Stealing Stars

I find Lola and Katia sitting together on a couch in the living room wedged in between Caleb, the “nice” guy from this afternoon and some other guy who I’ve seen around but can’t place.

“Hey.” I say to them as I walk up to them and grab a red plastic cup off the counter. It smells like beer so I only take a little sip.

“Hey Chan.” Katia smiles up at me obviously she’s been drinking already on account of the way the way she has a goofy grin plastered on her face.

“You look good Chan.” Lola says approvingly as she gets off the couch to hug me. She leans in close to whisper in my ear, “Apparently, I’m the designated driver tonight. Katia’s downed a whole cup of beer already and I know she isn’t going to stop.” She sits back down and I lean against the side of the couch next to Caleb.

“Hi Caleb.”

“Hey Chandler.” My name rolls off his tongue like butter and again I get this feeling in my toes that makes me melt. Almost. “You look pretty.”

“Thanks.” Lola gives me a look that I can’t really decipher. I blush in spite of myself.

“Chan, did you drive her by yourself?” Lola asks. I don’t really know what she’s up to and I’m not sure that I even want to know.

“No. Blake drove me.” I say matter oh factly as I eye her up and down. “I like your get up.” I say to her hoping it will distract her with A) my use of the phrase ‘get up’ and B) getting her to talk about her outfit.

“Nice try and thank you, it’s from Urban Outfitters.” Damn. She knows me too well.

I take another sip of my drink and I realize that it tastes like watered down sprite. So maybe it wasn’t beer after all. “Be right back.” I tell them and I walk into the kitchen and grab a fresh red cup and walk over to the cooler and pull out a miller light. Then I pour it into my cup. This time when I take a sip it tastes bitter and sour. I smile in response because this is the taste I was looking for.

I’m about to walk out of the kitchen when Isabel’s voice catches my ear. But who’s ear wouldn’t it catch? A dead man?

“Did you see her? She got a ride with Blake, how pathetic is that?” Her voice drones on. I took a large gulp of my beer. I down it all.

“Her outfit?”

“Oh My God. Totally ugly, I mean seriously.” By now I’d figured out that they were talking about me. Maybe this was what she meant when Lola over heard her at lunch. I took another beer out of the cooler and poured it all in my cup. I immediately drank half of it. I felt woozy for a second but then continued forward.

“Hey, Isabel. Good party.” I said with sarcasm dripping off each syllable.

“Thanks.” She looked me up and down disgusted with my outfit.

“So you came with Blake Gunner?” One of her minions asked while she teetered in her too-tall heels.

“Mhmm. Just me and Blake in the car. By ourselves for the twenty-five minute ride over.” The beer makes me feel braver.

“But isn’t it only a fifteen minute drive from your house to mine?” Isabel asked with a sly smile across her face. She thought I was lying.

“Oops. I guess it is but it took us twenty-five minutes. We were a little distracted.” Eat your heart out Isabel Stark; I’m going to win this round. Her face didn’t show any emotion whatsoever. That’s how I know I got her. “Well, nice talking to you.” I waved and walked back to Lola, Katia, Caleb, and the mystery guy on the couch.

Katia was still somewhat in control for someone who had downed three entire beers. The effects from my one and a half were starting to get to me. I’m not a very big person so the alcohol travels fast. I was sitting on the chair across from them when Mystery guy who’s name I still don’t know made a joke and I laughed so hard I nearly fell out of my chair. Caleb caught me. But I know that since there is so much alcohol in my system I won’t be embarrassed. “Thanks.” I say to him for catching me but I doubt he’ll remember anything anyway, he’s had a few drinks as well.

Suddenly I feel this sensation come over me as if I need to tell the world some news, any news. I get up and walk to the kitchen to grab some water. Even in my drunken state I know when enough is enough. Well at least I hope so. Isabel is standing there and obviously our last conversation took a toll on her. She is barefoot and teetering back and forth.

“Hey Candler!” She yells. I turn and face her. “You,” she points at me while stabbing at nothing in the air. “Need to stay away from my boyfriend, got that?”

“He isn’t your boyfriend.” It slips out before I could even think about it.

“He's more my boyfriend than yours. I know him better and he likes me better anyway. I’m way prettier than you.” She says all of this in a completely serious tone; if it wasn’t for the way she is walking I’d be willing to bet that she isn’t drunk.

“You know him better than I do?” If comes out more of a question than a statement, but none the less I say it.

“Yup.” She says while she pops the p. “I do. I know him and his secrets and what he thinks,” She jabs her finger in the air again, “about you.” If I wasn’t so filled with alcohol the statement probably wouldn’t have affected me so much. I am just grateful that I can still think kind of clearly in this state.

“He isn’t everything he says he is. At least what he says to me is true anyway.” I tell her with anger tinged on every word.

“How do you know he isn’t everything that he says he is when he’s talking to me?” She smiles a wicked smile that makes me quiver in my drunken haze.

“How do you know he isn’t everything that he says?” Her words echo through my head. How do I know? I know because when he was eleven he didn’t sit in your room crying his eyes out over something that he couldn’t fix. He didn’t punch at the air and look at you with eyes so full of hope that it made you want to hold him forever and not let anything bad happen to him. He didn’t tell you that he blamed himself even though it wasn’t his fault. But I don’t tell her any of that.

Instead of answering her I just turn around and walk away. She is yelling something after me but I’m too angry to understand her. It just sounds like Italian and German put together. I reach the couch where everyone was sitting only to find Caleb drinking his beer.