Saturate

AJ noticed that Ben had been more distant than usual. She found him by the gym one day so she walked up to him. "Ben, what's wrong?" She asked as she seen his once light brown eyes were dark.

"Jane, we need to talk."

Her heart dropped, she knew what was next. "Okay." She slowly walked up to him and stood by his side.

"AJ, I know that we've been through a lot. And believe me, I thank you eternally, but I think that we should break up. I don't want to drag you in anymore than what you have been." He said as he leaned against the wall.

AJ looked at the ground, "Don't..."

"AJ... Please, I just don't want you to fall in too deep like I am." He said quietly as he cupped her chin.

She looked him straight in the face with tears in her eyes, "You cut me down, and you expect me to get back up? I can't do this." She said as she turned the other way.

"AJ... Jane!" He yelled as she ran away.

AJ continued running until she got home. She didn't want to go back to school. She felt that she could no longer face Ben. She cried on her bed as she hugged her pillow tightly to her chest. She laid there for what seemed like hours.

Finally she decided to get up and do something, but what? She seen people were beginning to park around the house across the street. There must be some kind of party. She watched from her window when she seen Jeremy make his way inside. She shoved her hands in her jeans pocket.

She felt something and she pulled it out. It was an invitation to the party. "Duh! Jerrica gave it to me." She said as she slapped her forehead. She put on her draven's and then headed downstairs and across the street. She walked in and there were a lot of people there. She never been to a party before, well not as big as this one was.

The smell of cigarretes, alcohol and marijuana was intoxicating. She found Jerrica, "There you are."

"Here I am." She said over the loud music playing from the living room speakers.

"Come on, you can have this. We're going to have a contest over here." Said Jerrica as she handed AJ a bottle of Jack.

AJ nodded as she began following Jerrica into her room. There were four other people that she had seen around the school.

"Alright guys this is AJ, she's joining us."

A group of boys all held their bottles high as they all smiled at her.

AJ sat next to Jerrica, "Alright the contest goes like this. We each have our own bottle so mark where the top is and when everyone begins drinking we'll see who drank the most, and the majority of the Jack had better have gone down your throat." She said.

AJ nodded as she marked her bottle. She had never drank before in her life, but now she had nothing so she didn't really care. AJ ended up drinking about a third of the bottle in one shot, "Beginners luck," they said. She didn't care. She just continued drinking the whole night.

Afterwards she felt herself beginning to get drunk she began slowing down a bit. She found that she couldn't quit laughing and some of the guys weren't any help. She sat down on the couch as some were fighting drunk and some girls were table dancing. After a while she felt someone grab her when she finished another cup of Jack.

"Who is that?" she slurred as she looked to her side.

"I'm going to take you home before your mom get's home." Said Jeremy as he put an arm around her waist to keep her from falling.

"Alright, but let's just keep this between us." Said AJ as she drunkily put a finger to her lips.

Jeremy smiled, "Damn girl, what have you been drinking tonight?"

"Anything and everything." She giggled.

"I guess so." Said Jeremy as he continued walking her home. He laid her in her bed as she began pass out.

"Thanks Jer." She said as she closed her eyes.

"Anything for Aaron's cousin." He whispered as he left.

AJ awoke the next morning with a headache. Not a major one, but enough to bug her. She sighed as she went to the bathroom to clean herself. She looked at the clock and seen that she was already late for school. So she decided that she wasn't going to go.

She went back into her room to get dressed and then she went outside. It was almost two in the afternoon, so she went for a walk. She went down the park and sat on the swings. She couldn't believe that she had lost Ben. Good thing that school was going to be out in a few months.

She sighed as she looked up at the sky. She heard someone sit next to her.

"Hey, I didn't think that I would find you here." Said Jerrica.

AJ smiled, "I have that affect on people." She smiled.

"Well, I've heard about you and Ben." Jerrica started softly.

AJ's smile faultered, "Yeah."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"I know. Thanks." AJ answered awkwardly. She missed Ben, but figured that she might just be better off. She hadn't had this much fun since she got with him.

"So what happened to Raquel?" Jerrica asked as she changed the subject.

"I don't know, I think she's been hanging out with Aaron." Said AJ as she sighed.

"Well, I've got something to take your mind off of everything." Said Jerrica as she extracted a bottle of whiskey from her backpack.

"Sure." Said AJ as she smiled.

They ended up drinking the whole bottle. AJ was clearly drunk as she tried walking. Jerrica tried her best to help her walk.

"Okay, here we go. I think that there's a party we could go to downtown." Said Jerrica.
"Alright, that sounds great." Said AJ.

They both climbed into Jerrica's brother's car. He drove them down to the party. AJ was beginning to sober up, but that changed as soon as she got a hold of alcohol. She danced the night away with a bottle of beer in her hand. She took a drink every now and then making sure that she wouldn't feel anything.

Ben was walking back from Aaron's back to his house. He had his headphones on as he sang to himself. His hands were inside of his pockets as he continued down the sidewalk. He hadn't heard from AJ since the day before which was beginning to scare him. She was one of those kids that never missed a day for anything.

Even Aaron and Raquel hadn't seen her. He heard his music stop which meant that his batteries were dead. He sighed as he took them off and began to place them back into his back pack. He turned when he thought that he heard a moan come from a nearby alley way. He looked down and couldn't see a damn thing.

"Hello?" He asked.

No response, so he decided to check it out. He walked into the alley way and pulled out a little flash light that he had in his pocket. He shined the light around and didn't see anything. So he began walking back out when he heard it again.

He turned around and decided to look behind the dumpsters, there he found Jane. She was leaning against the wall with her head hanging down.

"Jane! Jane, what are you doing here?" He asked as he kneeled by her.

She snapped her head up and looked him in the face, "Go away. You're not supposed to be here." She slurred.

He could smell the alcohol upon her breath. She stood up quickly and straightened out her skirt.

"I'm fine. I don't need you." She said.

Ben stood up, those words stung more than anything. "Jane, you're drunk. You don't..."

"You were the one that left me!" She cried. "You left me." She said a bit more calmly.

Ben looked at her. She was a mess. She had lost a significant amount of weight, her smile had long disappeared. Ben wrapped his arms around her. She fought against him, but she was too weak to do anything.

She just pounded her fists on his chest before she began to crying into his shirt.

"Shh... It's fine." Whispered Ben.

"No, it's not. I've gotta go back." Said Jane as she felt him loosen his grip on her.

"Jane, please don't leave."

"I've gotta get something that'll leave me next to nothing. You even said it yourself, it's over." She said without turning around. She entered the building once more.

Ben felt tears spring to his eyes. How could he let her walk away just like that? He leaned his back against the wall as he allowed himself sometime to cry. When he felt a little bit better he decided to walk home.