Be My Escape

As I stood outside Max and co.’s apartment, I could think of about ten things I would rather be doing. Getting my teeth pulled, having bird flu, and running a marathon were all on that list.

I was not a party person, plain and simple.

When I had gotten home from work only an hour before, I took a quick shower and changed into what I figured would be an acceptable party outfit, which was only a pair of my favorite jeans and a white v-neck. It was nothing special, and it was starting to feel like my uniform when I wasn’t dressed in work clothes, but that was what I was going for. I didn’t want to stick out.

Finally, I decided my internal debate had gone on long enough, so I knocked and waited for someone to answer.

“Peyton!” Max exclaimed with a big smile. “Glad you’re coming with us. Come on,” he grabbed my arm lightly and pulled me into the flat. “My mates are dying to meet you.”

As soon as we walked into the flat, we were in the living room. The set up of their apartment was similar to mine, but theirs was more open. I instantly noticed Josh and another guy sitting on the couch, game controllers in their hand as FIFA played on the TV. They didn’t even notice me while I stood next to Max, which wasn’t a surprise. Guys and their video games, I tell you.

“Take that!” the one who wasn’t Josh yelled in triumph, tossing his controller onto the TV. “What’s the score, mate?” he smirked at Josh who rolled his eyes.

“You cheat, I tell you.”

Just as they were getting into a heated discussion, Max rolled his eyes and yelled, “Children! We have a guest,” which surprisingly pulled them from their argument.

“Oh,” Josh said, no emotion in his voice whatsoever.

I rolled my eyes and said, “Nice to see you too, Josh.”

The boy next to him laughed and shoved his shoulder lightly before standing up and saying hello to me. “I’m Dan,” he smiled as we shook hands quickly.

“Peyton,” I smiled shyly as I took in his appearance. He was tall with clean cut dirty blonde hair. He had the definition of chiseled cheekbones, which just topped off his attractive appearance.

Max grabbed my arm again and said, “Come on, the others are in here.” He lead me through the living room into the kitchen, where two other guys were located. One was on the phone, but he smiled at me as we entered, while the other was at the fridge, apparently looking for something to eat.

“What have you blokes been eating for the past week that we’ve been here?” the boy with his head in the fridge called out, not realizing we were right there in the kitchen with him. “There’s nothing!” He pulled his body from the fridge and turned around, startling slightly when he realized Max and I were right there.

“Peyton, this is Matt,” Max told me. Matt had dark brown hair that was short and messy, swept off to the side across his forehead. If he wasn’t smiling at me now, I would assume he was rather grumpy most of the time, just going off of the way he acted when he was hidden away in the fridge.

“’Ello there,” he smiled at me, reaching his hand out to shake my own. “Heard quite a bit about you from this one,” he told me, pointing to Max.

I smiled at Matt, but didn’t say anymore. My shyness was kicking in, and Max was picking up on it.

“She’s shy, this one is,” Max shrugged as he told Matt this.

Josh chose then to make his appearance in the kitchen. “On what planet?” he mumbled under his breath, but I caught every word he said.

“Shove it,” I glared at him, earning a laugh from Max.

“She and Josh fight like cats and dogs, so our mission at the party tonight is to keep ‘em away from each other, yeah?” he told Matt, who just shrugged.

“Is Chris coming with?” Dan asked, surprising me because I hadn’t known he was in the kitchen too.

The boy on the phone, who I assumed was Chris, shook his head as he hung up. “Nope, not tonight. Going out with my lady, and I’m going to be late if I don’t leave now. I’ll see you later,” he called over his shoulder as he left the apartment.

“Guess it’s just us then. Let’s head out!” Max called, wrapping his arm around my shoulder again as we all left the loft.

Josh and Matt lead the group, while Dan, Max, and myself stayed behind them as we walked down the sidewalk. As we walked, Max’s phone rang, so he dropped his arm from my shoulder and strayed back from the group, leaving Dan alone with me. “So where are we going exactly? Max didn’t really give me any details,” I asked Dan.

He laughed and nodded. “Sounds like Max, gets so excited about something that he leaves crucial details out.” I nodded, because he was right, and then he continued. “Its just a little house party we got invited to by Max’s new lass. She’s a sweet girl, just a little bit of an airhead sometimes, but what can you do?” he admitted with a shrug.

I nodded, but was quiet as we continued to walk. “So is Max the only one with a girlfriend?” I asked Dan, suddenly curious about the boys I was going to be spending so much time with.

“Nope, Chris has a steady girlfriend that he’s been with forever, and I have a girlfriend that I’ve been with for about a year now. Josh had a girlfriend, but she—”

“Crushed him, I heard,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “What exactly does that mean though? I mean, I don’t care but I’d like to know why he’s always in such a bad mood, mainly when I’m around.”

Dan laughed and shook his head. “Honestly? You remind him of her.”

I gave Dan a look that said you’ve got to be kidding me, but said nothing.

“No, I’m serious. She was quiet and shy, just like you are. Or at least, how you sometimes are, which by the way is quite confusing.”

“What is?”

“You act shy and quiet sometimes, but then other times you’re really friendly, and then other times you want to kill Josh,” he smirked. “And I’ve only known you for about fifteen minutes.”

I laughed too, only because he was right. My emotions were not normal these days. I tended to be a regular wallflower most of the time, but if I was comfortable in a situation, I would be really friendly and normal. If I wasn’t comfortable, like I wasn’t around Josh, then I tended to put my defenses up. I couldn’t help it though; I just had a wide range of emotions.

When Dan didn’t go into any further detail about Josh and his ex, I didn’t push the subject any more. He probably figured if I wanted to know so bad, then I could go to Josh for answers, but we both knew that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

Finally, we reached the house where the party was being held. As we walked up the sidewalk, I could practically feel the bass of whatever music was playing, pumping loud for all to hear, and I could smell the alcohol drifting out the front door.

