Party at Sam's

 

Chapter 7

The heavy bass of the music beat a steady rhythm you could feel throughout the picturesque white house. Bodies covered in thin films of sweat swayed and rocked in time with the music, occasionally bumping against each other and making movement in any kind of linear direction difficult. The air was humid, thick, and slightly smoky from the cigarettes people were lighting up freely. A thicker, more pungent smell under the tobacco smoke made me onder if someone was openly smoking weed, but I couldn’t tell�"I’d never smelled it outside of the drug-free presentations at school, nor had I ever seen a joint. Every once in a while a pissed-off chick would stalk by with beer stains of varying sizes on their clothes due to people bumping into other people with beer in their hands.

I searched the mass of writhing bodies for Sam, feeling more than a little overwhelmed as I pushed my way past them. I made it across the room in one piece and completely dry and found a table with a pretty blonde college girl�"sorority chick by the looks of it�"behind it serving drinks. Wordlessly she handed me a beer, opening it deftly for me.

I took it and sipped�"disgusting! How could people drink this swill? The chick laughed as I screwed my face up in disgust and spit the mouthful out in a nearb trash can and took the beer back.

“Not quite at the beer stage, huh? Here�"have some punch instead, then.” I took the ubiquitous red plastic cup from her and sipped from it cautiously. It was really good, and not spiked as far as I could tell.

“Thanks,” I said, pushing back into the mob vigorously, even more determined now to find Sam so I wouldn’t feel so out of my element.

“Aiden, there you are!” Sam materialized out of nowhere with a drink in one hand and an unlit cigarette dangling from her full lips. “I was starting to think you stood me up,” she said teasingly, pulling me through the crowd after throwing a quick smirk over her shoulder at me.

“I�"sorry,” I managed to force out, shouting to be heard over the music as I drank in the sight of her. Again, I swear she knew what she was doing to me… The slinky black tube top she was wearing showed off her flat stomach and, try as I might, it was hard to look away.

She rolled her eyes playfully, catching me staring, and we stepped outside as I tried to save face by looking around at everything but her. I took a deep breath of crisp autumn air, feel more at ease now that I had room to move. Sam lit her cigarette and puffed on it, leading me around to a carport with a few people underneath it sitting on and around a rusty old truck. Sam smiled at them and climbed into the bed of the truck, so I followed.

“Hey Sam, who’s the guy?” a dark-haired girl asked, her arm draped lazily around the guy next to her.

“This is Aiden. Aiden, this is Jenna, Rob, Brooke, Michael, and you know James,” Sam listed, pointing to everyone in turn. I was a little surprised to see James there�"granted, I didn’t know him well, but he seemed like the kind of guy who preferred solitude. I nodded a greeting to everyone, smiling tightly. I hoped fervently I didn’t somehow manage to make an a*s of myself.

Relax. Be yourself. I leaned back a little and tried to loosen up as everyone looked me over. After a moment of silence, Rob smiled at me and raised his cup as a toast. “Cheers,” he said. “I hate beer too.” We both took a drink and Jenna laughed, flipping her ink-black hair over one shoulder and pretending to toast us with her Budweiser.

“Cheers, pansies!” I stared in amazement as Jenna downed the nearly-full beer, smacking her lips loudly and raising the empty bottle over her head triumphantly when she finished.

Michael snorted. “Showoff. I hope you end up barfing that up, just because,” he teased, taking a sip of his beer.

Brooke wrinkled her nose in disgust and pulled out a cigarette. “Don’t be disgusting. And someone here better have smokes; this is my last one.”

Sam laughed and patted her bulging back pocket. “I’ve got you covered, Brooke. I knew you wouldn’t be prepared.”

“Do you smoke, Aiden?” Jenna asked me, offering me one. I shook my head.

“No, thanks. I’ll stick to the punch,” I said, downing the rest of the cup’s contents. She shrugged and lit up, and I checked to make sure I had my eyedrops with me in case my eyes started to burn.

We started talking about college classes and the like and James and Michael disappeared for a little while, returning with a cooler full of beer and a five-gallon Gatorade jug full of what I assumed was the punch. James refilled everyone’s cups and after everyone sat back down, the conversation turned to relationships.

