Leaving the Party

Following Kaylee inside, she shrugged off her coat and placed it on the bed. I nearly ran into her as she stopped to stare at the sleeping girl. A mix of emotions fluttered across her face that I didn’t catch.

“Been a while since I saw her sleeping so… peacefully,” she said softly. “You really did a number on her.” My cheeks burned as I hugged myself, rubbing my arms to try and warm up faster.

“Um… Think we should wake her up?”

Attention on me, her eyebrow quirked up. “Why? Two wasn't enough?” she said with a teasing smile. Kinda scary I had no recollection of the second time. “I have another condom if you do…” I was already shaking my head, but she stopped me before I could say anything. “Relax, Scott. With how many orgasms you gave her? Let's let her rest.”

Not sure how to handle my girlfriend speaking so nonchalantly about me having sex with another girl, I remained silent. Curiosity took hold as I watched Kaylee walk to the side of the bed and kiss Kayla’s forehead. With a smile, she pulled away, brushing her hair back before lifting the edge of the comforter. “God, she has such great tits,” she whispered before carefully covering her again. Seeing me staring at her, she blushed slightly and gestured me to follow her. Outside her room, we slowly made our way back to the party. She noticed my sideways glances at her. “Don’t look at me like that. You were staring at them the entire time too,” she muttered as we got closer to the stairway.

I was shaking my head. “Haven’t heard you talk about…uh… women like that before.”

Her head tilted slightly. “Really?” she said, pulling me to a stop. I wasn’t sure what she was going to do as she faced me. With a critical eye, she began tugging at my clothes and pulling at my hair. I realized then that I probably still looked like a mess. As she got my clothing back in order, her eyes met mine. “Probably because the last girl I was with…” She trailed off, fussing over my hair.

“Zoe?” God that name was painful to get out.

She stopped, looking at me. Slowly, she nodded.

“Do you want to?”

“Want to what?”

“Be with Zoe.”

Her expression hardened slightly. “No. I love her, but…” There was a resolution in her eyes as she stared up at me. “I know now it is a different form of love. I’m with you now. I loved every moment of my time with her, but this,” she said as her hands smoothed out my vest, “is what I want. What I’ve always wanted.”

The room felt unbearably hot as we both stood in silence. She misunderstood my question, but I’d gotten a great feel-good answer out of it and I took a few seconds to enjoy it.

“I meant… in the physical sense.”

She blinked a few times, before chuckling. Brushing hair behind her ears, she glanced away in embarrassment. “Oh. I mean, sure. Zoe is phenomenal in bed. I just figured since you two hate each other…” Her head tilted to the side as our eyes met. “Would you let me if I asked?”

Really hated how we were talking about Zoe right now. I should have kept my stupid mouth shut. At least it was taking my mind off Kayla. “Are you asking?”

There was a pause there as she stared at me. “No.” Her hand found mine. A kind smile on her lips, she gave my hand a comforting squeeze before pulling me after her.

The next few hours were a blur. I avoided the booze, but it was clear that everyone had been steadily indulging in the time that passed. Kaylee introduced me to relatives and family friends in a whirlwind of faces and names. I could tell which ones Kaylee liked by the smiles she gave them. Most of the time, she wore the fake smile I’d seen her and her mother wear when meeting her aunt. Some of the women here were creepy. Easily twice my age, their eyes lingered for an inappropriate amount of time. Fortunately, Kaylee never lingered around them, pulling me away with a polite excuse.

Exhausted, I finally got a chance to breathe when we found Lisa and Toby. They were talking with another couple when we approached. Excusing themselves, Kaylee’s parents quickly made their way to us. Lisa looked… intoxicated. Her husband’s arm provided balance as she swaggered over to us.

“Can we leave this hell already?” she complained in a slurred voice. “All the piss water in this place isn’t going to make it any better.”

“I second that,” Kaylee said, looking at her father. “Mom’s about two hours ahead of everyone, and I want to be out of here before they catch up.”

