Like Chocolate Stars and the Sun

A couple of hours later and Jesse’s house was now the home of a full on party. Everywhere you looked kids were dancing and acting like idiots. I only recognised half of the people who had turned up, some people I was more then certain didn’t go to the same school as us. Still, Charlotte and I had been dancing for a long time non stop before we finally decided to have a rest.

“There’s a lot more people here then I imagined.” Charlotte spoke quite loudly over the music. Despite being in the kitchen, and most of the party was going on downstairs in the basement, the music was still very loud.

“I know, but I’m not really surprised.” I admitted and grabbed a cup off the kitchen counter. This was probably not the smartest move, but I was not really thinking that someone could have spiked the drinks or anything like that.

“Yeah well I am.” Charlotte laughed. “I swear I don’t know half of the people here.”

“You’re probably lucky if you even know half.” I pointed out as a whole new crowd of people burst through the front door. I think it had gotten to the point where people were inviting people who were inviting people who were inviting people. If that makes sense?

“Have you seen the birthday boy recently?” I asked and inspected my hair in a mirror I could see in the hallway from my position in the kitchen, and then I turned my attention back to my friend.

“I actually haven’t seen him since I got here.” Charlotte admitted. I took a sip of my drink and stood on my tip toes to scan the room over people’s heads. Curse my shortness, if that is even a word.

“I think we should go find him.” I suggested and drained the contents of my plastic cup. I was thirsty after all my dancing after all.

“Do you think we will actually find him with all these people here?” Charlotte asked and bobbed her head as a new song started up. I just shrugged and began to venture out into the crowded hallway. As I looked over my shoulder I could see Charlotte following me and also elbowing her way through the crowd.

You would be surprised how crowded a big hallway can get.

The living room was equally as crowded as the hallway had been, but because it was a bigger space, everyone seemed to be spread out more. Long story short, we didn’t have to almost knock people over to move a single inch. A couple of people were dancing on the coffee table, and I could just predict how that table was going to end up looking by the end of the night. A lot worse then it did now. Charlotte popped her head round a door frame and then reappeared by my side shaking her head.

“I couldn’t even see anything in there apart from people.” Charlotte laughed and flicked her fringe to one side. “Its like hide and seek, in a really weird way.”

“Yeah and we are losing.” I replied and grabbed her arm. “Come on.” I dragged her, as gently as possible, through the crowds of people to a less quiet part of the house. Also known as the garden. So technically it wasn’t even the house. The only other people outside were some people I actually recognised playing American football with a vase. I could tell that wasn’t going to end well.

“I give up.” Charlotte sat down crossed-legged on the decking and laughed quietly to herself. I joined her on the floor, but not crossed legged because I was wearing a skirt. It was freezing. I had thick tights on and I was still getting goose bumps.

“It’s too cold.” I giggled pathetically and rubbed my arms.

“You’re probably a lot warmer then some people here.” Charlotte pointed out, “At least you have clothes on.”

She had a point. Some of the people I had seen, some of the girls I had seen were dressed in barely anything. I’m talking short shorts and Cami tops, if they still even had those on. Its pretty self explanatory. It was a house party after all.

“We're not going to find him sat out here you know." I pointed out after a few moments. I was now officially freezing my arse off. Not literally, but I think it was getting pretty damn close.

"Who says I want to find him any more." Charlotte sighed. She must have drunk something similar to what I had earlier, because she was not acting like herself. "I cannot be arsed."

"Yeah well, my arse is freezing." I announced and pushed myself up off the decking floor. "So let’s go inside."

"You can, but I think I will stay here." Charlotte smiled a slightly dazed smile and turned away from me. I just shrugged and left her sitting on the floor. She could freeze to death if she wanted, but I wanted to go inside. Sure that made me sound quite harsh, but I didn’t want to catch a cold or anything like that. I don’t do colds very well, and because I moan so much when I have a cold everyone hates me. So for the sake of myself and all the people I know, it was the smart thing to go inside at that time.

And now I'm rambling.

