Before I leave through the door to join Camilla outside, I pause for a while and turn back, my eyes scanning around the noisy house for Luke. Pain stops my heart for a moment when I don't see him. My belly burns with the thought of him being alone with that girl in some fucking room upstairs, allowing her mess around with him and having her rub her hands all over him and maybe even allowing her to fuck him—"Alicia." Reece calls, making me turn around. I walk towards her and when I reach her, she grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze."Why the hell did you agree to play truth or dare?" She whispers. "You and I are well aware of the fact that you haven't played truth or dare before in your life.""I will be fine Reece." I whisper back, my words coming out with a bit slur. "Don't worry about me."I pat the back of her hand wrapped around my hand. I lift it up and give it a little peck.What the hell is wrong with me?Well, whatever.Reece sighs and snuggles close to Michael with her hand
I suck in a breath and stand. My legs feel wobbly, but I manage to reach the table without staggering. Before tonight, I had never drank Sex on the Beach. I had never played truth or dare.I guess tonight is the night of 'A Lot of Firsts' for me.On reaching the table, I dip my hand into the bucket and bring out a folded paper. As usual, Josh collects it from me and shows it to everyone before he reads out what is written on it."I dare you to kiss the person you find most attractive here for three minutes."What?!My heart does a mad flip. Camilla chuckles a bit.Why kissing of all freaking dares?!"I doubt if she has ever kissed anyone before." Hasley taunts with a giggle.I ignore her and take a breath before looking around. I can't believe that I am considering doing this dare, but after I am done, maybe I can blame it on the alcohol raging in my body system.Daniel is quite attractive, but he is a manwhore, and for some weird reason, I detest the ring piercing on his bottom lip. L
If a burning gaze has the power to kill, then it is certain that I should be six feet deep in the ground right now. Dead. Grilled to death by the hot coals blazing from Luke's glistening red eyes.Seconds that feel like insane torture pass by as Luke's flaming eyes burn into mine. He is not saying anything, but I don't want him to. Not yet.Not now that I am sure that his words will shatter me to pieces if he speaks them."Go to hell Alicia."And they do shatter me. To tiny, irredeemable pieces. He spits them out with so much venom that actually takes me to hell and back. My vision blurs, and I allow the tears to pour.My palm is itching with pain from the slap. What have I done? How. . . . . .how could I have been so stupid?"Luke I—"He turns away from me and walks over to the driver's door of the car. I watch him helplessly as he opens the door.He is about to enter, but stops."Uhm, about the project, I am almost done with the paintings. You can drop by whenever you like if you ca
I toss around on my bed when I hear a couple of knocks on my door. My eyes flutter open. When I hear the chirping of birds outside my window, I dart my eyes to the clock.It is already 7:00am in the morning.The knock on my door comes again, followed with a voice I can recognize even in my dreams."Alicia?" Sarah's voice calls."Alicia?" She calls again. "I am coming." I manage to croak out.I sit up on my bed. Immediately I do, a banging headache spikes in my brain. I wince and clutch my head at once. It feels like a disco concert is going live in my head. The pain stings my eyes with tears, and I move down my hands to wipe them away.I gather some strength and climb out from my bed. When I stand, it feels like I am carrying a full heavy bucket of water on my head. I slump back on my bed and manage to turn to look at myself in the mirror.A terrible looking girl with scattered hair and puffy red eyes with big swollen cheeks stare back at me. I gasp at my reflection, moving my hands
I sink myself into the warm water of the bathtub, allowing the water to wet my messy hair. I pop up from the water and lay back my hair from my face before relaxing my back to the porcelain wall of the bathtub.My eyes close, and Sarah's words come rushing back into my head.I know I have never had a boyfriend before, and that I have been pinning the blame on my busy academic lifestyle for years.But Sarah's words are shifting the blame to something else. They are shifting the blame to something really hurtful that I am now realizing is undoubtedly the real reason why I have never even bothered to date someone, or even considered the thought of having a boyfriend.Before my parents' marriage crashed, they were the most lovely couple I had ever seen in my life. My dad loved my mum so much that he even tattooed her name on his right arm. The day he got that tattoo, he didn't allow any of us to have peace. He was brandishing it everywhere. He even wore sleeveless shirts for almost a mont
To my Dearest Readers, Thank you all so much for coming this far with me on this story. Your support and perseverance with this book gives me enough strength to continue this story, and for that, I am really thankful. Sadly, it is with great pain and helplessness that I write to you all today to inform you guys that I won't be able to update this story for some period of time. My school exams are choking me right now, and in order to keep giving you guys the best of this story, I have to clear my papers first so that my brain will be relieved and stable enough to keep on giving you guys the best. I am so sorry for whatever inconvenience this may cause any of you, but I promise to bounce back and smother you all with lots of delicious chapters. I love you all, and I also value your feedbacks, ratings and endless support. I am really glad to be on this ride with you all. You guys are the real MVPs. With so much love, Lora Ashley.
I climb out of the bathtub and wipe my wet body quickly with my towel. When I dash into my room, I glance at the clock.It is just 8:45am.Sarah must be very tired and probably asleep right now, so I will just drop her a note.I quickly go through my skincare routine of applying my body lotion and my facial cream and serum. Next, I throw on a black tank top and blue jeans shorts. The sun is surprisingly hot this early in the morning, and the last thing I need now is to feel sweaty in big clothes.I brush my hair and pull it up into a messy bun. After applying some powder and lip gloss with some perfume, I pick up a pen and tear out a sheet of paper from my rough book to scribble down a note to Sarah, to inform her that I will be leaving to go see Luke. Done, I grab my sling bag lying lazily on my bed and tuck in the note, my phone, my spare library key, and some cash from my drawer into the bag.I glance at the clock again. 9:02am.I look back at myself in the mirror and gulp in a bre
"Hey Alicia, how are you?"Tyler's voice is the first thing that greets me immediately I step out of the cab that drops me in front of his studio, which was of course the first place that popped into my mind to go search for Luke.I just hope he is here."I am cool." I reply, looking around the premises. My doubt begins to poke my insides when I don't see any sign of Luke's motorcycle parked around. "Have you seen Luke? Is he here?" I hurriedly rush out the questions.Tyler shakes his head. "No. He is not here." He corks his eyebrows at me, looking me over, two thin lines creasing at the top of his forehead. "What is going on Alicia? You look. . . . . .tensed."Tensed is an understatement. He should see how torn apart and messy I look inside."It is just. . . . ." I take in a short breath. "I have been searching and calling Luke, but he has not picked any of my calls.""Yo, what happened between you two?"I scratch the back of my neck in impatience. "It is a long story Tyler. Please, d