Her father looked from his daughter to his wife before sighing. “We can’t leave without saying goodbye.”

“Can’t we?” Kaylee said with a hopeful look. “All these people here…”

“And this one here is immediate family.”

It was Kaylee’s turn to sigh, looking unhappy. “Fine. Let’s just get this over with.”

I really had no idea what the relationship between the families were. It looked a lot like Kaylee and her mom disliked Renee, and I got the feeling it was somewhat mutual. This wasn’t like Paige and I. Sure, she was an annoying twerp, but I still cared about her. And thinking about her drudged up all those unpleasant memories. Really, this day was going great going from guilt, anger, to shame all in a few hours.

It was easy to find Renee. Just go where the crowd was. Staring in, she was absolutely radiant. A queen bee surrounded by her faithful. The woman had charisma to spare, and everyone around her was hung up on her every word. Seeing us, her expression shifted slightly. Excusing herself, she made her way over to us.

“Lisa! I see you’ve been enjoying yourself.”

“You still have no taste for booze, Renee.”

“Didn’t stop you from indulging though, did it?”

Lisa was about to say something when her husband stepped in. “We had a great time, Renee. I believe it’s time for us to leave.” His tone was diplomatic, as was his polite smile. Renee looked surprised.

“Oh? So soon?”

“Afraid so. This has been a wonderful party though.”

Reaching out her hand rested against his arm. “The real party starts in a few hours. Stay until then. We can catch up.”

To my surprise, Lisa reached out and forcefully pushed her hand away. Once more, Toby was quick to cut his wife off. “As much as I would love that, we really must be going.”

“Shame,” she said, giving him a lingering gaze before turning her attention to me. “It was nice to meet you, Seth.”

It took me a second to realize she was talking to me.

“Uh… You too.”

She had already turned away, heading back to the group she’d left with a heroes return.

“What a bitch,” Kaylee muttered under her breath. I gave her a surprised look. “She damn well knew your name. She used the wrong one to show you weren’t worth remembering.” A vindictive smile crossed her face. “Wonder how she’d react if she found out what you did her precious daughter not too long ago.” My heart hammered as I stared at her. “Relax. I’m not going to say anything. Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

Never been so happy to leave a party in my life. Back in the limo, I felt like I could finally breathe again. So much had happened and I was only beginning to process it all.

Lisa had passed out on her husband's shoulder. Kaylee leaned against me, her attention on her phone. I was only starting to collect my thoughts when Kaylee suddenly sat up.

“That’s right!” she said as she looked at me. “Give me your phone.”

Confused, I dug it out of my pocket and handed it to her. Snuggling against me again, she held out the phone so I could see it too. Navigating to the Preference Profile, I felt my chest tighten as I realized what she was doing. When it loaded, Kaylee clicked her tongue.

“Really? Do you use this thing at all?” she asked softly so her parents didn’t hear.

“Huh?”

“Look at this. You haven’t confirmed a single one of my history additions.”

I scratched at my cheek. “Is there really a need?” I asked, watching as she methodically went down the list hitting the confirm button.

“Uh, yeah. Only when you confirm them does it go active on mine.”

I continued to watch as she pressed the button again and again and again. “A-are those—”

“Yep.”

“All of them?”

“Yep!”

Holy shit. I mean, I knew Kaylee was an insatiable woman, but seeing it in list form… The amount of times we had sex together was astounding.

A minute or so of silence passed. “Ah! She beat me to it. Must have done it before passing out.”

“Huh?”

She held up the screen so I could see it better. I read the notification.

Kayla Webb has added you to her partner history. Confirm/Deny

Before I could say anything, Kaylee had already pressed confirm. “Congrats,” she whispered as she pointed to my unique partner count. My eyes never left the two as I sat in silence. It really hit me then. I’d slept with someone other than Kaylee. I… I still didn’t know how I felt about that.

