Cheer.

And yet, somehow, Anna got me to come along. I'm not sure how, but she did. I hated her persuasive ways, how she could guilt me into doing anything.

I said I didn't remember how she got me to accompany her to Brian's house, but I do know that it involved guilt. Lots and lots of guilt. And a knife from the kitchen.

Don't ask me, I don't remember.

"They're gonna love you," Anna told me. "You have nothing to worry about."

"Shut up," I muttered, getting out of the car and slamming the door with an angry huff. "I didn't even want to come, so if I don't have fun, don't force me into having fun. You always do that, and I can't stand being forced into fun."

"I won't make you party if you don't want to," she said, "but you'll have fun. I promise."

"You lie," I said. "Your promises mean nothing."

She shrugged, taking Brian's hand as they led the way toward the house. I shoved my hands in the pockets of the gray sweatpants hanging baggy and dragging on the ground; the bottoms of the legs became dirtier with each step I took toward the small home we approached. The skies were a dark gray, signifying that it was likely to rain soon and that night was falling.

As we drew nearer, the sound of people laughing and shouting inside the house was perceived; the level of noise was a bit obnoxious, to be perfectly, and as Brian held the door open for me, I wondered what it was that I had so carelessly gotten myself into.

"Hey, Big Bri!" someone shouted from deep inside the domain, laughing drunkenly. "Who are these ladies? Your hoes?"

A chorous of "Go Brian!"s filled the gap where I would have made an awkward silence had I been inside yet. A callous look had etched itself into my features, and I could just tell that this was one party I wouldn't be having any fun at all at.

I took my first step inside, glancing around until I found a group of men (and one woman) lying sprawled out on the ground, empty cans of beer nonchalantly plaguing the room with the scent of stale alcohol. My nose wrinkled, but I tried not to let the stench of old beer foul my mood even further, because I knew that I would just make myself out to be a bitch. Which I had every right to be, don't get me wrong, but I just didn't want to seem like a MEGA bitch.

Just the right amount is all right, though.

"Hey guys," Brian greeted them as he followed us inside, wrapping one arm around Anna and the other around me. "This is Anna," he said, tilting his head toward the girl under his right wing, "and this is Melanie. She's a friend of Anna's."

Ugh, I thought, squirming lightly underneath Brian's bulky arm, he smells like pure testosterone. But then I remembered that testosterone-clad was the only way Anna liked them, so I tried to shrug it off.

Still, he was a little muscle-y.

"Big Bri's got a girlfriend," sang one of the guys; I recognized this man from the tone of his voice, and the way he called Brian "Big Bri". A bandanna was wrapped snugly around his forehead, though was covered slightly by a hat and sunglasses.

And that wasn't weird; yeah, alright, whatever.

"Looks like two, to be perfectly honest," the girl sitting beside him commented with a smile. "But, you know, I'm really not surprised; he has always been sort of a man-"

"Pipe'r down, Val," Brian said, rolling his eyes. "I am not what you were about to call me-"

"-whore," she finished, grinning triumphantly.

"You are so impolite for a lady," he told her, releasing us from his enormous, bulky, muscle-y arms to go sit with his friends. Or, rather, he let me go; Anna, on the other hand, was not quite so lucky. He curled one of his long, thin hands around her own, and led her to the group. "So, what have you guys been up to?" Brian grabbed two beers from the pack as he sat down, handing one to Anna while keeping one for himself.

Meanwhile, as the group talked amongst themselves, I stood at a distance, my arms folded against my chest looking what I assumed to be quite honest. As I had no intention in talking to any of them, I decided to study their features and try and grasp their names.

A boy with dark black hair and snakebites, his name was Zacky. The girl was Val; her hair was dark brown, and her eyes were a bright green. The one with the sunglasses and bandanna was Matty (though his name might have been just 'Matt,' as Val was the only one who insisted on calling him 'Matty'). And, lastly, the boy with the bleached hair was Johnny; Val was the only one who called him this, though I had to trust her call due to the fact that the others had christened him things such as 'Baby Boy' and 'Scout'.

Time seemed to be slipping; before I had realized it, it was almost ten o'clock, and I was still standing up... and sober. The others, however, were not quite so lucky.

Brian might have been the worst, as he was walking around the room doing some sort of strip tease. Everyone was laughing, egging him on as he took off his shirt and began smacking his butt.

"Woo-hoo!" Anna exclaimed, jumping up to grind up against him. Then, in suit, they all joined her.

