Something Ends, Another Begins

Just as I finished applying my mascara, I heard Christie open her front door downstairs and greet some people, indicating that the anticipated party has begun.

Jenny immediately walked out of the bathroom and stood next to me in front of Christie's mirror to check how she looked. "I'm so excited," Jenny squealed happily as she ran her fingers through her hair. "I haven't been to a party in forever."

I didn't reply to Jenny. I just continued to apply finishing touches on my makeup, not at all in a hurry to rush downstairs. My mood about the party hadn't changed since Christie told me about it yesterday. I am not so much a party person and I never have been. Sure, I'd go to parties with Josh but that was because he was my boyfriend and I could've talked to him the whole time. Now, I just know I'm going to be sitting around alone like some loner watching everybody else has fun. Of course, Jenny is going to be with her boyfriend, Christie will be with the guy she's been seeing for a while (they haven't really put a label on their relationship yet), and Cameron will obviously be flirting with the first cute girl he sees who he'll eventually take home with him.

I felt Jenny wrap her left arm around my shoulders as she groaned, "Ali, I can't have fun at a party when my best friend isn't sharing my excitement."

"I'm excited," I replied, but by the indifferent tone of my voice, Jenny and I both knew what a big fat lie that was.

Jenny gave me a look. "Ali, I promise you're going to have fun. And if you can't find a hot single guy to flirt with, which I highly doubt you won't, you have me, Zach, Chris, and even Cam to talk to."

"I suppose," I replied.

"Jen! Ali!" Christie yelled from downstairs. "Cam and the other guys are here!"

"Oh, yay!" Jenny squealed again. "Cam's here, you can talk to him. Come on!" I didn't have time to check my makeup and outfit a final time since Jenny yanked my arm and practically dragged me out of Christie's bedroom.

When Jenny and I got downstairs, I saw Cameron sitting down in Christie's kitchen, talking and laughing with Christie, her potential boyfriend Alex (who was wearing his usual football team letterman jacket), and Zachary. Jenny leaped into Zachary's arms as a greeting and quickly gave him a peck on the lips.

"Hey," Cameron said to me with a smile and stood up as I made my way over to him. When I was close enough, he pulled me into a hug. Afterwards, Cameron sat back down and gestured for me to sit next to him. Zachary and Alex both warmly said hi to me and I said hi back.

When Jenny and Zachary and Christie and Alex all got into their own little conversations, I turned to Cameron, who was already looking at me. There was something in the distant look of his eyes that made it seem he was deep in thought about something.

"You okay?" I asked slowly, getting a tad creeped out.

Cameron blinked and seemed to come back to reality again. "Yeah, I'm fine. You just, uh," he stuttered.

I frantically put a hand to my face. "What? Is there something on my face?"

Cameron laughed and shook his head. "No, there's not. I was just going to say that you look very nice."

"Oh," I said and calmly put my hand back down on my lap. Then I realized what he actually said and looked down at my outfit, which was a simple white tank top with black skinny jeans and flats. "Thank you," I replied with a smile. Even though it has been four months, I still wasn't completely used to Cameron being nice and giving me compliments.

Cameron cleared his throat and said, "So, are you planning on getting trashed tonight?"

I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right. I'm not even planning on staying long."

Cameron's facial expression looked a little confused. I could tell he was about to ask, "Why not?" But before he could, the front door burst open with a large group of people obviously here for the party. There were two guys carrying big boxes of beer cans and bottles.

Can't say I'm surprised.

***

Just as I predicted, within one hour, Christie's house was completely full with wild, party-loving teenagers who were all in the thirsty mood for alcohol. I didn't even recognize half of said teenagers. Also, as I predicted, I was sitting alone on Christie's stairs like some loner while everyone else was having a jolly of a time.

About twenty minutes after the party officially began, Cameron and I were still sitting in the kitchen, talking and laughing. That is until a girl with long, wavy black hair wearing a strapless, short, form-fitting dress with silver sparkly heels made her way over to Cameron. She had a beer in her hand and insisted that he join her somewhere else where they could "talk". I hoped for Cameron to decline the girl's offer, but she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of his seat and away from me. Stunned, I watched as Cameron walked away with the girl. I noticed him look at me with an unreadable expression before disappearing into the large mass of people. Right after, a group of guys came into the kitchen and started some drinking game, so I quietly walked to a place that was secluded from other people, which would be the bottom of the stairs. In case you didn't already realize, I'm not exactly what people would call a social butterfly.

Thinking I've had enough partying for the night, I made a plan to sneak out the front door and to my car so that I could drive home safe and sober. I stood up from where I was sitting and quickly made sure Christie or Jenny weren't around to see me walk out the front door or else they would pull me back in and make me stay until the party was over.

