Chapter 13 The fight
Cecilia
I should have known that this was a terrible idea the moment Alex smirked after explaining the rules.
“One game,” he said while spinning the ping pong paddle lazily in his hand. “The winner gets anything they want.”
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. “Anything?”
“Within reason.”
“That doesn’t sound good.” I frowned. I was sure he had something evil planned. His answering smirk confirmed my thoughts.
Students crowded around the table as soon as word spread that we were playing against each other.
Apparently, Blackwood students would gather around literally anything remotely dramatic.
Someone turned the music down slightly while others started shouting our names from opposite sides of the room.
Luke stood near the wall already looking exhausted with our behavior.
“You people need hobbies,” he muttered. Nobody listened to him.
Amber suddenly appeared. “Oh my God,” she gasped dramatically when she saw us. “This is the greatest thing I’ve ever witnessed.”
“You left me for six minutes,” Luke deadpanned.
“I was networking.” she scoffed.
“You were flirting.”
“Same thing.” She shrugged.
I rolled my eyes and looked back at Alex across the table. He looked annoyingly confident.
“You’re about to embarrass yourself,” I informed him.
He bounced the ping pong ball against the paddle casually. “You keep saying things like that.”
“Because they’re true.”
“We’ll see.” he grinned.
Someone shoved a red cup into my hand and then another into Alex’s.
A guy near the back yelled, “Drink every time you miss!”
The crowd cheered immediately. Alex raised an eyebrow at me. “You good with that?”
“I can handle alcohol.” Which technically wasn’t a lie. It was just that I hadn’t drank in months.
Because hospitals and medication and recovery kind of ruined fun things like that.
But I wasn’t about to admit weakness to Alex Gomez. Not tonight.
“Ready?” he asked.
I smirked. “Try not to cry when you lose.”
Then the game started. And immediately, I realized that I had severely underestimated him.
“What the hell?” I snapped after he scored again.
Alex grinned. “Language, Celia.”
“I hate you.”
“That’s four points for me.”
The crowd erupted loudly behind him while I took an annoyed sip from my drink.
Fine. Maybe he was better than I expected.
But I could still recover. Probably.
“Focus!” Amber yelled from somewhere behind me.
I glared at Alex as he served again. This time I hit the ball back successfully.
The crowd cheered dramatically like we were in the Olympics.
Alex laughed under his breath. “You look genuinely angry.”
“I am genuinely angry.”
“Over ping pong?”
“Over your face.” I snapped. I was angry and drunk, never a good combination.
His grin widened.
God, he was irritating.
We kept playing and drinking. Which slowly became a problem, because somewhere around my third cup, the room started feeling warmer.
And Alex’s stupid face started looking prettier.
Which was deeply concerning.
“You’re losing focus,” he taunted after I missed another shot.
“You’re cheating.”
“How exactly?”
“With your… face.” I stuttered.
He blinked. Then laughed so suddenly he almost missed the next serve.
The crowd oohed loudly.
“Oh my God,” Amber screamed. “CeCe’s drunk!”
“I’m not drunk,” I argued immediately.
“You just accused him of cheating with his face.” she said.
I pointed at Alex. “Look at him! That’s suspicious.”
Alex leaned against the table laughing quietly while I glared harder. Which only made him laugh more.
Asshole.
The game got progressively worse after that for me. Alex barely missed. Meanwhile my coordination had apparently abandoned me entirely.
Luke watched with increasing concern. “You should stop drinking,” he told me.
“I’m fine.” I insisted.
I could get him to do anything if I won. I had to get him to delete the blackmail video.
“You just hit yourself with the paddle.”
“That happened once.”
“It happened twice.”
I ignored him.
Alex scored again and then finally, it was game over. The crowd erupted loudly while I stared at the scoreboard in betrayal.
“No,” I said flatly.
Alex looked entirely too pleased with himself. “Yes.”
“You manipulated me.”
“You lost.”
I pointed accusingly at him. “This was alcohol sabotage.”
“That sounds like a you problem.”
I groaned dramatically while the crowd continued cheering around us.
Someone yelled, “Make her bark!”
Another shouted, “Tell her to jump in the pool with her clothes on!”
Amber looked horrified. “Not the pool. Her hair took hours.”
Alex ignored everyone and looked directly at me. He had a smug smile on his face.
“Fine.” I sighed dramatically. “What do you want?”
His eyes flicked over me slowly.“Dance with me.”
