Take a Sad Song and Make It Better

Bailey's POV

I watched from my squatted position behind the couch as four figures loomed in the doorway. The suspense was killing me. How hard was it to walk in the doorway?! Finally I saw the black shape that I recognized as Zack, push Alex and Rian forward in to the house causing Rian to reluctantly let go of his girlfriend’s hand and Alex to almost face plant in to the hardwood floors.

“Hey, what the fuck man?! I almos--”

“SURPRISE!!!!”

Bodies popped out from every corner of the house, yelling at the top of their lungs and smiling as wide as their mouths would stretch.

“What the fuck?!” Alex jumped, with a huge smile on his face. He looked around house, spotting all his classmates and close friends.

“Happy Birthday Rian!! Happy Birthday Alex!!” I heard a couple voices yell. Alex continued standing in the doorway, baffled, and Rian just laughed with pure delight.

Everyone stepped out from their hiding spots and sauntered in the direction of the door where the birthday boys were standing. Abruptly, a tall figure jumped out from behind them.

“NO WAY!!” I laughed as I saw Jack’s face with maybe more surprise on his face than Alex and Rian, if possible. “WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME?!?!”

Rian finally started to walk towards the crowd of people, smiling and greeting everyone he recognized with side hugs or handshakes but Alex just stood stunned and wide eyed at the scene. At last, Matt walked up the porch steps with all the drinks in his hand, smiling just as cheesy as the rest of us were.

“Did I miss the surprise?” he asked playfully, ruffling Alex’s hooded head and enveloping him in a hug.

“Matt, you fucker! You knew?!” Alex asked still surprised.

“Hey, don’t look at me! Zack knew too!” he said quickly, getting out of the way and searching for Jade in the crowd to give her the alcohol.

Alex fake glared at his muscular friend, causing Zack to smile ridiculously and put his hands up in the air innocently. “Don’t blame me, it was the girls’ idea.”

Before Alex could be flustered anymore, Lisa walked up to him and put a party hat on his head and then wrapped her arms around his neck. “Surprised?”

Alex glanced around at everyone and laughed. “I don’t think that word covers it.” He gave her a quick peck on the lips and then followed Rian’s lead and went around greeting everyone excitedly.

I made my way to the front door where Jack and Zack were left standing. Jack was still wide eyed. He was out of the loop for the entire time because we were afraid he would get too excited and ruin the surprise. Zack met me half way and put his arm around my neck and pulled me in to him happily.

“Awesome decorating, Bails. Looks awesome.” I smiled up at him and looked around Clara’s small house. Colored streamers were hung in every corner of the house and party hats adorned some select heads. I was surprised all of the people that were here could actually fit and I was sure there was bound to be more that would show up later in the night.

I then looked back at Jack who stole a party hat off a random person’s head and was bouncing around through everyone. “Party!! Aawahoooo!!!”

“I’m going to go get something to drink,” Zack said. “You want something?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Okay, I’ll be back!” he said as he started to walk off. I meandered through everyone, smiling at the people that looked familiar to me. The truth was, I never really talked to any of these people but I knew that Alex or Rian had known them so they were invited. Luckily, Jack pulled me out of my loneliness.

“Ay Baybay!” he yelled as he ran through the hallway to my place in the living room. “Let’s get this party started!”

Before I could even ask what he meant, he grabbed my arm and ran over to the stereo and blasted the music. He then led me to the middle of the room where the coffee table and couch would usually be, but they were pushed in to the corners of the house to make room for intermingling and in Jack’s case, dancing.

He started swaying to the beat and moving his hips to accompany the loud bass. “Come on Bailey, dance with me!” He grabbed my hands and tried to get me moving but I didn’t. Instead, my arms just swung loosely with Jack’s movement. “Please Baybay?!” He looked at me with a pout and my face turned red when I looked around at everyone looking at us.

“Jack,” I hissed. “Everyone is looking!”

“So?!”

“And no one else is dancing!” I murmured again.

Jack then started to do a weird dance, flailing his hands in the air and jumping around. “So! Be a trendsetter, Bailey!” he said in one of his bizarre accents. I blushed again as I looked around at the people smiling at Jack. Finally I gave in and let Jack swing me around.

Jack was right. It set off a trend and a couple more people joined us and danced. I looked around again as another party song that Jade had mixed came on. Most people were chatting, a few playing games and having a drink. As I scanned over the bodies, I spotted Zack leaning up against the doorway with an amused smirk plastered to his face. He wasn’t looking at me, but my hips as they swayed to the beat and laughing. Hastily, Jack jumped in front of my vision and started to repeatedly fake spank one of the girls’ ass as she danced with some of her friends.

I covered my mouth with my hand as I giggled, forgetting the music was blasting so loud that she wouldn’t have been able to hear me anyways. As soon as Jack came, he went off through the crowd dancing and being obnoxious. I connected eyes with Zack again and he laughed and shook his head at me. Pretending to be offended, I narrowed my eyes in to tiny slits and stuck my tongue out at him.

