A Twist in My Story

At ten o’clock, Nick was knocking on Serena’s door. He could hear giggling coming from behind the door and there was music playing in the background. A girl with long blond hair and an incredibly short dress opened the door slightly, blocking the inside of the room from his view. “Who are you?” she questioned.

“Uhm, is Serena here?” he asked timidly.

She gave him the once over and smiled, revealing a neat row of pearly white teeth. “Rena, there’s a really cute guy asking for you,” the blond girl said over her shoulder. Two seconds later Serena’s head appeared next to her friends’.

“Nick, you made it!” she exclaimed, pulling the door wider and pulling him into the room. She embraced him in a hug and dragged him further into the room. His eyes scanned his surroundings. The sophomore dorms were nicer and a bit bigger than the freshman dorms. The ceilings were higher and the walls were painted a pale yellow. There were posters and pictures covering almost every wall surface. The two beds in the room both had girly floral print comforters that seemed to complement each other in their colors. “Guys, this is Nick,” Serena introduced. Nick brought his attention back to the people he was being introduced to. Along with the girl that answered the door (who after glancing at the pictures on half the room he figured was Serena’s roommate) there were two other girls and three other guys in the room. They were sitting on any available surface, from desk chairs to the beds and even the floor.

Nick smiled at them and gave a small wave before shoving his hands back into his pockets. Everyone else chorused ‘hey’ and ‘sup’. Taking a closer look he noticed that there were a few bottles of liquor on the desks and that everyone had small plastic shot classes near them, along with bottles of soda or juice.

“Do you want to do a shot?” Serena asked him, walking over to where the alcohol was set up on one of the desks. Nick followed her as the rest of her friends continued to drink and mingle, singing along to the music. “Guys, don’t get too loud. We don’t want Sarah to come knocking at our door,” Serena advised. “That’s our RA,” she explained turning back to Nick, “I swear the girl has a stick up her ass; she’s so uptight all the time,” she added with an eye roll. “So, what are you having?”

“I thought we were going to a party,” Nick asked, confused by this gathering. “Not drinking in your room.”

Serena chuckled slightly and then realized he was being serious. “Oh Nick, you’re so adorable,” she cooed, pinching his cheeks. “We are going to a party, but not for another hour or so. We’re just pre-gaming,” she explained with a wink. “So, what will it be? We have jello shots in the fridge too; they’re watermelon flavored, yum!” she added.

Nick was hesitant. He had of course been to parties where alcohol was present, but he could never really drink for two reasons—first of all, his parents, brothers and sister-in-law would kill him if they ever caught him drinking underage and second of all, he was always involved in some sport, so getting trashed only to have a game or practice the next day wasn’t very practical. But he was at college. His family wasn’t around and it was far from being baseball season. “I guess I’ll start with a jello shot,” he finally responded, figuring the jello would mask the alcohol.

“Yay, I wanted one too. We’ll do it together,” she said, walking to her small refrigerator and pulling out a small plastic shot class with pink jello in it. Nick followed her example and used his finger to remove the jello from the edge of the cup. Then he threw it back and used his tongue to scoop the jello out. It was cold against his teeth, but he swallowed it whole. He could definitely taste the alcohol in it and tried his best not to make a face. He was pretty sure there was more vodka in there than jello. “Mmm, so good. Want another one?” Serena asked, already opening the fridge door.

“I think I’m okay for now,” he responded, turning down her offer. She shrugged and got another one out.

“Who wants to do jello shots?!” she exclaimed looking past him at the rest of the people in her room. Almost all of them agreed and came over. Nick squirmed out of the way and sat on one of the chairs, straddling it so that his arms were folded across the back of the chair.

“So, how do you know Rena and how come I’ve never seen you around before?” the same blond from before asked, plopping down on the floor next to him, stretching her legs out so as not to expose what was underneath her short dress.

“We’re in the same writing class,” he explained.

“Aww, you’re a freshman?” she cooed in the same way Serena had earlier. Nick hoped he wasn’t blushing—for some reason he felt uncomfortable about being the only freshman among them. He nodded his head curtly. She gasped. “Wait, you’re the frosh she’s been talking about?”

Nick fought back another blush, for a different reason this time—Serena had talked about him. “I guess,” he responded with a shrug.

Serena’s roommate ‘awed’. “So is this your first night out?” she continued to question, taking a sip of whatever was in her cup. Nick nodded once more. “Don’t worry baby boy, you’re gonna have a great time. It’s nearly impossible not to when you party with Serena,” she said with a wink, standing back up and going over to her friends. As he watched Serena do a shot of coconut flavored rum, he couldn’t help but feel like her roommate was absolutely right.
*
An hour later Nick was walking down a flight of stairs to an off campus house basement. It was dark, only a few Christmas lights strung about the dingy place. The music was loud and there were entirely too many people squeezing around each other. A guy was standing at the foot of the stairs with a stack of clear plastic cups, collecting money from people walking down the stairs. A smile broke out on his face when he saw Serena.

