Recipe For Disaster

A few weeks had passed, and Ronnie and Alex were growing increasingly close. It was a Saturday afternoon, and they were hanging out in Alex’s room.

“So,” said Alex, laying back on his propped up pillow. “We should definitely go to that bush party tonight.”

Ronnie, who was painting her nails, looked up. “What bush party?”

“I dunno, it’s about half an hour out of town, apparently,” said Alex. He chuckled. “You kids are too damn cute, throwing a bush party out of town so you won’t get caught. Hah.”

Ronnie rolled her eyes. “How did you even hear about it? I haven’t heard anything.”

“I’ve got connections, my dear Ronnie.”

Ronnie scoffed. It was true, though - being new and, well, attractive, Alex found a lot of attention on himself when he started at their school. With that also came more attention on Ronnie, because they had gotten so close. There were even rumours going around that they were dating - Ronnie found it hilarious.

“Is there a specific time it starts, or just whenever it gets dark?” asked Ronnie, blowing on her fingernails.

Alex looked up, a little surprised. “Sweet, we’re actually going?”

“Yeah,” said Ronnie slowly. “Why wouldn’t we?”

He chuckled. “I didn’t expect you to say yes to a bush party, that’s all.”

“You don’t know me very well then, Gaskarth.”

He laughed. “I guess it just starts after sundown. There’s alcohol there too, so we don’t have to worry about that.”

“Good,” said Ronnie. “Makes my life easier.”

She flopped onto Alex’s bed, grabbed his laptop, and opened it.

“Go ahead, use my laptop.”

“I’m checking how cold it’s going to be tonight, smartass.”

Alex scoffed. “Cold, my ass,” he said. “You should give Maryland a visit sometime.”

Ronnie chuckled and opened Google.

“Long sleeves for tonight, I guess,” announced Ronnie. “It’s only supposed to be in the high fifties.”

Alex nodded and Ronnie closed the laptop, putting it down beside her. She stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“Home to get ready,” she said simply.

“I’ll pick you up at eight?” asked Alex.

Ronnie nodded and ruffled his hair. “See you then, Gaskarth.”

Once Ronnie walked over to her house, she undressed and took a lengthy shower. It was only five o’clock, so she had lots of time to get ready. She got out of the shower and selected an outfit for the night, then began on her hair. After it was blow-dried and straightened, she applied a party-appropriate amount of make-up and ventured into her kitchen. It was now nearing seven, and her mom was just finishing cooking their dinner.

“So, what are your plans for tonight? You look like you’re going out,” observed Beth once the pair had sat down at their dinner table.

“Mhm,” replied Ronnie, chewing her food. “I’m going to some party with Alex.”

Beth’s head shot up. “I don’t need to lecture you on being careful, do I?”

Ronnie chuckled. “No, Ma, you don’t.”

A long time ago, Beth had altogether stopped trying to control what Ronnie did. She knew that her daughter would go to parties whether she told her or not - Beth had been seventeen once, too - so she’d told Ronnie just to be honest about it. “I’d rather know where you are in case something bad happens than a cop come to our house and tell me you’re dead in a ditch,” had been Beth’s exact words. “I know what kids do at parties, but I’d like to think you’re smart and mature enough to know when to draw the line.”

“Where is it?” questioned Beth as she took another bite.

“I’m not quite sure, actually,” said Ronnie. “All I know is that it’s out of town.”

Beth sighed. “If you drink, just stay overnight in the car or something, alright?”

Ronnie smiled. “I know, Ma. I know.”

Once they were finished eating, Ronnie cleared the table and helped her mom tidy the kitchen. Ronnie glanced at the clock - 7:57. There was a knock on the front door.

“Well, that would be Alex,” said Ronnie. She gave her mom a peck on the cheek.

“Have fun, be safe,” said Beth.

Ronnie smiled and nodded, grabbed her bag, and stepped outside.

“Lovely party attire,” said Alex, who was clad in a pair of black skinny pants with one of his infamous plaid flannel shirts.

“Likewise,” chuckled Ronnie as he opened the passenger door for her.

“So, I’m hoping you have directions to this place?” she asked after he got into the car.

Alex waved a piece of paper which had been printed from MapQuest.

After half an hour of blaring Blink 182 and New Found Glory, Alex and Ronnie reached their destination. Alex parked among the other cars, and the two of them walked over to the mass of people a distance away.

It didn’t take very long for them to get started. In a short matter of time, Ronnie had wandered off into a slightly more secluded area with an acquaintance from school, and Alex was being quite flirtatious with a girl in his second period class named Jessica.

Ronnie sat down with the others in the bushed area, who were rolling joints. Her inner party animal was starting to surface, and she joined in.

About half an hour later, Ronnie was stumbling around and was finding it more and more difficult to remember where she was - all she did was laugh at everything. She somehow realized that she should look for Alex; after a while of searching, he was nowhere to be found. So, she did the only thing she felt she could - drink some more. She still had a bad taste in her mouth from smoking up.

Another couple hours went by, and after a lot of dancing, kissing, and still more drinking, the area started clearing out. Her friends from the bushes found her, said goodbye, and left. Ronnie ended up passing out in the field.

------- x -------

Waking up with a pounding head, Ronnie opened her eyes and racked her brains for the events of the previous night. She remembered up until she went into the bushes, and the rest was a blur. She knew what she had done in the bushes and didn’t have any regrets; it was quite fun, actually. It had been a long time since she’d had weed, and she missed it. Ronnie had gotten into it when she was fourteen and got caught, getting herself in quite a bit of trouble, and hadn’t touched it since.

Her mind wandered to Alex and where he ended up - with Jessica, no doubt. Groaning slightly, she found her bag beside her and dug around until she got her hands on what she needed - Advil and a bottle of water, which she had thoughtfully placed in her purse the night before. After swallowing the pills, she checked her phone and saw that she had three new messages, all saying the same thing.

Where the hell are you?

In a field, she replied to Alex. Where the hell are you?

Ronnie’s phone rang about a minute later.

“Hello?” she asked groggily.

“Hey,” said Alex sleepily. “You’re still in the field?”

“Uh huh,” she grunted.

“Hang on, I’ll be there in a few minutes, okay?”

“Mhm.” She shut her phone and used her bag as a pillow, resting her head. About fifteen minutes later, she heard a car engine and footsteps.

“Ronnie, darling, are you okay?” came Alex’s voice. He himself sounded like he’d seen better days.

“Never better,” mumbled Ronnie and sat up slowly. “You?”

He chuckled. “Well, I’m alive.”

Ronnie took Alex’s hand which he had offered and allowed herself to be pulled up.

“C’mon, let’s get out of here,” said Alex. They made their way to his car and began driving.

“Need Advil?” asked Ronnie, feeling half asleep.

“That would be awesome.”

Ronnie dug through her purse again and found the bottle. She dumped two pills in her hand, got her water bottle, and passed them over to Alex.

“Thanks,” he said after taking a sip.

“So, you never told me where you went last night. I looked for you, I think…”

Alex hesitated, causing Ronnie to sigh. “Did you go off with Jessica?”

“Erm… well, yeah.”

He didn’t need to say any more for Ronnie to get the picture. She scrunched her nose. “Jessica’s, um… nice, I guess.”

He laughed. “So, where did you go off to?”

“Oh, just with a few friends catching up, you know.” For some reason, Ronnie didn’t feel she should tell Alex about what she did in the bushes. This made her feel a little guilty since he had been honest with her, but the guilt wasn’t strong enough to get her to confess. Little did she know that it wouldn’t be the only time she would hide things from Alex.