Chapter Seventeen

Hal, Kacey, Ewan, and Ada all showed up to the party in Hal’s car. Kacey was visibly nervous especially when Hal wrapped his arm around her and led her to the enormous house.

Ada stood by the car with Ewan, looking at everything. “Who lives here?” She questions in awe.

The house was more like a two-story brick mansion which rested on an enormous amount of land. A garage with four garage doors sat next to the house that had luxurious cars on full display, a black Mercedes, a silver Lincoln, a red Lamborghini, and a red Corvette.

From the front of the house, Ada could see there was also a stable with five horses in the distance. As well as a huge swimming pool, where a lot of the guests were currently making use of.

The place was immaculate.

Ewan shrugged. “Someone at our school.” He replied, taking her hand to lead her to the party.

There was loud music coming from the house and an exceeding amount of people. The guests seem to range in age from 17 to 25. There were cans and empty bottles of beer littering the walkway up to the house.

As Ada and Ewan made their way inside the mansion, two girls came running out, giggling and obviously drunk with a plastic cup in their hands.

“Hey, Ewan!” A short blond girl said, stumbling. “We haven’t seen you in a while.” She smiled, trying to look flirtatious and almost spilling the drink in her cup.

Ada became angered. She is literally right there, holding his hand, and this nameless girl is trying to flirt with her boyfriend.

“Um... Yeah..” He replied, not looking at her. “It’s not my scene anymore.” Ewan continued, starting walk away with Ada.

“Oh? We aren’t good enough for you anymore?”

Ewan started to shuffle Ada away, trying to ignore the girl, but she persisted.

The girl glares at Ada. “And who is she?”

“I’m Ada. His girlfriend. And who are you?” Ada retorts angered.

The blond girl sneers. “Girlfriend? Honey, I don’t know who you are, but this boy does not have girlfriends, he has fuck buddies.” She continues, playing with Ewan’s arm. "And he sure knows how to—"

“That’s enough, Charlotte,” Ewan says, pushing her arm away.

“Come on, baby.” Charlotte continues, trying to pull him towards her.

“Charlotte, go away,” Ewan says with his eyes wide and authority in his voice.

Charlotte looks at him offensively. “Really?” Disgust tints her voice as she eyes, Ada. “Whatever.” She glares at Ada, then turns to her friend and return to the party.

“An old girlfriend?” Ada questions Ewan, staring at him curiously.

“Not really.” He responds, obviously embarrassed.

“Well… Let’s go inside.”

Inside the house, the music was blaring. It was so loud Ada couldn’t even hear her thoughts. The place was full of people, making her feel very uncomfortable as there was barely enough room to walk past without bumping into someone.

Ewan leads her through the crowd of people, all wanting to stop and talk to him, but he kept wading through, ignoring them all. Ada thought he was acting peculiar, but maybe he just didn’t hear them? Or maybe he just didn’t want to be in such a crowded area?

Ada and Ewan walked through the crowded living room and kitchen, and stopped outside, on the back patio where more party guests were enjoying the pool. Some of them were just floating around, talking in groups in the pool, while others were playing chicken. Some men were jumping off the diving board as onlookers cheered.

Others were dancing to the music on the patio. Ada noticed that there were also people in the corner on the lounge furniture smoking cigarettes and passing other things around to smoke.

The music was still loud outside, but if someone talked to you, you’d be able to hear them.

“Ada, I’m sorry about that.” Ewan began.

“Ewan, there’s really no need.” She began, thinking he was being silly. “Come on, let’s dance.” She continued, grabbing his hand.

When they moved to where everyone was dancing, Ewan placed his hands on her waist, pulling her close, moving his hand to the small of her back as they moved around to the music. He made sure to keep her close while Ada enjoyed his over protection. Before they could start having fun, a couple of men approached them.

“Hey, Ewan.” One guy greeted. “Do you have some stuff?” He questioned, making sure to put a lot of emphasis on the word ‘stuff.’

The pair stops dancing and looks at the guys that interrupted them. Ada noticed that it was a couple of the guys who were smoking on the lounge chairs. One was very tall and thin with long stringy blond hair, who appeared to be in his 20s. The other looked to be about the same age, but had short brown hair but was just as tall, towering over Ada.

The blond-haired guy glanced at Ada for a second, before looking back to Ewan. “Do you mind if we talk somewhere?”

“No, man, not tonight,” Ewan replied, turning his attention back to Ada.

“Dude, seriously, we need to go talk.” He continued, starting to become aggressive.

Ewan stared at him annoyed.

“It’s okay,” Ada said, reassuring him. “If he needs to talk to you, go ahead.” She smiled.

