Forgetting Billions | ✓

10 | Forgetting Parties

JASMINE SMILED at Selena. Her rough, ebony hair was damp against her shoulders, framing her face. They looked like complete messes and it was entirely Jasmine's fault. She seemed to have lost her mind, lying there in the middle of the storm, but Selena just laughed and snapped her out of her trance.

Now, they stood in front of her mirror, getting dressed for Evan's party which began just about ten minutes ago. Fashionably late was what Selena called it, but Jasmine thought it was almost impolite. She tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear and sighed, her eyes following Selena's fingers as they drummed against her desk absentmindedly.

Jasmine felt terrible for lying to her parents. She had never even thought of withholding information from them, let alone create a fake story regarding her whereabouts that night, and the guilt was clawing at her heels. Jasmine knew she'd confess when she came home. She loved her parents and she didn't have it in her to betray that relationship.

Thankfully, she didn't have to dwell on her actions any longer when Selena bumped her hip with a concerned glance, "Are you okay?"

Jasmine looked up from Selena's fingers and quickly nodded, a typical smile returning to her rose colored lips, "Of course. Ready to go?"

"You know it," Selena strutted out of her cramped room and Jasmine followed her, her white sneakers squeaking against the wood flooring as they exited and made their way to the car.

Despite the sense of closeness in Mayfair Hills, the traffic was often miserable, so when they arrived at Evan's in under twenty minutes, Jasmine was surprised, to say the least. As they pulled up to the front, a full blown rager unfolded in front of their eyes.

Red plastic cups were scattered across the grass outside Evan's posh home and Jasmine rolled her eyes at the absolute cliche-ness of it all. Ignoring the anxiety creeping up her spine, Jasmine linked her arm with Selena and together, they walked into the party, going deaf as a result.

"Jasmine!" She turned around to see Evan jogging towards them, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm surprised you could still make it." he took her fingers and wrapped them around a bottled beer.

She eyed the bottle wearily, "Well, I'm here aren't I?"

Selena cleared her throat, "Excuse me, but am I invisible, Evan?"

Jasmine noticed how he tried his hardest not to stare at Selena in her racy dress and tried not to act too excited to see her, chuckling to herself at just how pathetic it all was. She took the opportunity to slide the bottle into her purse, noticing Evan's signature smirk when she returned her attention back to her best friends. "Missing my attention?"

"You wish," Selena scoffed, almost covering the sound of Jasmine's phone ringing.

The two exchanged looks and Jasmine ripped a patch of skin off her lips with her teeth as the ringing continued. Tasting the blood on her tongue and grimacing through the stinging pains, Jasmine flashed Evan a weak smile, "I'll be right back. I just have to take this call."

He grinned and thought nothing of the situation, merely steering Selena to the dance floor to give Jasmine some privacy. Once she was sure she was alone, Jasmine hurried outside to the treehouse Evan's father had built for them. She picked up the phone as she climbed up the wooden ladder hanging from the top. The music reached up to her height, but no partiers bothered to explore this area of the Levington household.

She was finally alone.

Surrounded by the wooden planks holding her up in the tree, she placed the phone to her ear and listened to the unknown speaker. Their voice came out garbled and unintelligible, but understandable enough to analyze their message and frustrate Jasmine in the process.