So I ventured back into the house, by myself, not really quite sure what I was going to do with myself. I know the plan was to find the birthday boy and annoy him for a bit, but with the amount of people actually roaming round the house, that could prove quite difficult. Especially by myself.

So what do you do when you feel out of place at a house party?

Well my theory was tried not to look like a lost puppy.

I decided to look for Jesse after all, just to give me something to do. My first attempt at finding him involved me trying to get down to the basement, but that was way too crowded to even try. My second attempt involved looking round the living room, which was just pointless.

And for some reason I ended up finding myself upstairs.

Definitely wandering around aimlessly.

I randomly sat down with my back leaning against the wall and let out a huge sigh. The wall that I was leaning against was vibrating with the volume of the music; it reminded me of when you lean your head against a car window when it’s moving. I don’t know why, but that was the first thing that came into my head. I put my head in my hands and closed my eyes.

“Frankie?” Someone said after a few minutes. I glanced up and blinked a few times and was greeted with Jesse looking down at me in quite a worried way. “Why are you sat on the floor?”

“I was looking for you.” I began, “But then I kind of gave up.”

“So you randomly sat down upstairs?” Jesse laughed and held out a hand. I took it and Jesse pulled me up off the floor. I shrugged my shoulders and couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well I couldn’t sit down there,” I told him while pointing a finger in the direction of the staircase, “There isn’t anywhere too sit, unless you want to sit outside.”

“I’m surprised you’re not with Charlotte you know.” Jesse pointed out.

“She is sat outside,” I explained. “She refused to move after the first attempt at looking for you. So I kind of left her there.” I cringed at how that made me sound quite mean.

“So you left her out there on her own?” Jesse asked. I nodded sheepishly and Jesse laughed. “She will get bored eventually, trust me. How did you end up upstairs then if you were looking for me?”

“Its called wandering around aimlessly hoping to bump into someone important.” I explained with a grin. Jesse just rolled his eyes and motioned to the stairs.

“Ladies first.” He winked. Now it was my turn to roll my eyes, but still went down the stairs anyway.

“If I get lost in the crowds of people, I’m blaming you.” I warned him. I heard my friend scoff behind me and playfully push me forward into the huge sea of people. I turned my head so I could see Jesse and softly glared at him. He just acted like he hadn’t just tried to purposely push me into all the people in the hallway. Again, cue the eye rolling.

- - -

I did end up loosing Jesse again, but only because someone dragged him off. One minute I was talking to him, the next some guys in his year came and they just disappeared. I had not see Charlotte since I left her outside, she probably had not got bored yet. Either that or she was doing my wandering round the house trick.

Still, once again, I was on my own.

I dropped back into the kitchen to see if I could help myself to another drink. I spotted some plastic cups over by some bottles of what looked like water and picked one up and took a sip.

It was definitely not water.

I quickly swallowed it down and set down the plastic cup. That was enough of that for me, for my own safety.

“Fancy a game of spin the bottle?” Someone asked from behind me, I spun round to see a random guy talking to me. I looked round the kitchen, just be sure he was actually talking to me and shrugged when I saw I was the only person actually in the room.

“Whatever.” I smiled. The guy who I think was a senior put an arm round my shoulders and lead me through the crowd and over to where a group of about ten people had managed to sit down around a coffee table that was not being used as a stage. I glanced around the table to see if there was anyone there I recognised.

No one.

Great.

I sat down next to someone I think could be in my Maths class, but who knows. The person sat on my other side, someone I definitely did not know, reached out and took hold of the bottle. I watched it spin and held my breath as the empty beer bottle slowed down and landed on – me.

I closed my eyes briefly, and when I opened them again I was presented with someone holding out a small shot glass in my direction, filled with the same clear liquid that I had drunk earlier. This was not how imagined the game going...

Cautiously I took the small glass, took a deep breath and poured the contents down my throat. Bleh.

“Your turn to spin the bottle,” The guy who handed the glass to me informed me, I think he was a little shocked I had actually downed the drink. I must have looked shocked when he was handing me the tiny shot glass. I tucked my hair behind my ears and span the beer bottle and watched it circle round, thankfully stopping on someone that wasn't me.