His jaw tensed, but Ewan nodded and walked off with the guy.

Ada scanned the crowd, searching for Kacey or Hal, but she couldn’t see them. So, instead, she wandered around the party, taking in the place. There were girls dressed in skimpy outfits everywhere, only a handful wore something conservative. Most of the guys were showing off to impress the girls, except for the ones in the corner smoking.

Feeling uncomfortable and completely out of her element, she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a cup of beer; sipping it as she continued to walk around the party searching for her friend. After about 30 minutes, Ada started to become worried since she couldn’t find Kacey. She also didn’t think Ewan would be gone for so long. She was starting to get tipsy from drinking and was bored with dancing by herself.

“So are you here with anybody?” A male’s voice questions, making Ada stop dancing.

“Oh… Hi, Kevin.” Ada glared. “And yes…”

“Are you having fun?” He asked.

“I was trying to.”

Kevin looks around at the crowd. “Who are you here with?”

“Ewan.”

“Oh, yeah… Speaking of him, I was supposed to apologize to you for what I had said after our…. Mishap…”

“Mishap?” Ada replied with sarcasm.

Kevin rolled his eyes. “When I told everyone I slept with you.”

“Geeze, Kevin, I know. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.”

“What?”

“Nothing… Never mind.” She replied in aggravation. Awkwardness filled the air between them.

“So, um… you’re Ewan’s new catch?”

“What do you mean ‘new catch?’” She questions insulted.

“You know…”

“I’m his girlfriend.”

“Oh wow, seriously?” He asked in surprise. “That’s new.”

Ada looks at him questioningly.

“He’s never been interested in that type of thing.”

“I think you mean you’ve never been into that kind of thing.”

Kevin glared at her. “No, I mean, yes, I’m not that type of person, but Ewan isn’t either. Though, he usually ends up with some blond-headed girl at parties.”

“What?” Ada questions in shock, becoming upset.

“Yeah, at every party I’ve been to, he was always with that girl… Oh, what’s her name… Charlotte.”

“Oh… Okay…” Ada responds feeling sick. “I’m actually gonna try and go find a bathroom. Excuse me.”

Tired of dancing and looking for her friends, Ada needed to find her way to the bathroom, which seemed to become quite the task with all the rooms there was in the house. Kevin’s words following her, He always ends up with that blond-headed girl. Charlotte.

When she rounded a corner, she found Ewan with his back against the wall and Charlotte standing in front of him, pressed tightly against him. Her heart dropped when Charlotte started to lean close to him, going in for a kiss. Ada walks up to them just in time for Charlotte’s lips to press against his.

Hurt and fighting back tears, Ada slaps Ewan and pushes him in anger. “You asshole!” She screamed, storming away from them and into the sea of people.

“Ada! Wait!” Ewan yelled, pushing Charlotte off of him as he started following Ada.

She was pushing people out of her way, trying to get out of the house, away from this place as quickly as she could. When she was finally able to see the door to her freedom, a drunken guy grabs her by the arm as she walked by, pulling her into him and kissing her. She starts pushing on the guy to get off her, but she couldn’t escape as he starts groping her. His breath smelt of beer, causing her to become even more nauseated and he had a stench like melting plastic. The smell reminding her of Jessie, she quickly begins to panic.

“Get off her!” Ewan’s voice yelled, punching the guy.

The drunken guy fell on the floor, his nose bleeding.

“What the hell, dude?” Some partygoers questioned, staring at Ewan.

Ada stood frozen in place, unable to move as her heart raced and skipped uncontrollably.

“Ada, Ada, baby, are you okay?” Ewan asks, standing in front of her, his hands cradling her face wiping away stray tears as he ignored the people yelling at him.

She could see him, but she couldn’t hear him. She couldn’t hear anything at that moment. Ada could see the fear in Ewan’s eyes, the movement of his mouth, his breath washing over her face, and the gentle pressure of his hands on her face.

He grabs her, picking her up to bring her outside, away from the crowded area.

Her head rested against his chest, she breathed in his scent, making her calm down. Once outside, Ewan sat her down on the steps and stood in front of her, kneeling to look her in the eye.

“Baby, are you okay?”

Bile started to rise. “How could you?” Her voice croaked as tears continued streaming down her cheeks.

“Ada, I would never cheat on you.”

“I saw…”

“You saw her kiss me.” Ewan continued pleadingly. “Please, baby, I know this looks bad, but please trust me. I would never do that to you.”