I take it back, I thought, sighing loudly as I walked outside, they are all equally wasted.

The cold air made me shiver a little, goosebumps rising on my arms as the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Darkness had swallowed everything since I had entered the house, but fog was thick in the air and the humidity was overpowering. Still, I would rather have been outside and safe from any nakedness and grinding than to be inside and humid-free.

Outside, I was just as alone as I was inside, so it really didn't make a difference to me if I had been home or here. Anna's plan of me having a good time didn't work out quite so well, but it didn't matter, either. She tried, but failed. And I was lonely.

From my pocket, I took out a cigarette and lit it with a lighter I had swiped from the coffee table inside. Taking a drag, I leaned up against the side of the house, letting the smoke blow from my mouth at an unnervingly slow rate. My mind was occupied with things I could be doing other than smoking at some guy's house I really didn't know at all, at night, alone: I could be cleaning up the house, as Anna had really made a mess of the bathroom while she was getting ready for her date tonight. I could be drawing, listening to Beethoven, anything besides this.

The sound of a car driving down the dirt road the house was located on shook me from my reverie. My eyes turned up to meet a pair of headlights nearing the house, and they didn't move from those lights, even when they turned down the driveway rather than pressing forward down the road.

My first instinct was to turn around, go back into the house (no matter how naked things were), and get away from the guy driving this car. Because you never know, people driving around later on at night might be freaks/rapists; that is one pickle I didn't want to find myself in, no sir.

And yet, as the car approached I found my feet stuck to the cement pathway, unable to move them in any way. So I settled for taking another drag.

The car parked, and I blew the smoke out of my mouth. A loud squeak sounded as the door opened, which really needed to be oiled. A man (my guess was correct) stepped out, slamming the door, spewing slender profanities from his mouth. He ran a hand through his hair, which was the same color as the night: a perfect shade of deep ebony, contrasting with his pale face like a razor set to skin.

He walked past me, not even realizing my presence in the shadows. I didn't blame him; it was dark, and- let's be honest- why would anyone that lived here be outside all alone on a night like tonight? The man, I realized as he passed, was exceedingly tall. Perhaps this was due to the fact that I was entirely too short, but that was beside the point. Next to anyone, even Brian, he would look tall.

Up the steps to the house, he took out a set of keys, looking as if he needed to unlock the door to get inside.

It was then that I decided to make my voice heard.

"It isn't locked," I mumbled.

The man didn't even look surprised: all he did was turn and look at me. I hadn't startled him, but I had confused him. After all, why was I there? I didn't even know anyone inside (besides Brian, I suppose, though he wouldn't count as we hadn't even met before today) so he wouldn't know me. Of course he was confused, why wouldn't he be?

Instead of saying anything, he walked toward me a few paces; by now he was fully aware of my presence and didn't look quite so dumbstruck. He remained silent until he stood in front of me, able to see me a bit better from closer up.

"What are you doing here?" he asked finally, the tone of his voice striking a familiar chord.

"Everyone's drunk inside," I told the man numbly, ignoring the prying question. "And they're getting naked."

Slowly, a sort of smile creeped upon his lips. I could tell, because his lips were a darker color than the rest of his pale features, making it a bit easier for me to spot their movement. "Brian?"

A bit surprised myself, I took it he knew the guy. "Yeah, he's naked; I wouldn't go in there if I were you."

His laugh was familiar, as well, though I couldn't see his eyes which would identify him in an instant; they were dark holes as they were shadowed even in the dark. "So, what are you doing here?" he inquired once again.

"What am I doing here?" I asked, a bit dumbfounded. "I was invited here, my friend is Brian's girlfriend."

"Wow, what a small world," he said, a bit to himself. "Didn't think I would see you again after that night."

I blinked. What? What night? A one-night stand? I had never done that. I hadn't ever just hooked up with a man under false pretenses. My face was suddenly all screwed up, contorted into an utterly bewildered expression. "I don't know what you're talking about, I've never had a one-night stand before."

Loud cracks of laughter filled the night, exiting from the mouth of the man before me. He was soon doubled over, clutching his stomach ferociously. "Are you kidding me?" he asked, though this was all he could get out before laughs overtook him once again.

"Who are you?" I asked confusedly. "Have we met before? I think we have... have we?"

Once he managed to compose himself, he took a deep breath. "It's Jimmy; you know, the guy from the laundromat? The other night." He brushed a few of the hairs out from in front of his face and lifted it up so that I could see his eyes.

