Give It To Me

“Dude, Jare, you got to drink something! It’s a fucking party, live a little!” I laugh at John. He is swaying slightly and using his hands to emphasis his slurred speech.

“Bro, I think you’re forgetting I’m your d.d. tonight. Maybe next time, yeah?” He nods, his eyes wide with seriousness. I just laugh again.

About ten later, John’s working on a new bottle of beer and I’m craving one myself. It’s odd being here, at this party. I haven’t seen some of the people here for the better part of a year, and it is sort of surreal being surrounded by them again. But there’s something about a night like this that’s intoxicating, even without all the beer and spiked punch being past around. Call it nostalgia or whatever, but it reminds me of senior year.

I look around the yard, telling myself I am just trying to put names to all the faces. In reality, I am looking for someone to dump John off on. The guy’s like my brother, but his drinking is only making me want to drink and have fun too and I can’t. Drink that is. But at parties like this one the words “fun” and “alcohol” seem to go hand in hand, unfortunately.

That’s what I am thinking about when I see the people dancing off by the fence. Garrett and Rachael are there. So is Pat and some girl he met, who are attempting to dance between fits of laughter. Which makes me wonder where John’s girlfriend, Roxi, is. But I don’t ask. I don’t because that’s when I saw her. She is dancing too, but with some girl I haven’t seen before. She looks content just to be dancing. The girl is pretty in that wild kind of way. She’s alluring and I wish I had the guts to talk to girls like her.

John must have seen me space out, because he is waving his hands a couple of inches from my face. It takes me a little longer than it should have to react. I pull back some and look at him funny. He looks at me the same way.

“What were you staring at?”

“Hm? Nothing” I don’t want John to know I was staring at a girl. It’s not that big of deal, but John’s never had girl problems, even before Roxi. He doesn’t get that I am incapable of talking to girls like he does.

It is obvious he doesn’t believe me, though. He looks over to where he saw me staring. Once he sees Roxanne and the girl, he smirks and I know I am caught.

“Who’s that dancing with Roxi?” He demands and I tell him I don’t know her.

“Well, let’s go introduce ourselves.” That roughly translates into “let me force you to talk to her while I ditch you for my girlfriend.” Not that I can blame him for wanting to be with his girlfriend. So I follow him like the lost puppy I feel like. I’m nervous, which is incredibly stupid. But this girl looks interesting, and I don’t want to flub it up. Still though, as we walk towards them I keep my eyes on the bonfire.

Because I am looking anywhere but where we are going, I don’t realize John has stopped walking. I don’t stop and run into someone. My first instinct is to correct myself and whomever I just ran over, so I do. My hand lashes out and grabs their arm, trying to keep them from falling.

“Shit! Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention and,” And I stop speaking because I see that it is her that I ran into. I feel like a complete idiot.

She laughs though, as if it isnt’t embarrassing to be knocked over by a stranger. “Nah, I’m fine.”

I smile at her, because I’m not sure what else to do. Now that I am positive that I have royally fucked up any chance of talking to her, I look for John. I don’t see him or Roxi and I’ve got a pretty good idea that I won’t be able to use them as an excuse to leave anymore.

“It looks like we were just ditched.” She notices as well that her dance partner has left her.

“Yeah, John’s an ass that way.” I joke nervously. “So, uh, how do you know Roxi? I haven’t seen you around before?” The last sentence is supposed to be a statement, but I don’t think it came off that way.

“I don’t. Well, I do now. We just met about an hour or so ago” I nod and she takes that as encouragement to continue. “How do you know her?”

“I met her in school, but I didn’t get to know her until her and John started dating a couple years back.”

“Well, Mr.,” She looks at me expectantly. I quickly fill in the blank. “Mr. Jared, would you mind doing me the honor of replacing my dance partner?”

Before I even answer, she starts dancing. I smile at how carefree she is and dance with her. Despite the fact that I don’t know how to dance, I try anyway. It’s hard to dance and watch her dance, but I manage. It’s insane how she’s moving, all hips. But it is a good kind of insane.

We must have been dancing for a while, because I look up and the backyard is barely occupied. There are a few people by the dwindling bonfire and we are the only two still dancing. Other than that, there is just red cups dotting the grass.

I am going to ask if she wants a drink or something, but she beats me to it. So we head inside via the sliding glass doors. The party is still in full swing. I see some people I know playing a drunken game of poker. By the looks of it, Kennedy seems to be winning. I am surprised because Kenny is the worst liar I know.

I don’t dwell on it too much though, because a hand is tugging at mine and it feels nice. One look at her shows me she is smiling at me with an amused expression lighting up her face. So instead of questioning our destination like a part of me wants to, I just allow myself to be led outside.

We pad through the dewy grass and keep walking until we reach a red, single cab Chevy. I stand there and fumble with my fingers which are still warm from the sensation of holding her hand while she reaches for the tailgate. Realization dawns on me and gently, I push her hands away so I can lower it for her. The smile she sends my way as she hops up on the tailgate makes me blush a little. It doesn’t go away when she reaches for my hand again, signaling for me to sit too. I oblige.

She lies back with her arms behind her head. I’m unsure of what to do, so I don’t move.

“You’re awkward. That’s refreshing.” She says, looking up at me and cracking a grin. I have always despised being awkward, but the way she says it makes it sound like a good thing.

“You’re bold. That’s....cute.” I scrunch up my face at my failed attempt to flirt. It amazes me when she laughs. The sound is light and giddy, but it isn’t a giggle. Something tells me she isn’t the giggling type. I am thankful for that.

So we just stay there, me sitting and her lying, and look at the stars. The conversation starts as she points out constellations and explains the stories behind her favorite ones. Somewhere along the way I tell her about the band, and she confesses her love of music by Gin Blossoms. I find out more about her in this short time than I probably know about most of my friends. That is the beauty of being strangers, we don’t have the restraints we have with the people we know. I am not sure how long we have been in the bed of the truck when something occurs to me, and even though I don’t want to break the conversation, I do anyway.

“Hey, Willa? Whose truck is this?” She looks at me and her eyes are dancing with mischief. Even though the look has already given me an answer, she tells me anyway.

“I have no clue.” Then we just laugh. Initially we laugh because we find the situation funny, but soon we are laughing because the other one is laughing and it seems like an ongoing cycle until we hear the front door bang.

It’s too dark for me to make out the person, but Willa recognizes whoever it is. All I can tell is that’s it’s a girl.

“Look, I have to go. Do you have a phone?” It takes me a minute, but eventually I tell her that it’s in my car. This doesn’t deter her. She digs around in her pocket for a moment, her tongue poking slightly out of her mouth as she searches. When her hand reappears, there is a small, black tube in it.

“It’s eyeliner, but it’s all I’ve got. Is that cool?” As soon as I nod in approval, she pulls my wrist towards herself. In the expanse of skin between my wrist and elbow, she writes a series of seven digits in a messy scrawl. The eyeliner tickles as it swipes across my skin. I suppress the laughter that threatens to burst out.

She pulls back and has this happy expression on her face that I am sure is reflected on my own face. She has one of those rare, infectious smiles. I am baffled that she is so smiley. But I guess it is only the first time I met her and there is a lot I still don’t know about Willa. Hopefully that will change though.

I am busy thinking about how much fun tonight was and how much I don’t want it to end just yet when she leans forward and touches her lips to my cheek. I am too shocked to feel the blush crawl up my neck, but it’s me and I know my face is lit up red.

“Later, Jared.” She exhales softly and slides off the tailgate.

I swear I hear her sing “Give me what I want. Give me all you got. Give it to me.” as she walks away.

And I think that maybe, she just gave me what I wanted.