Lexi's Love & War

Chapter 30

Isaac's grin was half-hearted as he followed Felipe and DeShawn in the early evening. The only reason he was willing to drag himself to Nikita's party was because of Lexi's impromptu invitation. It's not that he didn't like Nikita; he had no problem with the birthday girl whatsoever. The added promise of Cassie not being there also made it better. But after all the recent events that had taken place, he was beyond spent and done with drama. He tried to ignore any dread rolling around in his stomach by tuning back into the banter currently going on between his friends.

"Nikita's definitely gonna have a good birthday," Felipe remarked.

"Yeah, it sounds like a good party," DeShawn said.

Felipe smirked. "True, but that wasn't what I meant."

"What are you talking about, then?" Isaac asked.

"She's getting a nice gift from me...if you know what I mean."

DeShawn and Isaac exchanged confused looks, but the latter student quickly picked up on what Felipe meant.

"You seriously think you have a chance of getting into pants? C'mon, man," Isaac scoffed.

"I think the odds are in my favour," Felipe countered.

"You wish," DeShawn teased.

"Oh, shut up."

As Felipe and DeShawn laughed, Isaac kept quiet. He looked up at the apartment complex they were now coming up towards. On the fourth floor was the stifled sounds of loud music playing. He couldn't hear any people talking— they simply weren't loud enough to talk over such booming music. But there was no doubt that the trio had finally made it to Nikita and Lexi's apartment.

"We're here," he remarked.

They headed inside the building and were promptly buzzed in by one of Nikita's friends. She let them in the unit, which already looked like one hell of a party. Bottles of cheap beer and liquor were sitting on the dining table, along with a few snacks. The music Isaac had first heard came from someone's laptop, which was also rigged up to a couple of speakers. People were mostly sitting or standing in the living room with some sort of alcoholic drink in hand. Laughter and incoherent bits of conversation were muffled only by the music blaring throughout the small apartment.

"Looks like it's gonna be a good time!" DeShawn remarked. He was practically shouting so that his friends could hear him.

"You got that right!" Felipe replied. "I'm gonna go find Nikita. Later, dudes!"

He didn't even wait to hear a response from his friends before darting into the heart of the crowd. DeShawn and Isaac exchanged looks of disbelief.

"Someone's anxious to get turned down," Isaac noted.

"No kidding," DeShawn chuckled. He then looked around the place, only to spot a familiar face. The lights may have been dimmed significantly, but that hadn't hurt his ability to see.

"What?" Isaac asked.

"Mariana's here," DeShawn revealed. "I'm gonna go catch up with her. You can come if you like!"

"I would, but...I need to find a bathroom," Isaac replied. "Excuse me."

"No problem, dude. You're welcome to find me when you're done."

"Sounds good!"

DeShawn went left, so Isaac hastily went right. His excuse had been a complete lie; he didn't need to use the bathroom whatsoever. He just wanted a decent reason to not join DeShawn while he spoke with his ex-girlfriend's best friend. There's no way she wouldn't pass along whatever he said to her over to Cassie, and he didn't want such a thing to happen. That was only going to cause a problem.