Bonus Chapter One: Drunk & Gullible

K A I S O N

I opened her door and offered her my hand. She smiled adorably like always as she took it and gracefully got out. I closed the door behind her, locked the car, and lead her in. Many heads turned in her direction and I wished she'd chosen another party dress. This one was too short, just like her cheerleading uniform. I glared and scared away as many as I could but there were still a lot.

"Ah, there's the Power Couple!" My teammate and best friend Josh exclaimed, spotting us from afar. I smiled. We had known each other for a long time and playing together had just strengthened our bond.

I led Livvy towards him, shielding her body with mine as we crossed the dance floor over to where the team was gathering. The drunk assholes couldn't care less about who they would trample as long as they got to show off those ridiculously flawed dance moves.

We were almost there when a shrill voice shrieked loudly to be heard over the music. "Olivia!" 

I knew who it was, and yet I was irritated to see Samantha Meyers wobble towards Livvy. I huffed internally as Liv returned the greeting and tugged her hand out of mine to embrace her best friend.

And the third wheel is here. 

I hated Samantha for stealing my girlfriend from me at every chance she would get. Be it at a party or at school, Samantha had a tendency to hog Livvy like no other if she got an opening. If only Livvy didn't like her best friend so much, I figured I would've thrown a fit at least once by then.

I stifled my frustration and focused on the fun that the night had to offer. This was our last party as high schoolers. Griffin always had a thing for parties and had volunteered to do it. It was a tradition for Seniors to have one last laugh together before people started leaving for college. Like Liv and I would be. Tomorrow.

Livvy got into Berkeley and I got scouted by UCLA. At least we were in the same state. Five and a half hours away, but still the same state. We could've done worse.

It felt surreal that we had grown up so much. We were leaving our homes and traveling to different states. God knows where we would go from there. Whenever I thought about it, I wished I could stop time in our Senior year when everything was perfect.

"There you are!" Josh pulled me into a one-armed bro hug when I reached him. 

"Hey, man," I greeted him half-heartedly. 

"Yo Kaison!"

"Wassup man!"

"How's the boss?"

I gave the team and the cheerleaders a half smile, fist-bumping a few who were within reach. "I'm good."

"Where's Liv?" Lily asked.

I looked over my shoulder to see that Livvy had disappeared with Samantha into the crowd and sighed. 

"Livvy's with Samantha," I began, "But I think I've lost them already."

Georgia booed the latter half of my declaration with a pout. "Won't she join for Truth or Dare later?"

"I don't know," I told her with a shrug. "You can ask her yourself."

If you find her.

My eyes fell on the keg on the table and I looked longingly at it, but a blonde in a skimpy dress seemed to be guarding it at the moment. I recognized her. She had tried hitting on me many times and I was sure that the beer and the dress would only encourage her so I sighed wistfully. Even though I had downed two beers before coming, they were yet to kick in. I mean, I could feel them starting to work, but I needed more if I wanted to truly enjoy the night, especially now that I couldn't get over the fact that my girlfriend had abandoned me.

Josh snapped his fingers before my eyes to get my attention. "Anyone home?" He sang mockingly. I scowled at him. He chuckled and handed me a beer he had in his hand. I took it with an appreciative nod wordlessly.

"What's got you down in the dumps?" He questioned as I popped the lid off with my teeth and took a swig.

"Nothing," I replied, careful not to let my eyes wander to where I left Liv. I felt his eyes probe me questioningly.

"Something is up," he stated. 

"It's nothing," I repeated with practiced ease. His eyes narrowed at me.

He groaned. "Is it Olivia again?" 

My jaw ticked at his tone. The way he said it made it seem like she was a problem. It annoyed me.

"Shut up," I snapped.

He rolled his eyes, unfazed. "Dude, come on! She-"

­­"Do not complete that sentence." I glared at him.

"You seriously need to get over that chick," he scoffed. "You've been dating for what? Four years?"

"Two years and five months," I told him, not lifting the glare.

"Damn, that's long." His eyebrows went up in shock. Not surprising, since he goes through girls like I go through books. Really quickly and passionately. "I didn't really think it would be that long," he voiced. "Dump her! You're going to be off to college soon! New chicks." He wiggled his eyebrows with a suggestive grin.