Once the coast was clear, I practically pushed and shoved through people blocking the front door. Then, as luck would have it, just as I was about to open the door, I heard behind me, "You're not going yet are you?" It was a male voice and I knew for sure it wasn't Cameron. Confused, I turned around to see the one and the only Rick, aka the horny jerk from Homecoming Cameron almost fought off.

Rick was smiling at me, but not in a creepy way. "What do you care?" I replied to his question.

After noticing my attitude, Rick's smile faded. "Look, Ali, I'm really sorry about what happened at Homecoming. I was an asshole to you and you didn't deserve it."

I gave him a look and crossed my arms over my chest. "It took you almost two months to tell me this? Why couldn't you just come up to me at school right after that weekend and apologized to me then?"

Rick sighed and looked down. "I know I should have. I guess I just got kind of nervous and thought you weren't going to accept my apology."

"Trust me, Rick, I would have. But, now that you've waited two months to tell me you're sorry at a party where we're surrounded by a bunch of people---"

"Ali, please," Rick cut me off, "just give me a chance."

I didn't reply at first. As I thought about whether I should stay and talk to Rick or just walk out the front door that was a mere four centimeters away from me, my eyes just happened to land on Cameron, who was sitting on the living room couch still talking to the girl in the short dress. I rolled my eyes at Cameron, as if he could see me, and turned back to Rick. "Fine," I said to him. "I'll give you one more chance."

Rick's face lit up at my response. "Great, thanks," he said.

***

About twenty minutes later, I found myself actually enjoying myself at the party. Rick and I sat in the kitchen where Cameron and I sat before and I got to know a little more about him. He made me laugh and, now that he wasn't such a jerk, I realized he was actually pretty cute. I kept reminding myself, however, that I wasn't going to do anything with him that night. I still wasn't completely convinced of how sincere his apology was.

After telling Rick about my father's wedding that happened two weeks ago, I glanced back over at Cameron, who was still talking to that girl. "Hey, Ali," Rick said beside me and I quickly turned back to him. I noticed he was opening a bottle of beer. "You want one?" He gestured toward the beer before taking a sip.

"Oh, no thanks," I said, shaking my head.

"You sure?" Rick asked and I nodded. "Have you ever had one before?"

"Why?" I asked, wondering why my distaste for drinking was so relevant.

"No reason, you just don't look like you've ever had a drink before."

"Well, not that it matters, but no I haven't had a beer before."

Rick nodded and stretched his beer out toward me. "Here, take a sip of mine," he said. I shook my head and backed away a little from the alcoholic drink. Rick rolled his eyes. "Come on, one sip is not going to do anything to you. Just see how you like it."

I sighed and reluctantly grabbed the bottle from Rick's hand and slowly took a sip. The drink tasted very bitter and not good at all. I could tell there was probably a look on my face that indicated I didn't like it at all.

Rick laughed and took the beer back. "Yeah, it was like that for me, too when I first tried beer. But, it tastes better the more you drink it." He took another sip. Then, he reached over to the big box on the kitchen counter and pulled out another bottle. "Here, you'll see," he said as he slid the bottle to me.

I didn't plan on drinking anymore and wanted to just leave the bottle standing on the table. I found myself looking back at Cameron who, no surprise, was still talking to that girl. Of course, Cameron flirting with a pretty girl at a party was inevitable. I just figured that, for once, he would choose to hang out with a friend instead. I kind of wanted him to look my way and see that I wanted to hang out with him and not so much Rick, but he didn't. I looked at the bottle of beer in front of me and I could tell that Rick was waiting for me to drink it while he was drinking his own beer. Then, as if my hands had a mind of their own, opened the beer with a bottle opener and I took a sip. I knew I would regret this later but, at that moment, I didn't care. After that first sip, which again tasted terrible, I practically chugged the bottle until it was empty.

Rick didn't say anything while I was chugging, but once the bottle was empty and I slammed it down on the table, he laughed and said, "Damn, girl."

"Hand me another one, please?" I asked Rick.

Rick's smile dropped as he replied, "Are you sure? I wouldn't be taking them this fast if I were you."

I rolled my eyes. "Who are you? My dad?"

Rick shrugged and gave me another beer, which I also managed to chug down. It was only a matter of minutes before I asked Rick for another bottle.

***
Cameron's P.O.V.

I have been hoping all night for some way to get away from this chick, who I didn't even know the name of. Every time I would even start to tell her I was going to leave, she would practically climb on top of me until I was physically unable to go anywhere. Of course, this girl was drunk and just kept on drinking. About four months ago, this girl and I would probably be off in another room making out or something, but now all my mind was focused on was Ali. I felt bad leaving her earlier but when I saw that she left her original seat in the kitchen, I figured she found someone to hang out with.

