Operation Beautiful

Everything of importance has been locked into the master bedroom. Just as he promised his parents, Matt hasn’t bought any beer. That’s not to say that the guests are coming empty handed. At least, that’s what Matt is counting on. Jess and Emmaleigh have been given an enormous lecture on

a) never, under any circumstances, going upstairs
b) never, under any circumstances, drinking anything other than bottled water
c) never, under any circumstances, talking to or dancing with a wasted guy

If they don’t follow the rules, Matt told them in complete seriousness, he will ensure that neither of them steps inside another house party until they are 21. That, and the fact that they will probably end up in some serious shit.

“Ready?” Matt asks me as the doorbell rings. I shrug. It’s not like I can really be prepared for anything. Soon, the punch is spiked and the living room has been turned into a massive dance floor.

“You look nice,” I say as I open the door for Haley and Trevor. She nods curtly and gives me the slightest of strained smiles, her arm clamped tightly around Trevor’s waist. She’s not in the mood for small talk.

“Not a good day?” I ask Trevor. He laughs.

“Dude, she smiled at you. That’s a first for entering a party.”

“Oh.” Trevor claps me on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry, she’ll loosen up.” He helps guide her further into the room.

After greeting a few guests, I look around to see if I can find Emmaleigh and Jessica. They’re both dancing together.

“Loosen up,” Spike says as he and Clarice enter. “Let’s go dance.” Janice is right behind them, alone.

“You didn’t bring Steve?” I ask. Steve is Janice’s rather young butler. Clarice insists that the two have a little something going on. I’ve only seen them together once, so I can’t really be sure.

“Who?” Janice asks, tossing me her coat.

“Never mind,” I mumble. “I’ll keep your coat in the closet.”

“Yeah, whatever. Punch is in the kitchen, right?”

****
“Have another,” Matt says, attempting to add more punch to Trevor’s cup. Trevor shakes his head.

“No more than two per hour for me,” he says. “Not allowed to get drunk tonight.”

“Haley?” I ask. He nods.

“Aww, look at the whipped little baby,” Matt coos, pinching Trevor’s cheek. I laugh, but Trevor shakes his head.

“Not like that. Haley’s scared of drunk people.” I look to the dance floor where Clarice and Janice have succeeded in getting Haley to loosen up and dance.

“Really? It can’t be that bad,” I say in surprise.

“Well, most people she’s okay with. When Clarice or Janice gets drunk she starts avoiding them and when I get drunk she goes totally ballistic. The worst is when she needs to drive a totally wasted person.” he rubs his chest. “And she’s freaking strong, too!” Matt laughs.

“What happened last time?” he asks.

“Well, some drunk guy was hitting on her and she was having flashbacks so she came to find me and then when she realized I was drunk she...” he trails off. “It’s hard to explain. It was just this look in her eyes that told me she had completely lost control. She started backing away from me and tears were falling down her cheeks...she wouldn’t let me within ten feet of her.” Matt shudders.

“How did you get her home?” Trevor shakes his head.

“I tried, but after screaming and her being off in some other world, she thoroughly beat me up and drove off without me.” Matt starts howling with laughter.

“You sure know how to pick ‘em,” he says, wiping his eyes. “I know I shouldn’t laugh, but just...I can totally see Haley whooping your drunk ass.” Trevor just shrugs and winks at me.

“We do know how to pick ‘em, don’t we?”

Matt soon disappears, leaving me and Trevor keeping an eye on the girls on the dance floor. Janice and Clarice are now dancing with other people, and some drunkard comes up to Haley. I put my cup down, but Trevor stops me.

“Let her handle it,” he says, his eyes never leaving his girlfriend. “If she can’t, she knows where to find us.” I like that he uses the word ‘us.’

“Not feeling as jealous anymore, are we?” I ask teasingly. He elbows me lightly.

“Shut up,” he grins. “Shouldn’t you be watching over someone?”

“Matt’s in charge of Jessica,” I say. “And Emmaleigh is with her.”

“Really?” Trevor asks, looking behind him. Jessica is flirting with some guy and Emmaleigh is nowhere in sight.