Snorting, Kaylee chuckled as she showed me another notification. My cheeks burned as I saw the five star rating Kayla gave me.

“Only polite to rate her back,” Kaylee teased, grinning at me.

“Um…”

“Be honest.”

“Five?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course. Bet any girl would get a five from you,” she said with a fake pout. I watched as she selected Kayla’s name from the history list and gave her a five star ranking. I never paid much attention to the Preference Profile since I felt it was a tad too invasive. The only real options I picked was to set everything I could to private. What caught my eye was that my score immediately jumped to five total. A small number one in parentheses was under it, which I assumed was how many people rated it.

Kaylee chucked. “You’re higher rated than I am now.”

Thinking for a moment, I decided to ask. “Do you rate guys?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then why haven’t you rated me?”

“Hmm?”

“It looks like Kayla is the only one who rated me.”

She didn’t answer right away, brushing a hand over the side of her face. “It would be weird to rate my boyfriend. Besides, it doesn’t matter anyways. You have everything set to private.”

There was something weird about how she said it, so I decided to press. “Oh. Well, what do you rate me?”

Smiling she pressed her lips against my cheek. “A five.”

“Please. I might have believed you if you said a four. Come on. If I was some random guy you hooked up with, what would I get?”

“That’s not—”

I slid my phone out of her hand. Keeping it so she could see what I was doing, I went over to her name on the list and clicked on it. I immediately pressed the five stars. “There,” I said with a grin. “Isn’t it rude not to rate someone back?”

“Scott.” There was no humor in her voice as she pulled away. “I gave you my answer.”

Now I knew it was bullshit and was determined to get the truth out of her. I glanced towards the back of the limo where her parents were. Lisa was passed out and her dad was staring out the window. The radio was on, so I doubted our mumbled conversation was understandable. “That bad, huh?” I said, locking my phone.

“I never said that.”

“You didn't have to.”

Kaylee pulled away from me, anger creeping over her features. “You really enjoy making me the villain, don’t you?”

“Huh?”

“It always seems like you do everything in your power to twist the conversation into me saying something that insults or hurts you.” When I went to respond, she spoke over me. “You want to know so bad? Fine. Vast majority would get you a two with some ones sprinkled in. Maybe a rare three on one of your good days. Never a four, and a five might as well not exist.” She crossed her arms. “There. Happy now?”

My mouth opened but no words came out. I closed it, frowning as I took a moment to organize my thoughts. I tried again. “Are you only saying that because your angry?”

She shook her head. “No. You wanted to know? Well, now you know.” She glanced towards her parents before looking back at me. “Now that we both feel like shit, can we talk about this later?”

“Y-yeah.”

Scooting away, she stared out the window, lost in her own thoughts. Watching her, my shock was quickly turning to fear as Ryan’s words replayed in my mind, fed by my lingering insecurities.

Does she even try anymore, or has she given up completely?

That hit me the hardest. I’d noticed the shift in attitude lately. She said everything was fine, but how could I believe her now? It was clear that she was keeping things from me. I get that she believed it was for my sake and was trying to spare my feelings, but that only pissed me off. How the hell could she sit there and tell me everything is fine, then turn around and admit that I was only hitting ones and twos? If she had told me my baseline was three with some random two and fours thrown in, I would have been content. Disappointed, sure, but I think I could live with that for the moment. It certainly would have meshed with what she told me earlier about enjoying her time with me. It wasn’t mind shattering or anything. Just… enjoyable. How could I possibly believe that if she told me should would give me garbage ratings if I was some random other guy?

The thing that hurt the most wasn’t her feelings about my performance. Yeah, it sucked, but it was something we could work to fix. What cut deep was that she decided to keep her feelings to herself. To let me believe a lie rather than communicate with me. The lack of communication had fucked up our first go at this, and here we were finding ourselves repeating the same god damn thing.

That pissed me off more than her rating my performance ever could.