“Girl, I was wondering when you were gonna show up around here,” he said, accepting the hug she gave him.

Once she pulled away, Serena shrugged. “You know me; I like to be fashionably late,” she responded with a wink.

“Where’s Haley?” he asked.

Serena pointed behind him. “She’s already partying,” she responded with a giggle. Nick looked as well and saw that Serena’s roommate was already dancing with a group of guys around her. “You know she doesn’t drink beer, so she completely by-passed you,” she added.

“Ya know, I’m not sure if I should be offended at the fact she didn’t at least stop to say hi,” he mused.

Serena giggled off his remark. “Well, I don’t wanna hold up the line; what’d ya say you hook up me and my friend here?” she asked with a flirty grin. The guy turned to look at Nick for the first time. “Nick, Austin, Austin, Nick,” Serena quickly introduced. “So, how ‘bout it Aus,” she prompted once more.

“Any friend of yours is a friend of mine. Sup dude?” Nick gave Austin a fist pump when the older guy stretched his fist out.

“Not much,” Nick responded.

“Here you go Rena. Come find me later,” he said, handing over the two clear plastic cups that were marked to ensure they were paid for. Rena took them and placed a grateful kiss on his cheek, grabbing Nick’s hand and pulling him into the packed basement. There was a crowd of people standing in front of the bar, all of them holding similar cups.

“Mikey!” Serena screeched, having shoved her and Nick to the front of the crowd. One of the three guys standing behind the bar smiled at her as he topped off the person next to them.

“Hey Rena,” he said, pouting his lips at her as if he were blowing her a kiss. “You want some beer?” he questioned, holding up the tap to the keg.

“Do I ever! Mikey, this is Nick, Nick, Mikey,” she introduced as she grabbed his cup from his hand and handed it to Mikey. They exchanged a head nod in greeting. “Do me a favor, make sure he’s taken care of for the night,” Serena asked as she handed Nick his cup back, this time filled with beer.

“Anything for you doll,” the guy replied with a grin, returning her cup which was also topped off.

“Thanks boo. See you around.” With a wink, she turned and pushed through the crowd again. Nick followed her, raising his cup in the air to prevent from spilling it while his other hand nestled in hers. Once they were clear of the people trying to get alcohol, he found himself standing up against the wall in a corner.

“I can’t believe how crazy it is in here,” he stated. Serena, who had immediately taken a sip of her drink smiled at him.

“I know! Isn’t it fabulous?” she asked with a giggle. Nick could tell she was already a little tipsy. “Why aren’t you drinking your beer?” she asked, noticing his cup was still full while hers was missing a few sips.

Nick tried to hold down his blush. “Oh, I’m just taking this all in. This is nothing like the parties I went to in high school,” he mused.

“Have you never drunk before?” Serena asked. She was a lot closer to him now, her face practically in his as the bodies around them increased, forcing them closer together.

“A little but not really,” Nick admitted. “I never could because of sports,” he added.

“Aww,” Serena cooed, slinging her arm over his neck. “It’s fun, trust me. We need to get you loosened up a little. How about a game of beer pong?” she suggested.

Nick was slightly hesitant, but she had already taken a hold of his hand and was pulling them through the bodies and to another section of the dingy basement. Eventually they came upon a table with cups set upon it and people surrounding it. Serena let go of his hand and greeted a few more people. Nick was coming to realize she was a busy body—it seemed she knew everybody! He momentarily was brought back to earlier on in the afternoon and the things Olivia had told him, warning him about Serena’s wild habits. It seemed she had been right about at least one thing—Serena was definitely into the party scene.

“Has anyone called dibs on the next game?” Serena asked the people she had greeted.

“Yup, but the game after that is free,” one of the guys standing around the table replied.

“Awesome. Nick and I call dibs,” she stated, once more slinging her arm around his neck. “You’ll be my partner, right?” she asked, cocking her head to look at him.

Nick quickly glanced at the people staring on and shrugged in response. “Sure,” he added.

Serena sent him a beaming smile, taking a gulp of her drink before introducing him to the group of people surrounding them—he was sure he was going to forget most of their names by the end of the night. He stood by idly taking sips of the beer in his cup as he observed the game. When the last cup had been chugged, the losers were replaced by the people that had said they were playing next.

“So, how good do you think you’ll be at this game?” Serena leaned in and asked him.

Nick kept his eyes focused on the game as he replied, “I played basketball in high school, so hopefully I don’t embarrass myself.”

