Chapter 7

     "Come on! Can you at least try!" I said to Bella as we were lifting the sound board. Neither of us knew it was going to be this heavy. We have been working on this all morning and this was the last piece to fit into the puzzle.

     When we were finished, we stepped back and admired our work and effort. It did kind of look like a recording studio, but I know it's better than what most people have. "So Tyler's coming over today," I told Bella before she left the room to go take a shower. "Yeah alright I don't care." And then she walked away.

     Making myself food, I planted myself on the sofa waiting for Tyler. He should be here shortly and I had nothing better to do than wait for him.

     A few minutes later I heard him knock on the door and by the time he came over it was already three. Opening the door, I invited him in and then introduced him to Bella when she was done taking a shower and getting dressed.

     They hit it off from the start which was strange and I did not want to be associated with it. "Dude, lets go." I said grabbing his arm and dragging him toward the room I just finished today.

     His mouth dropped at the sight of it. "That's really awesome!" He muttered walking over and examining the mics and soundboard. I smiled with pride and leaned up against the doorway.

     "So how about we test it all out?" I suggested shrugging my shoulders and picking up my guitar. I closed the door and then pointed to the corner for him to grab one. Tyler grabbed a stool and stood it next to me. We turned on the mics and started playing "Life is a Highway" by Rascal Flatts.

     Going all out, we were singing to the top of our lungs, forgetting we were at my house and not actually up on stage. Once watching the video and doing a little editing, it was downloaded onto the computer in no time.

     We listened to it again and I thought I sounded horrible but Tyler reassured me that I was great. He wasn't so bad himself but I wasn't surprised by it.

     I felt my phone vibrate, but not just once, a few times actually. So I took it out of my pocket and Ariana was calling.

     "Hello?"

     "Hey, Hunter? I have a question." I smiled at the sound of her voice through my phone.

     "Ask away."

     Tyler looked at me and I shrugged my shoulders. She's never called me before, and we have only texted a few other times before this so I wondered what was up.

     She sighed, "I was wondering, would you maybe like to go to a party with me later tonight?"

     I glanced at Tyler quickly. "May I ask whose party we will be attending, and what kind?"

     "His name is Jake, and he is pretty popular. He asked me to go but I felt uncomfortable going by myself so I asked if I could bring you. And after a really long pause he said yes!"

     "I'm with Tyler right now, can he come too?" I asked a little quietly just in case she said no.

     "Yes absolutely! Make sure to tell him I said hi!" Ariana said cheerfully.

     I was happy he was allowed to go because how awkward would it be if I went without him. Plus he's my only real friend here. "Okay will do. Text me your address and we'll pick you up later. See you then."

     I hung up and Tyler was just staring at me. "I'm assuming you heard?" I asked him already knowing the answer. "Yes! I love parties!" he had the biggest smile on his face, and then he drew his attention to the computer to fix the sound of our voices.

***

     That night I wore khaki shorts and a light blue and white striped polo shirt with a snapback placed on my head backwards. Tyler had on a grey and white tight hoodie with jean shorts. We picked up Ariana and she came in the car wearing a white dress that was tight on the top and it was laced and the bottom was a poofy solid white. She was really attractive tonight.

     "All ready to go?" I asked looking behind me. She clicked in her seat belt, smoothed down her dress and then nodded her head. "I'm so excited for tonight! All the girls that are going to be there!" He fidgeted and couldn't sit still in his seat, like a little kid. I guess he hasn't had a girlfriend in a long time.

     When we pulled up in front of the white big house and people were already scattered in the lawn and on the front porch. The front door was wide open so we let ourselves in and made our way to the back of the house where people were being chucked into the pool. The music was blaring loud I'm surprised the cops haven't been called yet.

     A guy approached us, well really Ariana, and started talking to her like we weren't even there. "Hey glad you made it! Would you like to go dance?" he asked taking a sip from his red solo cup. She avoided his eye contact and looked behind him, "No thanks I think I'm going to stick with these guys for a few minutes. I'll find you later." She gave him a polite smile.

     The guy looked over at us and checked us out like we were nothing. "Okay, find me later." He winked at her before leaving.