Ada didn’t know what to think at the moment. She was confused. After all, she did see that Charlotte was the one who kissed him. Hell, she was trying to get him in her pants with Ada standing right there. And it’s not like Ewan had ever given her a reason to question his loyalty. She nodded in acceptance of his apology. “I want to go home.” She said quietly.

He nods in response. “Ada, please… I…” he hesitates for a moment. “Before I met you, I was a completely different person, a horrible person. But that’s not who I am anymore.”

Walking together back to Ada’s house, she begins to regret ever going to the party. The first party she ever went to and she catches a girl trying to make out with her boyfriend and then she gets assaulted. But what caught her off guard was how everyone knew who he was and knew Ewan was there as soon as they arrived. Ada isn’t the type to get hung up on someone’s past. You can’t help who you were before something makes you decide to change, but after tonight, Ada couldn’t help but wonder who Ewan was before he met her.

**********

The next day, Tanya took Ada and Kacey out for a fun-filled day since she would have to work on Ada’s birthday. This became a common occurrence for Ada. She was used to her mother not being able to celebrate her birthday with her. Though, this was a bonus for Ada this year because she was now able to spend her birthday with Ewan.

The trio was walking around the mall, looking at clothes. Tanya bought Ada a new shirt and a couple of pairs of pants and even bought Kacey a few things that she had shown interest in. Once the girls decided it was time to move on, Ada happened to notice a beautiful burgundy, a slim dress that she really wanted.

The little dress was slightly revealing; with a short skirt and spaghetti straps that made the top show off her cleavage, not to mention hugged her curves. It was something that she would normally wear but hadn’t since the night at the gas station. But it was something she wanted to wear around Ewan.

“Where could you wear it?” Tanya questioned her daughter, wondering if her daughter would even wear this dress considering everything she had gone through.

“I don’t know,” Ada replied, not taking her eyes off of it. “I was planning on going out with Ewan for my birthday.”

Her mother rolled her eyes at the sound of Ewan’s name. “I doubt he could afford to bring you anywhere that dress would be considered appropriate.”

Ada cut her eyes at her mother.

“No, I don’t mean like that!” Tanya began defensively. “You both are in high school; no one in high school can bring someone to an ornate place.”

“I guess you’re right,” Ada replied solemnly.

“Well, he is supposed to have a surprise for you.” Kacey began.

“What surprise?” Tanya responded, curious of his intent.

“I don’t know.” Kacey teased.

“Oh, fine.” Tanya starts into the store in a huff.

Ada was beside herself when her mother walked out with the dress that she had her eye on, staring at it in awe as she considered how she would do her hair and makeup the next evening.

After spending a few hours shopping at the mall, Tanya and the girls went to a movie theatre to see one of the latest rom-com playing. Ada’s mother went all out for this birthday, she thought as her mother spent a lot of money on her and her friend. But, then again, Tanya was saving a lot of money by allowing her daughter to go to public school this year.

Before they walked into the theatre, all three of them stopped by the concession stand, ordering drinks, popcorn, nachos, and a lot of candy, which none of them allowed going to waste. After the movie, they went out to a restaurant for dinner.

Soon, Ada and Tanya were back at home with Kacey, watching all kinds of movies; from comedies to horror, to romance, to classic black and white films.

By the time Ada put in the fifth movie, Tanya had already fallen asleep on the couch. Kacey fell asleep about an hour after Ada’s mother had, which left Ada up alone again.

It was something that she should be used to, but Ada has not become accustomed to the loneliness and boredom she feels when she is up all night.

Ada and Ewan had been texting each other throughout the day, which was mostly ignored or silent on Ada’s part because she had such a busy day that was explicit “girls only.” But now that she was alone, she knew she could talk to Ewan without getting yelled at by anyone. She wondered and hoped that he was still awake.

A: Are you still awake?

E: Of course. How was your day?

A: Good. My mom spoiled us.

E: You deserve it. When does your mom go to work tomorrow?

A: 12.

E: Okay. I’ll be there to pick you up around 2. I can’t wait to see the look on your face.

A: What are we going to do?

E: You’ll see.

A: I really hate surprises, you know that.

E: Which is what makes this so much fun!

A: Ugh, fine.

Ada contemplated telling him that she has a surprise for him too, with the little burgundy dress she found. Teasing him would be entertaining but, she decided to leave it alone, as the shock on his face would be more humorous to her than teasing him.

She found herself becoming more and more restless as she thought of his reaction. Ada was very excited about her birthday tomorrow, which was an emotion she hadn’t felt in years.

While she was excited about her birthday, the events that happened the night before still haunted her. Was Ewan really a changed person now? Would he go back to the way he was before? Can a person actually change that much?

But most importantly, she was questioning why all of this was bothering her so much.