"So, this party you're going to, who will be there? What will you do? What things will be there to refresh you?" my mom punctured me with questions as she finished dressing my hair up.
"Mom, quit exaggerating. I hate it when you do that. It's makes me feel like a bad person. It'll be okay. Tiffany is smart, not stupid." I pointed out, adjusting my top. Both of us were facing my vanity mirror as I prepared for the party that night.
"What are you talking about?" she asked innocently.
"Mom, don't be stupid. Tiffany's parents would allow any "harmful" things at her parties, like alcohol, and her parents wouldn't want anyone to get in trouble, much less get themselves into trouble. My generation is smart. And anyway's, it's just a get-together, you know, something for the people who don't get to go anywhere outside of their town for a summer." I said, pointing something out for myself.
It's true, I didn't get to go anywhere that summer. When I saw that MTV was hosting itself at Motel California, I immediately begged my mom to go. Yeah, right. I told her it would be good for me to get out of the house, or state, but she refused. "A waste of money and time. All you will do is watch music videos and do nothing but swim and hang around there." Oh, sure. There was so much more to that. So, I settled for second place. Everyday I sat myself in front of the T.V. to watch Motel California for an hour or two, and that was it.
"Anyways, Mom, Taylor's going to be here any minute." Our doorbell chimes rung just then. I went into my bathroom and looked outside the window, and saw Taylor dressed in a long white shirt with a black lapel, a white tee underneath that, baggy black jeans, and his black sneakers. His hair was left down. "Yep, it's him." I walked out the bedroom door, my mother trailing behind me.
"Well, have fun at the party. Don't be home too late." my mom said on the stairs.
"Okay." I agreed.
"Don't do anything stupid."
"Okay."
"Don't be pressured into anything that you feel uncomfortable with."
"Okay."
"Don't-"
"Mother! I get your point! Bye, now." I said, losing my patience, opening the front door. Taylor was waiting on the "Welcome" mat.
"Hey." he greeted, waving.
"Hi." I replied.
"Hey Taylor, how are you?" my mother asked, standing behind me.
"I'm fine, thanks." he smiled. "Are you ready to go?" he asked.
"Yeah, let's go." I said, shutting the door behind me. My mom stood inside the house in front of the door for a minute. I turned around and re-opened the door. "Goodbye Mom." I farewelled, kissing her cheek.
"Well, you look nice tonight." he said, staring at my white pleated skirt that stopped at mid thigh and my pink halter top.
"Thank you, you don't look so bad yourself." I commented, touching his arm, noting the black and white looked really good on him.
"You're kind of quiet tonight, is something wrong?" I observed after eight minutes into our walk.
"No, no, why did you ask?" he defended.
"Well, you just seem kind of distant. Are you sure?" I pushed, trying to look into his eyes.
He stopped in his tracks, and stared into my eyes deeply, a serious tone in his eyes. "Tonight is supposed to be fun, and I know that you and I will have a good time. I just, don't ever want to see you get hurt." he said.
Confusion danced around in my head and across my face. "Huh? What are you talking about?" I asked, squinting my eyes at him like he was mental.
"It's a premonition. I feel like something is going to happen to you, or me, for that matter, but it's stronger over you, and it will be something that you won't like." He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "If it happens, I just, don't want you to get hurt or deny yourself of what might happen."
I put my hands behind my back, continuing to walk at his side. "I'm still confused. I'm not going to be sarcastic or anything, but, do you want to go home or something?" I asked, his behavior something I've never seen before. I had the urge to feel his forehead for any irregular temperature.
"No. You wouldn't understand." he mumbled.
I didn't quite catch it. "What?"
"Nothing."
"No Taylor, I want to know what's going on with you." I said sternly, stopping my walk.
"Hey, look, I'm sorry, about what I said. Wait, no, I can't be sorry." He stopped walking and looked at me, grabbing my hands. "Kim, what I said, you know, that premonition. Something is going to happen to one of us tonight. All I am saying is that, I want us to have a good time, in case...in case that premonition happens to come by. I'm trying not to act abnormal or anything," he noted, shaking his head, "It's just that this premonition is a very strong feeling that I have, and it won't go away. So, let's just forget about this, go to the party, and have a good time." he finished.
"Good idea." I said, nodding my head at him, and we headed off to Tiffany's.