And it was. Why I hadn't thought of it the moment he got out of the car, the moment he opened his mouth? How could I have been so dense? I must have been too preoccupied on the fact that everyone inside was probably having one big sexual marathon. Thankfully, it was without me.

But. That's not the point.

"Wow, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you," I apologized, running a hand through my own hair while pressing a smile onto my lips. I blew a puff of smoke out of my mouth and kept the cigarette out of my mouth. "So you're Jimmy?"

He folded his arms across his chest, looking down at me casually. "Yeah; guess I didn't give you my name."

"I didn't, either," I said.

"Yeah, but I already know your name," he said. "On one of the t-shirts I held up the other night, you had your name written into the back... Anna, right?"

Smiling, I shook my head. "Nope, that's my roommate's name. I'm Melanie."

"Oh, guess I'm not quite as smart as I thought I was," he said. "Shouldn't be assuming shit. Well, Melanie, it's good to finally know your name." He turned his eyes down to the cigarette in my hand, then back up to my face. "You got another one of those I could borrow?"

I nodded, reaching into my back pocket to pull out a pack of Marlboros. I flipped the lid of the carton and slid him out a cigarette. Motioning the pack toward him, he pulled it out on his own. "Thanks," he offered, then took out a lighter from his own pocket and lit the stick.

There was silence for a moment, as Jimmy pulled the cigarette from his mouth and blew a stream of smoke from his lips. The wind caught it, pulling it away from us. He didn't look at me, just looked up at the sky. I decided it would be a good idea to follow his lead, so I did. I stared up at the stars, which were a hot white against the deep ebony mass encircling our world. Subconsciously, I blew a puff of smoke from my mouth as well, squinting while keeping my lips as close together as I could so that the cloud of gray shrouded as slowly as was humanly possible.

"So," he said, finally breaking the silence, "how long have you been standing out here for?"

"Not long," I answered stiffly. "A couple minutes, maybe more? Not long, at all."

He sighed. "So I take it the orgy will be lasting for a while, yeah?"

"Yeah," I echoed.

Jimmy and I finished our cigarettes at about the same time, both of us throwing our stubs to the ground and twisting out the still-burning butt with our shoes. I glanced up at him, trying not to seem like I was staring, because I wasn't. I was just looking. He, of course, turned his eyes directly on mine, and I could feel him looking through. He was looking through me, and I knew he was just wondering where I'd gone. Where had I gone?

I've gone home.

And then, it started again.

Oh, Melanie, I thought to myself sadly, you're not still thinking like that, are you? 'You've gone home?' What in the hell is that even supposed to mean? And why do you keep referring Jimmy to inatimate objects, like homes and souls? Why did you have to turn out to be such a freakin' weirdo? My God, woman, do you have some severe, severe issues.

I sighed. I did need to work on that.

"They were all supposed to go to the movies tonight," Jimmy said finally, breaking the silence. "But I guess not, as the orgy has lasted longer than planned."

"Too bad," I said. "There was that new Bruce Willis movie out that I really wanted to see, too."

He laughed. "You actually wanted to see that?"

"Yeah," I said. "Why, what's wrong with a little Bruno every now and then? You have something bad to say about him, or something?"

"Nope," he smirked. "Nothing."

I sighed again. I was just full of those tonight. My cigarette had already burnt out, and I didn't feel like wasting another one. Or stick around long enough for Jimmy to ask me for another one. Not that I didn't enjoy his company, because I did, but I was just running low on ammo. You know how it is.

"Guess there was no real point in me coming," he stated.

"Me neither."

He waited a moment before speaking again, the sound of his voice a bit lighter than it had been a moment before. I just looked at him, looking through his eyes. Not at his soul this time, because I was trying not to think so romantically figurative, but just at the color. They were such a pretty shade of hazel.

"You want to come over to my place?" he asked. "We could watch a movie there, or something, instead of actually going to the theater to watch Bruce Willis in a pathetic attempt at a comeback."

"Hey," I started.

And then it dawned on me: this could be considered a date.

And then it dawned on me again: I could just be acting really pathetic in thinking this could be considered a date.

"Want to?" he asked. "I get it if you want to stay here with Brian all naked, because I hear chicks really tend to dig that-"

"I'd love to."

He laughed. "'Love to,' what? Stare at Brian's pe-"

"See a movie," I clarified. "At your house."

He didn't even say another word. He simply started toward his car, and I followed. Nothing more than that.

But it didn't need to be, not really. Because we both understood the silence.

And I smiled as a raindrop hit my nose.