Now that Jack was gone, I was dancing alone and looked pretty pathetic. But as soon as I was about to leave, Jack’s words from earlier this week echoed in my head, “You gotta loosen up, Baybay! Who cares if they laugh at you. You’re having fun!!” He told me that in painting class. Right after I scolded him for thrusting behind an unknowing girl as he walked to his seat. Jack was right, I did need to loosen up. So as all the voices in my head started screaming “no!” at me, I wiggled my way through the few people who were dancing to the center of the group and bopped with them.

==========

Several hours had passed and the party wasn’t dying down, in fact it was doing the opposite. More people were packing themselves in to Clara’s small house. I had finally met up with Alex and Rian a couple hours in to the party once I found them not with their girlfriends, dancing or occupied by other conversations and wished them a happy birthday, even if it was a little early. I could tell they were so overjoyed that all of us threw a party for them and when I talked to Rian, he was already a bit tipsy.

“Kaylie!” I yelled over the music to try and get her attention. A guy I recognized as Adam, walked away from her and I decided to go see what was up. “Hey Kaylie,” I smiled.

“Bailey! Hi!”

“So,” I nudged her, “how’s it goin’ with Adam?”

She blushed slightly and then spoke up. “Awesome! He just went to go get us some drinks. But holy shit! I am soo falling for him.”

I laughed at how excited she was about this. “That’s good Kaylie. I’m so happy for you. You think he will finally ask you out tonight?” Kaylie rolled her eyes and I knew what that meant. We all thought Adam was going to ask her out a couple weeks ago when they went on their date, but he never did. And for some reason he was scared because he still hadn’t mustered up enough guts to ask her.

“I hope so!” she yelled over the noise.

Adam walked out of the kitchen and back to Kaylie, handing her a cup with a beverage in it. “Hey Bailey,” he greeted friendlily.

“Hi,” I answered back shyly.

He looked down at his glass of water and back at me. “Oh, sorry. Did you want this? I can go get some more?”

I shook my head and smiled nicely at him. “Thanks Adam, but I’m good. I’ll just get some myself. Bye guys!” I winked at Kaylie as I walked off and thought about how sweet Adam was as I squeezed past people to get to the kitchen where all the drinks were.

Lost in thought in a house that was filled way over capacity wasn’t the best idea because as I wiggled between a couple kids that were chatting, I ran in to someone. Instantly I felt cold liquid leak down the front of my shirt.

“Oh shit!” I looked up and saw a really tall guy with a now empty cup. “Sorry babe,” he said, turning around to get what I guessed to be beer because of the stench that was now on my chest. I exhaled annoyed and turned on my heels and headed towards the stairs; thankfully the party was at my own house so I could change shirts.

I sifted though my dresser draws to find a shirt that was nice enough for the party but not too crazy. Even though my room was just a level above all the bustle, it was drastically quieter, only a muffled vibration of the bass seeped up through the floors so I was able to enjoy some quiet time.

Not that I was a creep and liked to listen to what people did in the bathroom, but it was just inevitable for me when I heard something ring through my walls to listen. So as I stripped off my damp and smelly shirt and put on my fresh one, one ear was listening to the faucet running in the sink, where I could assume a person washing their hands in the bathroom next to me.

I threw my shirt in the dirty hamper that was hidden in my closet and heard a stifled knock and I walked to my door, but there was no one at there. Right after, I heard a familiar voice say “taken” loudly.

“Lees, it’s me.” I heard from the hallway. Another echo through my wall indicated that Lisa had opened the bathroom door to let who I assumed to be Alex in.

“Happy birthday, babe.” I heard the smirk in Lisa’s voice as I now stood in my room just listening.

“Mmm.” I listened as a quick kiss was exchanged. “Thanks beautiful.” There is more silence and I figured they were kissing or making out. But it didn’t go on for long, because shortly after the silence started it ended, with Alex’s voice vibrating through the wall.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing…”

“Come on. Tell me.”

I heard movement and repositioning before Lisa spoke up. “Well….” She hesitated. “W-Why don’t you kiss me like, like you use to?”

There was a perplexed silence before Alex spoke again.

“What??”

“I feel like…no, I know that you don’t like me like you use to.”

My eyes grew dramatically at what I was hearing. What brought Lisa to say something like that? She never was that blunt or harsh on Alex or anyone for that matter; she always found a way to sugarcoat things to make her words not so cruel.

“That’s crazy talk babe.”

There is silence again and Alex went back to kissing her but again I heard someone pull away and tension entered.

“Yeah…well…” Suddenly Lisa seemed so small. “We better get down stairs…” she mumbled.

I heard the bathroom door open and I could see from the crack in my open door, Lisa’s face as she passed by my door with a tear brimming in her eye. But Alex quickly caught up and grabbed her hand as she headed towards the stairs and he planted a kiss under her jaw, by her ear and one on the hollow part of her neck lovingly.

