I Can Taste The Failure On Your Lips

I hated the dress that Kaite had me in. It was too short and my legs were too pale. If it was this short on me, then it must’ve fit like a blouse on her. It caught eyes though, and that’s what she was going for. She spent three hours on this outfit, and by the way everyone was staring at us, and the smile plastered on her face as she looked at me, it was worth it to her.

I didn’t know what I was thinking when I said yes to going to this party. I should’ve known that when you are invited anywhere by a sex addict, you are probably going to be going to an orgy. In some parts of the house that’s exactly what it looked like, too. She introduced me to her boyfriend Aaron, and then left. Like I said, I should’ve known. For the most part, I was alone, sitting on the living room couch, next to a couple who looked like their mouths were glued together. And it was then, as I was three seconds from getting up and going to sit in Kaite’s car until she was ready to go home, that I saw a familiar bleach blonde head, pushing her way through the crowd.

“Anna!” I yelled. I had never been so happy to see someone in my entire life.

She quickly turned around, and flashed a bright smile at me. “Delia! I’m surprised!”

“So am I.” I replied. I would’ve never pictured myself here, at all.

“No, I’m surprised yeh aren’t with the guys.”

“I didn’t know that they were here.” I said. If I did, I would obviously be with them. I then remembered that Curtis had offered me to go to a party on Wednesday, and I had hung up on him.

“Nonsense, it’s a party in Sheffield, of course they are here.” I followed her, as she began to lead me through the crowds to the back part of the house. “Look who I found!” She yelled when we reached them. She then ran into Matt’s arms and planted a big sloppy kiss right on his lips.

Before I knew it, Curtis was standing in front of me. “I thought yeh said yeh weren’t comin’.”

“Well, like I said, I have other friends and they invited me first. I obviously didn’t know that they were talking about the same party you were.”

“Oh well, yeh look beautiful.”

I blushed. The only time a guy has called me beautiful was when I found my mother’s old prom dress in the attic, and I had put it on, using it as my Halloween costume. I had covered it with fake blood, put in my fake rotten teeth, covered my face with white and green face paint, and completed my look as the ‘corpse bride’. Daniel said I was the most beautiful corpse he had ever seen, but seeing as he is my brother, and we were eleven, it doesn’t count. “Thank you Curtis.”

I sat down on one of the lawn chairs that they had spread out on the back deck. Why they chose to sit outside, I had no clue, but, it was absolutely killing my bare legs. There was a small fire pit, and I tried as hard as I could to sit as close to it as I could, so that I wouldn’t get hypothermia. It was the middle of November, and everyone was outside having a party like it was the middle of July. Curtis had gone off to get a drink, and I was in the midst of a conversation with Lee about the band, when he walked in. He was wearing a black t-shirt with some sort of band logo on the front of it, tight jeans, and his beat up pair of slip ons. As he walked out onto the back deck he slipped himself into a hoodie, grabbed a drink out of the cooler, and sat down on the other side of the fire pit.

He glanced across at me once, took a swig of his drink and started in a conversation with Matt K.

“Took yeh long enough.” Matt said.

Oli only nodded and took another drink. “I ‘ad to pick up Tom and he ‘ad to go home and get dressed.” He replied, nodding at a boy walking through the doors to join the group. That boy, I had recognized, to be the waiter at the restaurant Petunia and I had gone too. “He’s like a fuckin’ girl when it comes to gettin’ ready.”

“I must get it from yeh.” Tom said, as he sat down next to Oil, in the lawn chair that Curtis was sitting in. I then realized that Tom and Oil were brothers. I would’ve never been able to tell. In fact, if not for that conversation, and Tom had just come and sat down next to Oli, I would’ve just thought that they were friends.

“So, what d’yeh think?” Lee asked, knocking me out of the clouds and making me pull my eyes away from the small group of boys. In all honesty, I hadn’t been listening to a thing Lee had been saying since Oli showed up. I’m sure I looked liked the dear in the headlights, when I looked at him. He only chuckled though. “I get it.” He said.

I was wondering what he was talking about when Curtis came back. He handed me a can of Coke, and sat down in the only empty lawn chair on the deck which was next to me. “There yeh are, miss.” He said.

“Thank yeh, sir.” I replied, mocking his British accent.

He raised his eyebrows and a smile formed on his face. “Oi, Lee. I think we’re havin’ an impact on ‘er.” Curtis took a big gulp out of the red cup he was holding. “Are yeh sure yeh don’t want somethin’ better, to drink?”

“I’m positive.” I replied.

“But it’s yeh firs’ Sheffield party! Yeh should taste what yeh missin’.”

“I’m good Curtis. I swear. I am supposed to be the designated driver, anyways.” I said.

“So, who is this ‘other friend’ that yeh been talkin’ about?” He asked.

Before I could even answer, Kaite came bursting out of the back door. I heard Curtis mutter an ‘uh oh’ under his breath, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lee stretch his neck to look at Curtis. Not even four seconds later, Kaite’s boyfriend ran out the doors behind her. She stomped over my way, pulling her exposed bra strap up on her shoulder. She pulled her white tank down over her midriff, and fixed her suspenders.

“Kaite, baby.” Aaron said. Everyone on the deck had gone positively silent, though the rest of the party was still lively. I heard Kaite scoff. “Can we please talk about this?”

