“Hi, guys,” I smiled.
“I found them,” Heidi smiled.
“Where were you guys?” I asked.
“Looking for you.”
“What did you think?” I asked.
“You guys sounded really good,” Ike high-fived me. “And you rocked just like I knew you would.”
“I really thought I was going to faint,” I laughed.
“You were awesome,” Tay took my hand and kissed my cheek.
“Thanks,” I blushed. I chuckled inside to think of what that chick next to Dave must have been thinking. “So do you guys want to go to a party after this?”
“Party?”
“Yea. Dave and Oscar and Muf are going to this party someplace.”
“I’m going, too.”
“I guess we can... but our parents...” Ike trailed off.
“Please come,” I grabbed his arm.
“I’ll call home and ask, but-”
“I’ll ask her for you. You can be like my escort or something. I’ll tell her I’ll get raped if you don’t come.”
“Okay,” Tay laughed, “Definitely don’t tell my mother that there will be rapists there.”
“Whatever, just make her let you come.”
“I saw Zac before,” Heidi said.
“Yes, he’s waiting for us,” I told them.
We went back out intoa room that had emptied quite a bit. Ike called their parents and explained rationally that it was imperative that they go to the party. I wouldn’t have bought it, but their mother did. We all rode in Dave’s car (it was a tight fit but I didn’t mind because I got to sit on Tay’s lap. We arrived at some random person’s house after a few minutes. There were cars lining the streets and on the front lawn of the house.
“This party’s gonna get broken up by the cops,” Heidi said, leaning into the front of the car from her seat on Ike’s lap.
“You guys chicken?” Dave laughed.
“I don’t think it’s chicken that we don’t want to get arrested,” I spoke up.
“You won’t get arrested.”
“Can I take your word on that?”
“I have a sixth sense for things like this.”
“You see dead people?” I teased.
“No, you little smart ass, I can tell when it gets rowdy enough that the cops would come.”
“Ohh... Have no fear, everyone, Dave has a sense...”
As the car screeched to a stop on the front lawn, Dave warned, “You’d better run when you get out of this car, because I’m gonna kill you.”
“You wish.”
“Are the cops really going to break up this party?” Zac whispered in my ear as Muf and Alise got out of the car.
“Maybe,” I shrugged.
“Don’t worry, “ Alise put out her hand to help me out of the car, “If the cops do break it up, Dave the party god will make sure we’re okay,” she laughed as Dave struck a manly pose.
“Thank you for the compliment, Alise. I am the party god, aren’t I?”
“Yea, sure,” I rolled my eyes at him.
“Look,” he grabbed me by the arm playfully, “Any more mouthing off, and the party god will curse you.”
“Have mercy,” I knelt down by his feet.
“Dave!” some guy standing by the front door called out. “You brought chicks!”
“Ugh, gag me,” I muttered under my breath as we walked toward the front door.
“What’s your name, little lady?” the guy had stank beer breath that I gagged on as he swung his arm around my neck.
“My name’s Tayler, and this is my boyfriend,” I grabbed for Tay’s arm and yanked him toward me. The guy let go of me when Tay gave him a dirty look. “Skanky much?” I whispered to Tay.
Upon entering the house, we were confronted by the loud music, scent of alcohol, and the large amount of people. Dave seemed to revel in it, but the rest of us were a little overwhelmed. We migrated somehow into what used to be a living room packed with wall-to-wall people. There was a beer keg in the middle, which was leaking all over the rug. Dave filled plastic cups with beer and handed them to those of us who asked.
“Want some?” he dangled a full cup in front of my face.
I glanced sideways at Tay, who was watching these two guys drink from beer funnels, “No thanks,” I shrugged the alcohol away.
“I should have known,” he teased.
“Shut up.”
“Wanna go somewhere?” Tay asked as some loud, drunk chick shoved him into Heidi.
“What do you have in mind?” I smirked. He pointed to a guy and a girl who were making out as they made their way into some random bedroom. “I like the way you think,” I laughed, taking his arm and leading him in the general direction.
“Where you two going?” Dave called suspiciously after us when he saw me lead Tay away from the keg.
“Where do you think?”
Pushing passed like five people crammed in the hallway, we found a room (the laundry room) that was currently unoccupied.
“So what’s up, Tay?” I asked as I hopped up on the washing machine.
“Nothing much,” he leaned up against me.
“How are you?” I asked, combing my fingers through his hair.
“Fine, and you?” he lay his head in my lap.
“Pretty good.”
“You sang really well.”
“Why thank you.”
“What are you doing next week?”
“Nothing much. School’s out for the summer... My mother hasn’t made me get a job yet... and I don’t think I’ll feel like donating any of my time to the community.”
He laughed, “Wanna come camping with my family?”
“Sure!”
“We go almost every year. My dad gets really into it. We like, sleep in tents and go fishing and swimming and stuff.”
“Sounds rockin.”
“It is.”
“Do you think your parents will let me go?”
“I already asked them. They thought it was a good idea.”
“Really?”
“Yea, my sisters got all excited.”
“Cool.”
“If they annoy you, you have my permission to throw them in the lake.”
“I like your family.”
“We’re going dirt-biking, too.”
“Really?”
“Yea.”
“It’s so fun.”
“I really hope my mother will let me,” I frowned, picturing my mother getting all paranoid about my foot and all that crap.
“I’ll beg her for you.”
Just as I was about to speak, there was screaming outside the door, and a loud rush of footsteps. “What the-” I wondered as the door flung open.
“The cops are here,” Dave said, “Let’s go.”
Tay and I followed him and the rest of the running people. He grabbed my hand, and I grabbed Tay’s. We joined a crowd of people who were heading to the back door.
“Not that way,” Dave yanked my arm against the crowd.
“But that’s the only door,” I had to yell over people’s voices.
“Yea, and there’s police out there, too. Trust me,” he lead us up the stairs.
