You Only Live Once

Harper was still staring at Gemma, urging her to drink it with her eyes. Finally, after about thirty seconds of nothing, Harper grabbed Gemma and dragged her away to a semi-empty hallway, motioning Tyler to stay there for a moment.

“Gems, what are you doing?”

“You said I wouldn’t have to do anything.”

“It’s one drink! Just do it.”

“But... I don’t know if I want to.” Harper pushed Gemma’s arm towards her mouth gently.

“Yes, you do. It’s fun, and tastes good. Just do it.” Gemma finally nodded, giving in, and they headed back to where Tyler stood, Gemma taking little sips every few steps.

Harper was right. It wasn’t half bad. But there was a little knot in the pit of Gemma’s stomach telling her that what she was doing was not right, and she should stop. But Gemma ignored it. Because she was there to have fun, and that’s what she was going to do.

After about twenty minutes had passed, Gemma was already on her fourth drink, and Harper and Tyler had left her for a few minutes to go hook up somewhere. Gemma wandered the party aimlessly until she came back to the living room. A cute guy from her English class was standing off to the side watching people dance, looking amused.

She sidled up to him and smiled as seductively as she could. “You want to dance?” Before even waiting for a reply, she handed her drink to a random person and pulled him on to the dance floor, pulling his arms around her waist.

A fast, loud song came on and couples swarmed the dance floor. Gemma started grinding against this random kid, who still hadn’t said a word to her, only grinned excitedly. Gemma wasn’t even sure where she learned to grind, and she didn’t know if she was doing it right, but both her and the boy from English seemed to be enjoying themselves, so she kept it up.

After the song was over, the boy dragged her away from the living room and in to the emptier hallway that Harper had brought her to before. Within seconds, his mouth was on hers, hungry and aggressive. Gemma pushed on his chest a little, making him come up.

She smiled stupidly before saying, “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I do not even know your name, boy from English.” Gemma had never drunk before, and her first time was hitting her a little hard. It didn’t help that she hadn’t eaten anything before going to the party.

“I’m Trey. We worked together on a project once.”

Gemma looked confused for a moment before shrugging. “Oh well. Don’t remember. Continue, then.” Trey resumed kissing her, and as his hands went under her shirt and started to crawl up towards her breast, she stopped again.

“No, no, no. This won’t do. I have to pee.” Gemma stepped away from the confused-looking Trey, and headed towards the stairs. She figured she’d find a bathroom up there somewhere, so she started pushing open random doors. On the second door, she found the bathroom, but there was a couple making out in the bathtub.

“Oops, sorry,” Gemma slurred before heading downstairs again. She went out to the deck to get a little air when she noticed a couple of people sitting in a little circle in the corner, Harper among them.

Harper motioned for Gemma to come sit by her, so Gemma did happily, smelling a sweet smoke in the air. “Hey Gems. Want a hit?”

Gemma’s senses all sharpened at once and came back in to focus as she stared fixedly at her best friend. “Seriously?”

“Come on, Gemma, don’t do this again,” Harper muttered under her breath.

Gemma laughed, her senses growing unfocused again. “Alright, alright. But can someone get me a drink first, I’m thirsty?” A boy from the circle handed her his drink, and she took a long sip before bringing the bong to her lips and taking a drag. She coughed a little, but took another hit after a few seconds.

She kept taking hits until a kid from the circle said, “Come on now, you’ve had your turn. Pass it on!”