Sparkling Hope (The Eastburgh Devils Series Book 1)

There was no car ride in which we sat together in the same car because Weston suddenly didn’t go with us. He only told Henry by a message that he still had to do something and would later drive on his own or look for another ride.

This only had its advantages because I didn’t have to sit next to him and had a back seat all to myself.

Henry’s love language was definitely physical touch.

Because somehow he always had to touch Aria, whether it was his hand resting on her thigh or the two of them holding hands while he shifted gears. Sometimes even just their little pinky touched.

Henry could have strapped Weston to the car if he’d gone with him.

The car ride to the Halloween party already put us in a party mood as we listened at total volume to one of Henry’s many playlists, this time one with songs from the 2000s.

While he focused on the traffic, Aria and I loudly yelled the lyrics to the songs that filled the car.

The bass was so intense and loud on some songs that I could feel it in my chest, and I felt like my heart would slide down my torso any second.

The abandoned diner was far on the outskirts of Eastburgh, and the closer we got to the Sigma Devils, the more cars parked close together on the sides of the road to the left and right.

The place before the Sigma Devils laid out with pebbles, where Henry caught the last parking bay while the people stood distributed before the Sigma Devils.

In fact, everyone in front of the diner was dressed up because, as Aria told me the other day, you only get the stamp if you really are dressed up.

It was going to be a memorable night.

Something was always happening.

At the beginning of college, Aria and I were invited to one of our first frat parties, and the next day the TV was missing, and there was a raccoon in the guest bathroom.

To this day, the TV has not been recovered, and the raccoon lived there for a few more days until the chamber hunter arrived.

The right place, the right people, and of course, the right music made a lot of difference.

The Sigma Devils was decorated from the outside with colorful strings of lights in small bulbs that glowed in blue, green, purple, and orange. Through the windows, you could see into the diner, where some people were already sitting.

On the columns from the entrance hung strings of lights that flickered red and blue and spider webs where tiny black plastic spiders hung inside.

We pushed through the crowd of people playing beer pong, smoking, or dancing to the music in front of the old diner.

Carter made a shrill noise as he put his fingers between his lips and waved at us.

For the first time, I saw what Carter and Charles were dressed up as, and from their looks, you could tell how much they liked it.

Enjoyed being looked at by the girls and almost undressed.

Carter was dressed as a topless cowboy, and Charles was a fireman. Of course, also topless, what else.

Henry at least had an orange jumpsuit on, rolled down to his waist and knotted at the sleeves, but he was still wearing a white undershirt.

‘You have way too much on,’ Charles said to Henry before greeting us, and Carter stamped the top of our hands.

‘What the fuck? As what is he dressed up?’

‘As himself,’ Henry answered Charles’ question as Weston parked his Jeep on the side of the road, walked across the pebble parking lot, and was stopped and greeted by some students.

Weston enjoyed to the fullest that some looks, mostly from girls, were on him or his well-toned, muscular body.

This only made his egoism grow.

He was wearing dark blue pants and no top.

The closer he got, the better I could see what he wrote on his chest with a black pen.

MALE WHORE was written in capital letters on his chest, and I couldn’t help but smirk and put my hands right in front of my mouth as Aria looked at me from the side in confusion.

‘Male whore, then,’ Carter greeted Weston with a handshake, as did Henry and Charles, and they could be heard slapping each other’s bare backs.

‘Luna likes to call me that. Some nicknames are still missing, and she couldn’t get out of staring earlier when I was standing in front of her in a towel. So I did her a favor,’ he explained his costume choice while Carter drank from his cup and couldn’t stop coughing.

My eyes widened at his reasoning, and all eyes were on me, and I felt the heat rising in me.

Did he really just say that?

I’d be lying if I said Weston didn’t look good standing in front of me in the bathroom earlier. The soaking wet brown hair was nevertheless in a perfect center parting and, despite being wet, had more volume than mine when it was dry.

‘What nicknames are missing, huh?’ Charles teased me, grinning into his mug as he sipped his cup.

‘Anyway, the alcohol’s in here, right?’ The topless cowboy nodded in response to my question, still panting.

I grabbed my best friend by her hand and pulled her behind me into the diner, where I saw the corner with the alcohol.

‘I would have stared at that body too, Luna.’

‘I wasn’t staring at him. His upper body was just in my field of vision, that’s all,’ I tried to talk myself out of it while mixing two cups of alcohol and an energy drink.

‘Try lying to yourself, but it doesn’t work for me, and besides, I was in the same room in that situation,’ she contorted her face as she sipped her cup.

‘Come on, this drink can’t be that bad.’

I tasted from my cup and tasted the bitter liquid. There was no taste of the soda I had added.

My mixed drinks still had some room for improvement.

‘We should talk more about what’s going on between you and Henry,’ I deflected.