I blinked. “What?”
“You heard me.”
I stared at him suspiciously. I was expecting something else…just not that. “That’s it?”
“You sound disappointed.” he tilted his head to the side.
“I’m confused.”
The crowd booed loudly at his choice.
“That’s so boring!”
“You wasted the wish!”
Alex didn’t even glance at them. His eyes remained on mine. Something about that made my stomach flip strangely. Which I absolutely blamed on the alcohol.
I narrowed my eyes. “This better not be some elaborate humiliation tactic.”
He smirked. “Only one way to find out.”
I hesitated and then he sighed dramatically.
“Fine.”
The crowd cheered obnoxiously while Alex held his hand out toward me. I looked at it for a second before placing mine in his. His fingers closed around mine immediately which felt annoyingly nice.
The dance floor was crowded by the time we got there. Music blasted through the speakers while lights flashed across moving bodies.
The second Alex placed his hand on my waist, I stiffened slightly. He noticed instantly.
He leaned in and whispered into my ears. “Relax.”
“You relax.” I countered. I refuse to let him know just how much he bothers me.
“You’re the tense one.” he raised an eyebrow.
“You’re touching me.”
“You agreed to this.”
I rolled my eyes but didn’t move away.
At first, dancing with him became another competition. I tried leading, but he resisted. He tried pulling me closer, I shoved him back slightly.
“You’re insufferable,” I informed him.
“Probably.” he shrugged.
I snorted despite myself. The music shifted into something slower and somehow, we stopped fighting.
Alex’s hand stayed firm against my waist while mine rested against his shoulder.
“You’re shorter than I thought,” he commented casually.
I glared immediately. “And you’re uglier than I thought.”
“That’s harsh.”
“But true.”
“Is it? You’ve spent the entire night staring at me.” he grinned widely.
My cheeks heated up at his words. “I literally haven’t.”
“You checked me out near the stairs.”
Heat rushed to my face instantly. “I did not.”
His mouth tilted upward knowingly and he laughed softly again. And suddenly I noticed things I hadn’t before.
The small scar near his jaw, how long his eyelashes were. The faint smell of coffee still clinging to him beneath his cologne. The way his hand tightened slightly on my waist whenever someone bumped into us.
My chest tightened unexpectedly and for one annoying moment, everything around us faded.
It felt like it was just me and him on the face floor.
My eyes dropped briefly to his mouth and I stepped back abruptly.
“I need the bathroom.” I blurted.
He lifted his brows slightly. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“You sound panicked.” his brows furrowed in concern.
“I’m not panicked. I just… have to really go.”
His eyes stayed on me while I turned and walked away. My heart beat annoyingly fast the entire way to the bathroom.
This was the alcohol. It had to be.
Because there was absolutely no way I was having feelings about Alex Gomez. It was both impossible and ridiculous.
The bathroom thankfully wasn’t crowded, so I finished quickly after splashing cold water on my face repeatedly.
“You’re being dramatic,” I muttered to my reflection.
When I stepped back into the hallway, I nearly collided with someone immediately.
Rachel.
Her expression darkened the second she saw me.
She crossed her arms tightly. “Stay away from Alex.”
I blinked slowly. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
I almost laughed. “I promise you, I have no interest in Alex.”
“Then why have you been attached to him all night?”
“Attached?” I repeated incredulously. “We played one game.”
“And danced.”
“Because I lost a bet.” I scoffed. I was still a little salty about losing.
Rachel scoffed. “You think I don’t see what you’re doing?”
I stared at her for a second and then I threw my head back and laughed. She was pathetic.
“You know,” I said slowly, “forcing yourself on a guy who repeatedly tells you he doesn’t want you is kind of embarrassing.”
Her face changed instantly. She looked like she was genuinly about to murder someone.
“At least somebody wants me.” she snapped at me.
The words hit harder than they should have. She must’ve noticed it too as her expression sharpened with satisfaction.
“Oh.” She smiled cruelly. “Did I hit a nerve?”
I stepped around her. “This conversation is ridiculous.”
I wasn’t about to ruin the rest of my night by exchanging words with a brainless person.
But before I could walk away fully, pain shot through my scalp.
“What the hell?” I screamed.
Rachel had grabbed my hair hard enough to yank me backward. The alcohol disappeared from my system instantly and I turned around in shock.
Then rage exploded inside me. “Are you insane?”
Rachel shoved me.
And that was it. I lunged at her immediately.