Life Isn't All That Bad

Liz was apparently close friends with the girl throwing the party. That meant that we got a prime parking spot. Despite all the cars parked all down the street, we were given a spot in the driveway.

When we exited the car, and headed towards the house, I didn’t feel as short as I normally did. Liz was wearing silver flip-flops, rather than high heels like she normally did. And for once, I was wearing high heels. So the normal four-inch difference was now about an inch or two difference. But I also felt somewhat overdressed. While she was just wearing a floral sundress, I had on my somewhat ridiculous outfit, suspenders and all.

Inside the house, the overwhelming stench of alcohol filled my nostrils. Red plastic cups littered the floor. Crappy music was blaring throughout the house, while the room in front of me had been made into a makeshift dance floor. It looked just like some party that would be in a movie, or on some television show.

"Liz!" A high-pitched voice exclaimed, a tall blonde girl appearing in front of us. She had a tan face, with blue-gray eyes. Her bleach blonde hair was in a braid, hanging down her back. She would have been pretty, if her outfit didn’t ruin it. The black tank top she wore was low cut, her boobs practically hanging out. As for her short skirt, well, I probably had underwear that covered more than her skirt.

"Genevieve! Hey babe!" Liz said, giving the girl a quick hug. She pulled away pointing towards me. "This is my friend, Beau. She just moved here from New York. Beau, this is Genevieve. This is her party."

This Genevieve girl eyed me up and down, a look of disapproval on her face. "Um, hi," she said, giving me some attitude. "Hey, Liz, c'mon, we should go sign up for the next game of beer pong."

I gave Liz a desperate look that said 'please don’t leave me!' Being alone at this party was the last thing I wanted.

Liz paused, biting her lip. "I don't know, Gen.... I don’t want to leave Beau by herself..." She looked around the room, spotting someone. "Oh, Beau! Look, it's Halvo! You can hang out with him while I play, right?"

I just sighed, though you couldn’t really hear it over the loud music. "Yeah, sure," I grumbled, staring down at my shoes. As Liz walked away with Genevieve, she mouthed a 'I'm sorry' at me, but I just shrugged, making my way over to Halvo.

He turned and saw me, giving me a big smile. "Well hello, best friend," he said, putting an arm around my shoulders. My cheeks began to burn. I wasn’t used to being touchy with guys. He noticed my blushing and quickly removed his arm. "Would you like to get something to drink?"

I bit down on my lip and shrugged. "Okay," I said finally. He gently grabbed my wrist, pulling me through the crowd towards another room. The kitchen, I assumed.

The kitchen wasn’t as crowded as I expected. "So, what do you want?" Halvo asked, taking a sip of his beer.

"Um, just water please," I said, pulling my wrist from his callused hand. A look of hurt crossed his face briefly, but he shrugged it away, grabbing a water bottle and handing it to me.

"You don’t drink?" He asked, taking another sip from his bottle.

I shook my head, twisting the cap off the water bottle. "Never have, never will," I admitted.

"What about once you turn twenty-one? You won't even drink when you're legal?" He asked, a looked of surprise on his face.

I sipped the cold water. The smoke that lingered in the air was burning my throat, so the water was quite a relief. "I just don’t plan on drinking anytime soon, okay?" I snapped at him.

"Sorry," he mumbled, looking away with a look of shame on his face. I felt bad. He didn’t know what had happened. I shouldn’t have snapped at him like that. He pulled out his phone, flipping it open and reading whatever message he'd just been sent. "Shit, I have to go. I'm really sorry...."

"It's okay. We still best friends?" I asked, offering him a weak smile. He grinned, nodding wildly.

"Hell yeah we are!" With that, he threw his arms around me, giving me a bear hug. Reluctantly, I hugged back, feeling my cheeks heating up. He pulled away. "Bye Beau!" He said, waving briefly, before disappearing out the door.

Now I was alone at a party I didn’t even want to be at. I made my way back into the main room, watching the drunken chaos. After awhile, I got bored, and decided to explore the house. I hoped I'd find an empty room to escape to, but with my luck, I knew that wouldn’t happen.

There were several couples making out in the hallway. I walked past them with my head down, trying not to be noticed. That didn’t work out too well when I crashed into something. That something turned out to be a someone.

"I'm so s-sorry," I stuttered, still not really looking up. I just wanted to find somewhere quite where I could get away from all these people.

"Well, well. What have we here?" A deep voice said, a mischievous tone to his voice. "What's a pretty thing like you doing in a place like this?"

I glanced up, seeing a boy I didn’t recognize. He was tall, and muscular. Very muscular. He could have easily snapped me like a twig. "I'm really sorry," I mumbled again, trying to walk away. I could see a door leading outside, just a few feet away.

He stepped in front of me, blocking my escape. "And where do you think you're going?"

I just shifted back and forth on my feet. "Please, just let me go," I tried to put force into my voice, but it was clear how scared I was.

He stepped towards me, so I stepped away; only to have my back hit a wall. I was completely trapped. "What's the matter? I'm not gonna hurt you," he growled, stepping even closer. His breath hit my face, the strong smell of alcohol burning my nose. This guy was completely drunk.

"Beau? Is that you?" A voice asked from behind my attacker. It was John.

The brute that was pinning me against the wall spun around. "O'Callaghan? You know her?" He asked angrily.

John stepped past him, throwing an arm around my waist. It was something that usually embarrassed me, but at the moment I didn’t really care. "Of course I know her. I'm dating her," John declared, smiling widely.

I looked up at him, my jaw dropping. What the hell was he saying?

The other guy shook his head. "No way, man. You are never in a relationship."

John rolled his eyes. "What do I have to do to prove it, Evan? Beau and me are dating. Get over it." Okay, maybe John had a plan? Convince him that we're dating so he'll stop trying to rape me?

This 'Evan' guy glared at John. "Kiss her. If you really are dating, you'll have no problem kissing her."

Oh no. John didn't really plan on kissing me, did he? Before I could even protest, John had leaned down, pressing his lips against mine. My eyes snapped shut, butterflies filling my stomach.

I'd never really been kissed. Although back in New York, Danny would always try to kiss me, it was never anything serious.

John pulled away, smiling. "See? We're dating. Right, babe?" I couldn’t speak, so I just nodded weakly, forcing a smile.

The guy grumbled something under his breath, stomping off down the hallway.

John smirked at me. His cockiness made me want to slap him in the face. "So, what'd you think?"

"I think that if you ever call me babe again, I'm going to seriously hurt you," I stated, watching that cocky smirk fall from his face. With that, I quickly made my way out the door. I didn’t know where to go, so I just sat down in the grassy backyard, breathing in the fresh air. I began to hum a Ryan Adams song in an attempt to calm myself.

"Beau?" A voice asked from behind me.

I really just couldn’t catch a break tonight, could I?