Free Burdened (A Burdened Novel) by Peiri Ann Page B

force of the push, but it didn’t seem to faze him. He doesn’t hit the guy.
    Scott’s holding his arm back, shaking his head. “It’s not worth it. Just let it go. You know what we will do to them.” The music is low and everyone is looking in their direction. “The one that was causing the trouble is dealt with. Let it go.”
    He looks back at Scott and nods. “You’re right.” Looking back at the guys, “I think you all should leave. Next time, ‘let it go’ won’t work and he—” he nods his head towards Scott, “—and I will make sure you don’t see another girl, yet alone touch one.” His words are calm—there’s no stutter to his deep voice.
    My chest starts to ache, craving for a conversation with him .
    The boys don’t move instantly. He and Scott turn fully to them, giving them some type of look that instills fear. They pick up their jerk friend from the floor and leave.
    “ Ohhh-Kay!” somebody says from the crowd. The music turns back up.
    He turns around, looking as if he’s going to either say something to me or walk up to me. Scott steps up next to him and pushes him towards the other side of the room. The other two guys that they came with follow after them.
    “Come on, Cey. Let’s finish having a good time.” Glen pulls my arm. I don’t feel like it, at this point. My chest is starting to hurt, and the high I got from the music and dancing has worn off.
    Somebody always has to ruin my good time.
    “Hey Glen, come dance with me.” Eric stands in front of us, looking like a puppy who wants to get scratched.
    “GO ahead, Glen. Have a good time. I’m going to go to the kitchen and get something to drink.”
    “Okay, I’ll look for you when you get back.”
    I walk away, heading to the kitchen, when I run into Andrew. “Hey, you okay? Not cool that the dude was touching you like that.”
    “Yeah, thanks for asking, but I’m over it.”
    “You headed to the kitchen? There is not much left in there.”
    “Something to drink?” I pause. “A regular drink?”
    “Nope, gone.”
    “Damn,” I say, shaking my head.
    “You want to walk out to the back? There’s a fridge out there with some drinks, but you can’t tell anyone. I want at least one part of my house to not be messed up.”
    “I got you.” He leads the way. “So what made you throw this party anyway? Your mom would kill you if she found out.” Andrew isn’t as tall as most of the guys, although he’s taller than me—but only by a couple of inches. He has warm brown skin and always wears his hair short. He has the nicest things, because his mom spoils him, from his cars to his clothes.
    “No reason at all. I am just one of the only people who haven’t thrown one ever, and my place is big enough.” He shrugs. “Wanted to at least throw one before we graduate.”
    His house is full of people, spread out through multiple areas. We push and shove our way through crowds as we try to make our way out of them. “Why is your house this big?” I ask , to initiate conversation.
    He smiles. “My mom likes big things. You should see her room.”
    We have walked through three rooms about the size of my one living room. “I believe you.” We corner a landing where people aren’t around and walk through sliding doors that lead out to a deck. It is the size of a small cottage and his backyard is the size of his house. I’m only exaggerating slightly.
    “In about an hour, I’m going to make everybody come to the backyard so I can start to clean the house. We can move the music out here and everything. But you all won’t have access to the deck, hopefully that will keep this area untouched.” He points behind me. “There is the fridge. Help yourself.”
    He sits on one of the bar stools that’s pulled out in front of the bar that’s attached to his deck. I walk over to the fridge, which is full of all types of bottled drinks. Choosing a Lipton tea with lemon, I walk over to the bar and sit on the stool beside