Chapter 85

Chapter 9 When something very creepy jumped out on the TV, I squealed and hid my face in Grayson's shoulder. "I really need to stop watching horror movies," I muttered. Grayson chuckled and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me closer so I could hide in his chest. "I don't get you, Flower," he said. "You play games where you decapitate other people, yet you hate creepy jump scares." I looked up at him. "Well, when we play games, I'm in control of my player. I know what's about to happen." I let out a sigh and turned back to the TV. I liked horror movies, but I hated watching them, if that made any sense. They were really captivating and kept me on my feet, but I really hated the jump scares. Grayson's phone suddenly beeped with a new message. He looked at it before scoffing and putting it back on the arm rest it was laying on. "What it is?" I asked. "My friend won't stop throwing parties," he said. "That's a main reason I keep getting invitations. I met the host to the first party I went to. I swear, he was a party problem. There's one tonight in about half an hour." "Want to go?" I asked. "Nah, I'd rather spend time with you," he said. "No, I mean, do you want us to go?" Grayson looked at me, scrunching his eyebrows together. "Wait. Are you telling me you actually want to go to a party?" "Well, I will if you really want to," I said. "You've missed some parties to hang out with me and it's only fair that I go to at least one with you." Grayson smiled for a few seconds before looking concerned. "But are you sure you want to go today?" I knew what he was talking about, so I sighed. "Grayson, I'm fine. I'm not sick or anything." "I still think you are," he said. "You've been very hungry lately and you've been dizzy. And don't tell me it's stress because I really think it isn't." I turned off the TV and stood up from the couch, pulling Grayson up with me. I took my hands in his and gave him a reassuring smile. "I promise that it's stress," I said. I went on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "But thank you, for caring about me." I then pulled him to our bedroom since I had to find something new to wear. "I haven't been to a party before so I have no idea what to wear. Help me?" Grayson went to the closet and looked through the clothes for a bit before pulling out a dress. It was one of my favourites, a strapless dress with a vertical black and white stripped pattern. The skirt was black that was shorter in the front and longer in the back. "This one," he said. "You look gorgeous in it. Why do girls get dressed up for parties?" "Don't ask me," I said. "You're the one who picked this dress out for me." "Yeah, because you would probably say no if I give you one of my shirts to wear," he said. "Even though you look extremely sexy in my clothes." I rolled my eyes and walked to my dresser, taking my makeup kit off of it and heading to the washroom that was connected to out bedroom. "Now you're doing your makeup?" he asked in a whiny voice. "You look beautiful without it!" "Do you want me to stab you with my eyeliner?" I asked as he walked in the washroom and stared into my makeup kit. "I don't even know what half of that is for," he said. "It's so confusing. How do girls do it?" I shrugged. "I don't know. We just do it." I began putting on my makeup was Grayson watched with a bored look. "You don't have to watch, you know." "I'm seeing how you do it," he said. "It still looks confusing." "You're lucky you're cute." "No, dogs are cute. I'm..." "Hella sexy?" "Damn right." My boyfriend, everybody. The boy who thinks very highly of himself. When I finished my makeup, I turned to Grayson. "Should I curl my hair? Or keep it straight? Or put it in a pony?" "Uh... yes?" "You're no help," I said. "I'll just keep it like this. It looks fine, right?" "Babe, you look smoking," he said, taking my hand and pulling me out of the washroom. "Now can we please go? You already took long enough getting ready." "Hey, there's no need to insult me," I said as we walked out the apartment, him locking the door behind us. "I'm coming, aren't I?" "...No comment." I smiled and rolled my eyes. Grayson told me that the party was about a ten minute walk away, so there was no point of taking his car. Besides, there probably wouldn't be any parking space and if he got drunk, which he said might happen, I couldn't drive back since I didn't have my license. We got to the house and when we walked in, I was honestly feeling a bit nauseous by the smell or alcohol. Grayson must have noticed the look on my face because leaned closer to me so he could be heard over the music. "Don't worry, you'll get used to the smell," he assured. "My friends are probably outside. Want to meet