Brooke pouted and said, “The blind date guy stood me up. It’s annoying�"I haven’t had a date in so long I’m starting to feel like a hermit!” Jenna reached across Rob and patted her knee sympathetically.

I glanced at Sam and saw a hint of a smirk on her face. “Why don’t you and James give it a shot?” she said, shooting James an odd glance.

“I don’t have much free time�"sorry, Brooke. Nothing against you, it’s just that I finally got more hours at work so I won’t have much free time for anything,” James said quickly, glaring at Sam.

I quirked an eyebrow�"what was going on here? Before I could ask, James excused himself saying he had to work the next day and left.

“S**t, Sam! You didn’t have to piss him off that bad, you know,” Jenna said, sipping her beer. “You act like you didn’t know he cared!”

I turned to Sam. “James is your ex-boyfriend?” I asked.

Michael groaned. “Crash and burn,” he muttered. Sam nodded, ignoring Michael completely.

“Yeah. He’ll get over it eventually,” she said flippantly, taking a long, slow drag off her cigarette before stubbing it out. “He needs to realize the world’s not all about him, anyway,” she muttered as she sipped her punch.

I sighed, leaning back heavily. That certainly explained a lot. No wonder James seemed standoffish�"he had probably been hoping Sam would take him back until I came along.

“I wouldn’t count on that�"I heard he’d bought a promise ring for you and everything,” Brooke said. I felt my eyes widen to the point of nearly popping out of my head�"either he was insane, or they had been together for quite a while!

To my surprise, Sam spewed her drink, laughing and coughing at the same time. “You’re kidding! I f****n’ told him I didn’t take relationships that seriously!” she gasped, wiping her mouth.

Brooke shrugged. “I told him not to,” she said. “He came into the store while Anna and I were working and he kept insisting that he was different and you cared. You f****n’ stomped all over the poor boy’s heart, didn’t you?”

Sam rolled her eyes and turned to me. “Aiden, am I wrong here? I just don’t think high school’s the time to declare your undying love for anyone!”

I shrugged. “I see your point, especially if you told him outright you weren’t that serious,” I said, a little uncomfortable at being put on the spot.

Apparently, I said the right thing, because Sam positively beamed at me and kissed me. “That’s why I like you better,” she said happily as I fought to keep a goofy grin off my face.

The rest of the night wasn’t so bad�"I got home feeling odd, and woke up the next morning with a raging headache and ran to the bathroom to worship the porcelain throne.

Note to self: Don’t trust the punch. It’s spiked, no matter how “regular” it tastes, I thought as I rested my cheek against the cold bathtub. I groaned as Brandon walked in and turned the light on.

“Holy s**t, kid. I thought you were going to your girl’s house last night,” he said suspiciously, crouching down to get to my level. “You drove yourself home last night?”

I closed my eyes weakly. “I did go to Sam’s�"I didn’t know the punch wasn’t safe. It tasted fine,” I said, trying and failing to keep a whiny note out of my voice. “I got back fine; I honestly thought I was just really tired.”

Brandon clenched his jaw and sighed explosively. I cringed a little, thinking I’d already earned some sort of punishment�"to think I barely was acquainted with the town, and already getting caught in trouble!

Brandon walked out and came back with a glass of water and some toast, setting it on the counter for me. “Once you feel like you can keep something down, you need to eat and drink water. I’ll let this one go because I believe you didn’t know, but if you do this again I’m going to ground you,” Brandon warned. “I don’t mind you drinking too much as long as it’s here, where I can keep an eye on you and make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”

I nodded weakly and closed my eyes as Brandon muttered to himself and walked out of the room, his footsteps sounding like angry stomps thanks to my headache.

There was no way I’d drink that punch again; I didn’t care if I looked like a pansy sticking to cokes or water anymore. This certainly wasn’t worth it.

After another hour of waiting for my stomach to settle, I managed to keep the water and toast down and crawled back into bed, cursing the sunlight that threatened to make my head explode and the amplified noises that sounded like raging bulls.

I pulled the thick comforter over my head, relishing the darkness, and fell promptly asleep.