t
bother her. “You look really good tonight, Tay. I always liked the way you looked
dressed up.” His cold expression didn’t change. “Hallie. Well, I see that you decided that
you wanted red too after I showed you my dress.” Helen looked Hallie up and down.
“Have you been putting on a little weight, honey? I mean, I know that the stress of
moving damn near across the country can be harsh, but really, food isn’t the
answer.”
“Hallie, why don’t you come with me?” Taylor said, grabbing ahold of the back of
her dress and pulling her with him into the kitchen. He held up his index finger, glaring at
Helen as she took a step toward them. “If you follow us, I won’t hold her back when she
goes to beat the piss you,” he warned her. Helen arched an eyebrow.
“What’s she going to do? Sit on me?” Hallie pushed Taylor’s hands off of her and
lunged forward, tackling Helen.
“You bitch! Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Hallie screamed as she and Helen
rolled over the floor. Hallie landed one good punch to Helen’s face, smashing her nose.
Helen elbowed Hallie in the eye while they rolled. Suddenly, Hallie’s silver bracelet that
was hanging from her right wrist snagged on a part of Helen’s dress. Hallie pulled her
arm back, preparing to slug Helen once more, but yanked the top of Helen’s daring
strapless dress down in the process. Helen’s strapless bra was moved slightly out of place
and one of her fake, jelly-like breasts that they sell on TV on late night infomercials
plopped out onto the scratched, hard wood floor. Hallie sat, paralyzed by shock, and
several strands of red thread hanging from her bracelet. Helen gasped and quickly pulled
her dress up over herself. An embarrassed flush rose onto Helen’s cheeks. She scrambled
up to her feet and pointed a trembling finger at Hallie.
“Don’t even begin to think that you’ll get away with this. I’ll get you back, Queen
Cellulite,” said, grabbing Ryan’s arm.
“Grow up, Helen,” Hallie said as Taylor offered her his hands so that he could pull
her to her feet. She brushed off the back of her dress. Ryan waved his free hand at
Hallie.
“Nice to see you again.” The room erupted in laughter as Helen pulled Ryan through
the crowd of people and out the front door. Taylor put his arm around Hallie and
squeezed her shoulder.
“Good job, Rocky,” he said, smiling. She smiled back, gently touching the corner of
her eye. “Did she get you?” he asked, looking at her eye.
“Yeah. Elbow to the eye,” she said. Taylor pushed her through the doorway to the
kitchen.
“Let’s see if we can find some ice for you.” Taylor looked around on the floor for a
cooler and found one in the corner, but unfortunately Bon Bon was currently seated on it.
Taylor tapped his friend on the shoulder and the poor guy toppled off of the cooler and
landed in a heap on the dirty linoleum. Taylor looked back at Hallie, unsure of what to
do.
“Don’t look at me. I’ve never been drunk before or had friends who got drunk. I
don’t know what to do with him.” Taylor knelt down and pulled him over against the
wall, leaning him upright into a sitting position. That way, if Bon Bon decided to rid
himself of the liquid he had ingested (aka: puke up everything he’d drank that evening),
he wouldn’t choke to death.
Flipping open the lid to the cooler, Taylor pulled out an entire bag of ice. Slamming
it on the floor a few times, he smashed the big chunks into smaller pieces, ripped open
the bag and emptied it almost entirely, then twisted the bag so that no water would drip
from it, and handed it to Hallie. She looked down at it, shrugged, and then put it up
against her face.
“Goodbye make-up,” she mumbled. Taylor slammed the cooler shut and leaned
back against the counter. He looked at Hallie, an odd, half smile on his face. “What?” she
asked. He shook his head, still grinning, and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Nothing.” She took a step toward him, his smile contagious.
“No, there’s something. What are you grinning about?” she asked, still holding the
bag of ice to her eye. He just stood there looking at her for a moment and then kind of
snorted and arched his eyebrow.
“My girlfriend is a badass,” he said, the laughing spilling out of his mouth. “Hal,
you like punched her. I’ve never even punched someone. That just strikes me as
funny.”
“So you didn’t think that I was tough?”
“Hardly.”
“And you think that you are?”
“But of course. You seem to be forgetting that I’m buff.”
“You’re buff?” she asked, taking a few steps closer to him. He nodded.
“Oh yeah. One hundred and forty pounds of muscle, right here, baby.” Hallie took
the ice away from her face and leaned up against him, staring, more than a little amused.
She held the bag from the top of it, slowly letting it untwist silently.
“You think that you could take me?” she asked. He looked down at her, an amused
look crossing over his face this time.
“Are you serious? Easily.” He thought about it for a moment. “Well,” he said,
laughing a little, “if you and I are on the same page here. I can take you any way that you
mean.” Hallie wrapped her arms around his middle and he straightened up a bit, towering
over her and feeling quite manly. She placed one of her hands on his back, and then slid
it down, sliding it into his back pocket.
“What way do you think I meant?” she asked. He smiled.
“I don’t know which way you meant, but I know which way I hope that you meant.”
Taylor closed his eyes and leaned down to kiss her. In the middle of the kiss, Hallie
reached her hand into the bag of ice and pulled out a medium sized cube, careful not to
make any sounds. After dropping the bag onto the counter, she withdrew her hand from
his pocket and quickly dropped the ice cube into the back of his pants.