He had this gift of saying the wrong words at the wrong time in the wrong tone. He also couldn't - or refused to - take a hint.

"Josh," I said warningly.

"What's the problem this time?" He asked. I didn't answer, taking a big swig. "Same old?" He guessed.

I finished that beer in the next gulp. He might be my best friend, but he had a tendency to be very irksome. Nobody could rile me up, or make me laugh faster than him. Except maybe Livvy. But Livvy wasn't dense. 

"Your relationship needs to be stimulated," he stated. I scowled at him.

"A minute ago, you told me to break up," I deadpanned.

"And now I'm telling you to stimulate it," he said impatiently. "You're obviously too deep in love."

Stimulate it. What was this? A game?

"Don't meddle," I told him flatly.

"I'm helping you," he said pointedly.

"Right." I rolled my eyes and reached for another beer from the keg on the table myself when I noticed that Gayle had occupied the blonde's attention and someone else was half-heartedly keeping an eye on it. Griffin had gotten the good stuff. Or maybe it was one of the guys on the team judging by the way it was being guarded.

"When was the last time she got jealous?" He asked me.

"Cut it out, Josh." I sighed. He really needed to learn when to stop. It was too much sometimes. His intentions might be good, but he honestly didn't know a thing about relationships. 

My attention diverted across the room when I heard the commotion. I looked just in time to see a brunette break apart two people standing too close and lunge at the girl. The redhead was not fazed by the attack and they started fighting. I cringed inwardly just looking at it. The guy looked lost before he gained his bearings and tried to break them up.

Josh saw what I was seeing and I saw his face light up from the corner of my eye. I stifled a curse. I practically saw a worthless plan brew there with a whole lot of stupidity.

I shook my head, averting my gaze from the scene. "Don't."

"I know how to save your relationship," he said anyways. By the look on his face, he wasn't planning to stop. I took a deep breath. I was going to need many more beers if I wanted to make it through the night. I downed the one in my hands, keeping count.

That's four.

They should start kicking in soon.

"Sure, go ahead." I waved, taking another beer.

Five.

"Just make her see you with another girl," he exclaimed.

My blood sizzled at the mere thought.

I highly doubted five would cut it that night. 

"In case you missed it, Joshua," I began patronizingly. "We are sitting surrounded by flirty ex-cheerleaders and she can't care less."

"She was cheer captain." He raised an eyebrow as if to tell me I was stupid. "You've been dating for over two years. They know you're off the market."

I raised my eyebrow, mirroring his gesture. "Your point being?" 

"That you need to get it with some hot chick who's not on the team," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. I laughed at the absurdity of the suggestion and he rolled his eyes, drinking his own beer. "I'm serious!"

I sobered. "Don't be ridiculous, Josh."

"Kai. Look." He pointed to where the fight was going on not five minutes ago. I turned around and to my surprise, the brunette girl and the guy were in the middle of a heated make-out session.

"What just happened?" I questioned, baffled.

Josh smirked. "That, my boy, is the power of jealousy." 

"Are you fucking with me right now?" I scoffed. "There's no way that's true."

"But it is," he insisted. "You just saw it."

I gaped like a fish, searching my vocabulary for a word that would help me express myself but my drunk brain came up short. 

Now you kick in. Asshole. 

"How does that even work?" I asked finally.

"What can I say?" He spoke leisurely. The smug tilt of his lips grated at my nerves. "Girls are pretty territorial. They don't like sharing"

My jaw ticked again at his brazen tone. "I don't think Liv will do what that brown-haired chick just did."

"You obviously don't know girls." He laughed. "No wonder your relationship is in a crisis!"

"There's no crisis," I said assertively. And there wasn't. Not being able to keep your hands off each other phase always ends sometime. Ours had too. That didn't mean it was a crisis. "You don't know Livvy. She's . . . different." I smiled faintly at the thought.

"All girls are the same." he rolled his eyes. "Believe me, I've been with a lot of them. You are a fool if you believe otherwise." 

