Lost In The Stereo Sound

Alex's POV:
"Natty," I said turning her around to face me, "give me your empty."

"Thanks," she said handing me her beer can. "Get me something else."

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Anything," she shrugged. "Something tasty."

"Dude, I'm right here," I said leaning in close to her and pointing at my lips.

"Get off," she laughed as she pushed me away.

As if on cue, Jack walked past us yelling something about shots.

"Jack!" I yelled. "Give me two."

"For you, and the pretty lady," he said winking at Natalie.

"What is this?" she asked taking the small plastic cup out of my hands and smelling it.

"Melted jello shots?" she laughed turning to Jack.

"No!" Jack said almost dropping the tray he was carrying. "They are my special secret shots!"

"Interesting," she said lifting her shot glass up and proceeded to down it. Without so much as a bad-taste face, she grabbed another and looked over at me. "Come on, Gaskarth. You're about to be out-drunk by a girl," she giggled and threw back another shot.

"Shit," Jack said, "I think I love this girl."

"Oh hell no," I said and threw back a shot. I tried my best not to make a face, but Natalie noticed.

"Weak!" she yelled as she grabbed another shot. "Jacky, you've got to make these whenever there's a party."

"I always do," he said with a smirk. "You're draining me. I'll be back with more," he said running off to the kitchen.

"Natty, you're crazy," I added.

"Thanks," she smiled. "Come on, Alex. Let's dance!"

She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to her. It was like electricity was running through my body when she touched me. While we were dancing, I took a step back and looked around the room. All eyes were on Natalie as she danced. Noticing that I had stopped dancing with her, she stopped and put a hand on her hip.

"Are you going to leave me hanging, Gaskarth?" she joked.

"If you're not going to dance with her, then I am," my friend Zack said cutting in. She smiled and started dancing with him. Jealousy pulsated through my body for some reason. It's not like anything was actually happening with them, but it made me angry. I left to find Jack to help with making his secret fruity shots.

I found him in the kitchen, er, otherwise detained. Seeing the girl that he was devouring, I pulled him away. Drunk friends don't let even more drunk friends make out with ugly sober girls.

"Dude, what the fuck?" Jack asked getting angry.

"Do you even know who that was?" I asked with a laugh.

"Yes!" he said glaring at me.

"Oh, really? Who was it then?" I tested him.

"That girl, Maura from French class," he said as if I were retarded.

"You might want to take off your drunk goggles and realize that you were just making out with Melanie from gym," I said between laughs.

"What. The. Fuck!" Jack screamed. I mean, they both had bleach blonde hair, tan skin, and the same annoying voice, but Maura was hot. Melanie... not so much.

"She has more facial hair than you do," I said still laughing. "How could you not notice?!"

"Shit. Shut the fuck up and never tell a soul," Jack said holding his pointer finger up to his lip.

"Too late," my friend Rian said walking through the door. "I saw the whole thing play out."

"Fuck you," Jack said flicking him off.

"Yeah, why didn't you stop him?" I asked.

"Dude, it was too funny," Rian said hardly able to control himself.

"I agree," our friend Matt said poking his head inside the kitchen.

"What the fuck?" Jack said looking around at all of us as if we betrayed him.

"Relax," Matt said. "Remember when Alex dated that Anne chick?"

"Bring that shit up again, I'll tell everyone about how fucking pedophile-ish your room is," I said throwing an empty beer can at Matt.

"You wouldn't," Matt said with his eyes wide.

"Oh, I would," I insisted.

"What the hell are you ladies doing in here?" Rian's girlfriend, Kara, said walking through the door.

"Talking about your unusually large cock," Jack yelled.

"Right..." she said pouring herself a shot of rum. "You guys are boring."

"Suck my dick!" Jack yelled as she walked out grabbing Rian with her.

"I'll take you up on that," I joked. If anyone were to see us, running around and making the homosexual jokes we make all the time, they would probably think we're actually gay. Once, Jack and I walked around Baltimore holding hands. We got plenty of stares and compliments on how cute of a coupe we were.

"Alex, this will probably the only time I'll ever say this, but thank you for cock-blocking me," Jack said hugging me.

"Hug it out, bitch," I said embracing Jack.

"Whoa. Is there something you need to tell me?" Natalie said walking into the kitchen with Zack.