"At least have one drink with me," the sleazy drunk girl said to me, so close that I could smell her nasty breath. I didn't resist showing a look of disgust and pushing her away.

"No, thanks, I'm good," I replied.

Suddenly, her eyes grew slightly wide right before she gagged and quickly covered her mouth. She then got off of me and ran to where I could only guess was the bathroom to throw up those seven bottles of beer. That was my chance for escape. So, without even thinking, I stood up from the couch and walked off to find Ali.

The first place I looked was the kitchen, but she wasn't there. I glanced out the window and looked at the driveway to see if Ali's car wasn't there. But, it was, which meant that she was still here. I went inside the room that was away from the kitchen and living room and didn't see her there, either. But, I did see Jenny, Christie, Zach, and Alex. "Hey, guys," I said to them. None of them seemed to be drinking any alcohol which was both surprising and relieving. "Have any of you guys seen Ali anywhere?"

"No," they all said in unison.

"Wait, I thought you were with her this entire time," Christie said.

"Not exactly. I got kind of held up with some crazy drunk chick who was all over me," I replied.

"Nice," Zachary said to me with a smile.

"Yeah, real nice, Cam," Jenny said, but not in the same tone as Zach. "Ali was already dreading to go to this party in the first place, and then you leave her alone to flirt with some drunk girl."

I groaned and ran a hand down my face. "Okay, first of all, it was the drunk girl that was doing all the flirting. Second of all, I thought Ali would find someone else to talk to."

"Well, apparently she has," Alex said, "otherwise, you wouldn't be looking for her."

"Why do you care so much, anyway?" Christie asked, curiously. "Ali's a big girl, she can take care of herself. And she's smart so, you don't need to be frantically looking after her."

"I just need to make sure she's alright," I replied before leaving the room. I walked upstairs to search through every room. She has to be here somewhere. I checked the laundry room, she wasn't there. I checked the office room, she wasn't there. I checked the bathroom, she wasn't there (only some guy puking his brains out). The only room left to check was Christie's room. The bedroom's door was closed and I could faintly hear voices, including a voice that sounded awfully familiar.

Interestingly, the door was locked. I pounded on the door three times and the room grew quiet. "Ali, are you in there?" I asked. I then heard the door unlock before the door opened. I got the shock of my life when I saw Rick the Prick standing in front of me leaning against the door.

"Hey, Reeves!" Rick the Prick shouted and I could already tell he was wasted.

"Cameron!" I heard Ali shout as well. She was behind Rick, laying down on the bed, surrounded by beer bottles. Oh no.

"Ali," I mumbled. Pushing Rick the Prick out of my way and over to her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Totally, totally amazing." Ali was slurring. I realized that she was drunk, as well. She has never had a drink before and considering that Rick the Prick was here, there was only one explanation.

I could feel my anger rising as I turned back to Rick the Prick. I pushed him hard against the wall, my forearm pressing onto his skinny little neck. "What the hell did you do to her?"

Rick the Prick laughed as he tried to get my arm off of his neck. "Nothing, man," he slurred. "We're just having a good time." I tried my hardest not to punch his stupid little face right there at that moment.

"Cameron, " Ali shouted and she stumbled off the bed. "Rick didn't do anything to me. I was the one that asked him for that beer." She tried to stand up but stumbled again and fell on the floor.

I immediately got off of Rick the Prick and rushed over to her. I gently lifted her up and sat her down on the bed. I brushed a piece of hair off of her face and said, "I'm going to take you home now, okay?" I didn't wait for her to respond. I turned back to Rick the Prick. "You need to get the hell out of here, now," I said to him. I could tell he wasn't going to remember any of this tomorrow by how wasted he was, but at that moment I didn't give a fuck. "From now on, I don't want you anywhere near Ali. Understand?"

"Dude, chill," he slurred. "It's not like she's your girlfriend. She'd never go for you anyway."

I was really just about go after the guy when I saw a confused Christie running toward us. "What the hell is going on?" she asked.

"This asshole here has been getting Ali drunk and trying to take advantage of her," I replied.

"Okay, you," Christie pointed at Rick, "need to go and never come back."

Once Rick the Prick finally left, Christie and I rushed to Ali, who was leaning forward with her hands on her head. "I don't feel very well," she mumbled.

"Alright, I'm going to take her home," I said as I grabbed one of Ali's hands to help her stand up.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Christie asked.

"No, we'll be alright. Just make sure that guy actually gets away from your house before I maim him."

Christie gave me a small understanding smile and replied, "Okay, just text me when you get to her house so that I know both of you are alright."

"I will," I replied. Ali stumbled again once she stood up and I wrapped my arm around her waist to help keep her balance as we walked out of the house.

Thankfully, Rick the Prick was nowhere in sight.