Chapter Twenty Three

Two hours went by, and everyone was laughing.
"Hey, let's play seven minutes in heaven!" A girl screamed loudly, and the others immediately agreed.
"What are we, twelve?" Someone yelled out and laughter followed.
Everyone put their names in a hat and started drawing. Without anyone looking Evan slipped away and went to the punch bowl, making sure no one was looking, then poured a full bottle of Vodka. He slipped the empty bottle back into his jacket and quickly stirred it. Then walked back to the group to play the game.
"Where did you go?" Mila asked him as he became comfortable on the ground.
"Bathroom." Was all he said to her as he smiled.
"Bro, it's your turn." One of the boys nodded his head at Evan to pull from the hat.
Scooting in the middle he closed his eyes and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Mila held her breath watching as he unfolded it slowly. A smirk graced his lips.
"Dude! Don't leave us hanging, who'd you get?"
Evan looked right at her and grinned. Pulling the paper up for everyone to see, her name was displayed in her own handwriting. Heat flushed her cheeks as he said,
"Mila, care to join me in the closet for a seven minute make out session?"
People hollered and laughed as he pulled her to stand up with him and before she knew it, they were alone in the broom closet, the light dangling over their heads.
"Not exactly how I pictured our first kiss, but I guess it will do." He shrugged.
She didn't know what to say to that, so she didn't say anything at all. Her heart started to pound in her chest, her blood rushing through her veins as he leaned in closer, making her breath hitch right before his lips gently landed on hers.
Her first reaction was that it was nice. But there wasn't any sparks or electricity in the kiss, and she figured that maybe it was just a late reaction since she was so nervous. But as time went on, she still didn't feel any overwhelming desire or blankness that she had with Jared.
Pulling her body close he tries to deepen the kiss. She allowed him in a bit, but it was messier than it was anything else. Someone starts banging on the door, making her jump away from him. He sighed heavily, feeling irritated that time was already up. Mila felt relieved and something told her that wasn't what she should be feeling if she was dating the person that kissed her in the first place.
Feeling more disappointed than thrilled about the kiss they leave the closet to another round of hollering and obnoxious hooting.
When the fifth couple went in the closet, with hooting and cheers going around, people just kept getting glass after glass of the punch. Most of them started getting goofy and falling all over themselves laughing at anything and everything.
"Thirsty?" Evan asked Mila, laughing at a guy tripping over the couch and falling, laughing his ass off.
"Sure." Mila replied wondering what was wrong with the people that seemed a little too relaxed.
When Evan gave her the cup full of punch, she took a drink and wrinkled her nose staring down at the liquid. It didn't taste too bad, but she never had punch that tasted quite like this before. Shrugging her shoulders she takes a big gulp, noticing that it only made her thirstier for more.
The warm sensation felt great, and it went straight to her head. Whenever she saw someone make a fool of themselves, she couldn't help giggling and didn't realize that Evan just kept refilling her cup. Within fifteen minutes Mila was plastered. She tried to get up but stumbled instead.
"Whoa, I think maybe you had enough punch." Evan whispered so only she could hear.
He tried to steady her, but she just pushed his hands away laughing. "I have to use...the bathroom." She slowly stated.
"Mila, are you okay?" Selena asked looking a little worried as she came up to her.
"She's fine, let her go to the bathroom." Evan told her as he watched Mila go to the hallway and smiled.
Mila tried very hard to concentrate on her steps, her vision becoming blurry, with her mind clouding over. Her body felt like it was in water, and she caught the edge of the stairs before attempting to climb them to get to her bathroom on the second floor.
As soon as she reached her destination she closed the door, then locked it. She carefully sat down on the toilet seat and put her hands in her head to get the spinning to stop moving around. She winced when she felt something stabbing her in the hip.
Taking it out she found the little wrapped gift box that Selena had given her, stating it was from Jared. She scowled and wanted to throw the damn thing. But decided against it, opening it instead. Immediately tears obscured her vision. Honestly, she didn't know why she felt like crying, but she did.
It was a necklace of her name with a birthstone as the dot of the 'I'. And in the background was a snowflake encrusted with tiny diamonds. Looking closer she gasped at the engraved twenty-four-carat symbol. She ripped the rest of the wrapping from the box and stared at the brand name.
Jared's.
Just like his namesake.
He bought her a really expensive gift and it was custom made. Why? Why would he do that? She got angry suddenly. Really angry. He bought her a gift like this but didn't have the decency to give it to her himself.
No, he had more important things to do.
He hasn't talked to or seen her for the last two days, but he bothers to get a gift like this one in her hand? She was so angry she didn't think what she was doing as she got up, opened the bathroom door, and grabbed her jacket from her room.
She left the house without telling anyone, without anyone even noticing she went out the door.