Words, Words, Words

I spent fifteen minutes grinding against Oliver to the obnoxious songs that the DJ was playing. In that fifteen minutes, I felt the so uncomfortable, I thought I was going to faint. The way Oliver’s hands gripped my hips and the way the skin on my legs and arms jiggled was starting to make me sick. I feel completely relieved as the DJ pauses the music to say Happy Birthday to Tom as he’s been doing every hour to remind the guests why they’re here in the first place.

Just when the next song comes on, I face Oliver and yell over the music, “Hey, I’m going to get another drink.” The lie feels awkward and forced on my tongue and I still get offended when Oliver says,

“Don’ yeh think yeh’ve had enough?”

“Not just yet,” I say, glaring a bit. Oliver shrugs a bit and looks away from me. I take this time to turn around and exit off the dance floor quickly. I push past all the people playing Beer Pong and rush to the restroom. The door is unwelcomingly closed and the light shines against the tile floor from the crack at the bottom. I mutter under my breath, “Goddamn.”

The stairs have been closed off by a baby gate to ward off the drunken guests looking for a room to fuck in. I figure quickly since I am a good friend of Tom’s and don’t have anyone to fuck that I am welcome to use the toilet upstairs.

I make my way through the crowds of people before getting to the baby gate. I see that it’s been hit a couple of times so it’s barely clinging to the walls that are keeping it up. I fix it before hopping over it, knocking back to its awkward position before. I roll my eyes at it before going upstairs and pushing the door to Tom’s bathroom open.

It’s clean other than the brown hair here and there, a couple cologne bottles left on the sink and Tom’s razor and shaving cream in the corner. I ignore the slight mess though, closing the door behind me and turning on the light and fan; my usual routine.

I drop to my knees right when the alcohol in my stomach begins disagreeing with my sudden actions. My head begins pounding and the room starts to spin. My body lurches towards the toilet as I gag. I keep gagging until I finally stick one of my fingers down, down, down my throat. Suddenly, my mouth widens and I remove my finger on contact. My stomach contents pour into the toilet with a splash.

This happens three times until finally everything inside me is gone. My headache worsens and I realize I’m almost completely sober. With a sigh, I get to my feet and flush the toilet. I pull myself towards the sink and bite my lip when I see my reflection.

My hair’s a mess, frizzy and not sitting properly. My make up’s a bit smudged from the tears that had spilled when I was vomiting. My cheeks are bright pink from the heat and my clothes are wrinkled- but I’m sure that’s from dancing with Oliver and his band mates.

As I stare myself down in the mirror, a knock comes from the vanilla door. The voice on the other side calls, “Aye, upstairs is prohibited. Didn’ yeh see the baby gate?”

I recognize the voice immediately – Tom. Quickly, I open the medicine cabinet and pull out the mouth wash that Tom uses almost religiously. I press it to my lips as he knocks again. I gurgle a couple of times before spitting into the sink and cleaning up.

I pull open the door just as Tom begins to knock again. He falls into me, a shocked expression on his face as I turn off the lights and fan and press my other hand against his chest. Once he stands up, he shoots me an odd look and asks, “Yeh smell rather minty. Did yeh use my mouthwash?”

“Uh, yeah,” I say. He raises an eyebrow and I glance back into the bathroom, searching for an excuse. It clicks instantly and I look back at him, a convincing innocent smile on my face, “I just didn’t like the taste the alcohol left on my tongue.”

Tom stares at me for a moment, disbelievingly. After a moment of complete silence between us, he mutters, “Righ’…”

“Right,” I say quickly after him. I grab the drink in his hand and take a sip, cringing when I realize it’s straight Jack Daniels. He furrows his brow at me but I keep the smile and walk past him. I walk down the steps and go through the baby gate. I can hear Tom’s footsteps behind me but I ignore him and disappear through the crowds of people.

I walk back to the dance floor where Oliver and Matt N stand, talking to one another on the outskirts of the circle of people surrounding the people dancing. Oliver sees me coming and hits Matt N in the chest. He turns to look at me then nods to Oliver and walks away. I twist my face up as I stand next to Oliver, “Well what was all that about?”

“Nothin’, nothin’. Matt jus’ wanted another drink,” Oliver lies through his teeth. He quickly changes the subject, though, as he rubs the back of his neck, “Aye, Amelia, can we talk outside?”

“Uh, sure,” I say. Immediately, Oliver grabs my wrist and pulls me towards the door. I apologize to all the people he’s knocking over and rudely pushing past as they give us dirty looks. When we’re finally outside, I laugh nervously and say, “Okay, that wasn’t weird at all.”

“Amelia, I’m sorry.”