Taylor pushed Hallie away and began dancing around, shaking his rear end and
desperately trying to get the rapidly melting ice away from his body. Hallie laughed,
watching him grab ahold of the seat of his pants and start shaking it until, finally, a small
ice cube dropped out of his pant leg and onto the floor. He stared down at it for a moment
and then slowly looked up at Hallie. She stood in front of him, her hand clamped down
over her mouth.
“Enjoy that?” he asked. She smiled.
“Probably more than I should have.”
“Well, you know what I’m going to enjoy?” he asked. She shrugged.
“What?” Taylor turned around and picked up the melting bag of ice and moved
toward her with it.
“Dumping this all over you,” he said, laughing, as she turned around and raced up
the stairs that led from the kitchen to the floor with all the bedrooms. The hallway was
dark and smelled funny. Hallie slowed down immediately whenever she heard all of the
sounds coming from these rooms. An instant after she arrived at the top of the stairs,
Taylor practically ran into the back of her.
“What?” he asked. Seeing her expression which was a mixture of curiosity,
confusion, and disgust. “Oh, never heard the sounds of physical love before. Well, other
than mixed with the cheesy jazz saxophone music that they always play during the sex
scenes on late night Cinemax.”
“Interesting terminology.”
“Thanks. Made me sound as if I were a smart guy.” He smiled. She simply laughed a
little. A door down the hall opened and Noelle stepped out, adjusting her dress. Her hand
had half fallen down and sweat was running down the side of her face. Isaac walked out
behind her and another girl that neither Hallie nor Taylor knew followed Ike, looking
rather disheveled. Isaac looked tired, yet content. Hallie stood in the hall, unable to keep
her jaw from dropping as she witnessed this.
“If you two want that bedroom, it’s free now,” Noelle said, winking and then
descending the stairs at the opposite end of the hallway which led to the front room.
Taylor snorted.
“And use the bed that my brother just got laid on? I think not.” Hallie looked at him
questioningly.
“There are beds in those rooms?” she asked.
“Yeah. Where do you think all those squeaking sounds are coming from?”
“Good point.” While she was distracted, Taylor ripped open the bag of what was
now ice water and dumped it over her shoulders, conveniently missing her hair. Hallie
screamed and turned around to assault him. He laughed and ran past her and into a room
with its door open. She followed him but stopped when she saw him. She was freezing,
yes, but it was all in fun. And he just looked too damn sexy with the moon from the
window he was standing in front of accentuating his profile. He looked at her, his hands
stuck in his pockets and his eyes wide open and twinkling.
“You know,” she began, walking over to him and looping her arms around his
middle while his hands were still in his pockets, “you’ve spent this entire night telling me
how beautiful I look. Do you realize how gorgeous you are? Has anyone ever told you
that you’re beautiful?”
“Not that I recall. Other than my mom telling me that I was a beautiful baby.” Hallie
looked up at his face, her eyes rolling over every single inch of it and being nearly
blinded by how perfect it was to her. She couldn’t imagine changing one thing about it to
make it better than it already was. Even that little mole on his chin. She liked that.
“I couldn’t ever change you. I wouldn’t dream of it. You know how people say that
if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it? That’s how I’m looking at it. I love every square inch of you
and I never believed before that I could feel this way. You make me believe in love,
Taylor.”
“You’re saying this to me and expecting our relationship to be strictly abstinent?” he
asked, removing his hands from his pockets and resting them on her hips.
“I just wanted you to know how much I really do need and want you. I know that I
don’t come out and say it that often, but I feel that way all the time. I haven’t ever
regretted time I’ve spent with you, whether it be arguing with you on my front porch or
doing stuff with you in the pool.” Even in the dark, his blush was obvious when she
mentioned the pool. “I need that notebook back, by the way.” He smiled and kissed her
forehead.
“I have this weird urge to sing ‘I Will Always Love You’ right now,” Taylor
said.
“Please resist that urge.”
“Okie dokie.”
“Hey Taylor?”
“Yup?”
“Promise me something.”
“Anything, my love.”
“Never look at Helen again.”
“No problem.”
“Love you.”
“Ditto.”
Musical Credit:
Song: Better Than Me
Artist: Sister Machine Gun
Album: Scream Soundtrack
::Special Thanks::
Whenever I update, I have to be inspired to do so. These past few chapters have
focused more on Taylor and Hallie's relationship and how they feel about each
other than the other chapters have. I have two people to thank for that. These two people, through their
stories, knocked some sense into me.
In between chapters eight and nine and nine and ten, I did a lot of reading
of stuff that I'd read before. Namely, Just One of Those Things and
Glint of Heaven by Llamaesque and Think of Laura by my dear friend
Karen. I love those stories. They are classic love tales to me and I don't think
that I would be writing this without them. I can go back and read them again
and again and still get weepy and giddy and laugh along with all of the characters
that these two writers have created every time. These stories evoke emotion, and
that's what I want to do with my stories. Although, I've tried to make Vindictive
more lighthearted than some of the other stuff that I've written, I've realized
that there is a time for seriousness. For romance. For tender moments and
especially for love.
So, thank you, Amanda and Karen, for making Hallie and Taylor love each
other. Thank you, thank you, thank you. :)
