Page 17 of Loving Bad

"Fine. Listen, we're having a party at the house on Friday. Why don't you come?" he asked out of the blue.

His request took me by surprise. I wasn't sure why he was asking me to come, but did it really matter? If the party was at their house, then there was a good chance Sin would be there, and I didn't think that was a good idea at all.

"I don't think that is such a good idea. I think it might be a little awkward," I admitted to him, trying to turn him down gently.

"It won't be awkward. Once Sin is done with a girl, he doesn't go back, so he won't care whether you're there or not," he explained with a shrug of his shoulders.

The truth was Sin never had me; in fact, he'd turned me down. Maybe this would be another way to show him that I was over his rejection, even if it was a lie. I contemplated for a moment while Slater watched me. I'd also agreed to go out with Caleb in a week, but we weren't really dating so I could still do what I wanted.

"Okay," I replied. "Can I bring a friend?"

I would feel a lot less nervous if I could drag Jordan along with me.

"Of course you can. The more, the merrier," he replied.

"Great," I said, feeling confident in the decision I'd made.

"I'll see you then, Taylor," he said with one last flash of a smile as he turned and walked away.

I'd forgotten about my phone. I rushed as fast as I could back to my dorm room to get it. Thankfully there were no missed calls when I found it on my bed.

For the rest of the week, I didn't see Slater again, but I did see Sin briefly. This time he ignored me totally, his attention fixed on another pretty girl. It reinforced that my presence didn't affect him at all so going to the party wouldn't be a problem.

Later that day when I was talking to Jordan in our dorm room, I told her about Slater and the invitation to the party.

"Slater invited you to the party?" she asked, looking at me suspiciously, like there was more to the story than I was telling her.

"Yes," I confirmed.

"Does Sin know you're going?" she asked. It felt like I was being interrogated.

"I don't know," I sighed. "This isn't about Sin. This is about a guy inviting us to his party."

"I don't know if Slater's reputation is any better than Sin's," she muttered.

"Come on, don't be like that," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "We're just going to his party, it's not like he’s asking me to date him."

"He doesn't date, he's the same as Sin," she retorted.

I let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm not interested in dating anyone either, so let's go and see what happens," I replied. I felt a little guilty because I had made plans to go out with Caleb the following week, but it wasn't like one plan to meet up meant we were dating.

This whole dating thing could get quite confusing with what was considered a date, or what was considered just hanging out. Then you got people who dated exclusively and then there were couples who didn't. Finding someone I think was hard enough; throwing in all that stuff just made the whole process more complicated.

"Okay," she relented. "I'm sorry for giving you a hard time about it. It's just that I don't want you to get hurt."

"I get it, I'm not looking to get hurt, I just want to live a little. Is that so bad?" I replied.

"No, it isn't."