I shook my head. There was no way that was going to work. Livvy wasn't one of those girls. She didn't shout or fight. She didn't sabotage or manipulate. She wasn't impulsive and she was fiercely loyal. I believed her motto for life was 'Live, and let live'. She was sensitive and loving. She was nurturing and liked to help if she could. She liked keeping to herself and though she participated in cheering, her heart wasn't in it. She didn't like the little local fame that came with it and she hated being the center of attention. 

Despite knowing it all, some part of me just couldn't help but wonder: what if Josh was right? What if it did work? Liv and I hadn't been on a date in ages. It was always cheerleading practice, football practice, exams, and homework. Over the summer, it had always been group hangouts with curfews enforced by her mother. I didn't even remember the last time we hung out together, just the two of us. And we would be leaving for college tomorrow . . .

I wouldn't get to see her for another year, maybe. We knew college wasn't easy and we knew that my football scholarship would complicate things for us as well.

"I don't know." I felt myself cracking. Maybe it wouldn't hurt. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea after all.

"Come on, at least try!" Josh encouraged wholeheartedly. "You said she doesn't get jealous, right? What's the harm in trying? If it works, great! If it doesn't, at least you tried."

I missed Liv and I. The way we used to cuddle on the couch all day long. The way she laughed when we would watch movies together and something funny would come up. The way she absolutely loved '10 Things I Hate About You' and could watch it on repeat forever even though it made no sense to me. The way she would always order the same thing in the same restaurant. All those times we spent reading books together on my bed or hers. Reading just hadn't been the same without her, even though I had been reading since long before she started reading with me. I always missed her in my arms. I missed sitting with her and us pouring our hearts out to each other. 

I just missed her.

The only time I had been seeing her since I got my last ticket had been with the group or when her mom was around. I didn't like living like this. Her mom was extremely strict. Though she liked me, even stolen kisses were barred under her roof. Earlier, Livvy used to make excuses or sneak out to see me.  She would often jump off the roof like a pro and I would wait for her downstairs with the car ready. We would go and have pastries at Ms. Suzie's. 

But these days Livvy had been getting more and more distant. She didn't care if I talked to some other girl, she didn't care if we couldn't spend time together, and she didn't care if someone flirted with me. She wouldn't even steal a small kiss as if to remind me I belonged to her when the girl would leave. She would just smile and shrug from a distance, seemingly amused. This change had been gradual. I'd noticed it over the past year very significantly.

Had she stopped loving me?

"Dude don't look so down." Josh frowned as if he were in the loop with my thoughts. "Everything will be fine. You just need to revive your relationship. Add a little spice to it! Successfully make her jealous and you'll be all set."

"Things will go back to normal?" I asked skeptically, despite myself. "The way they were before?" 

He nodded vigorously. "Of course, bro. Have faith!"

"Fine." I sighed. "Let's do this." 

I finished my fifth beer but did not budge. Josh scowled at me slightly.

"Well? Do something," he said.

"I don't know what to do." I scowled back. Trepidation bloomed in my gut but I pushed it down. This had to work. "This was your idea."

He rolled his eyes. "You are hopeless."

"Shut up and tell me what to do," I snapped.

"Fine. Let me think," he said, looking around. It didn't even take him a minute to lock on a target. "You see that tall chick over there? The one in that sexy red dress near Lola? She looks hot and will definitely make Olivia jealous."

I straightened, feeling jittery. "Here goes nothing."

"You look like you're going to hurl." He eyed me warily. "I advise you to take care of that before you approach Chelsea," Josh said. "What are you so nervous about, anyway? You flirt all the time."

"You idiot." I gritted my teeth. I couldn't believe I had let him talk me into this. I couldn't believe that I was not putting a stop to his. I couldn't believe that I was actually about to go and do something that had the potential to hurt Livvy. I couldn't process what was happening around me. Maybe five was a bad idea after all. "I only flirt with my girlfriend," I told him crabbily. "Apart from her, I rarely ever do. I flirt back once in a while with the cheerleaders but that's all."

He sighed pityingly. "Your life is boring."

"I am happy, thank you very much," I told him exaggeratedly. 

"Yeah," he mocked. "That's why you're getting up to-"

"I'm going," I stated. 

I didn't know what happened in the next ten minutes. It was all just a blur. All I knew was somehow I had this Chelsea girl pinned on the wall under me. Honestly, I didn't even know how it had escalated so quickly. She was more than happy to receive the kiss, even though it was extremely sloppy because of my drunken state. 

