I Spun the Bottle

I Spun the Bottle: Chapter Fifteen

Song for this chapter: “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri

Honk! Honk!

I bounded up from the couch at the sound of a loud, beeping horn, and I assumed that Penny was here. I slung my backpack, filled with things that I thought I might need tonight and tomorrow, over my shoulder and headed for the door. On my way out, I grabbed a thin, light blue jacket, thinking it would suffice if I decided to go outside and it was chilly.

It didn’t take me long to notice the silver Toyota Camry parked in my driveway. A familiar redhead rolled down the driver’s tinted windows and grinned at me. I returned the smile with one of my own before I started for the passenger’s side.

Just as soon as I opened the door, I noticed the sound of the radio playing at a very low volume. I easily recognized the song as A Thousand Years by Christina Perri. This song had been one of my favorites since the very first time I ever heard it. In one quick motion, I slid into the grey leather seat, dropping the backpack in the foot space.

“Hey, Lyn! I’m a little early aren’t I?” Penny said, grinning sheepishly at me.

I waved my hand in front of my face dismissively. “Hi, and it’s okay. Oh and thanks for the ride.”

Backing out of the driveway, she shook her head. “No problem. I’m just so glad you’re coming!”

“Really?” I asked doubtfully. Her words seemed sincere, but it was hard to believe that someone like her would care whether I went or not.

“Really,” she nodded her head up and down once. “I need someone to make sure I don’t get too drunk tonight. It wouldn’t be good if I looked like a total idiot at my birthday party.”

“Oh,” I sighed, feeling my smile waver. So she’s just using me?

Penny nudged me with her elbow. “I was kidding.”

It took a minute for her words to sink in, but once they did, I felt so dumb. Penny was definitely not in any way like Taylor or Stacy. She was kind, funny, and just a little weird (in a good way), not mean, sarcastic, and absolutely annoying.

“Oh, ha ha. I knew that.” I scratched the back of my head awkwardly, trying to cover up my lack of belief in my… friend.

“Sure you did.” She eyed me from the corner of her eyes, a smile forming at the corner of her lips. “So, what’d your parents say when you asked?”

“I only asked my dad, and he said that I should start making my own decision because I was mature enough.” I smiled wryly, thinking about the conversation from yesterday.

I am most definitely not mature.

“That’s good right?” Penny inquired, making a sharp right turn.

“I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Yeah,” I shrugged, trying to be indifferent. I didn’t want to tell Penny that I was feeling a little bit guilty for lying to my dad. Then she’d feel guilty for making me lie. It was better if I just kept it to myself.

Before I knew it, we were already at Penny’s house. She literally lived about a five minute ride from my house. If I really wanted to, I could have just walked to her house. The exterior of the two-story house was resembled closely to mine. The model of the house was exactly the same, even down to the short picketed fence around the garden.

The only real difference I could make out from her house compared to mine was the color of the paint. My house was a light beige color, while hers was an off-white color. Penny parked her car in the driveway, and twisted the key counter-clockwise, causing the car to die.

“Let’s go,” she grinned.

I nodded, clicking the button that released the seat belt. I stepped out of the car, and shut it gently behind me. Penny had already started to walk towards the front door, so I hurried my pace to catch up to hers. Without even having to unlock the door, Penny swung the front door open, turning around briefly to gesture me first into the house. I only hesitated for a second, before I took a step into the familiar, yet unfamiliar house.

“I can show you around a bit before we have to finish setting up.”

I nodded, glancing at the stairs that lead up to the second floor. My room had been on the first floor, while my brother’s and parents’ room had been on the second one, so I hardly ever went up there, unless I had to clean the house.

“As you can see this is the living room.” Penny raised her right arm in the air, making horizontal slices in the air. “I hope we can contain most of the party around here and the kitchen. I swear if they go in my parents’ room they’re gonna kill me.”

I smiled wryly. “Do your parents know that you’re having a party tonight?”

