Surviving the Aces (#Wattys2018)

Meet *******

"Let's all welcome our beautiful host. Dakota Hart!!" Ash shouted loud enough that the nearest people turned and stared at us. The music was cranked up and everyone smiled and applauded. Everyone except for Jace, who stared at me blankly, and his date who watched me with narrowed eyes. I couldn't help noticing how exceptionally pretty she was. Her hair was a crimson red that was light enough at the bottoms that I was reminded of the late sun setting.

She had these large brown eyes that almost appeared innocent if they hadn't been trained on me with what appeared to be evil intent. She was small and petite, but very tall, nearly as tall as Jace though she was wearing heels. 

My eyes grazed her dress as I passed her. The dress was gorgeous, but its pale gold was nothing in comparison to the sparkling gown Ash had bought me. It did however, make her look like a goddess, which was enough to make me feel inferior.

As we made our way through the crowd, somehow, I confidently smiled and waved at my quests happily. I'd even given Jace a huge smile as I passed him. Guests greeted me as I walked through them; a bunch of names and faces I would never remember.

"Thirsty?" Ash said in my ear. I nodded since we were close to the DJ and could hardly hear; I watched as Ash left to get us drinks.

"So, who is it?" Quintin asked me with raised eyebrows. 

"Who?" I said, I knew exactly what he was talking about, but I wasn't giving anything away. 

Quintin narrowed his eyes at me. "Don't play stupid with me." He playfully punched my arm. "You look beautiful by the way." He added with a quick wink.

I blushed slightly, I hadn't felt beautiful in a long time. The last time I'd dressed up was for homecoming my freshman year, but I never went to a school dance after that one, so it wasn't very memorable. Ash didn't mind that I didn't like attending the dances, so we would hang out at his house or the park on those nights. That was one of the things I admired most about Ash; he was so caring. There was a plethora of beautiful girls he could take to the dance, but instead he chose to spend the night with me. He always found time for me. "Thanks Quintin. And she'll be here soon so don't pester me." I told him.

He shrugged. "You know, Jaces plan backfired. I know this party is gonna be amazing." He assured me, squeezing me in a tight hug.

I smiled gratefully, though the party seemed to be going fine, I was still a bit uneasy. It wasn't that I cared to be popular, I just wanted to blow the party in Jace's face."Thanks. You know, you're not that bad." I bumped my shoulder with his. Luckily, we were the same height because of my heels.

Quintin frowned. "Compared to?" His lips curled into a smirk that I was tempted to slap off of his face.

"When I first met you." I clarified. "You were exceptionally rude."

He chuckled. "Oh. That. I was testing your will." He explained, lifting one shoulder into a shrug.

I laughed. "That's ridiculous."

Quintin shrugged again. "That's just me. Anyways, I'm going to the door so that I can greet my special guest when she gets here." He said with a huge smile.

"Don't be upset if your special guest is a man." I told him, sticking out my tongue.

He pouted but walked away.

As he disappeared into the crowd, Ash appeared with our drinks. "I'm thinking about giving that jerk a piece of my mind." He informed me, looking over his shoulder. I knew that he was looking for Jace. From the look on his face, I knew that he meant business. It wouldn't be the first time Ash gave somebody a black eye for me. He had a slight temper; I was usually the one to persuade him not to knock someone out.