We Were Barely Seventeen, and We Were Barely Dressed

When we got out of the car, Adam slipped his arm into mine and started pulling me towards the house. I walked in the front door like I owned the place, and clearly everyone else had the same impression because the guys watched me walk and the girls watched with envy clearly written on their face. I smiled smugly at people who tried to catch my eye.

"Hey, guys. I spotted Chace. I'll see you guys later," Vi said.

"Okay. Remember to use protection!" I yelled, winking at her. I saw her cheeks turn a light shade of pink before she walked off towards Chace.

"Do you want to dance, Cass?" Adam asked. I nodded and let him lead me to the "dance floor" that was really Rylan's living room with the furniture moved around.

Blow by Ke$ha started to play as soon as we hit the dance floor. I rolled my eyes in disgust and started to dance with Adam. Eventually, our dancing led to us grinding.

"You want to go get a drink with me?" Adam yelled over the noise. I just nodded my head and followed him towards the kitchen as many guys gave me a once over.

"Alright, Cass, what do you want to drink? I think I'm just going to have a rum and coke," Adam rambled.

"Oh. I actually don't drink," I replied.

"Really? That seems really weird to me."

"Yeah, I just always promised he-," I cut myself off.

"Always promised who?"

"I kind of always promised to myself that I wouldn't drink until I was out of high school." I said, shrugging.

"Do you smoke or anything?" he asked.

"No. I'm pure innocent to the bone."

"Even a virgin?" he asked with a very shocked look.

"Yes, Adam. Even a virgin. Can I just have a plain coke?"

"Sure," he said while pouring coke into a stereotypical red cup. I took it from him and started to walk around the house. I saw him eyeing up some guy earlier and figured this would be his time to get to know him.

While I was walking up the stairs, I heard some people shouting from one of the bedrooms. I also heard some massive amounts of grunts and moans. Just as I was getting ready to walk back down the stairs, someone ran into me.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" I said.

I watched as the red head ran for the door. She turned around briefly and I was able to catch the streams of makeup and tears falling down her face. What could have made Maria so upset?

I started walking back down the stairs when a hand stopped me. I turned around and noticed it was Rylan holding my arm.

"What?" I asked with agitation.

"Why so serious, Cassie?"

"Please don't call me that."

"Why? Does it have something to do with your secretive past that you won't tell anyone about?" he asked, taking a drink from his red cup.

"Stop it. You're wasted and I wouldn't tell you about my past anyway," I said, stomping down the rest of the stairs and out the front door.

"Oh, please. I've had like zero to drink tonight. Maria was being too much of a psycho bitch to let me drink. You need to be real with us, Cassie. Stop being a fucking baby," he said.

I continued walking down the sidewalk towards my house. I heard his foot steps following behind, but tried to ignore him as the first tears in a while escaped my eyes and ran down my cheeks.

"Come on, Cassie. Stop being so cryptic. Time for you to spill your secrets. Did you kill somebody? Have a child or something?" he said, trying to piss me off. It's sad to say that it was working.

He kept prodding and poking into my personal life as I made the walk home. I was about half way there when he finally had pushed me over the edge. I turned around and noticed the shock on his face as he saw my tears.

"Cass-"

"No! Don't fucking start, Rylan! You know nothing about me! You need to stop trying to assume things about me and let me tell you about my life on my own fucking time!"

I sat down in the middle of the road and noticed he had followed suit.

"You don't know shit about my past, Rylan. I bet you didn't know that I had a little sister! She got kidnapped two years ago. She was only four years old. The police from my hometown said that it was a lost cause and gave up looking for her. They said that if they hadn't found her yet, she was most likely dead. I just think they gave up way too soon. My whole family got over losing Brylee and told me that I needed to grow up, and that it was time to move on. I hate them all for giving up on her. She's the only one I care about.

"We moved here because my parents thought that leaving there would leave her in the past and help me forget. I knew it wouldn't work. I don't know how my parents can just give up on her. There's not a day when I don't think about her, and I know not telling you guys was bad for me, but I couldn't let you guys pity me. I just need friends who don't know about her. It was so much easier when you didn't know. Now you'll just feel sorry for me when you see me. I shouldn't have told you anything," I said.

I got up and slipped the high heels off of my feet quickly before darting off down the street towards the direction of my house. I heard him call after me, but continued running. Tears fell from my eyes like waterfalls and continued to soak my cheeks. I stopped when I got outside my house and saw that all of the lights were off. I got my house key out of my pocket and unlocked the front door. I then relocked it and walked upstairs and into my bathroom.

After showering, I hopped into bed and cried myself to sleep like I had done so many times before.