Chapter 2. Hot as F*ck!

Leah’s POV

My mom’s hands were tight around mine, and I squeezed them back. I know that this is going to sound all weird and spiritual, but whenever my mom would have a dream, it would always come to pass.

Whenever she had a bad feeling, she was almost always right. Maybe this was a gift of hers, and if it was, then that meant that it was passed down to me, too, because it happened to me, too.

Whenever I would have a bad dream or a bad feeling, something bad was definitely going to happen. In my case, when my left eye started twitching by itself continuously, that meant that I was going to either get bad news or something bad was going to happen.

When my right eye did the same, it was the opposite. In this case, it was my left eye having the dance of its life. Then with my mom telling me that she did not have a good dream just made me even more anxious.

But I could not miss Vanessa’s birthday. She would kill me. There was no way that I could explain to her that I couldn’t go because my mom had a dream or because my left eye was twitching. It would seem weird and like I would be making up an excuse.

“Leah?” My mom called my name, pulling me out of my thoughts. I did that often…getting sucked into my mind and abandoning reality. I looked at her, and she smiled. “Let me pray for you. Nothing’s going to happen, okay?”

I nodded, flashing her a smile in return. I closed my eyes and allowed her words to wash over me as she prayed. I, too, whispered words up to God, praying for his protection over my life.

When she was done, she ended by saying, “Amen.” I repeated it, too. “Please, baby, please be careful. It’s a dangerous world out there. I already lost you, father. I can’t lose you.” She finally let go of my hands and then she brushed her thumb against my face and continued to smile.

“Nothing’s going to happen to me, mom. I promise you,” I assured her.

She nodded and then pulled away. She stared at me for a few more seconds before turning away and heading back to the kitchen island. “You’re going to be using my car, right?” She asked without looking at me.

“Yeah, it’s not like I have money for an Uber.” I headed for the front door, my heels clicking on the wooden floors.

“Don’t drink and drive, Leah. I should be the last person telling you that,” she replied, entering into mom mode.

I smiled. “I won’t. You know I don’t even drink. I hate the taste.” And I was not lying to her. It was actually the truth. I don’t get how people liked drinking. It was terrible. I tried once and since that day, I vowed never to do so again.

Don’t even get me started on beer. It was the worst.

“Hmm…”

With that, I opened the front door and stepped into the night. It was not cold, and I was grateful for that since I was not wearing the best thing to combat any kind of cold right now. I closed the door and then headed for my mom’s car.

It was a modern car, not the most expensive, but it was something that got us around, so we loved it.

I unlocked the car and got in, starting the engine once the door was closed, and I had my seatbelt on. I drove smoothly out of the driveway and was on my way to Vanessa’s house in no time.

It was not going to be a long drive, maybe a twenty-minute one if I was driving slowly. But literally, ten minutes if I drove faster. And considering that I was kind of late already, I decided to do the latter.

I soon arrived at the huge mansion. It sat in a suburban neighborhood, and all the houses here looked like they belonged to celebrities. The place reminded me that I was far from wealthy and how hard I had to work if I wanted to live anything close to how these people lived.

I parked, and I could already hear the loud music before I could even get down. There were so many cars parked around and people were all around, red cups in their hands, having the time of their lives.

Was I late? I checked the time on my phone, and according to what Vanessa had told me, the party supposedly started twenty minutes ago. But from what I was seeing, it did not look that way.

“Dammit, Vanessa,” I mumbled to myself as I got out of the car. She must have told me the wrong time because she wanted me to be here when the party was in its prime. I made sure to lock the vehicle and then called her as I walked slowly towards the house, pulling down my dress every few seconds.

“Sh*t, you look hot as f*ck, Leah!” One of the popular guys said loudly when I walked into the house.

You see, this was what I didn’t want. Now, everyone was looking at me. Why wasn’t Vanessa picking up her damn phone?

“Be respectful, man,” Another guy said as he eyed me. He may have seemed like he was trying to help me, but from the way he was looking at me, it was as if he wanted to devour me.

My face was hot, and my anxiety was through the roof. I rushed past them and ignored all the eyes on me. “F*ck,” I cursed under my breath as I called Vanessa one more time, but it just kept going to voicemail now.

Then I finally heard her voice, “Leah?! Hey! Over here!”

I looked towards the voice and saw her. She was with a bunch of boys, wearing the shortest pair of jeans I had seen in my life. She had something in her hand that she seemed to be smoking, and in her other hand was a red cup.

“Why did I ever decide to come here?” I complained to myself as I walked towards them.