Colors

No four months of my life had ever passed by so slowly. The realization of my father hit me hard. Life passed by as a blur until I got a call, from Sam, on New Years Eve.

"Bay! You have to come over tonight. My parents are out of town, and I'm throwing a party. Be here before everyone else, though. Okay?" She hung up before I could respond.
I hung up the phone and dialed Mitchall's number. "You're coming to Sam's house for a party tonight, otherwise I'll be alone all night. Will you?"
"Sure."
I hung up.

I rung Sam's door bell. She opened up, a smile on her face, as usual when I showed up. "Honey, I'm home!" I exclaimed, holding a couple of beers.
"Welcome!" She said, holding open the door for me.
I walked in, and took a look around. Sam's house was the only on our block that wasn't fancy, or new. It was fifty years old and small, but it was a home. Their home. And mine, when I needed.
"Stop looking around and help me set up. It’s not like you’ve never been here before." She shouted from the kitchen.

This was her first major party, and she was hosting it. She was always invited to parties, so was I, but we'd never been interested before. I guess having a super popular new boyfriend/fiance made you more obligated to these things. Either way, now it was a big deal, and with everyone still talking about my 'situation' it was a big social risk to invite me. Social status had never been too important to Sam though, I wasn't really sure if she even knew that people still thought I was a wack-job- making her the freaks friend.
"Why'd you invite me to this thing, anyway. No one's really going to want me here, except you and Mitchall... I invited him, by the way."
"Because you're my best friend, and they've never seen you party," She winked, "This'll be good for you. And that's fine," She said, referring to Mitchall, "sexy boys are always welcome." She grabbed two six-packs out of the refrigerator and set them on the counter, then went back in for more. In all, she pulled out six of them. "Do you think it's enough?" She asked, skeptically. "Do you have any more in the garage?"
"Well, how many people did you invite?"
"Like, twenty, maybe."
"I'll go get my daddy's stash."

I left the house while Sam was calling the pizza guy. Mitchall was at my front door, looking for me. I snuck up on him, and tapped him on the shoulder. "Holy crap, girl!" He jumped, swirling around. "Where did you come from?"
I pointed behind me, "Sam's"
"Oh." His face was all red.
"Come on, boy, help me carry some stuff over."

We walked into the garage and walked to the tiny refrigerator behind the couch near the back wall. We grabbed four more six-packs, plus a few bottles of wine and margarita mix. I also grabbed 50 dollars from the couch cushion, and we headed back to Sam's.
"Hey, Bay, pizza will be here in fifteen- Mitchall!" She ran up and gave him a big hug. "I do hope you're being good to my Baybelle."
"I am, I promise." He smiled and put his arm around my shoulder, and we began our act. Although we seemed to have everyone else fooled, Sam saw through our facade: She and Ian were probably the only people in town that knew we weren't a real couple.

Jessica Cyrus, May Jacobs and their boyfriends rang the doorbell, with Ian following close behind. Once Ian walked through the door he took Sam's hands in his and kissed them.
"This is your house?" Jessica asked, her face a mask of disgust.
"Yep," Sam said, proudly, "this is my home."

An awkward silence began to seep into the room, but then the bell rang and everyone filed in. Music started playing and drinks were opened. Within an hour four of the six boxes of pizza were gone, and dozens of beer cans littered the kitchen.
People were buzzed and flopping all over the dance floor. You could practically see the walls pulsating from the bass.
Three couples were lying on top of each other, making out on the couch. Another couple had already made it upstairs. Everyone else was still dancing, drinking, and eating. At least thirty students from our school ended up coming.

A slow song came on. I wanted to sit down, but Mitchall wouldn't let me go. I'd never slow danced before, so I looked over at Sam and Ian. His hands were on her waist, her arms around his neck, and her head rested on his chest.
Mitchall's hands softly touched my waist, so I duplicated Sam's posture. "Just follow my lead." He whispered in my ear."
We watched each other’s eyes as we floated around the room. Neither of us realized when the song ended.
Jessica looked over at us and ditched her boyfriend to talk to us. "Hey, you love-birds!"
We broke away from one another almost instantly.
"So, have you two shared your first kiss?"
"No." We both said, flatly.
I thought it was strange, almost. Mitchall and I had technically been just friends all this time, but for the past four months everyone else in town thought we’d been dating. Jessica was the first one to bother to ask if we’d kissed, or even ask how their relationship was going. Baybelle felt a twinge of worry in the back of her mind. Were people starting to suspect? She shot a long stare at Mitchall, wondering if his thought process was going in the same direction.
Jessica smiled evilly, "Well, you guys better get started. You don't want people, especially the school board, to think that you two aren't getting along. They'll have to fix you, like they did to Lizza.”
I remembered the day Lizza got taken away, the same Lizza that used to date Ian. She was in a deep depression for weeks after they broke up. For days on end no one would hear her talk, and she was terrified of her new, drunk, drug addict fiance. During the second month of school she was taken away. People said psychotherapy. She came back, a week or two before christmas break, happy as can be, completely loving her fiance. It was so bizarre.

"Well," Mitchall pulled me close and hugged me to him, "you don't have to worry about that with us. I love Baybelle.
My face felt hot, and Jessica's was obviously turning a deep shade of red in the dim lighting. "Of course..." She stormed over to her boyfriend- Luke, crazy Liza's twin brother- and kissed him long on the lips. Five minutes later I spotted them heading upstairs.
"What a ho." Mitchall muttered.
I smiled, "Come on, Lover, lets dance.”

No one left until three a.m. The party was fantastic, but everyone except me, Sam, Mitch, and Ian, was plastered. Everything was gone; the beer, the margaritas, and the wine. All gone. Plus Jessica broke an end table- which I payed to replace- and puked in Sam's bedroom.
Because all of our parents happened to be at the spa together we stayed to help clean up and went to my house afterward. We each picked out a movie, but fireworks began outside, exciting Sam and Ian, so we watched those instead.
Sam and Ian lay on the grass, holding each other. "Happy new year." He told her. They just looked into each others eyes, forgetting about the fireworks, and I could see just how much they loved each other. Just as the grand finale started he kissed her- though I was the only one who knew it- for the first time.
I can even admit, I teared up a little for her.
Mitchall picked me up into a fireman's carry, "You okay?"
"Just very happy for her." I assured him, with a smile.