“…No,” she grinned cheekily. “They’re out of state right now, so they don’t know anything.”

“Oh,” I cocked my head to the side a little confused. “Then does that mean they’re missing your birthday?”

“Kind of, but when they get back they’ll make it up by buying me a rather nice present.” Penny smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She seemed a little lonely that her parents were missing her birthday, but she was making an effort to try and cover it.

Deciding now would be the best time to change the subject; I patted her shoulder a little awkwardly. “I forgot to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“Happy Birthday!”

I wasn’t sure whether to hug her or not. This was something I was hardly used to. If I hugged her, would she think it’s weird?

My question was soon answered. Penny gave me a big hug, nearly crushing my lungs, and just as fast as she gave me the hug, Penny let go, a large grin stretched across her face. “Thanks Lyn! You’re the second person to say that to me.”

“Second?”

“Yup, Cam told me at midnight. He beat you to it.”

I shrugged. If it was Cam, it wasn’t that bad. He was, after all, her boyfriend.

“I forgot to bring you a present.” I said suddenly, realizing how stupid it was to go to a birthday party and not bring a gift.

Penny simply waved me off. “Don’t worry about it. It’s a non-present birthday party anyway.”

“A non-present birthday party?” I inquired. Did people actually do that?

“Mhm, my parents are gonna know something’s up if they come home to about a million presents.”

“Oh, I guess that’s good thinking then.”

“It sure is.” She winked, continuing to walk to the kitchen.

I followed in pursuit after the redhead. My eyes nearly bulged out of my sockets when I noticed just how much junk food was piled into the kitchen. The island in the middle had been stacked high, with all different kinds of chips. It was a wonder how none of them plummeted to the ground.

All around the counter-tops there were about two dozens of liter filled sodas and punch. I kept searching through the mess of junk food, expecting to find some type of liquor, but I came up empty handed. Was Penny planning to keep her party sober?

“There’s no alcohol.” I said, more than asked.

“Yet.” Penny grinned at me with a toothy smile.

“Yet?”

“Yup. I had my cousin, Austin buy a few six packs of Miller and some other little surprises.”

“Your cousin would actually buy a minor alcohol?”

She nodded, proudly. “Isn’t it great?”

“…I guess?”

Penny probably realized that I wasn’t too amused with the fact that she was able to get free alcohol, so she cleared her throat awkwardly, while running a hand through her long red locks of hair. “Well, I’ll show you my room.”

As we padded out of the kitchen, I sent one last weary look at the condiments and junk food. We were the ones that were going to have to set this up, weren’t we?

I didn’t exactly have to follow Penny to know where her bedroom would be, mainly because it was in the same exact location where mine would be if I was in my own home. Penny stepped into her room first and I came in right after. I was clearly taken aback when I realized how simple her room was.

There was a large dresser that stood against the light salmon shaded walls, and a desktop, where a red Apple Laptop was still slightly ajar. Her bed was placed in between the other furniture. The comforter was an off-white color that surprisingly complimented the tinted walls, and the pillow was covered in a plaid of multiple red colors. There wasn’t much else in her room, except the closed walk-in closet across from her bed.

Compared to my room, Penny’s was less elaborate, but it definitely had a color pattern: red. I had expected large bean bag chairs sprawled out everywhere in her room, and maybe pictures of all her friends in one corner, but it was just a simple teenage girl’s bedroom.

“I bet you can’t guess what my favorite color is, huh?” Penny stated sarcastically.

“Red’s a nice color and it looks really good in your hair.” I answered with a grin.

“Thanks,” she laughed. “Oh and you can come in here if you get bored tonight. I’ll try to get people to stay out of this room, but you can lock the door if you want.”

“Okay,” I nodded, grateful that I would have a place to avoid all the music and loud, drunken teenagers tonight. “Oh yeah, what time does the party officially start?”

“At six-thirty, so we have about four and a half hours to get prepared.”