“Jessica!” I hiss. She turns around and flashes me a smile.

“Is there a problem?”

“Where’s Emmaleigh?” She rolls her eyes.

“That’s it? She’s in the bathroom for like the third time. She must really hate parties.”

“I think I’ll go find her,” I mutter to Trevor, he nods and keeps his eyes on Haley. When I turn around, I see Jessica push the boy away and stalk off.

“You know you’re the only one to call them by their full names, right?” he says.

“So? I’m not really that close to them so I don’t feel comfortable using nicknames.” Trevor laughs.

“You’re weird. Hey, you want to go scare that guy shitless before you go find Emma?” I look over. Haley doesn’t seem quite as uncomfortable anymore. In fact, they’re kind of almost dancing together.

“Is someone jealous?” I tease. Trevor looks at me.

“Wouldn’t you be?” It’s not even a question.

“Let’s go make him soil his trousers.” Trevor laughs as we make our way through the crowd.

“You Europeans.”

“Hey, what’s up?” I say, looping an arm around the drunkard’s neck. Trevor turns to Haley.

“If you’re dating a guy, you’re not supposed to be dancing with other guys. You know that right?” he asks, slipping his hands around her waist. She sniffs his breath cautiously before putting her arms around his neck.

“Is that a rule? I didn’t know. Sorry.” I try not to laugh at Trevor’s self-satisfied smile. He’s so lucky Haley has been out of the dating scene for so long.

“Well, an apology isn’t enough. You’re going to have to make it up to me somehow.” Haley gets more and more flustered as he leans in for a kiss. I lead the drunkard away and give the couple their privacy. Well, as much privacy as they’re allowed on a crowded dance floor.

“Emmaleigh?” I ask, knocking on the bathroom door. After a bit it opens and her brunette head pops out.

“Yes, Corey?” I remember what Jessica said about Emmaleigh hiding from the party in the bathroom.

“I’m kind of bored,” I stutter. “Would you, uh, are you busy?” She shakes her head.

“I was hanging out with Jess, but I lost her after I went to bathroom.” Yeah, she’s definitely hiding from the party.

“Well, why don’t we just chill together?” I ask.

“That’s really nice of you Corey, but you don’t have to do that just because Mrs. Hansen asked you to look after me,” she says.

“No!” I say, a little too quickly. Talking to girls is really annoying. “I mean, it’s not because of Mrs. Hansen. I’m just honestly bored. All my friends came in pairs, so I don’t really have anyone to hang with.” Well, there’s Janice, but I mean, really now? Besides, I’m pretty sure I saw her with Matt earlier. It’s hard to tell with all the people.

“Well, don’t expect me to be very exciting or talkative,” Emmaleigh warns as we start walking towards the kitchen.

“It’s okay,” I say in relief. “I can’t talk to girls for beans.” Was that out loud? I slap my hand over my mouth as Emmaleigh giggles.

“Are you drunk?” she asks.

“I don’t think so,” I say. “Not too much, anyway.” She reaches into the fridge and pulls out a bottle of water.

We stand in awkward silence for a little bit.

“Do you want to dance?” I ask finally.

“What?” Ugh, I wish I could shove the words back in my mouth.

“I don’t really want to say that again,” I say. “Forget it.”

“Are you always this straight-forward?” Emmaleigh asks with a laugh. “Or would I have to get you drunk before I could talk to you like this again?”

“We aren’t really talking,” I say honestly. What the hell am I doing? Now she’s going to get offended.

“Well, I warned you, didn’t I?” she says, finishing the bottle and tossing it in the trash. We stand there awkwardly for a few more minutes.

“You know what?” she says finally. “I, uh, I think it would be less awkward if we started dancing.”

“Agreed,” I said.

“Wait.” She stops suddenly. I look at her and she looks down, her face bright red. “I can’t dance for beans.” I can’t help it. I start laughing.

“That’s not fair!” she says, slapping me on the arm and blushing further.

