Everything's Changing Now

“You never told me what went down with you and Stephen the other night.” Sophie looked up to see John, smirking, standing in the Cleary’s kitchen. She rolled her eyes and continued to read before he sat next to her and repeated himself.

“Nothing happened, I was drunk and fell asleep, that’s all,” Sophie retorted, clearly annoyed.

“Drunk? What were you two doing?” John questioned, confused. Stephen never drank by himself or with one other person.

“We were…playing drinking games with the movies we were watching. Decided to shake things up a bit,” Sophie lied, pulling something out of her ass. John seemed satisfied with the answer and continued on with whatever he had originally come to the kitchen to do. He offered to make her a sandwich, as he was making one for Delaney, but she declined. Sophie laughed at how quickly her cousin had made John whipped, as she often did with her boy toys. John seemed to enjoy doing things for Delaney, though, so Sophie knew he’d be sticking around at least for a little while.

As John stood making the sandwiches, his phone rang. He quickly picked it up and had a short conversation with the person on the other end. When he hung up, he looked at Sophie and informed her that Danny, the rich kid with negligent parents, was having another party that Friday.

“This time, you’re gonna get shitfaced with the rest of us. Or with everyone that’s not driving,” John laughed. Since being in Scottsdale, Sophie had been drunk more than twice as many times as she had been in her previous 18 years. This fact didn’t bother her, because she was having fun with people she liked rather than her cousin’s idiot friends.

“I am looking forward to this party,” Sophie replied with a smile.
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By nine PM on Friday night, the usual group of teenagers had gathered at the Dale’s house to make the trek to Danny’s party. Since there would be the normal unlimited alcohol, they decided against pregaming “just this once,” according to Josh. It was decided that John and Delaney would drive that night, much the their initial dismay and anger, but these feelings subsided when they found out they’d be exempt from playing DD the rest of the summer.

“Let’s get truckin’! The party’s not started til us cool kids arrive,” Taylor announced, receiving eye rolls and shoves from everyone else. “What? Just telling the truth!” With that comment, the cars were quickly filled and the group was on their way.

“Are you gonna try to beat that six shots in five minutes record?” Stephen whispered to Sophie, laughing.

“Uh, I think I’ll pass on that tonight. Though your brother told me I had to get shitfaced, so I might have to be him tonight since he can’t drink,” Sophie responded, also laughing.

“Perfect! We can emulate our family members, just for one night. I don’t think I could take multiple days of that.”

When they arrived at the party, the group gathered in the kitchen for the traditional shot, then everyone dispersed throughout the house. There was buzz about a brand new big screen TV that was hosting a karaoke game, so Sophie and Stephen made their way to the basement to check it out.

“I am nowhere near drunk enough to participate in this,” Sophie laughed, taking a sip of her beer. Beer was another thing she’d grown accustomed to since leaving Flagstaff.

“We’ll change that quickly, don’t worry. I’m gonna go sing though, so hold tight,” Stephen said, making his way to the line of people waiting for their turn. When he was up, Sophie flashed him a quick thumbs up as he launched into Dead On Arrival by Fall Out Boy. He wasn’t the greatest singer, but he definitely wasn’t bad, and he had a group of people singing along with him by the song’s end. He sauntered back over to Sophie when he was finished, motioning back up the stairs so they could grab refills on their drinks.

“You weren’t half bad, Gomez,” Sophie joked.

“I’ll be better when I can’t comprehend what I’m doing. And when you’re up there singing with me,” Stephen grinned as he said this.

“No way. There’s not enough alcohol here to make me sing in front of all these people.”

“That’s a lie, I’ll make it happen.”

When they got ot the kitchen, Stephen quickly made a concoction of many different liquids before handing it to Sophie, then making one for himself. Sophie bravely took a sip before spitting out the contents into the sink.

“What the fuck? That’s disgusting!” Sophie exclaimed.

“Course it is, I just made the most strong jungle juice one could ever hope to drink. Now finish it up so we can get back to something better tasting,” Stephen said before downing his own mixture. Sophie looked at the cup with disdain, but quickly finished hers as well.

“Fucking A, I need something else to drink,” she said as she made her way to the array of bottles lining the counter. She selected a seemingly harmless bottle of peach flavored vodka, poured herself two shots, and quickly downed them.

“Damn cuz, I didn’t know I rubbed off on you that much!” Delaney grinned, walking into the kitchen.

“Don’t be so proud, Stephen made me some shit and this was all I could find to rinse the taste out of my mouth,” Sophie bitterly retorted. “Too bad it didn’t really help.”

“Hah, if Stephen made you his “jungle juice” you won’t be able to remember the taste soon enough,” John chuckled. “He may not drink hard very often, but when he drinks hard, he fuckin’ drinks.”

“Lovely. May I ask what was in this drink I just consumed?” Sophie continued.

“Whatever alcohol was out and almost empty. Nothing nonalcoholic was included,” Stephen smirked, bracing for Sophie’s inevitable hit.

“I hate you,” Sophie instead laughed. “Come on, let’s go sing now or it’s never gonna happen.” The other three cheered as the sober ones helped the drunks down the stairs. “That shit really hits you hard, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, one of the best symptoms!” Stephen laughed. He and Sophie waited in the line of upcoming singers, each seemingly worse and more inebriated than the last. When it was finally their turn, Stephen walked over to the karaoke machine and selected a song. As Sophie and the rest of the room saw what song he had picked, laughter erupted. She shook her head and reluctantly picked up her microphone. Stephen grinned at her and started singing his part. “Summer lovin’, had me a blast…” When the song and drunken sing along ended, Stephen looked at Sophie, laughing, and led her to one of the couches in the basement.

“A bit ironic song choice, no?” he laughed.

“One might say that. Is there a reason you picked it?” Sophie questioned, also starting to laugh.

“Maybe. I’ll never tell,” Stephen teased. Sophie rolled her eyes and pulled Stephen in for a kiss, just as John and Delaney were walking towards them.