“Are you playing ball for the school?” she asked. Nick shook his head ‘no’. “Well then hopefully you’ve retained some skill because they guys that are currently winning are on the school’s basketball team and they’re probably who we’re going up against.” As she said that, one of those two guys got the ping pong ball into the cup, making one of the guys on the other team chug the beer in said cup. “Drink up Nicky. That cup has to be empty by the time our game starts,” Serena added with a tap to the brim of his cup, a devilish grin pulling at her lips. Just then, one of the basketball boys got the ball in another cup, meaning there was one cup remaining for them. Nick looked down at his cup and internally grimaced before bringing it up to his lips and chugging the amber liquid. There was nothing worse than cheap keg beer.

Serena patted his back with a giggle—it was so obvious Nick didn’t like the taste. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it,” she whispered in his ear, squeezing his bicep as the basketball boys got the ball in the last cup, effectively ending that game with them as the winners. “We’re up!”

Serena chugged the remainder of her beer before making her way to the end of the table that the losers had just vacated. Nick followed behind her. “Awh nah, we’re going against Serena?” one of the guys asked in amusement. “This should be easy,” he added as new cups were filled half way with beer. The six cups were set up in a triangle in front of both teams.

Serena stuck her tongue out at them. “You guys are going down, Ben. My partner used to play basketball for his high school. And I happen to be a phenomenal pong player,” she defended.

“Yea okay girl,” the Ben kid teased. “Here we go, you ready?” he asked, tossing her one of the two balls. Serena caught it as it rolled towards her and pushed Nick slightly aside, lining herself up at the center of the table. She and Ben maintained eye contact as they tossed the ball at each other, aiming for the cups in front of the opposite team. Serena missed. Ben didn’t. They got to go first. On the first toss, Ben’s partner made it in and Serena offered to take that one, so she picked up the cup and chugged the beer in it. Ben missed his shot. Both Nick and Serena made their shots, so the two boys had to chug two of their cups. After that first round Serena kept making weird hand gestures to distract the two boys, and it worked. “Girl stop cheating,” Ben said, even though he was laughing. Serena didn’t stop, however. She wasn’t taking the game seriously either and even though Nick truly tried his best, he could already feel the effects of the drinks he’d had in her room and the beers he had chugged in such a short amount of time. They ended up losing the game and even though you were supposed to take turns chugging the beer, he had ended up chugging the majority of them.

By the end of the game though, he didn’t mind. His head felt light, and he sort of liked the feeling. The longer the night went on, the more beers he drank, and the better he felt. He wasn’t as anxious anymore and found himself having a good time. Some girl had even managed to get him out on the dance floor for a few songs, but then Serena found him and pulled him away from the girl without an explanation.

“We’re going to another party,” she said, holding firmly onto his hand as they walked up the basement steps. The alcohol coursing through his system made him bolder than usual, so he tightened his hold on her hand and tugged her close to him, tucking her into his side as they walked down the sidewalk and to another house. Serena looked up at him momentarily and when he looked down and smiled flirtatiously at her, she bit her lip and smiled back.

Like at the previous house, Serena knew the person manning the door, so she got them free cups again. This time Nick was the one to get them the beers. Once they both had full cups, Serena pulled him to a corner of the dark dance floor. She pressed him up against the wall and turned away from him, pressing her back to his front and moving her hips along to the beat of the bass. Nick continued to take sips of his beer from the cup in his right hand while his left hand rest on Serena’s hip, aiding them as they gyrated against him.

Serena’s right hand came up and behind her, holding on to the back of his head as she pressed herself even further to him. Nick’s left cheek was pressed tightly to her right cheek and she could feel his hot breath beating down on her neck and the side of her face. It sent a shiver down her spine and she could no longer resist doing what she did best—she turned around and pressed her front to Nick’s, wedging one of her legs between his. Hooking her arm across his neck, she pulled him in for a kiss.

It caught Nick off guard and for a moment he seemed to sober up. But then the drunken fog clouded his brain once more and he went along with it. He would be lying if he said he didn’t like it—he had been hanging out with her all week and he really liked her: she was hot, and funny, and an overall cool chick. Their sloppy drunken kiss turned into a make-out session real fast. Serena was using both her hands to fist clumps of his curls and pull his face closer to hers while his left hand rest dangerously low on her back side. Serena may have more experience than him with the whole drinking thing, but this was one thing he definitely wasn’t a novice at.

“God you’re hot,” she mumbled against his lips when she came up for air. Nick didn’t let her go too long before his lips were already back on hers. “You don’t have a girlfriend, right?” Serena mumbled again.

Nick barely removed his lips from hers long enough to respond, “Nope.”

“And there’s nothing going on between you and that Olivia girl?” Nick pulled away from her at that and gave her a quizzical look. “She seemed to be protective of you,” Serena added, her tone clearly showing some hostility and…jealousy?

Nick gave her his signature lopsided smirk and shook his head. “There is definitely nothing going on there.” He didn’t even give her time to respond before attacking her lips once more, turning her so that she was the one pinned up against the wall, his larger body blocking her off from the rest of the party.

The remainder of his night was spent drinking beer, meeting new people, dancing with Serena, and making out with her in dark corners of various parties.