“Nope.” She said. “I give yeh everthin’ yeh ever wanted, and this is how yeh repay me? I give yeh a roof over yeh head, I give yeh plenty of sex, I got yeh a job, I got yeh a car, and yeh go and leave me for some bitch?” She yelled. “Well, when she’s not givin’ it up to yeh, don’t yeh come cryin’ back to me. Yeh can go live in a cardboard box, I don’t give a shit.” Aaron sighed heavily and walked back into the house. I could tell that he was regretting this whole thing. He was embarrassed that his now ex girlfriend just called him out in front of everyone, and he probably had no place to live now. I glanced over at Curtis, who was looking the other way. Kaite was still behind me, and I could hear her heavy breathing, and tell that she was fuming. “I need a drink.” She said.

===

She ended up getting extremely drunk and giving Matt Kean a lap dance. He looked like he was enjoying it, with the huge smile plastered to his face. Kaite fell off of him, and onto the deck laughing. I took that as my cue to get her out of there, and back home. When I stood up to go help Kaite off of the deck, I noticed Oli’s eyes on me. I couldn’t stop to analyze it, I had to help Kaite.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here.” I said. I had been in this situation plenty of times before.

“I don’t want to leave. I’m having fun!” She yelled back.

“You’re drunk and I need to get you home.” I couldn’t bend over to help her, because if I did, my whole ass end would be hanging out of this dress for everyone to see. I was pretty helpless. I couldn’t pick her up, there was no way I was strong enough. And even if I was, she’d be fighting me the whole way, seeing as, she didn’t want to leave. As if he was reading my mind, Oli joined me at my side.

“I’ll ‘elp yeh.” He said, picking Kaite up and slinging her over his shoulder.

Curtis followed us through the house and out the front door. He was very quiet though, and when I asked him about it, he just shrugged and shook his head. Kaite was giving Oli hell, and saying a lot of obscene comments. She would kick him, hit him, and pull his hair, and then say something like ‘I like it rough.’ It made me laugh though, even if I did feel a little bit sorry for him. I handed him the keys and he put her in the back seat of her jeep. He then walked around to the passenger side, and got in. I heard Curtis sigh his tenth heavy sigh, and turned around to look at him.

“Are you sure you are alright?” I asked. “You’ve been acting strange ever since Kaite showed up.”

“I can’t believe yeh of all people would ‘ang out with her.” He said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Nothin’. Be careful okay, don’t get distracted.”

I again wanted to ask what that was supposed to mean, but before I even got the chance, Curtis bent down and lightly pressed his lips to mine. I would’ve kissed him back, but I had no idea how to. Instead, I just let him pull away and stood there speechless. He smiled at me before turning around and walking back into the house. I blinked a couple times before turning around and walking towards Kaite’s jeep, where she and Oliver awaited me.

===

“So yeh and Curtis?”

It was the second time he had asked me that, and the second time I had shrugged my shoulders.

I didn’t know what to say, because I didn’t know what had happened. If I said yes, that meant that I thought that Curtis and I were dating. I didn’t think that Curtis and I were dating. Though, you don’t just go and kiss someone if you didn’t want to. I didn’t know if Curtis wanted to date me, and I didn’t know if I wanted to date Curtis. I did, however, know who I would like to date. My eyes flickered over to Oliver, who was just staring out the window silently.

Kaite was asleep in the backseat. She had passed out a good fifteen minuets ago. The car ride was mostly silent, except for the few sounds that she was making in her sleep, and the few snickers Oli and I would make afterward. Personally, I found the whole situation to be very awkward. Every now and again, Oli would take his eyes off of the passing houses and look at me. I could see him out of the corner of my eye, and he was making me very nervous. It was like, he wanted to start a conversation, but couldn’t find the words to do it. Since I wasn’t answering him about what had happened with Curtis, he was trying to find a new approach.

“Thank you.” I said.

I saw him turn his head to look at me. “For what?” He asked.

“For helping me. I wouldn’t have been able to get her out of there if you hadn’t offered to help me.” I replied. I glanced at him for a moment before returning my eyes back to the road. I found it hard though, because whenever I looked at him, it was sure hard to look away. Maybe that’s what Curtis meant when he said not to get distracted.

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t really like the guy who was throwin’ the party anyway.” He replied.

The conversation seemed to stop there, as we turned into our neighborhood. I parked the jeep in front of Petunia’s house. Oli jumped out and carried Kaite inside for me. For once, Petunia was actually asleep in her bed, and not in the recliner. I was thankful for that, seeing as I did not want to be embarrassed. He laid Kaite on my bed, and I walked him back out to the front door.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you?” I asked.

He turned around and smiled at me. “It’s only two blocks Dee.”

He called me Dee. No one here, not even Curtis called me by my nickname. It was comforting, and again, I could feel my knees about to give out on me. “Well, thank you, again.” I said, as I leaned on the door frame.

He walked out to the sidewalk. “Yeah.”

“You’re still a jerk though.” I said.

He turned around and smiled at me. “What if I said yeh looked nice in that dress?” He asked.

“Then you’d be a jerk and a liar.” I replied.

He only smiled and turned around, shook his head and walked off in the direction of his house.