It was going to be a long night.

***

“Maxie!” someone called out as soon as the group of us entered the house.

“Rosie!” he smiled as a pretty blonde enveloped him in a hug. “Come on, love, let’s go get a drink.”

With that, Max was gone. I turned to Dan who was still by my side and instantly panicked. “Don’t leave me please,” I begged him.

He laughed and slung an arm over my shoulder, giving me a quick squeeze. “You’ll be fine, love. Just go get a drink or play a game of beer pong. You’ll make friends in no time!” he reassured me, and then was off.

Suddenly, I was alone in a sea of people. “I need to find the alcohol,” I mumbled to myself. The only thing that was going to make this party bearable would be if I got some alcohol in my system. I made my way through the house and found the kitchen, where all of the booze was located. I grabbed one of the familiar red cups and made my way to the keg. I smiled at the guy handling it and he smiled back, grabbing my cup and filing it for me. I tried to thank him, but my voice was lost in the sea of music and people.

Before I even knew what was happening, as I turned around to explore more of the party (read: hideout in a dark corner), Josh suddenly appeared. The crowded kitchen was too small and my moves too quick, and before I could stop it, my beer was slowly soaking through his t-shirt. “Oh, shit,” I muttered, trying my hardest at an apologetic look.

Josh looked down at his wet shirt and then back up at me. “You dislike me that much that you had to go and spill your beer on me?” he joked, a smirk appearing on his face as he lifted his own red cup up to his lips and took a sip.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, slightly surprised he hadn’t reached out and hit me yet but instead was actually laughing about his soaked attire. The blush that crept up my neck was giving away my embarrassment at the situation.

“It’s alright, accidents happen and all that.” He offered me a small smile as he took another drink of his beer. “I’ll get you a new one,” he said as he grabbed my cup from my hand and brushed by me, heading to the keg.

I stayed where I was, watching him in shock as he got me a new drink. When he got back to my side, he handed me the plastic cup and then moved his head in the direction that suggested he wanted to get out of the kitchen. He leaned close to me and yelled to be heard above the music, “Follow me.”

Still slightly in shock, I followed Josh as we made our way through the house packed full of people. The house wasn’t very big, but it still took us awhile to get through it all. Finally, we reached the doors that lead from the living room outside to a porch that was significantly less packed, considering it was slightly cold out.

Josh opened the door and started to go outside, but I stopped him. “It’s freezing out!” I protested, goosebumps already appearing on my arms from the chill escaping into the house. “I didn’t even wear a jacket.”

Rolling his eyes, Josh slipped his jacket off and handed it over. “Now come on,” he told me, disappearing outside.

I sighed and slipped his black jacket on, but followed nonetheless.

As I stepped out onto the deck, the smell of smoke was rather extreme. It seemed that everyone was doing Max’s girlfriend a favor and not smoking inside her house, which was nice for everyone inside but kind of a pain in the ass for those of us braving the cold temperatures to be outside.

I scanned the deck and quickly found Josh lounging in a chaise lounge in the corner, one of the few spaces that was relatively unoccupied by people. I made my way across the deck and sat down in the chair that was next to Josh and let my gaze scan over the people scattered around outside.

“Interesting bunch, isn’t it?” Josh said suddenly, breaking the silence surrounding us.

I laughed but nodded, because he was right. There were all kinds of people there. Guys with tattoos and piercings galore, girls with hair dyed ridiculous colors, guys wearing skinny jeans and t-shirts with hair cuts similar to my brother’s own, and girls in short mini skirts and other various trashy outfits, just trying to get with any guy they could.

I turned to face Josh finally. “This isn’t your scene, is it?” I asked him quietly.

“Partying?” he elaborated, and when I nodded he shook his head. “No, not really. I mean, yeah I enjoy drinking with my mates, and even when we’re touring and the other bands want to party I’m the first to agree. But this?” he said, gesturing to the people inside, “this isn’t quite my scene, as you put it.” He brought his cup up to his lips and took another drink. “Not anymore anyways,” he added quietly.

Just like that, I was hit with a realization. “She cheated on you at a party, didn’t she?” I asked him as I took a sip of my own drink. I may not have been doing stellar in school, but I wasn’t an idiot and I knew when someone was heartbroken. Josh was the definition of that at this moment, and for some reason it made me feel bad for him.

He nodded sadly and said, “More or less.” But then he looked at me, his gaze hard and his eyes dark. “Don’t do that,” he told me, his voice stern.

“Do what?”

“Pity me,” he muttered as he took yet another, final drink of his beer. He set the cup beside his chair and stood up. Looking down at me as I sat in the chair still, his gaze was still hard and his eyes were still dark, and suddenly I knew Josh was angry with me and I didn’t have any idea why.

“I’m not pitying you,” I tried to protest, but he stopped me.

“Yes you are, I can hear it in your voice.” With a shake of his head, he said, “I’m going back, if anyone asks.” With that, Josh walked away from me without as much as a quick goodbye wave.

I was completely lost. I thought Josh and I were actually maybe getting along, even if I had spilled beer on him. Maybe it was just the alcohol in his system, or maybe Max or Dan had told him to be nicer to me, and then when I brought up his ex he couldn’t bring himself to fake the nice attitude anymore. With a sigh, I stood up to go find someone so I could maybe go back to my own apartment. Suddenly, I was wiped out and I just didn’t feel like being at the party anymore.

As I walked through the party looking for a familiar face, I knew one thing was for sure: I may have told Josh that he didn’t know me, but I certainly didn’t know Josh, either.