If My Heart Was a Compass Then You Would Be North

“Wow you look hot,” Laura said as I opened the door to let her in.

“Thanks,” I grinned, adjusting my short blue dress. It was a bit summery, but since it was a barbeque, I felt the dress was casual enough. “So do you.”

She had on jean shorts that showed off her long legs and a black top with a big belt hanging off her waist. She smiled. “I know. So when are we going?”

“Nate’s friend is picking us up in like 20 minutes,” I told her as I led her to my room where Nate was sitting on my bed.

“Hey Laur,” he smiled at her.

I knew Laura was probably dying right now, though she didn’t swoon obviously. “Did I interrupt something?” she asked deviously.

Man, I should have hit her. “No you didn’t,” I glared at her. “Nate just got here too.”

Nate laughed as he looked at my face. “Actually Laura, you kind of did.”

Correction, I should have hit him. Like she needed any more reason to think there was something between me and Nate. “Funny,” I rolled my eyes at him. “Please Nate, don’t give her any ideas.”

Laura smirked. “Oh I already knew. He’s not giving me any ideas that I didn’t have already.”

I groaned. “Okay moving on?”

They both laughed. I didn’t get why Nate was enjoying this so much. I mean he was in it too. Before either of them said anything else, my phone buzzed with a text. I saw that it was from Josh.

Hey, Keith is home so the bar won’t be able to be in the open. I’m having a few people in m car beforehand. You guys in?”

I showed it to Nate. He didn’t drink much so he shook his head and sighed. “I’ll come with you I guess.”

“Awesome,” I grinned as Laura looked at me questioningly. “Josh is asking is we want to drink with him.”

“Oh okay,” she said, looking slightly fearful. Laura couldn’t exactly take her alcohol.

Then of course, she didn’t have to participate in drinking contests with Josh, Frank, Sean, and the other guys Nate and I were friends with. Being the only girl in the group had both its benefits and its drawbacks. It made you have to always prove the stereotypes about girls and alcohol wrong. But it also helped with building up for tolerance. I could probably drink as much as any of them now.

I quickly texting Josh back that we were in, and then went back to straightening my hair which is what I had been doing before Laura had gotten here. Laura handed me a headband. “I think this will really go,” she suggested. “You look cute with headbands.”

I laughed. “Are you hitting on me?”

“Right,” she rolled her eyes. “I’m so in love with you Britt. Can’t you tell?”

Nate and I both laughed at that as Nate’s phone buzzed. He groaned as he looked at who it was from. “Why does she keep texting me?”

“Who?” I asked, walking to the mirror to finish my makeup.

“Stacie,” he put his phone back into his pocket without replying.

“Still?” I asked, turning around to look at him, the eye liner in my hand. “What does she want?”

“She’s asking what I’m doing,” he shrugged.

“Wow Britt, looks like you have competition,” Laura smirked.

I glared at her. “Looks like you’re about to end up on the floor.”

“Oh great, Mike is here,’ I mumbled to Nate. I had hooked up with Mike at Josh’s last party and had had to wear a scarf for a week afterwards. I really hoped he wouldn’t try anything again.

“Let’s go find Josh,” Nate suggested.

“I’m hungry,” I pouted.

He laughed. “When aren’t you?”

I smacked his arm. “Let’s go to the backyard and grabs some burgers.”

They both shrugged and we got food. I was piling on the works when Josh came up to us. “Take it easy there fatty, it’ll all be there later too.”

I stuck my tongue at them. They always made fun of me because I ate as much as them but weighed half their weight. Hey, blame my metabolism, not me.

“So we’re going to my car now, you in?” Josh asked.

Frank winked at me. “Or you could come with me to my car.”

I smirked. “Hmm alcohol or Frank. How will I ever choose?”

Everyone laughed. Frank was always flirting with me so openly. But it was just a joke. He was like my brother. We walked to Josh’s car, Laura in tow. I knew she felt a little awkward with all the guys, especially since she knew they thought she was a stalker. But I mean, she had to prove them wrong eventually, right? What better way than hanging out with them, and getting mindlessly drunk.

“Ladies first,” Josh said, handing Laura and me shots. We took them down and he passed more to the guys.

I noticed Nate was staring at me. He sighed and smiled. I knew he didn’t like me drinking, but he never said anything. He was my best friend after all, not my boyfriend. At the word, I felt a wave of emotion fly through me. Whoa. Was that cause of Nate? I mean, if he was my boyfriend, would it be that bad? We were together all the time anyway, and I loved him. I mean, he was my favorite person. He knew me better than I knew myself. Was that all really because he was just my best friend? I didn’t know, but I knew there was something better as I smiled at him.

We all took a few more shots, minus Nate of course. And by then, the feeling was running through me. I wasn’t drunk but I was definitely buzzed. It was a good buzz though. I felt happy. I grabbed Nate’s hand as we headed back into the house.

“Hey Britt,” someone said. I turned to see Mike smiling at me. I really didn’t want to hook up with him again, not with Nate on my mind.

I smiled back though. “Hey Mike, what’s up?”

“Haven’t seen you in a while,” he said.

“I know,” I said as we walked down to the basement. I noticed they had turned it into a mini dance club. It was dim and there were strobe lights. The music was blasting and everyone was getting down.

“Want to dance?” Mike asked as Nate started walking away.

“Oh um I promised Nate here,” I grabbed his arm, pulling him back to me, “that I’d give him the first dance.”

“Oh hey man,” Mike said to Nate. “Maybe later?” he asked me. I nodded.

Nate looked at me weirdly. “Yeah um let’s go dance,” he said, coming to my rescue.

“Bye,” I said to Mike over my shoulder as Nate dragged me to the dance floor. “Thank you,” I told him.

He laughed. “We are best friends for a reason.”

We started dancing. I loved dancing with Nate. He was a good dancer and I didn’t have to worry about anything poking me in the back or unwanted hands trying to feel me up. I looked around and saw Stacie was here, and nudged Nate to warn him. Great, it seemed like drama was about to start. Stacie was staring at us.

She walked over to us, leaving her friend behind. I didn’t know her friend but I was pretty sure she didn’t go to school around here. She probably went to school with her. “Hey guys,” Stacie smiled widely.

“Hi,” we stopped dancing to look at her.

“Britt sweetie, you should be careful,” Stacie said. “People will call you a drunken whore, not that they’d be lying really.”

The next thing I knew, Stacie was backed away, holding her face, and Nate’s arms were around my waist holding me back from the bitch.