Maybe she's drunk too.

I hated every moment of it. All I could think of was Livvy. This girl seemed to want to prove something. There was no love or affection in her actions like Liv's did. There was just lust. I was doing it to get Liv back. Chelsea moaned and I think I puked a little in my mouth. I was about to break away when it happened.

A strong hand roughly grabbed the back of my collar and pulled me back, making me stumble on my already unsteady feet. I was grateful to be free of the kiss but I was surprised and a little pissed at the rude way I was handled, too.

"You mind?" Chelsea bit out. "We were rather busy here."

My brain restarted and I blinked. My eyes took in our intruders: Griffin, Sam, and . . . and Livvy.

My eyes locked with hers and I knew I fucked up. Her chin was trembling and her hands were tightly fisted. The hurt and betrayal in those blue eyes were enough to pierce my heart irrevocably.

Fuck.

Fix this!

"Livvy-" I began but was interrupted by a powerful blow to my jaw. My head snapped to the side with a crick. I didn't even register the pain. I was lucky I didn't bite my tongue. My heart hammered in my chest wildly. 

"Don't even say her name," Griffin spat out.

"Griffin," Livvy stopped him. Her voice was shaking.

No. No, no, no. This wasn't how this was supposed to go!

"You stay out of this!" I snapped at him. Turning to Liv, I practically begged, "Liv, listen to me. This is not what you think. I lov-"

"No," she cut me off sharply. Her eyes were moist but I could see her emotions retreating from the surface until there were no more. I panicked.

"Livvy, pl-" I beseeched desperately.

"We're over, Kaison," she whispered the declaration turned away. Even over the fucking music, her quiet words were deafeningly loud. 

I saw Samantha shove a dirty glare in my direction but I didn't acknowledge it. I couldn't. The forefront of my mind was focused on the love of my life, who seemed to be slipping away from me like sand in one's hands.

This cannot be happening. It was supposed to be like the blonde and the red-head. She was supposed to--

My own words echoed in my head. She's not like them.

I was frozen. I . . . lost her? Did she break up with me?

No, no, no.

"Livvy," I breathed, moving to go after her.

"Don't!" Griffin growled, grabbing my arm. "Don't even think about it. Leave her the fuck alone."

"Griffin, please," I begged. "Just let me exp-"

"No," he snapped. "I don't care. I've known Olive for eight years, Jennings. She did not deserve this."

"I know," I fumbled. "If you'll just let me explain-"

"No," he cut me off sharply. His eyes were blazing. "You're not manipulating your way out of this. I mean it. Stay away from her."

He released his grip on my arm with a rough jerk and I stumbled back in a daze, reeling. I eyed him retrace the path Samantha and Livvy had taken and I dumbly watched him disappear amongst the roughhousing dancers.

A sharp ache echoed in my chest as the residual oxygen swished out of my lungs. I felt lightheaded as the booze I had consumed caught up with me, but not even that could numb the realization of the consequences of my actions.

I had lost the love of my life, and I only had my own pathetic self to blame.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A/N: Hey! I'm so tired haha. This chapter -- and even the book, damn -- took some major editing to make it presentable. I can't believe that this chapter was just over 1500 words before and now it's over 3100 fucking words. I'm proud.

This was an epic journey. Editing this was stressful and a blast at the same time. This book is my baby. I gave this thing my all. I know that the story is probably not very strong, but I hope that the work I put into the narration was good enough to make it a joyful experience. I love you all for giving this book a shot and making it all the way here <3

Fun fact: This chapter was earlier a part of the main book. I removed it from there along with a few other chapters to erase/minimize all the time jumps and help you guys enjoy the story better. I added it back as a bonus chapter because I feel like this fills in a lot of blanks you might have when you read about Josh fucking things up and Kaison defending himself and whatnot. I hope this helped clear it out.

I need to sleep, lol. I'm babbling at this point.

QOTD: What are the first three items on your bucket list?

Lemme know if you have any scenes you guys might want me to elaborate on and make into bonus chapters. I'll do my best to deliver :)

Take care, okay? You're loved <3

Until next time,
Vaish.