I Can't Stand Alone Anymore.

Even with the windows and door open, it was still much louder inside the house than it was outside. The flashing lights were the only source of light as we passed by the living room and weaved through the hallway. It was so dim and crowded that I had to rely on Aaron’s hand to guide me in the right direction. I was glad it was dark though, it meant that Mona had a slimmer chance of spotting me.

The house was packed full of people and as we got closer to the kitchen, I used Aaron’s hand less as a guide and more as a tether. I was jostled and knocked into furniture and people so I gripped his hand harder. As we walked through he said hi to almost everyone and they greeted him back, sparing me only a quick, baffled glance. We finally made it into the brightly lit kitchen, which seemed to be where everyone went to have their drunken conversations. There was talking going on all around us. Aaron turned to me with a smile on his face.

“Do you want something to drink?” He wasn’t exactly yelling, but his voice couldn’t be described as conversational either. It was just as loud in the kitchen as it was in the living room.

“Sure. Thanks!” I raised my voice slightly too so that he could hear me over the muffled bass coursing through the house.

He grabbed two plastic cups off the counter and filled them with beer from the keg. He passed one to me and took a massive gulp from his own. I took a quick sip and watched him scan the crowd. He lifted his hand high in what I presumed to be a greeting over everyone’s heads.

“Come on,” he said. “I have some people I want you to meet.” I smiled nervously back at him and he grabbed my hand. He brought me towards the back of the kitchen where three good looking guys were standing by the sliding glass door to the porch. They greeted Aaron enthusiastically.

The first guy who caught my attention was the same size as Aaron, but his height wasn’t what drew my eye. The hair on the top of his head was so blonde, it almost looked white. ‘I wonder if he dyes it.’ The hair combined with his light skin would have made him look angelic if his smile wasn’t so mischievous.

The one who was the farthest from me and on the opposite side of the trio was heavily tanned with very close cropped hair. I could only assume its colour to be light brown, but there wasn’t enough of it to make an informed guess. He had a crooked nose and a wide mouth that was turned down slightly at the sides when he looked at me.

The final of the three, while still slightly taller than my 5’8”, looked short standing in between his two friends. He had dark hair that hung ever so slightly in his eyes and his complexion was just as dark, if not darker. He was smiling openly at both Aaron and me.

“Hey Aaron, how’s it going?” The guy in the middle had spoken and given Aaron one of those guy hugs where they shake hands, hug, and punch each other’s backs at the same time.

“Not too bad, Henry. This is Kaylee, by the way. Kaylee this is Henry. He’s our kicker.” I extended my hand out to Henry, not too sure what a kicker was, and he shook it. I guess he saw my confusion, or maybe he was just used to translating Aaron-speak, but he explained for me.

“I’m on the football team. I kick the ball.” He winked and I smiled.

Aaron then pointed to the angelic looking boy. “This here is Caleb and that’s Dan.” I shook hands with Caleb and Dan, even though it took Dan a second too long to reach out for my hand.

“It’s nice to meet you all. Are you all on the team?”

“No, that’s just Aaron and me,” Henry started. “Caleb’s on the basketball team, and Dan plays baseball.”

“Oh cool. So I guess you’re all sport junkies.”

Caleb took a turn to talk, “yeah, we all get into it. You should see our tailgating parties. Off the charts.”

“Yeah, do you remember that one game at the stadium in New York?” Henry cut in.

“Dude, that was the craziest thing ever.” Aaron joined the conversation, reminiscing on memories that probably only happened a year before. “Dan punched that guy in the face because he was looking at Rachel for too long.”

They started mentioning so many names and places that were unfamiliar to me that I stood back, half listening to the conversation while drinking my beer. A half an hour must have passed like that, with me occasionally scanning the room, hoping to see Emma or Ethan or Riley, somebody that I knew.

My prayers were answered, but not with the positivity of friendship as I had hoped. Instead, they were reversed and whomever answered them was laughing in my face. Aaron’s phone went off and as he was talking on it, I locked eyes with Jaelyn from across the room, and knew that Mona would be on my case soon.

“Hey, I’m really sorry, Kay. But I have to go upstairs to take this call, it’s my mom. She’s having a crisis.”

“When isn’t she having a crisis, bro? Am I right?”

“Shut up, Caleb, you know how she is. I’m sorry, I’ll be back in a few, alright?”

“Yeah, sure, Aaron. I’m fine.” I smiled at him and he squeezed my hand briefly before heading out of the kitchen and towards the staircase.

There was a prolonged silence as I stood awkwardly. I tried to whip through conversation starters in my head that wouldn’t leave me floundering through sport terminology.

“So, when did you guys meet?”

“A long time ago.” It was the first time that Dan had spoken and his voice insinuated that the memories I had asked about were off limits. The other two guys just stood there, unsurprised at Dan’s tone of voice.

The three of them ignored me now that Aaron was gone. Dan looked bored and unconcerned, avoiding eye contact with me. Henry played on his phone, texting or something and Caleb looked around the room, winking at cute girls.

Unbelievably, my salvation came in the hands of Mona. She came up behind me with a happy smile and sugary sweet voice, taking me completely off guard.

“Hello, boys! You don’t mind if I steal Kaylee from you, do you?”

Three heads snapped to hers at once but they didn’t get a chance to say anything because Mona yanked me by my arm, causing me to drop my empty cup on the ground. She dragged me down the hallway away from the kitchen and towards the deafening living room before turning towards me.

“What do you think you are doing here? How dare you come into my house?” Her blue eyes flashed dangerously. “Honestly, you show up here, parading around with my ex-boyfriend and expect me to look the other away? What’s your game? What are you up to?”

