Alpha Loren

Chapter 21 Counting Sheep

October 14th

"We're going to be late," I said when it got to 6:56 pm and we still hadn't left for the party at 7:00 pm.

After agreeing not to speak about the events of today again, things had been much better and we'd

spent half an hour cuddling watching 'friends' on the TV. This didn't mean I had forgiven him. Not by a

mile. But he was my mate and we don't have a choice but to be together for the rest of our lives so the

least we could do to make it bearable was be civil. Besides, I had this weird connection with him and

despite knowing he was a horrible person, I couldn't help but be drawn to him.

"Fashionably late," Leo said cupping my face in his hands and kissing my forehead.

When we eventually arrived at the party, about an hour after it started, Luca greeted us at the door and

led us straight to the drinks table.

He seemed slightly drunk, but then again Luca always seems drunk.

"Wupidoo the Alpha and Luna are finally here!" He bellowed out to no one in particular.

Definitely drunk.

"Now we can get the party started!" He cheered.

Judging by the blaring music my guess would be the party had already started.

"Anyway, so what would you guys like? We have beer, vodka and then there's...um some kind of blue

cocktail mix of I don't even know what," He said excitedly. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

"I'll have a beer, please," I said before Leo could say anything.

"Is that okay with you Alpha?" Luca asked cautiously not yet passing me the bottle.

"Absolutely not," Leo deadpanned. "She'll have a fruit punch."

"No, I'll have a beer," I said assertively.

Luca raised his eyebrow unsure of what to do.

"You're underaged."

"Since when have you cared about laws?" I asked, "I was underaged in Blair's car earlier too."

"Since they worked to my advantage. It's not happening," He said taking the beer out of Luca's hand

and taking a swig himself.

"You're drinking it," I protested.

"I'm like 3 times the size of you and 6 years older," He said pouring me a glass of fruit punch.

"You know what, Leo?" I said grabbing another can of beer. "Fuck you," I added taking a huge mouthful

before he could stop me.

"Oooh Alpha," Luca laughed. "She's giving you a run for ya money."

Leo snatched it out of my hand and put it back on the table.

"For Fuck's sake," Leo sighed. "Let's just get away from the alcohol."

Leo lead me through into the next room where I heard an excited voice call.

"Leo! Ella!" I heard an excited voice call.

It was Elena and she seemed a little too crazy to be sober.

"I see you're enjoying the fruit punch completely free of intoxicants," I said with a laugh.

"Hey! I'm 21 in like two years," she replied.

"My siblings are very sensible, Ella," Leo said gesturing to Mateo who was wildly dancing on the table

with a bottle of beer in one hand and a red cup filled with goodness knows what in the other.

"Anyway, it was nice seeing you two but I need to go and check on Lenny. He's fifteen and certainly

won't be drinking anything alcoholic tonight under my watch," she said before leaving the kitchen back

towards the hallway.

Leo clutched my hand as we weaved in and out of sweaty, drunk, dancing bodies. It reminded me of

the last party Cameron and I went to as a couple before...well you know. But this time the hand

belonged to Leo- my mate.

It was a fun party. I danced with Leo for a long time then made out with him for an even longer.

He'd wanted to go upstairs but I'd said I wasn't losing my virginity in Luca's bed and then after that, I

somehow managed to lose him somewhere amongst the music and chaos.

Luca was the first to find me lost and confused in the kitchen.

"Have you seen Leo?" I asked.

"Last time I saw him was on the couch, with his tongue deep...deep inside you," he replied.

I blushed and grimaced.

"You saw that?" I asked.

"I think everybody did," he replied. "Glad you're getting along better now."

"Oh, we aren't getting along. He's just hot and I don't object to kissing him," I admitted.

"Okay...I'd really like to change the subject now," Luca said through gritted teeth. "Wanna go outside for

a popsicle?"

"Sure."

A few minutes later, I was sat on the wall outside Luca's house with an artificially flavoured and

coloured popsicle in one hand and a beer in another. Nothing says class more than that at 1 am.

