Wanderlust ✓

25. Mess

"You've got this, Paige. Look how good you look and it's just Parker!" I reassured myself, standing in front of my full length mirror.

I've been staring at myself for a good ten minutes, trying to decide if my tight black jeans and purple tee that had a tie in the front was good enough for seeing him tonight. After spinning in circles to decide, I took the 'yes' route, now just trying to psych myself up about it and calm my nerves.

I didn't want to bother Carly or Kharis with my nervousness since this was so stupid to get worked up about. Literally just a night out with my boyfriend! Chill, right?

My nearby alarm clock read 6:56 so I grabbed my combat boots and headed downstairs to wait near the door. He was always on time and I would be walking through the door even before my parents thought to say hi. If I can ignore an awkward encounter between them, I will.

And so I waited, but for a lot longer than expected...

•••

"Honey, why are you still here? Wasn't Parker supposed to be here by seven?"

I nodded at my mom with a deep frown and unshed tears in my eyes. I looked down at my phone, not wanting to believe the time.

8:49.

I had been sitting on the stairs, staring out the front door window just waiting for his headlights to pull in and after a half hour went by, I distracted myself by grabbing a book but I had been reading the same page over and over again. My mind was in a frenzy, thinking of all the scenarios that could've caused him to be this late.

"I don't know why he's not here yet," I told her, standing up and trying hard not to pace in worry.

She walked around me, moving back to her spot on the couch. "I'm sure something came up. That boy adores you. He hasn't texted?"

I sighed, opening up our text messages. I didn't want to admit to my mother all the texts that I had sent him in the last hour that never were replied to.

Me
Hey, are you on your way?

Parker, where are you?

Did I do something wrong?

"Nope. No texts." A bing suddenly erupted from the piece of technology and my heart leaped that it was finally him. It dropped yet again when I saw it was from Kharis.

Kharis
Girl, you should see this! Looks like your man's partying it up without you...

A twitter link was attached under her message which I quickly clicked on.

It lead to a video of a crazy house party that had been posted by some teenager. What surprised me the most was it was a video of Parker chugging two bottles of beer at once as it dripped down his chin and the crowd cheered him on loudly.

There he was. Drinking with idiots instead of being with me.

I slammed my phone off, resisting the urge to throw it or break something. I grabbed my keys off the wall and opened the front door in a rush, ignoring my mom's questions as I stomped my way to my Honda Civic.

I can't believe him! Ditching me to party by himself and having girls all over him!

I was about to reverse out of my driveway when I realized I didn't even know where I was going. So my angry thumbs asked Kharis for the address and not even a minute later, it was plugged into my google maps, telling me where to go to find his ass.