Three's A Crowd

Lauren was the first to hesitate, quickly followed by Stacey. Kat quite literally had to drag her friends to the door, and pretend like it wasn't happening. The house was filled with hormone-fuelled teenagers that were spilling out into the lawn out front and though it was only half nine, many of them were already evidently drunk.

A table in the living room had been covered in bottles, meaning that it was bending desperately towards the floor from the weight. Releiving it slightly, Stacey grabbed two breezers for herself and Lauren, and then, with a roll of her eyes, passed a can of lager to Kat. It seemed that Scarlett's parents had forked out over a hundred pounds to supply booze for the party, which in hindsight hadn't been a fantastic idea; people were going to get wankered.

Once they had stuck together for a while and checked out who was at the party, they gradually began to split off. Stacey joined the hot guys that were friends with Scarlett's brother, Lauren went to say congratulations to the birthday girl, and Kat went to find the girls from her biology class.

Stacey had decided to drink slowly tonight; she'd had a few bad experiences, and so intended to keep herself in control this time. However, Liam Houghton was sticking close to her side, incessantly sliding his arm around her shoulders possesively. Just as she was about to go and find somebody else to play with, she spotted Jack coming into the living room where she was sitting, and watched the slow, amused smile slide onto his face. Disgusted, Stacey wrapped herself around Liam, and kissed him seductively until Jack had gone away.

"I really like you!" Liam yelled over the music issuing from a set of speakers that would make Stacey's parents jealous.

"Ummm, yeah, me too." Stacey muttered, trying to twist away from him and at the same time scoping the room for better talent. "Hey, Liam, I'm gonna get a drink. Wait here, I'll be back in a second.." How sad that he'd probably be sat on the couch for about half an hour, optimistically waiting for a kiss that would never happen.

***

Kat was enjoying herself a little more. Though she didn't have a guy's tongue half-way down her throat, she was sitting with a small group of people and having the kind of deep conversations that only drunk people have. Life, death, and politics; that sort of thing. Amazing how everyone seemed to think that they had something so interesting, and life-defining to say, and no-one else really cared, they all liked the sound of their own voice too much.

She was primarily talking to a short girl with ebony black hair that fell just short of her shoulders. Kat was pretty sure that the girl was in her biology class, but wasn't a hundred percent sure, and didn't want to say anything in case she didn't remember her. Her name was Cassie. Cassie was yet more drunk that Kat, and kept slipping down in her chair until she was almost draped across Kat's lap which was making everyone in the vicinity point and laugh. Protectively, Kat kept propping her back up, eventually realising it was a vain effort and dragging her to kitchen to get some water. On the way, she spotted Stacey with her tongue in some guys ear, and being watched by Jack.

"Will you stop fucking staring at her, Christ, if Lauren see's, she'll gut you both." Kat hissed, pulling both Jack and Cassie behind her in her desperate quest for a glass if water.

"I wasn'tstaring at that whore." Kat faught back the desire to slap him, and concentrated on turning the tap whilst propping up Cassie with her free hand. "And who's this, anyway...?" Jack leered at Cassie.

"This is Cass. She doesn't seem to know many people here, or not anyone that cares that she's near on paraletic. Thought someone should take care of her. And stop staring at her chest."

"I wasn't. Oh and one last thing, will you tell Loz to stop texting me, it's getting fucking ridiculous."

"What?" He got out his mobile and showed her four drunken texts from Lauren that had all been sent in the last hour.

I lovfke u. Comme bak to mle pleaase.xxxxxxxx

Bastardd. U riuned my life. Were the first of them, and as Kat scrolled down, her heart sank at the blistering humiliation that would attack her friend tomorrow morning. She was about to ask Jack to keep an eye on Cassie, but then thought better of it when she caught him eyeing at the other girls chest with interest.

"I guess I'll have to find her..." She wrapped Cassie's arm around her kneck and started to search.

***

Lauren was to be found in the master bedroom upstairs, crying her heart out with her back against the door. The pain had errupted somewhere round about where her heart should be the second she's seen Jack and it had only gotten worse. She'd initially gone to find Scarlett who had told her to get over him by downing as much vodka as she could manage. So about six of them had done just that, and this had left Lauren whinging endlessly about how much she missed her ex. People had gotten bored of her quickly, and she was left to crawl in search of a toilet, and instead found this quiet bedroom. From here, she had sent her texts, and the fact that he had neglected to reply to one of them had left her almost hysterical with misery.

Kat pounded on the door, and then walked in. When she saw the mess that her friend was in, she almost started to cry herself. Instead, she put down Cassie and sat beside Lauren, enfolding her in tight hug that would last forever if Lauren so wished.

"How can I make it better?" Kat whispered.

"How about this." Lauren muttered into Kat's shoulder. "We get Stacey, take a taxi back to hers, and drink the rest of this bottle there? This party is getting on my nerves." Despite her misgivings about Lauren drinking yet more alcohol, she nodded, shooting an anxious glance at Cassie.

"Sounds like a plan. But I think we're going to have to drop her back, too..."