them?" "Sure," I said. Grayson, keeping a tight hold on my hand, gently pulled me out the back door where there was a pool and not as much people as inside, thankfully. "Grayson, my man!" someone called. Grayson led me to a round table where Devon, Belle, and three guys were sitting at, playing a card game. "You made it!" "Yeah, you have a problem with parties," Grayson said, standing behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. "Anyway, this is my girl, Poppy. Poppy, this is Brock, Kevin, and Crew." "Wait, she's real?" Brock asked. "Damn. I owe you five bucks, Kevin." Kevin smiled smugly as Brock handed him a five-dollar bill. "Why would you think she wasn't real?" Grayson asked. "Because we haven't seen her," Brock said. "You would go on and on about her but never came to the parties with her." "Yeah, I'm not that much of a party person," I said. Grayson led me to the last empty chair and sat down, pulling me onto his lap. "So, what game are we playing?" Grayson asked. It was then that I noticed a stack of cards was in the center of the table. "Cheat," Brock said with a smile. I furrowed my eyebrows. "Cheat? What's that?" "You don't know cheat?" Grayson asked. "What is wrong with you?" "You don't have to be so mean," I said. "It's okay, we'll work together," Grayson said as Brock began dealing the cards. Devon and Belle were also working together since apparently, the game was better with less people. "How do we play?" I asked. "Everyone gets the same amount of cards," Grayson said. "We then take turns, placing a card down in order. Like if we start, we have to put down at least one ace faced down. Then the next person will go and they have to put down a two. You keep going around the circle until someone has no cards left. However, if you don't have the card you have to put down, you can put down any card. And if someone thinks you lied, they say 'cheat'. You then have to show them the card you put down. If it was the number you were supposed to, the person who called cheat has to pick up the whole pile. If you actually did cheat, then you have to pick up the whole pile." I nodded. "Okay, I think I got it." Once all the card was dealt, Grayson picked up our pile and started looking through it. We had almost every number except for a seven, nine, and king. Brock started and placed down a card, face down. I wasn't going to call cheat at all since it was my first time playing. I was going to let Grayson decide if we should call it or not. We went twice before Grayson and I had to cheat. We didn't have a king, yet that was the one we put down. When it was our turn, Grayson put down an eight, one that he kept even though we put an eight down last time. It would take a while for us to put down an eight again, so he was smart. Luckily, nobody called cheat. When it was Devon and Belle's turn, Grayson called cheat as soon as he Devon put down the card. "Why'd you call it?" I asked. Grayson just smiled as Devon showed us the card, a two when he was supposed to put down an ace. Devon scowled and picked up the whole pile. How on earth did Grayson know Devon was lying? We continued playing, almost everyone being caught cheating except for me and Grayson, and Crew. Brock called on him cheating when he really didn't. Soon enough, I was starting to feel a bit nauseous. Grayson noticed almost immediately. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Yeah," I assured, giving him a weak smile. "I just feel a bit sick." "Do you need some water?" he asked. I nodded and he reached behind him, which was when I noticed a cooler sitting there. He handed me a water bottle, but not after taking a sip. He told me that sometimes, people liked putting vodka in the water bottle to trick people. He didn't want me drinking any, and I didn't want to drink any either. The water did very little to push my nauseous feeling away. I tried taking deep breaths, but that wasn't helping. "Poppy, are you okay?" Belle asked. I nodded. "Yeah, I'm just... feeling a bit sick. I'm fine, though." "Are you sure?" Belle asked. I nodded, trying to reassure everyone that I was fine. I wasn't. "Grayson," I said. "I think I'm going to be sick." Grayson gently got me off his lap, telling everyone we would be right back before he took my hand and led me into the house. The smell of alcohol was only making things worse. Grayson led me the the washroom and almost immediately, I vomited in the toiled. It was not a pleasant feeling. Grayson, being the amazing boyfriend he was, held my hair back so it wasn't in my face. When I finished, he pulled me into a hug. "Poppy, I'm taking you to the doctor's tomorrow," he said. "Something it up and don't tell me it's stress." I didn't even bother arguing with him. "Okay," I said quietly.