"Tell me a fact about yourself Luca," I said with a sigh as I licked my popsicle.

"I don't trust people with names beginning with C," he replied. "Except for Kim Kardashian."

"Kim Kardashian is spelt with two Ks," I pointed out.

He turned to me and cocked his head to the side.

"Really?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Huh. Then there are no exceptions."

"What about Colin Firth?" I asked, catching a drop of melted ice with my tongue. "Who doesn't love

Colin Firth?"

"I can love him without trusting him," Luca replied, taking another bite of his popsicle.

I shrugged, "Fair enough."

"Tell me something about you," he said.

"I don't trust people that bite their popsicles."

He looked down at his cherry flavoured popsicle, which was covered in bite marks where he'd savagely

chowed down with no consideration for gum sensitivity.

After a short pause, he threw the popsicle behind him, "What kind of monster would bite a popsicle!?"

he exclaimed.

A few moments later, there was the sound of drunken stumbling from behind us.

"Did you mean to throw this?" a voice said.

We both turned around to see Leo, holding Luca's popsicle.

"Umm," Luca replied.

"Anyway," Leo said flicking it back into the push, "Ells, we're leaving."

"You're too drunk to drive," I replied as he sat on the wall between Luca and I and wrapped his arms

around us both.

"Then you can drive," he said.

"I don't know how to drive."

"Shit," he said. "You can't drive?"

"No."

"I could drive," Luca suggested.

"No!" Leo and I both said in time.

"We both have legs...and feet...and even toes...Let's walk," Leo continued. "And then fuck."

"No!" Luca and I both said.

"That's not happening," I added.

"No to the walking or the sex?" he asked.

"You are totally wasted," I said rolling my eyes. "Come on. Let's go."

We then proceeded to stumble through the forest. And I say 'we' not because I was having any issues

walking in a straight line, but because Leo was so drunk his inability to walk had exceeded problems

with straight lines and a large proportion of his weight was on me.

"It would be really bad if there was a rogue attack tonight," Leo chuckled his a drunken manner.

"Yeah- really bad," I said panting from trying to hold him up. He wasn't exactly light.

"OH, MY GOODNESS! W-why is your hair so so soft!" He said holding my hair in his palm.

"It's called conditioner," I said encouraging him to keep moving.

"And it smells so good!" He continued.

"Scented conditioner," I said and he completely fazed out for a few minutes.

"Leo?" I asked.

"Ella?" He replied making me laugh. I like seeing him like this, he was like a 3-year-old, so naïve and

innocent.

"How many drinks did you have tonight?"

"Oh, only 2....or 3....or 10...23 I don't know who counts?" He said

"And how many of those were vodkas?"

"Oh only about half," He said as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Leo!" I exclaimed. "What if there really was a rogue attack tonight? You're not exactly in a fit state to

fight are you?"

"Whatever, I have a high tolerance. OMG! There's a sheep in that bush!" He said completely

disregarding my little rant.

"No there isn't," I said looking over at where he was pointing.

"Made you look made you stare made you lose your underwear!" He said screwing his eyes up in

laughter.

"It wasn't that funny," I said a few minutes later when he was still clutching onto his stomach from

laughing. He was acting differently to all the other drunk people I had seen in my teen party career.

"You haven't had anything more than alcohol have you?"

The thought had crossed my mind when he first started acting strange but he didn't strike me as the

sort that would be stupid enough to take some kind of drug. Leo was pretty intelligent.

"I haven't done drugs since I was 19. Don't worry, My Love," he reassured me. "But come to think of it, I

do feel a little...high...the sky is floating and there's colours...everywhere...."

"Are you sure you didn't take anything?" I asked again.

"It's a shame isn't it?" He said ignoring my question as his face turned dead serious and stared into

vacant space.

"What is?" I asked

"Death," He said. "You can be alive. And then suddenly you're not. You're just...gone."

"Yes... I suppose it is a shame," I answered. "A really really really big shame."