I stood still shocked at the conversation I had unintentionally witnessed. I continued watching as Lisa and Alex walked down the stairs together, still picturing the couple kisses that Alex planted on Lisa. It was like he was trying to prove his loyalty and that his feelings hadn’t changed for her like she mentioned. It was pretty obvious, even for me, to notice the doubt in Lisa’s eyes and the denial in Alex’s.

I keep to my room for a second, digesting what just happened but then followed out a few moments later towards the stairs. I was hit with loud music and a buzz of talking as well as the stench of sweat and alcohol. I stood at the top of the stairs and from there I was able to see the entire party.

Alex and Lisa split once they reached the landing. Lisa went to talk to her two close friends and Alex spotted Jade, a smile instantly forming on his face. He walked over to her and leaned in to her ear to tell her something. Whatever it was, it made them both laugh and they continued on talking animatedly.
I pinpointed Melanie with a group of friends, entertaining them with one of her crazy stories.
My eyes scanned over the floor and I saw Kaylie making out with Adam on the couch in the corner but I was distracted by a blur of Jack that was running around in just his boxers and a beer in his hand. I laughed at my friend and peeled my eyes off him and to the kitchen, where a large group of people had set up beer pong and everyone else was either dancing or chatting with new people.

I start to descend down the stairs, focusing on my footing, but I got pulled out of thought when I heard my name being slurred over the pounding music. It rang again and finally my eyes put a face to the voice. I spied Zack, holding can of beer up. He looked like he was making a single-manned toast to me as I walked down. I chuckled a little and shook my head in embarrassment, but no one was watching.

When I reached the bottom and swiveled around a couple people and met up with Zack. He quickly clung to my upper arm and leaned his head on my shoulder.

“You’re so comfy.”

“You smell sexy.”

“Your hair is so soft.”

He kept mumbling drunken phrases to me and all I could do was laugh at how ridiculous he was being. He then nuzzled his nose against my neck and I couldn’t decide how to feel. His nose tickled at my neck, causing me to giggle slightly, but my legs slowly started turning to jell-o and the arm that Zack was stuck to started to tingle.

“Your skin is so smooth,” he mumbled again. “Yummmm.”

I smiled, entertained by him. “How many drinks have you had there Mr. Merrick?”

He quickly stood up strait and his finger went on his chin and he pondered over the question dramatically. His action was enough to tell me one too many beers.

It was like he forgot what he was thinking about, because he started looking around at everyone and watching people move and interact, he then took a swig of his beer causing him to stumble in to me. I tried balancing him but he kept looking down at my shirt.

“Hey!” he said, pointed a finger and shaking it at me. “You changed your shirt!”

I raised an eyebrow, amused at how crazy he was acting. “Yes I did, Zack.”

He felt the fabric of the low neckline and I felt my heart skip a beat when his hand brushed against the exposed skin on my chest.

“Mmm. I like it.” Before I could thank him, his attention was already on something else. I then felt his rough hand in mine and he started pulling me towards the crowd of dancing people. “Let’s dance!!”

He continued to pull me through everyone to the center of the mob and I looked around at my surroundings. When I was dancing with Jack, only the half of the people that were here now were there and only a few were dancing, but now there was so much more. With everyone bouncing around, I felt myself getting pushed in to Zack when we moved. I felt his solid body against mine as we moved our hips and all of a sudden I began to think the limits of our friendship were definitely being pushed.

I looked up at Zack and he smiled down at me, making me feel so shy and so small when he did that. The tingle of his fingertips against my cheek shocked me as he moved a piece of my long hair that fell in face away. Just like the texting conversation we had a while ago, that unfamiliar feeling crept in to my stomach and my head started to feel like it wasn’t connected to my neck anymore because it was so light. I felt like my buzzing body was floating in the air, but my feet were clearly planted on the ground that supported all our grinding bodies.

We were definitely crossing boundaries now, and I felt like I needed to get out. I needed to get out, just like I did with everything else. I needed to run away.

“Zack!” I yelled over the pulsing music. He leaned down and put his ear next to me and I felt his cheek press against mine. “I-I need some water!”

He nodded and placed his large hands on either side of my hips. My voice hitched up in my throat at the overfriendly gesture he was making but soon I relaxed when I realized he was just doing it so he could move me so we could switch places, making it easier for me to squeeze my way to the kitchen.

Once I entered in to the less crowded kitchen, I let out a deep breath that was dying to get out and took in a gulp of refreshing and cooler air. Sure, I looked fine from the outside; dancing with a smile on my face. But I was freaking out on the inside. Zack wouldn’t remember any of this in the morning, but I would. Was I supposed to just dismiss everything that I had felt? Zack was drunk, but the things he did made me tingle and it gave me feelings that I hadn’t thought I had. I would have to pretend like it never happened, because when Zack would wake up in the morning he won’t remember, meaning to him, this never happened.

My hand shook as filled my glass of ice with water and took a sip. Trying to clear my head, I watched everyone else as they had a good time at Rian and Alex’s party. I didn’t have to try long though, because soon all that encased my vision was Jack. He was completely naked with only his party hat, running with a spatula and doing cartwheels around the room.

Well, Jack’s hangover would be a bitch in the morning.