"You didn't tell her?" Jack said looking outraged. "You didn't tell her about our LOVE?!"

"I'm sorry, Jacky. Say you still love me?!" I jokingly begged.

"Never again!" Jack said feigning death. "Oh, shit. I forgot to make more shots."

"Yeah, get on that," Natalie said running her fingers through her hair.

"So," I walked up to her, "how do you like this?"

"It's pretty cool," she shrugged.

"Tallahassee that much better?" I said raising an eyebrow.

"No, just different," she explained. "We would drive out to the beach at night, have bonfires and get smashed."

"Is Tallahassee on the Gulf?" I asked.

"No!" she said laughing. "We had a condo on Panama City Beach."

"Jesus," I muttered under my breath.

"What?" she said making a face.

"Nothing," I covered.

"No, seriously. Why did you say that?" she asked looking at me sternly.

"You're just really... well off," I said. "Not a big deal."

"Oh," she said shifting uncomfortably.

"There's nothing wrong with that," I backtracked.

"Good," she said crossing her arms.

"I didn't mean it like that," I tried.

"No, it's ok. I get it. I just get really touchy about the subject," she said.

"Why?" I asked intrigued.

"Well, at my old school, people would constantly try to be my friend because of the things I would do with my friends. The beach condo is a perfect example," she said looking mildly sad.

"Well don't worry about that," I said. "You're pretty awesome on your own."

"Thanks," she said smiling.

"Shots are ready!" Jack yelled.

"You better catch up, Gaskarth. If I recall correctly, I am two ahead," she said grabbing two from the counter and handed one for me.

"You're on," I said throwing it back. She did the same and smiled. I grabbed for another and quickly drank it.

"Dude, where's the tequila?" Zack asked.

"Right over there," Jack said pointing to the corner counter top. It was complete with little lime slices and a salt shaker.

"You want a tequila shot?" I asked Natalie before heading over.

"Tequila and I aren't friends," she said shaking her head. "She's a bitch."

"Suit yourself," I said walking over to Zack where he was pouring double shots. After taking one, I walked back to where Natalie was.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"On top of the world," she smiled. "Four drinks is the perfect amount for me to feel good."

"You're tiny," I stated.

"Sort of," she giggled. "What about you?"

"This will do it," I said grabbing another tequila double-shot. I flipped the tiny cup back and chased with lime and salt.

"Damn," she said. "Look at you, Gaskarth."

"Let's go out back," I said. "It's getting really loud."

"Ok," she said following me as I made my way towards the back door.

Natalie's POV:
"It's nice and quiet out here," Alex said sitting down next to the pool and putting his feet in the water.

"I didn't know Jack had a pool," I said stupidly. For some reason unknown to me, I was acting strangely. It's as if I were nervous, but I wasn't. What? I wasn't.

"Yep," he said patting the ground next to him. I took off my shoes and sat down putting my feet in the water.

"This feels nice," I stated dumbly.

"Sure, Natty," he said with a laugh. "Want to get in?"

"Yes," I said knowing perfectly well that if I were sober, I would probably have at least hesitated. That was the funny thing about me being drunk. I knew what half of the things I did weren't something I'd normally do, but still did them anyway.

"Really?" Alex asked looking surprised.

"Did I stutter?" I joked at him. He took off his t shirt he had been wearing and pulled off his pants revealing those boxer length briefs. I guess that made sense seeing that his pants were pretty tight. With a salute, he flipped himself into the pool with a giant splash that ended up getting me decently wet.

"Coming?" he said gesturing the water.

"Yeah," I said giving him a mean face. I slipped off my hoodie and lifted my black dress over my head. I literally thought Alex's eyes were going to pop out of his head. I jumped in and swam over to where he was. "You're it," I said poking his arm.

"Oh, you're on," Alex said swimming after me.

"Eyes up here, Gaskarth," I said pointing to my face.

We played in the water for a while, doing flips, attempting to synchronize swim, and seeing who could hold their breath the longest.

"You should know that you're seriously the coolest girl I know," Alex said sitting down next to me on the steps into the pool.

"Yeah, I get that a lot..." I said jokingly. "But, thanks."

"So what was your life like back in Florida?" he asked me.

"It was a lot of fun," I said remembering all of the crazy shit my friends and I would do on the weekends. "I miss it a lot."

"Did you have a boyfriend?" Alex practically burst.