“Look, Mona, I’m not trying to start anything-“

“Shut up! You will not embarrass me in my own house!” She was so frustrated – and drunk – that her eyes swam with angry tears. She stopped and took a deep breath to calm herself down before continuing. “Besides, no one invited you! You should leave.”

“We invited her.” I whipped around to see Riley smiling with his arm slung over Emma’s shoulders. Ethan was on his other side and Alekzander was standing slightly behind them. “That’s not going to be a problem, is it, Mona?”

Mona gaped for a minute then stifled a shriek. She stomped away, heading upstairs.

I smiled at my friends. “Thanks guys! She was going to yell my ear off.” I chuckled a little. I was so glad to see them and wanted to stay with them, but Alekzander’s glare stopped me from asking. I sighed a little, but smiled anyway. “Well, I guess I better go find…. I better go.”

I turned to go but a hand gripped my wrist and kept me in place. I looked at Ethan in confusion.

“Stick with us Kay. It’ll be fun!” He grinned and everyone smiled at me except for Alekzander, but I couldn’t find it in my heart to care about his perpetual bad mood. I grinned back. I was with friends at a party, and since Aaron was nowhere to be seen… ‘I might as well enjoy myself while I’m here!’

And I did. I spent the whole night laughing and joking around and just having fun. I was glad to get to know everyone better. Riley was suave and smooth, and always said the first thing that came to mind. It made him genuine and completely carefree. He was also really thoughtful and smart. At least until he said something stupid which would cue Emma to hit him.

Emma was so bubbly and optimistic. She was almost always giggling or laughing and probably had the most upbeat attitude ever. But she was also extremely observant. She saw every look, every hesitation, and caught hidden meanings when people said things. I got the feeling that she knew more than she let on, which is probably why Riley never bothered covering anything up or hiding what he was thought.

Ethan was quieter, but not distant. I got the feeling he really took the time to think about what he was going to say before he said it. He was smart and kind and always seemed to know what was going on.

All three of them made me feel so comfortable and included and I was so happy. Even Alekzander kept his glowering to himself.

“So, Kay. Do you know where your classes are yet?” Emma was looking expectantly at me with her smile in place, almost as if suspecting my ‘no.’

“Nope. I guess I should do that huh? It’s kind of a huge school.”

“Why don’t we show you around?” Ethan smiled as well. “It’s easy to get lost. And we can tell you all about teachers and stuff. It’ll be fun. We’ll make a day of it.”

“Sure why not.” I was excited I was getting along so well with them.

“Good,” Emma said, no-nonsense in her voice. “Now, I love this song. Let’s dance.”

She grabbed me and dragged me into the middle of the living room. I danced with her for a lot of songs and when she paired off with Riley, Ethan would dance with me so I wouldn’t be left out. Alekzander was dancing with a couple of girls too. I couldn’t remember the last time I had had so much fun. Too soon though, I was drained and tired. I flopped down in an empty seat on the couch and Emma sat down next to me with and exclamation.

“I am exhausted! I’m ready for bed. You guys good to go?” Emma looked at the boys who nodded in agreement.

“Well, I’ll see you later then. Monday, I guess.” I smiled, but the four around me looked at me weird. Like I had told them I was a chipmunk or something.

“Why are you staying here by yourself?”

“Well, I did come here with someone else. It’d be rude of me to ditch him, don’t you think, Riley?”

“Not really. I mean, I haven’t seen Cain here all night. Technically, he ditched you first. Which is ridiculous since you don’t know anyone. Besides, you look like the walking dead right now-“

“Oh, thank you so much”

“No problem,” Riley continued as if I hadn’t interrupted him. “You need some sleep. Come on, Alek is DD tonight.”

If I was reluctant to go before, I wasn’t so much as moving one step now that I knew Alekzander was driving. “No, really. Worse comes to worse, I’ll walk. I once walked from my house to the corner store. Pretty impressive, huh?” I laughed, trying to lighten the mood with a joke about it, but my three friends looked at me hard. My gaze slid to Alekzander briefly and to my surprise he wasn’t glaring at me. He looked at me thoughtfully and we shared a long glance before he sighed a little bit and stepped forward.

“Don’t be stupid. I’ll drive you back to the school. Let’s go.”

“No way, Knight. She’s my date, I’ll drive her.” We all turned to see Aaron standing just outside of our circle. He walked over, stood by me and glared at Alekzander, Ethan, and Riley. But mostly Alekzander.

And they were glaring just as hard back. The three of them standing beside each other with identical menacing looks on their faces was both awe-inspiring and terrifying. The last thing I wanted was an inevitable fight to break out, so I stood up and grabbed Aaron’s arm.

“I’m just going to have a word with Aaron for a quick second. I’ll be right back, okay?” Ethan looked at me quickly and nodded. I dragged Aaron away from my friends. “Aaron, I know you don’t want to leave, so I’ll just leave with Ethan and them.”

“Are you sure?” he asked after a moment’s hesitation. I smiled at him and nodded. “Okay, well, I’ll talk to you later. In class and stuff.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you Tuesday.” I gave him another smile before heading back to my friends. The three guys were tense as if expecting something; they relaxed as they saw me walk back to them, alone. “Okay. We can go!”

Ethan, Emma, and Riley smiled at me and headed towards the door. As we left Mona’s house, I hung back a little to walk where Alekzander was walking. He gave me a funny look but I ignored it and kept my face forward.

“Thank you. You know, for the ride and stuff.” He was silent for a minute, still looking at me like I had grown two heads. Then, with a smirk and a noise that sounded like a cross between a grunt and a chuckle, he turned his head and walked with me to his car.