You could tell where she lived from practically a mile away, the music was so loud. Tons of people showed up, more than I expected.
We entered the house and were greeted by many friends and the song from Third Eye Blind, "Semi-Charmed Life."
"Hey, what's going on?" A girl, Robin, asked me as she started dancing.
"Hi! Everything!" I yelled through the blaring music.
"Hey, I heard you and Taylor were going together, am I right?" She kept swaying her hips to the beat.
"Wrong. Jeff and I are going together. Taylor's free." I started dancing with her.
"Oh, okay, well, gotta flirt, see ya!" she said, and ran over to him. I laughed, always knew she liked him.
Songs came and went, and the summer sky turned from bright blue to a pink, purple, and orange mix. I had danced my way around the house trying to find Jeff, but I never found him, and I started to worry more and more.
I felt a tap on my shoulder, and saw Tiffany. "Hey, I have to talk to you." she said, and dragged me into the kitchen.
"What's going on?" I asked, getting a cup and filled it up with punch.
"Your Jeff is a two-timer." she blurted.
"Excuse me?" I doubtly asked, taking a sip of my refreshment.
"Look, if I were you, I'd dump him the second I see him. Today, I saw him at the mall making-out with Naomi." she explained.
"Oh, get out of here," I said, shaking my hand at her, laughing. "He wouldn't do that unless I was the girl making-out with him."
"Hey, I saw it with my own two eyes. I was just browsing in the mall, which by the way, I got this outfit today," she noted, pointing to her reddish pink orange knee length skirt and orange halter top, "and I went to get myself a soda in the food court. I just saw them there in front of the arcade, totally going at it. God, I swear, it was them. I would never lie to you. Then he saw me, and I threatened to tell you, but he made me keep it a secret. Ho hum, he can't trust me now. That's probably why he may have not come here." she explained, and crossed her arms.
"I'll believe it when I see it." I finished, not showing some panickyness, and turned to go dance some more.
"Hey, come on, dance with me." Taylor said as I entered the living room. Bush's song, "Swallowed" played lightly, but it was still loud.
"Okay." I said, thinking I could take my mind off of Tiffany's confession.
Even though the song was kind of fast, it was slow enough to slow dance to. I wrapped my arms around Taylor's neck as he held me close in his presence, arms encircled my waist.
"Tay, have you seen Jeff here?" I asked in his ear.
"No, not yet anyways, why?" he asked in mine.
"Well, he told me that he was going to be here, but I haven't seen him yet."
"Well, this is a big house. Maybe he's ducked out somewhere."
"...Yeah."
"Hey, I don't know if this is true, but I overheard that Jeff was with Naomi at the mall making-out." he informed.
"I heard that from Tiffany just a little while ago, but I don't believe it." I said, and rested my head on Taylor's shoulder facing his neck, thinking. Now I was getting seriously worried.
Long after our dance, I wandered around the house, going upstairs, ignoring some couples who were going at it on the stairs.
I ducked into some bedrooms and bathrooms, searching for Jeff. As I was looking, a guy, Jason, stopped me.
"Jeff's your boyfriend, right?" he asked.
"Yeah, have you seen him?" I asked, looking over his shoulder.
"Unfortunately, yes." he replied.
"What do you mean, unfortunately?" I asked suspiciously.
"Well, I'm sure you've heard what he's done by now. He's in that bedroom down there. Sorry." he said, pointing to a door down the hall, and walked away.
Strange things are going on, and everyone keeps mentioning something bad about Jeff. I had to find out something once and for all.
I walked down the hall suspiciously and slowly towards where Jason had directed me. As I got there, I waited at the door. I looked around to see if anyone had spotted me, and until I was safe, I opened the door carefully.
"Augh! Jeff, you stupid asshole!" I yelled at Jeff. He on a bed in some kind of a guestroom. A sheel covered his bottom half, and he was pouncing around on top of a girl.
"What the hell?!" he yelled, turning around and immediately getting up, wrapping the bedsheet around him.
"I should ask you that!" I yelled back. That was then I saw her: Naomi. She had her upper body propped up against the bedframe, and she was smiling at me. My face grew cold. "I can't believe you. Here you are, this whole time, in a bedroom...f-fucking this...this slut, Naomi!"
"No, not this whole time. Only until I saw you all over Taylor!" he argued, sliding on his boxers underneath the sheet.