"Yes, I did," I nodded. "But it was a weird situation. Pretty fucked up if you ask me."

"How so?" Alex pressed.

"Well, I loved him for one. I was fucked from the beginning," I started. "About a year or so after we had been dating, I found out that he had been cheating on me the whole time. So then I rebelled in the most mature and reasonable way possible."

"What's that?"

"I cheated on him too," I said laughing. "It was sarcasm, Gaskarth."

"Oh... right," he said faking a laugh.

"So one day he caught me in the act with another guy. To tell you the truth, I didn't even know him. Like I said, it was fucked up. Anyway, my boyfriend starts screaming at me and threatening me and everything was awful. But I loved him, right? So we 'got over it' and dated until a month or so before I left," I concluded.

"Wow," Alex said looking generally overwhelmed.

"Yeah, but in retrospect, I was a stupid, stupid bitch," I stated.

"But you were in love. Not your fault," Alex said trying to make me feel better.

"It's ok, Alex. I know that I was being an idiot," I said. "I really needed that slap in the face before I could realize it, but once I got it, I had an epiphany."

"That's pretty rough," Alex agreed.

"It was. It probably explains why I don't plan on getting close with anyone here, really," I said.

"Why not?" Alex asked cocking his head in question.

"Because it's pointless," I said rolling my eyes. "I'm off to college next fall so what's the point?"

"You never know," Alex said hopefully.

"You, my dear, are a hopeless romantic whether or not you want to admit it," I said standing up to get out of the pool. I was shivering.

"No," he said, "Just not a pessimist."

"I'm a realist, Gaskarth," I said walking over to my clothes. He followed and noticed I was shaking. He put his arms around my shivering body.

"I'll go get some towels," Alex said as he made his way to shed next to the pool. He walked out with two large white towels and handed one to me.

"Thanks," I said catching it.

"You're welcome," Alex said with a smirk. "You looked freezing."

"Jesus, Gaskarth! My eyes are on my face which is located ABOVE my chest," I said wrapping the towel around me.

"My bad," he laughed. "Let's get inside."

We went upstairs and dried off more thoroughly,put our clothes back on and returned to the party. We drank some more and danced some more. I was having a good time until I started to realize that it was nearing 1:30.

"I need to go," I said to Alex.

"Alright, I'll walk you home," Alex said guiding me toward the front door.

"You don't have to," I said shaking my head.

"But I want to," he whined.

"Alright," I said beginning the two block walk back to my house. We didn't say a whole lot, but it was a comfortable silence, not that awkward silence.

"Well, I hope you had fun," Alex said as we reached my front door.

"I did. Your friends are pretty awesome," I said.

"They are," Alex said nodding.

"I'll call you tomorrow," I said putting my key in the doorknob.

"Natalie," Alex said quietly from behind me.

I turned around and was greeted by his lips forcefully crashing into mine as he placed a hand on the small of my back and the other in my hair. I'll admit, I knew this was bound to happen, but I swore to myself that I wouldn't let it happen. But for reasons I can't explain, I let it happen. I didn't push him away or pull back or even just stand there. Jesus, no, I put my arms around him and kissed him back. And not just politely either. I kissed him back like I wanted him. For a minute, I lost myself inside that drunken kiss that I had no intention of happening. Then all of the sudden, I realized what I was and how I didn't want to do this him. I didn't want to hurt Alex, so I pulled away.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I shouldn't... I can't... I'm sorry," I said speechless.

"Don't do that, Natalie. I know you felt something," he insisted.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly turning around immediately regretting it upon seeing the look on his face. "I'll call you tomorrow," I said closing the door behind me.

I looked through the peephole and saw him just stand there for literally ten seconds, which is a long time if you think about it. He turned around and slammed his fist against the brick side of the house yelling "Fuck!"

I felt my stomach churning and it had nothing to do with the alcohol I had consumed earlier tonight. I felt like I had fucked everything up with the one friend I had made at school. I knew that the only way anything with him would end badly and sourly. I really wanted to keep him as a friend instead of totally cutting each other out of our lives. I'd made that mistake before and I wasn't about to make it again. But, god, his lips left mine tingling. As much as I hated to admit it, I wanted to chase after him. I wanted him to run his fingers through my hair as he kissed me. I wanted to feel his heartbeat on my chest. What the fuck is wrong with me?