Chapter 7

“Wait, did I just hear you correctly?” Seth asked, shocked at what he just heard Dametra say.

“Yeah, if you don’t mind; I’d like to go to the next party you have.” Dametra repeated herself over the phone.

“Sure, that’s awesome. I’d love to have you at my next party. But if you don’t mind me asking, what’s with the sudden interest in partying? You never were interested in them before.

“Well, I guess I’m just bored with myself right now. I’m sick of always being serious and being left out of the social circle.”

“Don’t feel left out. Mimi and I always plan things with you. We just never partied together, that’s all.”

“Anyway, just keep me updated on when the next party is. Thank you so much for letting me come.”

Seth could hear the warmth in her voice; he’d just made her extremely happy without even trying. “It’s no problem. Like I said: it’s going to be awesome having you there.”

-

After much anticipation, the date for the party finally came. Luckily for Seth and Dametra, they didn’t have a mission that night.

Dametra looked at herself in the mirror, analyzing every detail. The red tips of her hair were slightly faded, but they looked decent for the moment. She’d tried various makeup styles throughout the last hour before she finally settled on one. The edges of her eyes were traced with eyeliner, her eyelashes had a faint trace of mascara, and she settled on a light pink lip-gloss to finish her natural look. It had been a long time since she had tried so hard to look nice. In the end she still wasn’t satisfied with the way she looked, but she was running short on time and she wasn’t going to be late because of such a petty issue.

Already fully dressed, she just had to put her converse shoes on. She wore a faded pair of jeans, which were covered with natural rips and tears. Under the plain red t-shirt she wore, she had on a long sleeved, dark grey shirt. To top off her simple look, she had a black leather stud belt on.

Her stomach felt knotted as she thought about all the people that would be there. Seth had warned her that she wouldn’t know any of them. Dametra knew she’d most likely just follow Seth around for the night. She always was shy around people she didn’t know.

She grabbed a bottle of water on her way out the door of her room and made her way to the base entrance. Seth had gladly agreed to pick her up from the base, he was still thrilled that she decided to go.

As expected, Seth was parked outside of the gate when she got there. With ease she dropped herself into the passenger seat of his car.

“So how many people are going to be there?” She asked without a second thought. The question had been on her mind for awhile.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Seth replied honestly.

“What do you mean that you don’t know?”

“I never know who and how many people are going to show up. Whoever shows; shows.” He chuckled at the surprised look on her face. “People just invite themselves over and I’m fine with it. It usually makes things pretty fun.”

Not wanting to question his ways anymore, Dametra didn’t persist in her questions. It made her even more uneasy knowing that Seth probably never met half the people that were going to be partying with them.

“Yeah, a lot of people were already there when I left so we’re running a bit late.” Seth stated as he sped down the rode.

“Aren’t you concerned leaving a bunch of strangers in your house without you there?” She couldn’t help but ask.

“Nah, all the important stuff I have they wouldn’t be able to find. I promise it’s nothing to worry about.” He patted her head as an older brother would to his little sister, meaning to tease her about her concern.

They shortly reached Seth’s apartment. With some difficulty Seth found a spot he could park his car.

As she looked around at the packed in cars and heard the pulsing music leaking from the apartment complex, Dametra began to wonder if she had made a mistake. After hesitating for a moment, she emerged from within the car and followed Seth into his apartment.

Right away Dametra was overwhelmed with the power of the stereo and the overly populated entrance way. She knew Seth knew a lot of people, but never had she imagined that he knew as many as this. Upon entering the building the smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke filled Dametra’s nostrils. The knot in her stomach tightened as she glanced at the many unfamiliar faces around her. After she realized she had lost sight of Seth, she felt like she could even puke.

Deciding she wouldn’t follow Seth around like a lost puppy, Dametra slowly gave herself a tour of the small apartment. She had been in the apartment before but never past the entrance hallway. The fact that Dametra had to brush past every person in the building to move only made her all the more uncomfortable. Eventually she settled for a spot in the kitchen where she got herself a Pepsi and sat quietly at the table, alone.

Dametra’s solitude was short lived with a couple boys around her age approached her. Pulling a chair up beside hers, one of the boys sat himself close to her. She could feel the warmth of his skin and smell the stench of alcohol that covered him. The second boy stayed more in the background of the scene, supervising the moment.

“Hey…” The boy beside her said. The alcohol on his breath nearly choked her. “You by yourself, hunny?”

Dametra hated moments like these. These moments were the whole reason she didn’t go to parties.

“No, my friend’s just using the restroom right now.” She lied through her teeth. Honestly, she would have said anything to get the slob away from her.

“Oh, that’s too bad. Well you could have a drink with me anyway. I’m sure your friend can find others to be entertained with. Man, my own friend here could help her out.” He was obviously persistent.

“I don’t drink.”

“Aw, give it a try! You’ll have fun, I promise!”

At those words the boy roughly grabbed her arm and partially dragged her to the other room. Within seconds Dametra found herself sitting on a couch next to the intoxicated boy with a beer in her hand.

Not wanting to cause a scene, Dametra decided she’d just sit there and hopefully bore the boy away. Unfortunately for Dametra the boy was persistent and obviously wanting some other type of action for the night.

Before Dametra had time to react, the boy had her against the armrest of the couch with his body pressed firmly against hers. Within those same seconds, the boy also had his mouth against her own with his hand on her thigh. Dametra squirmed franticly to get out from under him and reeled her head back from his lips. Her actions only brought the boy farther on top of her with his tongue down her throat.

Seeing no other way out of the situation, Dametra threw the boy off of her and onto the ground. By the time the clumsy fool had found himself back onto his feet, Dametra was already on her way to the door.