     "Was that Jake?" I asked pointing to him as he walked away. "Yeah he's the guy that invited me tonight. He's had a thing for me forever." She said like it didn't phase her, still looking around.

     I don't know why I got this feeling, but I didn't like it. The feeling that someone liked her. "So I'm going to pick up some girls. Don't bother bringing me home tonight, I may not go home." Tyler said taking a red solo cup from a guy and walking away. I rolled my eyes but laughed, obviously he's been to parties before.

     In high school I have attended a few, but none close to this one. "So I guess it's just us." I said almost yelling because of the music in the backyard. "Let's go inside." I motioned my head toward the door leading inside and she followed me.

     We took a seat on a couch that wasn't filled with pasted out people. On the other couches there were people completely knocked out and sleeping, it was quieter in here but not silent.

     "Do you want a non alcoholic beverage?" I offered not thinking she would want any alcohol. "Yeah that would be nice, thank you." I got up and made my way to what seemed to be the kitchen.

     There were coolers and I lifted up the first one to find only alcohol. Surprise. I opened up the red one and there was alcohol and water. Since I only saw water as the only non alcoholic beverage, I retrieved that and made my way back to the room with the fireplace that we were just in.

     When I walked through the doorway I saw as two guys were sitting on either side of her. Really, I was gone for two seconds and guys are already all over her. That same feeling made its way back into my stomach from when Jake approached her.

     I walked up to them with a water in my hand and they didn't even acknowledge me. "So what's your name cutie." One guy said wrapping his arm around her. She didn't look like she wanted to be bothered by them and actually looked a little uncomfortable.

"How about you come upstairs with us gorgeous." The other said winking.

     I interrupted their failed attempts to pick up a girl by clearing my throat, but they didn't even glance at me. I did it again, "Excuse me. She's with me." I said but shortly regretted even speaking after both of them got up like they wanted to cause a scene.

"Who are you? When we came you weren't even here. She's ours now." He said smirking and then looking at Ariana. Seriously? They thought she could be claimed? "I don't want to cause any trouble." I mentioned hoping they would just back off. When they came a bit closer to me Ariana stood up in between them.

     "We're leaving." She said taking my hand and pulling me upstairs to a bedroom where nobody was in. I assumed it was the master bedroom, it was very large. We sat on the bed together in silence, "I'm sorry about what happened." She said. I shook my head, "It was no big deal honestly."

     I handed her the water I got for her before the little scene. "Thanks. I don't even know why I came, I'm not a party girl." She laughed and then took a sip of her water.

Thinking of something else we could do, it occurred to me. "How about we go back to my house. I think I have a good idea." She agreed and I grabbed her hand and led her out of the house.

     On our way out I caught a glimpse of Tyler chugging down half a bottle of vodka and dancing on a few girls. I shook my head and laughed a little at how much he was going to regret that tomorrow. Ariana and I got into my car and I drove off to my house,

***

     "So I was thinking, maybe we could make covers to some songs and burn them onto a CD." I explained to her leading her into the music room. She covered her mouth with her hand as she looked all over the room. "It's amazing!" Ariana said in excitement as she saw all the things in the music room placed.

     I took a seat, grabbed my guitar and put the mic in front of me and she grabbed one too. "What song should we do?" I asked setting up the computer and mic for recording.

It took a bit of time but we finally came up with the perfect song. "Without You" by David Guetta. We started up the instrumental and began to sing. Her voice was literally perfection in a human body.

     After the song was over I hit "stop" and we stopped the recording. I turned to face her after putting the guitar back in place. "There's our first song!" I said excited. "You have an amazing voice." She complimented me smiling. "Well thank you, you do as well. So much better than me." She giggled and I closed the computer after finishing.

     "How about we go and watch a movie?" I asked and she followed me out of the room shutting off the lights.

     We sat on the same couch and I grabbed a blanket and threw it over top of us after popping in the disk "White chicks" that my sister had in the DVD rack.

     I would say forty-five minutes passed by and she rested her head on my shoulder as the movie was still going. "I'm tired." She whispered, closing her eyes. I smiled at the move and I'm glad she couldn't see it considering it was dark. To be honest, I liked it. "You're a great friend." She added and my stomach dropped a little at the word friend.

     I think she passed out after that. I don't quite remember, I think I fell asleep too.