‘I know what you’re trying to do here. You can’t deflect from the topic.’

It was not easy to distract Aria, but I hoped it would help if I brought up the subject Henry.

‘I’m not,’ I lied, hoping somehow to find another topic of conversation.

I didn’t feel like talking about Weston.

‘You do, and you know it. Your temptations don’t work on me, though. But—’

‘But what?’ I echoed.

‘But promise me you’ll tell me everything if something is going on between you,’ she said, holding her pinky out to me.

‘I would promise you, but I will never lie in the same bed, let alone have sex with him,’ I mumbled softly so no one around us would hear me.

It became increasingly crowded as time passed, and the music got a lot louder and boomed in all directions.

It was now after midnight, and occasionally you could see the first drunk people sitting in the corner and barely sane while water bottles were held to their mouths by friends.

Henry entered the diner with the fireman, cowboy, and other people, and while everyone sat down on the worn sofas, Henry came over and wrapped his arms around Aria’s waist.

‘Are you going to play with us?’

‘Of course,’ she grinned, and I nodded in response to Henry’s question.

I handed Aria my red cup and walked to the stairs that led down to the basement, where the restrooms were. I felt the alcohol because I oozed the liquid into the cup too quickly, and I realized I was concentrating on not missing a step.

I squinted to properly distinguish the restroom signs between girls and boys and walked toward the door where a figure was depicted with a triangle for a dress and two horns drawn on his head with a black pen.

My sanity suddenly shot through my veins in the form of adrenaline when I saw what was happening in front of me on the washstand of the girl’s toilet.

A girl with a hairband with bunny ears sitting on the vanity table with her tongue stuck down Weston’s throat.

While his hands rested on her butt and under her t-shirt where Puck Bunny was written.

I could have sworn my drunken feeling had flaked off my body like dandruff. I walked past them and occupied one stall.

I heard the door to the bathroom open again, and silence fell. Carefully I opened the door to the stall, and where Weston and a girl had just been making out, there was now no one.

I dried my wet hands with tissues, which I then threw into a small trash can that was already overflowing.

Something bothered me about seeing Weston and this girl. I didn’t know if it was just because of him or because they were sticking their tongues in each other’s mouths in the girls’ bathroom,  where people wanted to wash their hands.

After all, the area was big enough, and the asshole could stick his tongue in her mouth anywhere and slide his hand under her shirt.

I opened the door, and just as I was about to turn left to walk down the hall to get to the stairs, I bumped into Weston’s naked torso.

He leaned his shoulder against the wall and had his arms crossed.

Only now did I see that the letters on his chest were quite smudged.

‘You really do live up to your name.’

‘I have only you to thank for that,’ he looked down at me with his dark brown eyes.

God, was it the alcohol, or why did he suddenly seem so attractive to me?

‘I’m glad if I could help.’

Weston pulled me back by my arm as I tried to walk past him. His grip was tight, but if I wanted, I could break away from him.

‘If you want to go home, you’ll let me know.’

‘Why should I?’ I slurred.

‘Luna, that wasn’t a question,’ his gaze was deep, and I felt like he was crushing my soul with those eyes.

‘I can take care of myself. It’s fine,’ I pulled myself out of his grip and tried to concentrate and not trip.

I was still mad at him, and I certainly wouldn’t ask him if he could drive me home if I wanted him to. The sentences we exchanged were too many anyway.

‘There you are,’ Aria met me on the stairs, and we ran to the others without telling her about what happened in the bathroom.

‘Are you okay?’ she leaned over from Henry’s lap as I sat on the stool beside them.

‘Yeah, everything’s fine,’ I grinned, trying to forget the last few minutes.

Weston came up the stairs shortly after me and approached us, sitting next to Carter, who rested his hand on a girl’s thigh.

‘Finally, we’re complete. Did you have sex or what?’ exclaimed Charles as he tossed Smarties into his mouth.

‘Got interrupted.’ Weston glanced briefly at me until another girl with a skimpy, tight dress and wings on her back settled on his thigh.

For God’s sake.

Weston probably changed his girls more often than he changed his socks.

We started playing, and after a few rounds, it had been Carter’s turn to spin the bottle.

I kept turning to Weston and the girl, trying to look at her inconspicuously. She whispered something to him as he moved his fingers up and down her back.

‘Luna,’ Carter said my name as the empty green beer bottle pointed at me.

By now, we had arrived at the game, where two people had to go to the storage room and stay there for five minutes.

If one refused or stayed there longer than five minutes, they had to drink the cup prepared by Carter as fast as they could.

Aria and I already had to exe a cup each because we both went into the storage room and started having the most profound conversation. Also, this small room had the weirdest decorations and the funniest photos of all generations of the college’s hockey team.

While I noticed the alcohol as I got up to walk to the storage closet, I didn’t have as much trouble keeping myself upright as Aria did.