"Excuse me?! I was all over Taylor?!" I screeched.
Taylor ran up the stairs immediately after he heard his name, following the screams of rage that could be heard from Oklahoma City. Scared that the "premonition" had happened, he rushed through the sea of teenagers to reach the end of the hall where the guest room was, and found me, blowing up like a volcano spewing lava over an innocent city.
"Yeah, when you guys were dancing! Y'know, two can play at this game." Jeff threw on his shirt.
"But I didn't FUCK Taylor!" I pointed out.
"Ha! Yeah right! I'm glad she told me everything," he said, pointing to Naomi, now pulling on his pants. "God, if I hadn't known, I would still be dating you."
"What the FUCK did she tell you?" I asked coldly.
Taylor entered the room then, and inspected the scene with wide eyes.
"Oh, only that you and Taylor screwing me around and fucking each other behind my back. Don't deny it, Kimberly. After Naomi told me what you said in the bathroom, I figured it out." he explained.
"What?!" Taylor shouted in disbelief.
My eyes squinted at him. "The bathroom?" I whispered.
"Yeah. You had liked Taylor and that he had a chance with you." he answered, putting his hat on backwards.
I looked at Naomi then. The bathroom...I didn't say shit like that! What a bitch!...Oh no...wait a minute...did I say that? Oh fuck, I did. But I didn't mean that! I yelled in my head. Naomi mouthed to me, "Eat shit. He's all mine now." and smiled cruelly.
"Dammit, you know what? Why do I bother? You've never listened and why are you going to start now. All those times when we were supposed to be together, you were with your so-called "friends," when you really were with this little shit. How could I have been so damn stupid," I said. "I mean, it was all in front of me. Even Tiffany's confession made it unbelieveable. But, damn...Dammit I told you Jeff! I never did shit like that in my life, and you believed me the last times!" I blabbered.
"Only until Naomi clarified it!"
"You are a shithead! How can you believe her and not me?"
He was silent, and speechless. "Just let it go, Kim. Huh?" he coldly remarked.
I walked up to him. "I really hope you rot and die a horrible death in hell. Here's to you, peachy keen." I whispered, and threw my ring he gave me right into his eyes, and then slapped him when he wasn't looking.
"As to you, Naomi!" I yelled, and slapped her as well. Then I ran out of the room, crying, my hands covering my face.
Taylor just stared at him, doubtfulness and cold disbelief painted on his face. His breath started coming out choppy through his nose. Then he calmed down real quickly, and walked up to Jeff, almost smiling.
"Jeff, here's a little present I forgot to give you on your birthday." he said, and punched him in the stomach real hard.
"Don't you FUCKIN' dare to mess with her again, or you won't have so many birthdays to look forward to." he said through gritted teeth, and then walked out the door, following me outside.
"Kim! Kim!" Taylor yelled. I stood there right in the middle of the driveway, and looked up at the stars, trying to stop crying, singing a song that I always sang to help my troubles go away.
"As I lay me down to sleep, yes I pray, that you will hold me dear. Although I'm far away, I'll whisper your name-" I sang.
"Kim, he was a jerk from the beginning." Taylor said, putting his hands on my shoulders.
I turned around, my tear-stained face stared back into his. "No, I was the jerk. I mean, it was all in front of me, and I let it surpass me because I was too blind to actually see it." I continued to avert my gaze from his eyes towards the sky.
"No, don't say that, I mean, you could still be dating him and he'd still be cheating on you." he comforted.
I thought. "You're right. But...dammit! How could he accuse me of that? I mean, oh, grrr! The least he could've done was tell me he wanted to break it off, if that's what he wanted. Seven months, Tay. Seven. And look where it ended up." I rubbed my eyes tightly in frustration.
He pulled me close for a long, sympathetic hug. Just what I needed from a best friend right then and there. Granted it wasn't Jeff.
We were still hugging when, "As Long As You Love Me," from the Backstreet Boys was played on the sound system. Taylor and I started moving to the music, and before we knew it, we were dancing, not realizing it.
"Taylor, you hate the Backstreet Boys." I whispered into his ear, a smile forming at the corner of my mouth.
"I know, but that doesn't matter now, does it?" he said and asked.
I hugged him tight as we danced underneath the moon and the stars. And for the first time after my break-up, I was actually smiling, as I thought earlier that I would never smile again.