Chapter 9: The Party

TW: If reading about abuse makes you uncomfortable, then please skip the last few paragraphs of this chapter! I promise, it doesn't last long :)

The school day was excruciatingly long and I haven't heard from or talked to Ryder since he texted me saying he'd come to the party. I searched for him most of the day like I was a lost puppy looking for her owner. When I realized he wasn't at school today, I got kind of upset. For some reason, it felt like I needed him. Like I needed to see him or touch him.

Once I got to our dorm room, I hopped in the shower to get ready for the party. I made sure to use my 'Special Occasions' body wash that smells like honey and vanilla.

If Ryder doesn't show up, I can still have a little fun with someone else..

I say that, but I can't even think about doing something with anyone besides Ryder. He's all I've been able to think about since seeing him in the hall that day after class. No matter how hard I try, I just can't get him out of my head.

I finish with my shower and wrap my hair into a towel on my head so I can do my makeup. I decided to go with neutral shades for my eye shadow and make a dramatic smokey eye. I put on some subtle false eyelashes and finish off the look with a medium to dark brown lipstick. I unwrap my hair from the towel and blow dry it before I style it with some soft loose waves. I walk out of the bathroom wearing my towel and go to my closet to pick out my outfit.

"Evelyn, which outfit should I wear?" I ask as I lay two different outfits on my bed. One is a black crop top that has straps going over the chest with a pair of of ripped up skinny jeans. The other is a simple strappy dress that stops right below my thighs.

"Go with the crop top and jeans babe! Those skinny jeans always make your ass look fantastic!" She says while laughing and giving me a wink.

I head back to the bathroom so I can get dressed into my outfit. I shut the door behind me and pick up my favorite white lace thong and put it on. I decided not to wear a bra tonight, so I go ahead and put my top on. After getting into my jeans, I turn around to look at myself in the mirror. I pull my top down a little so my boobs show a little more and the straps go right over them. I find myself wanting to look sexy in case Ryder actually shows up.

Maybe he changed his mind about coming tonight.. Maybe he isn't that interested in me like I thought he was..

I hear someone knock on the bathroom door, making me lose my train of thought.

"Hey, Evelyn and I are gonna head down to the party! We'll see you there!" Jo says before I hear the door to our room shut.

I walk out of the bathroom and put on my vans before heading down to the party.

....

I finally get downstairs to the party, but I hardly recognize anyone here and there's so many people it's almost too crowded.

Ugh.. I hate being around large groups of people like this. I feel like I can hardly breathe in here. How the hell am I supposed to find Jo or Evelyn?

I just decided to text Jo and see where they're at.

"I'm here, where are you guys at?"

"Evelyn and I are over at the bar getting drinks! Come on, she has yours put up for you."

I have to weave my way through the sea of people to get to the bar. I see Evelyn already spotted Matt and they're talking to themselves in the corner of the room.

I walk over to Jo, "Hey! So where are my drinks at?" I ask with a laugh.

She hands me my bottle of Pink Whitney and asks, "Have you seen him yet?"

"Ugh.. No I haven't.. I honestly doubt he'll even show up. He wasn't at school today and I haven't heard from him since yesterday."

"You never know dude, he might show up. If he doesn't, I'll help you find some other hot guy to hang out with tonight!" She says as she winks at me.

"No, it's okay. I don't need some guy to have a good time." I say as I open my bottle and take a huge drink.

But I will need to be very drunk.. I just wish he was here. I NEED him to be here.

"Maybe it's a good thing he doesn't show up. It can't be healthy for me to have such powerful feelings for someone I don't even know anyway."

"That's true. You've been acting super weird ever since you met the guy. I've never seen you get this worked up over some random person."

"All right enough talking, let's go play some beer pong!" I say as we walk over to Lucas at the beer pong table.

"Hey! You two wanna play a game?" Lucas says as he hands me a beer pong ball.

I take the ball from Lucas and say, "Definitely! But be prepared to get your ass kicked by two girls!"

