To Taste the Fruit by Lorelei Sutton (the best electronic book reader TXT) 📕

“When you win the election, of course. We talked about it earlier today,” he says, winking at me. I inwardly melt into a puddle on the floor. “Which, by the way, I didn’t appreciate you running away from me earlier. Am I really that repulsive?” 

“N-No! You’re not repulsive at all!” I hurriedly try to respond, the red flowing to my ears. “You’re-“ 

“What?” He asks, grinning widely. Mischief is in his eyes now, an emotion I’ve never gotten to see before in him. He stretches out a hand and uses it to lean against the wall, now much closer to me than should be socially acceptable. I shrink away, stripped of all thought or reason.  

“Nothing,” I mumble, and look away. Wow. I’m not doing very well in conversing with him, am I? 

I nearly jump out of my skin as his hand wraps around my wrist and gently tugs me back to where I was. “Here you are, running away again.”  

“I… wasn’t running away,” I protest, looking up at him. He smiles, his grip tightening on my wrist.  

“At least when you’re my Secretary you can’t run from me anymore,” he says softly, his eyes deepening to almost a black. “I can call you anytime you want, and you can’t escape.” 

“I’ve never tried to escape, okay?” I finally respond in a somewhat normal tone. “And I wouldn’t try to, anyways. You’re a good friend.” 

His eyes cloud over at the word friend, and his fingers loosen over my wrist. It is only for a second, and then his demeanor snaps back to normal. “Yeah, you’re right. I just like to tease you sometimes.” 

I laugh, and lower my arm. His hand falls away and I feel a strange coldness in its place. “I know you do. I’m pretty easy to tease as well, I have to admit.” 

“I’m really glad you came to the party now, since we got to have such a pointless but pleasant conversation.” Sebastian says, taking his other hand away from the wall. “You look really pretty, by the way. I think I forgot to tell you earlier. It’s nice to see you like this.” 

I blush a deep red, feeling almost too flustered to speak. Sebastian just complimented me. I think I can just die now and go to heaven.  

“Like this?” I ask, trying not to look like an idiot. “What do you mean by that?” 

“You know, in a casual setting and all that. We should—um, we all should—do something like this again.” 

“Your house next time, huh?” I ask, elbowing him in the arm. I can slowly feel things going back to normal. 

He turns around and takes a look at the people in the lounge. “Well, after looking at all the wreckage… I don’t know if my house would be the best place, especially if I expect to live past 18.” 

We both look at the crowd, watching the clearly inexperienced teenagers throw beer bottles around and fall over on the couches. I’m 99% certain almost everyone in here has never gotten drunk before. “Pretty bad, huh?” I see Ana on the piano bench, talking to Matt energetically. At least she’s not getting into much trouble. 

“Um, it’s sort of a disaster. Most of these people don’t need to be drinking. Ever,” Sebastian comments, “I wonder how the alcohol got here anyways.” 

Out of the corner of my eye I see the back door slide open, and the resounding cheers of the surrounding people. A figure walks in, carrying a few beers, and Lindsay immediately runs and pretty much pounces on him.  

One beer spills over her, running down her neck and chest. I can see her making a suggestive glance at the man, and his own face stretching into a roguish smile. Light brown curls fall into his face as he roughly places the beers on the coffee table and grabs her, landing a sloppy kiss on her lips. His right hand reaches for her breast, clutching it through the thin fabric. A chorus of yells erupt around them, and my gaze immediately gravitates to Ana.  

Sebastian turns back to me, his expression of inexplicable anger. “He’s really an-“  

“Sorry, Sebastian,” I say quickly, “I have to go. See you.” I immediately race along the wall, my own love prospects forgotten.  

“Noel? Where are you going?” His voice fades into the background, and I dismiss it without a second thought. 

“Ana. Ana!” I call her name, and a blonde head twists around from the piano bench. Matt was holding her hand, obviously about to confess to her judging from his expression. “We have to go outside, now.” 

“Noel!” She exclaims, shooting me a dirty look. “Not now. In a minute.” She turns her attention back to Matt and smiles at him. 

I turn back around to see the man coming towards the center of the room, holding Lindsay with his arm and roughly fondling her with his hand. A crazy look of drunken happiness is plastered onto her features. He, on the other hand, seems to be scanning the room, as if challenging anyone to say anything about his actions.  

“No. Now.” I grab Ana’s arm, and pull her up with incredible force. She glares at me, but I am too frantic to care. 

“What the crap, Noel?” Her face is bent in fury, but I barely cast it a glance. 

“You have to trust me, Ana.” I head towards the door, trying to keep my head down to make it more quickly through the mass of bodies. If people don’t see your face, they can’t greet you, which suits me just fine at the moment. 

We almost reach the door at the end of the room when I hear my name being called. I turn quickly to see Sebastian making his way towards me, his expression of concern. I keep moving, trying to get his face out of my thoughts. “Noel, Sebastian is calling you,” Ana says plainly. 

“I know.” I open the door, and start to step out. I hear my name again, and it’s Sebastian again, much closer than before. My gaze shifts around the room, and this time I see the same pair of bright blue eyes that freaked me out in Art class this afternoon. They seem to be studying me, staring deep into my soul with its intensity. Frightened beyond almost anything I have ever experienced, I tear my own eyes away, just about pushing Ana through the door.  

“To the Jeep,” I command through gritted teeth, pulling her hand with all of my strength. 

“You better explain this later,” Ana says rather calmly, but with a hint of malice. I know she’s super mad, but all I can focus on is that we have to escape. Escape from this party, escape from everything. 

I cast one last glance backwards and see Sebastian on the railing. We don’t make eye contact, but I know that the one he is trying to find is me. Thank you, God, for the darkness of the night.  

We run to the Jeep, and I pant heavily as I open the car door. It takes a minute, but I soon gather enough energy to crank the engine, and carefully maneuver myself out of the parking space.  

I zoom away, trying to think of my destination but am unable to forget. I keep pressing the gas pedal, watching the meter go from ten, to twenty, to thirty… 

“Noel! Police car ahead!” Ana alerts me, and I take my foot off the gas. Sure enough, there is one, racing past me in the same direction from which we came. She stares after it, and then turns back to me wonderingly. “Oh, I see. You truly are amazing, Noel. How did you know the police were coming?” 

“Uh, some guy who was leaving told me,” I say abstractly, trying to concentrate on driving. But I just can’t forget. 

There’s just something about those stupid blue eyes that make me feel like I have lost it all. 

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Text: Lorelei Sutton
Images: Lorelei Sutton
Publication Date: 12-12-2013

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