“What are you doing tonight?” Dave asked.
“Not much.”
“Wanna go to a party?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll come over in a little bit.”
“I’ll get ready,” I smiled as I dashed up the stairs. This was just the kind of pick-me-up I needed. Lots of people, loud music… alcohol. After crying and torturing myself the whole time since Tay left, I deserved a good time. I missed him so much, but I knew that it was for the best. He could do what he wanted now. I could do what I wanted now.
I peeled off the sweatpants that I had been wearing for the entire week, I took a record-breaking shower. I decided that I was going to go all out. I blowed my hair dry and put on some make up. I refused to not have good time because of this whole Taylor thing. Thinking of him sent a pang of pain through my chest. No… I swung my closet doors open angrily. I was not going to be depressed tonight. I yanked out some fake leather pants and this black shirt with illegible handwriting and tugged them on. I doubled the amount of black eyeliner I was wearing and pulled my hair into a spiky ponytail. Taylor was not going to bother me. With a final tug of my combat boot, I ran downstairs to answer the door.
“Dude, you look hot!” Dave smiled when he saw me.
“Damn right I do.”
He licked his lips, “Y’know, if you didn’t have a boyfriend, I’d-”
The pained look on my face shut him up.
“What?”
“I… um… Taylor and I…”
His face fell, and he looked deeply disappointed, “So that’s why you called me yesterday.”
I hadn’t thought of it that way. I was silent. He probably felt like now that Tay was out of the way, I could make time for him. “Hey,” I said softly, stepping toward him.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and took a step back so that I couldn’t touch him. “It’s okay,” he stared at the floor.
“Dave, it’s not like you think.”
“No, hey, I get it,” he punched my arm lightly, pretending to smile, “I’m a player. I should be able to deal with it as much as I dish it.”
“Dave, I’m not playing you,” I was getting sadder by the second.
“It’s okay, Tayler.”
“No, it’s not okay!” tears almost burst out of my eyes. I was under way too much emotional stress. “I’m sorry if it looks like you’re getting sloppy seconds, like I picked him over you but…” my voice failed me as a single tear managed its way down my cheek. All I’d wanted was to hang out with him and pretend that there wasn’t any awkwardness, but I’d only made things worse. I was way too on edge to handle a breakdown, and so I turned from him and ran up the stairs.
I locked myself in the bathroom. My life was sure sucking lately. I’d broken up with Taylor because I was in love with him, which only convinced me of the fact that I was a psycho. Then things were weird between Dave and I, and now he thought that I had only called him because I was lonely. That was partially true, which only made things worse. And now, here I was, sobbing on the floor of the bathroom in fake leather pants.
There was a soft knock on the door.
“Go to the party,” I tried to hide the fact that I was sobbing like a baby.
“Let me in.”
“Go to the party,” I repeated.
“Let me in.”
“Dave, please, just… go to the party.”
“Tayler, I know you’re not playing me. Open the door.”
I didn’t know what to say, and so I sat there, silently dabbing the smeared eyeliner off my cheeks.
He continued, “I guess I had just been hoping that… well, that you called me because you wanted to hang out with me… not because you like, had no one else to talk to.”
I stood up and opened the door. He was standing there, looking more melancholy and serious than ever. “I do want to hang out with you,” I said, my tears subsiding. I must have looked pathetic, with red-ringed teary eyes, smudged make up… a sniffling mess.
He reached out and pulled me to him in a sympathetic hug.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured into his shoulder.
“I am too.”
He pulled me away from him and smiled, more genuinely this time, “Damn, I never knew you were this hot when you cried.”
I laughed, “You’re such a pervert.”
“I’m serious.”
“Shut up.”
Things were a lot more normal after that. My theory is that we’d had to re-bond. Well, anyway, so we got in the car and Dave drove us to the party. It was at Dean Armandi’s house, as usual. There were like fifty million people there, as usual. Everything was like old times. It made me happy.
“Travis!” I exclaimed, “Dude, I haven’t seen you in forever!”
“Tayler!” he high-fived me.
“Where the hell did you go?” I laughed.
“I hear you took my place as singer,” he smiled mysteriously. I had the feeling he may have been in jail or some other compromising position like that.
“Yea.”
“So are they gonna kick me outta the band?”
I laughed, “I don’t think so.”
“Tayler!” Oscar high-fived me, too.
It was so good to see all of them again, and to pretend like nothing bad had happened.
“Hey,” Dave made his way back through the crowd from the keg.
The crowd all started freaking out because some song came on the booming radio, and everyone squished into the living room and started dancing. I was pressed up against Dave’s body, laughing, “Hi,” I smiled up at him. It felt odd to be this close to him. It was closer than you’d get dancing, hugging… even kissing. We were pelvis to pelvis, chest to chest… if I were a little taller, we would have been mouth to mouth. I tensed up, thinking about Taylor. I wished it was he who was there, and that I was pressed up against him, laughing. It felt illegal to be this close to Dave.
“How are you?” he thought my tension was just the funniest thing ever.
“Fine, and yourself?” I yelled over the people who were singing along. I think it might have been “Jump Around” by House of Pain, but your guess is as good as mine.
“Want some?” he offered me his cup.
I didn’t know what to say. I was so uneasy being this close to him. Earlier in the day, I’d wanted to get drunk in order to forget about how crappy I felt. But now I wasn’t so sure. Screw it. I took the cup and took a huge swig. Dave smiled when he saw the look of disgust on my face. “What the hell is this?” I was tempted to spit it out.
“7 Up.”
“And what?”
“Just 7 Up,” he smiled proudly.
I was so happy that he wasn’t drinking alcohol that I wanted to jump on him. But instead I smiled, “This is what 7 Up tastes like? It’s gross.”
Dave smiled back, feeling my body soften against him. We stood there, smiling and laughing, being swayed and jostled by the moving crowd until the song was over. The person who was running the radio turned on some far less cool song, and so the people dispersed.
I felt a hand on my butt, and squealed, jumping away. “Dave!” I smacked him.
“What?!” he looked at me innocently.
“It was me,” a voice said behind me.
I turned, “D.C.?”
“The one and only,” she kissed my cheek.
“She gets really touchy when she’s smashed,” Dave leaned over and whispered in my ear.
“David,” she mumbled and yanked his face to hers. They stood there, making out for a few minutes. It was disturbing. D.C. finally stopped shoving her tongue down his throat and whispered, “Come outside, I have to talk to you.” She grabbed his belt loops and led him away.
“Okay…” I said, feeling abandoned. I was so not aware of this new thing between those two. I guess it explained why she had his car that time she came to ask me to be in her play. It depressed me. I could have gone over to talk with Travis and Oscar again, but I was feeling too depressed by this recent development. Some guy passed by and tripped over my foot, spilling some massively alcoholic drink all over me. It was definitely time to go home. I wanted to cry. Abandoned, harassed by a girl, damp with illegal substances… I went outside to find Dave to ask him to bring me home, but when I approached his car, I saw that it was rocking back and forth on its wheels, and there was a leg and maybe an arm pressed up against the window. I wanted to vomit, but instead I walked home. Chapter 3