A petite girl who did not look much older then me warily took the glass and eyed it carefully before tipping the contents down her throat. Once the glass was empty she set it down on the coffee table carefully, and smiled slowly, before getting up with her hand over her mouth. She was heading straight for the toilet. Nice.

“I guess someone can’t hold down her vodka.” A girl with long platinum blonde hair sat a few places away from me laughed and reached out for the bottle. “I'll take her go.”

Again I watched the bottle spin round. I will give you ten guesses as to who it stopped on.

Unfortunately it was my turn again and once again I was presented with a shot glass, and once again I downed the contents straight away. The only difference this time was when I had drained the glass and set it down on the table, the sudden feeling of dizziness washed over me. I blinked quickly and the feeling suddenly disappeared.

After a few more rounds, and a few more shots later, the game ended when everyone seemed to get bored of the bottle landing on me. I got bored of the bottle landing on me, but with the amount of alcohol I had actually consumed as a result I was not really that bothered weather the game had finished or not. I got up from the floor and stumbled round the room, bobbing my head to the music. Someone took my hand in theirs and pulled me into a large group of people who were all dancing over enthusiastically, so I joined in so I didn’t look like a lemon.

After dancing with the large group for a bit, some one else grabbed my hand. But this time it was someone from outside of the group, and this person dragged me away and took me outside. I shivered slightly as the cold hit my body, I was probably more effected by the sudden change of temperature had I not been dancing rather energetically before hand.

“It’s cold.” I pointed out; a little shocked at how distant my voice actually sounded.

“Francesca, don't you think you have over done it slightly?” My brother’s voice seemed to echo as he spoke.

“Not really.” I replied and smiled.

“If mum and dad found out ...” Brandon started only to be cut off by me.

“Who says they are going to find out?” I asked and giggled. “You need to just relax Brandon.” I patted his shoulder and walked back inside.

I walked around for a bit, did some drunken dancing and eventually I ended up sat on the stairs. I watched people walk past for a few minutes before getting up to move myself. I don’t know why I was so restless, but I was.

As I walked round the house, looking for something to keep me occupied, I accidentally walked straight into someone. I looked up, embarrassed, to see who the person was. As soon as I saw who it was I looked down again, but not because I was embarrassed.

“Sorry.” I mumbled and took a few steps back so I wasn’t stood so close to my ex boyfriends chest. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“I guessed.” Tyler mumbled quietly. I looked back up again, but I must have moved my head two quickly because I suddenly went all dizzy. Stupid Alcohol.

I felt an arm wrap around my waist to steady me. Tyler led me over to somewhere where I could sit down, which I did almost straight away. Tyler sat down next to me; I noticed that his arm was still round my waist. If I had not been so focused on trying to stop the room from spinning, I would have been quite uncomfortable in this situation.

“Are you ok Frankie?” He asked, his voice sounding full of concern. I sat quietly. I couldn't even think the answer to his question any more. I turned to him and shook my head slowly.

When the dizziness finally subsided I closed my eyes and sighed deeply.

“You ok now?” Tyler asked me. I nodded slowly and felt his arm slide away from my waist. Tyler stood up, realising the awkwardness of the situation. He pointed his thumb over his shoulder and smiled tight lipped.

Despite the fact he was my ex boyfriend, and despite the fact I just embarrassed myself by having a dizzy spaz in front of him, I didn't want to be left by myself any more. So I grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him back over to the steps.

“I don't want to be by myself.” I told him pathetically. He rolled his eyes and sat down next to me once again.

We talked for a bit, and I no longer felt any awkward feelings towards my old friend. It could just have been the alcohol in my system lulling me into a false sense of security, but it felt like old times.

So that might have something to do with the fact we ended up kissing.

Yes, I was quite shocked as well.

I don't know how long we were there for, because I had lost all sense of time way before then. The next thing I can remember properly was someone pulling me away from Tyler and dragging me up the stairs. Everyone seemed to like dragging me away from things that night.