She had barely made it out the door when she remembered she didn’t have a form of transportation of her own. The search for Seth had begun.

It didn’t take the boy long to find Dametra, whom he had decided would be his prize for the night. Perhaps if the boy wasn’t completely wasted he would have had enough sense to realize that there was no way of scoring with Dametra, but the alcohol in his system prevented him from forming that idea.

Seth was within Dametra’s sight when the boy once again had a hold on her. As soon as Dametra glimpsed who had hold of her wrist, she swung hard at his face. The boy let go out of shock from Dametra’s sudden retaliation, but recovered quickly. It looked as though the boy was preparing to hit Dametra in return when Seth stepped between him.

“Ben, I don’t know who invited you, but if you touch Dametra one more time then scoring with a pretty chick will be the least of your worries.” Seth slid a protective arm around Dametra’s shoulders. “After I’m done with you, you’d be lucky if your mom still loved you.”

“Seth,” the boy, Ben, stumbled slightly while moving forward. “You selfish bastard! Just cuz it’s your party doesn’t mean that every hot chick in the building is automatically yours. Just let me do what I want, it’s not hurting you.”

“Wrong. Dametra’s one of my best friends and you won’t even look at her again without have to suffer for it.” Seth’s grip on Dametra tightened slightly, pulling her closer to him. “Now leave, before I really get pissed.”

Before Ben could say anything else destructive, his friend from before appeared and pulled him away from Seth and out of the building.

As Ben was dragged away, Seth turned his attention toward Dametra while removing his arm from around her. “You okay? Did he do anything to you?”

“No, I’m fine.” Dametra said after taking a step back to put a more comfortable distance between her and Seth. “He only raped my mouth a little.”

Seth wasn’t sure if she was being serious until he saw the slight grin on her face. “You need mouthwash or something?”

“Heck yes! I haven’t even drank and I feel trashed just from the alcohol in that dirt bag’s saliva! Gross!”

Without another word, Seth led Dametra to the bathroom and got her out a bottle of Listerine.

“Just drink from the bottle, it doesn’t bother me any.” He said as he handed her the bottle.

“You sure? God only knows what kind of diseases that guy had.”

Seth chuckled lightly. “Yes, I’m sure. Also use as much as you want. I know I would be practically drowning myself with that stuff if I were in your situation.”

Dametra giggled before she opened the bottle and began to rinse out her mouth. To her surprise, Seth had waited for her to finish.

“You sure you’re okay? I’ll go after that bastard if you want me to.” Seth said seriously. He seemed angrier about the ordeal than she was.

“No, I’m fine. It was just more gross than anything. I’m fine. Let’s just try to have a good time before the nights over.” She smiled warmly at him.

As she smiled at him like that, he couldn’t help but smile also. She had the amazing talent of being able to make him smile no matter what. He was very grateful to have her as a friend and as a hunting partner.

“Alright then. You don’t drink, do you?” Seth said as they maneuvered themselves through the crowd.

“No, I have no interest in it. Sorry.” Dametra replied loudly, trying to be heard over the music.

“Well, hope you don’t mind that I’m drinking.” He pulled a can of beer out of a cooler he directed himself to.

“No, it’s fine. It’s your party and apartment after all.”

Seth surprised Dametra once again by staying relatively close by as he left her to socialize with his guests. She could feel him glancing over in her direction every few minutes, making sure she was okay. This all made her feel safe and a little confident in herself.

Eventually a couple more people took notice of Dametra. These people were much more decent than the two that had approached her earlier. She managed to have a few one-sided conversations with them, letting them do all the talking.

When the night started to reach the small hours of the morning, Dametra could feel herself slowly drifting from consciousness as she slouched in a chair. Out of nowhere Seth came over to talk to her once again.

“You look sleepy,” He stated.

He smelled a bit of alcohol but not nearly as bad as most of the people did.

“Yeah, just a little.” Dametra replied as she rubbed her eyes.

“Would you mind dancing with me before you pass out?” The smile on his face was enormous and full of kindness.

Dametra couldn’t resist the offer. “Of course.”

Seth led her closer to where the stereo played. The song was a slightly slow paced one than the others before it. If the song was any faster she didn’t think she would have been able to keep up.

Out of instinct, Dametra wrapped her arms around Seth’s neck when he took hold of her waist. They then swayed back and forth while trying to avoid contact with the others around them.

“Don’t fall asleep!” Seth said with a laugh as he gazed at Dametra’s tiresome face.

“I won’t!” She replied with a quiet laugh.

Although the slow dance and swaying only made her drowsier, she knew there was no way she was going to fall asleep while dancing.

Suddenly Dametra felt her legs go out from underneath her; Seth was holding her in his arms and slowly carrying her through the crowd. She didn’t fight or protest as he made his way back to his bedroom with her.

Seth cleared the people out of his room closed the door behind them with is foot. Gently, he laid Dametra down on his bed and sat on the edge.

“You can sleep here for the night. If you need anything just come get me. And don’t worry; I’ll look the door behind me so no one will bother you.” He said to her.

Dametra nodded, it was all she could do. Her eyelids were so heavy against her beautiful eyes.

“I hope you had fun after all, Dametra.” Seth said as he brushed the hair from her forehead and kissed it softly. “Goodnight.”

He effortlessly stood up and walked to the door.

“Seth…” Dametra whispered.

Barely hearing his name, he turned toward her.

“Thank you, Seth.”

She saw him smile at her as he opened the door and walked out. He made sure to lock and close the door behind him.

Despite the pulsing music blaring throughout the apartment, Dametra quickly fell into a deep sleep.