“Don’t worry, I’ll teach you,” I say. And just as we reach the dance floor, a slow song comes on. Could life get any more awkward? Emmaleigh looks at the couples around us.

“So I, uh, put my arms here?” She reaches up and puts her arms around my neck. It sends a sudden shiver down my spine.

“Well, not really.” I learned ballroom dancing back in Belgium, so my way of slow dancing is a little bit different form the amatures over here. I put one of her hands on my shoulder and take the other one in my own. My other hand goes on her back.

“It feels so professional,” she says with a giggle, not really meeting my eyes. I laugh.

“Yeah, well. Essentially, I’m going to step like this and you just follow, okay?”

Side, back, rock--ow. On the third step I go back, rock on the foot, and step forward again. Emmaleigh, on the other hand, is expecting me to step backwards instead of just rocking. So she steps on my foot.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” She says, looking down. “Maybe we should stop.”

“And risk just standing there for the next couple hours?” I say. “No way.” I show her, much slower, exactly what I’m about to do. She starts off counting the steps quietly, her breath whispering quietly against my neck.

“I think I got the hang of it,” she says, and then stumbles a bit in her high heels. I lean forward to catch her, putting us in one of those awkward positions you see in movies and pray you never have to be in. “Well this is sufficiently awkward,” she says quietly.

“Yeah...”

“Yeah? That’s all you can say?” she says. Should I apologize? I don’t get girls at all. But before I can comment, she starts to giggle. “At least you say it like it is. Guys can be so confusing sometimes.”

“Guys can? Guys can?” I ask in surprise. “Girls are like a completely alien species!”

“Fine,” she says. “What confuses you most about girls?” This is a topic I could go on forever about.

“Well, when girls ask a question I never know what answer they’re looking for! It’s not like I can read your minds!”

“What?” she says incredulously. “That’s what bugs me most about guys! If I say ‘Corey, does this dress make me look fat?’, it’s a freaking yes or no question! But no, guys get all vague and Yoda-ish with their answers. I mean really, would I ask your freaking opinion if I didn’t want a straight answer?” I look at her in surprise.

“I think you’re the only girl in the world who uses ‘does this dress make me look fat’ as a yes or no question.”

“Well, I’d never phrase it like that. I would ask what you think of the dress. And then the answer would always always ALWAYS be ‘I dunno’ and a shrug. Like that helps, at all.”

“Guys aren’t like that,” I protest weakly

“Fine. Corey, what do you think of my outfit?” I look at the short-shorts and sequined halter-top.

“Well...”

“See?”

“I just don’t want to say the wrong thing.” She shakes me by the shoulders.

“Have you not been listening? The wrong answer is no answer!” I take a deep breath.

“Well, it’s a lot flashier than I’ve ever seen you wear before. It doesn’t seem very...you.” I shut my eyes and wait for her to get upset.

“That’s what I though, too,” she says with a sigh. “But Jess insisted that I wear something quote-unquote nice.”

“Yeah, that does seem like a very Jessica outfit,” I say, relieved I said the right thing.

“Oh my God, Jess!” Emmaleigh says suddenly. Her hands drop suddenly from my shoulder.

“What? Where?” I ask, looking around to see.

“Nothing, I just realized that I haven’t seen her for a while,” Emmaleigh says quietly. I’m feeling kind of awkward just standing there, so I attempt to take her hand again.

“Mind if I cut in?” Jessica asks Emmaleigh. Her friend turns bright red.

“N-no! Go ahead! I’ll go find Matt.” And she all but scurries off.

“You can dance?” I ask Jessica as she takes one of my hands and puts the other on my shoulder. Matt decided that a series of slow songs is a good way to mellow people out a bit and get them to go home, so we’re still up for slow dancing.

“Of course. I didn’t know you could until I saw you and Emma.” Her face flickers with something.

“Oh, yeah. Where did she go anyway?” Jessica sighs.

“Can I tell you a secret?” she says. I shrug.

“I guess.”

“Well, I promised Emma I wouldn’t tell anyone, but I need some help.” I cock my head to the side. “Emma has a thing for Matt.” My eyes bug out of my head.

“What?”