"Is that so? Well, forty dollars says Evan and I will win." He placed forty dollars on the table and gave us a smirk.

I look at Jo and give her a smile before placing forty more dollars on the table and say, "Alright, bet!"

"I already have the table set up, and I used Tequila instead of beer so be prepared to be absolutely wasted by the time we're done!" Evan says while walking over to their side of the table.

I look at Jo with a grin and say, "Well, looks like tonight will actually be fun."

After getting our asses kicked by the guys, Jo and I decided to find Evelyn and see what she was doing.

"I can't believe we just lost forty dollars.." Jo says while pulling out her phone.

"Do you see her anywhere? I ask while looking around the room."

"I'm texting Evelyn to see where she is, hang on."

I wonder if Ryder's here.. maybe I should text him to ask where he's at

"You haven't seen Ryder around anywhere, have you?"

"No, but if he's here he'd be easy to spot with that bright silver hair of his." She says, laughing.

I look around the room again, but I don't see him anywhere.

Well, I guess I was right. I knew he wouldn't come.. I don't know why I got so excited to see him again.

"Evelyn said she's with Matt and his friends over by the tables! Come on."

We make our way over to them and see Evelyn sitting in Matt's lap.

That didn't take long.

I sit down on one of the empty couches with Jo and check my phone, hoping that Ryder texted me.

"Dude, I don't think he's coming.." Jo says as she rubs my back to comfort me.

"He's still not here? Man, what a fucking asshole!" Evelyn exclaims as she slurs her words a little. "Whatever, you don't need him to have a good time! Come on, let's go dance."

Evelyn grabs me by both hands, pulling me off the couch and leads me to the middle of the room that we had decorated to be a dance floor. The speakers are insanely loud, so I can hardly hear anything but the music. Evelyn and I are dancing our hearts out when some random guy comes up behind me and grabs my hips, pulling me into him as he dances. Matt comes over and leads Evelyn out of the room. Probably to go have sex. I'm enjoying myself, so I keep dancing and grinding up against this guy for a few minutes before he grabs my hand and starts pulling me away from the crowd.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" I yell at him as I try to pull my hand out of his grip with no luck.

"Relax baby, we're going to continue our fun somewhere more private." He says as he gives me an evil grin and pulls me out of the room into the hallway.

"Um, I don't fucking this so! Let me go, now!"

I keep trying to yank my hand free, but every time I do, his grip gets tighter and tighter. He pulls me into the elevator with him and when the door closes, he pushes me against the wall and closes the space between us. I slap him as hard as I can across his face, and he instantly gets furious. He grabs me so tight by my throat that I can hardly breathe and I can feel myself trying to pass out from the lack of oxygen.

This is not how I thought tonight would go.. I should have just stayed in my room..

The elevator stops on the first floor and all I can think about is how I can try to get away from this guy before he takes me anywhere else. I frantically look around, trying to find anything I can grab to hit this guy with. Suddenly Ryder comes up and grabs this guy by his throat, slamming him into the wall beside them.

"What do you think you're doing? Leave her the fuck alone!" Ryder yells in the guys face before punching him and throwing him to the ground.

I stand there completely shocked about what happened. Everything replays in my head and I fall to the floor sobbing.

If he would have gotten me out of this building, there's no telling what he would have done to me..

I feel someone grab my hands, and I look up to see that it's Ryder.

"Are you okay? Did that piece of shit hurt you?" He says with worry in his voice.

"I think I'm okay.. He choked me really hard in the elevator and I'm probably going to have a bruise on my wrist, but that's all.." I say as I rub my aching wrist.

He gently grabs my hand gently, "Here, let me see."

He looks it over for a second before helping me to get off the floor.

"It should be fine, but I'd put some ice on it when you can. Do you want me to walk you back to the party?" He asks as he presses the elevator button.

"Do you care to walk me to my room? I don't want to go back to the party.."

He gives me a smile, "Sure, love. Anything you want."