For the next four hours, Penny and I had little time to talk, since we were too busy running around the house, setting up the food that she was planning to serve and putting away all of the breakable items that would surely get Penny in some deep trouble if anything happened to them.

By the time we finished the house, I was completely exhausted. Who would’ve thought that getting ready for a birthday party could be so tedious. Just as we sat down to take a breather, the doorbell rang. Both us of shared a look before we glanced at the clock. The party was starting in five minutes!

“I’m not ready yet! Can you get the door Lyn?” Penny pleaded, giving me a very good puppy dog face.

“Yeah, I’ll get it.” I replied, getting up lazily from the couch.

“Thanks! I love you!”

I smiled as Penny ran down the hall, her feet making light tapping noises on the tiled floor, into her bedroom. The sound of her bedroom door closing filled my ears before I started for the front door. I expected maybe Cam to be at the door, coming a few minutes early to check on his girlfriend, but instead I found a new, different face. It was a guy, probably around his early twenties, with dirty blonde, wavy hair. Curious light blue eyes met my dull brown ones.

“Err…you’re not Penny are you?” The (cute) blonde asked, a sheepish grin crossing over his pale lips.

“What gave me away? The non-red hair?” I raised an eyebrow at the stranger. Normally, I didn’t talk with a sarcastic voice, but I sort of just blurted the first words that came to mind. As soon as the sentences left my lips, I immediately felt guilty. “Err…sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“Nah, don’t worry ‘bout it.” He grinned, showing off his pearly white teeth. “I’m Austin. I’m supposed to drop off some alcohol for the party tonight.”

“Oh! You’re Penny’s cousin?” I let my defensive façade drop as soon as soon as he mentioned his name.

“What gave me away? The handsome looks?”

Despite my frown, I couldn’t help but giggle. “Funny.”

“I know, just irresistible.”

I was beginning to think this guy was a big flirt. “I’m Lyn, one of Penny’s friends. She’s getting ready for the party right now, but I can help you if you want me to.”

“Sure, Lyn. Nice name by the way. Is that your full first name or is it just Lyn?” Austin gestured for me to follow him out of the house, which I did.

“No, it’s Carolyn, but I dropped the first part in kindergarten because the kids at my old school kept calling me Carrot.” I followed Austin out to the car that was parked on the curb, next to Penny’s mailbox.

“Carrot? Cute, I like it.” He winked, clearly amused by my reason.

An involuntary blush shaded my cheeks a light rosy red color, and I turned my face to the side, trying to hide my red colored face. Seriously Lyn! You need to stop blushing so darn easily.

Austin opened up the trunk of his red Mitsubishi Eclipse, exposing about two and a half dozen cases of Miller beer and about five cases of Mike’s Hard Lemonade. I grimaced at the sight of all that alcohol. Without a doubt, I was not going to taste a drop of that revolting liquid tonight.

“Here you go.” The handsome blonde handed me two cases by the handle.

I took them in hand and started for the door, when a familiar voice called my name. “Lyn!”

I turned on my heel and came face to face with yet another redhead. “Cam, you’re the first to arrive.”

“Really? I expected the house to be gushing with teenagers at this point.” Cam said sarcastically, a hint of a smirk hid loosely on his lips.

“Yeah, I know right.” I laughed, playing along. “Do you think you can help me with something?”

“Mm, what’s that?”

“Austin and I are taking these into the house.” I said, wiggling my arms, making the beer bottle clank against each other. “Can you help us take them in?”

“Austin?” Cam’s eyes became fixed on the person behind me, and the redhead bent his head down a few inches. “Lyn’s got a boyfriend?” He whispered in a voice so low, only I could hear him.

Instantaneously, a rusty red color blossomed on my cheeks. “What? No! He’s not my boyfriend! Why would you think of such a ridiculous thing?”

“So you’re hiding us now Lyn? Ouch, I’m hurt.” Austin interjected, causing me to stare at him in disbelief.

“Austin! That’s not funny! Tell him you’re lying.” I demanded, my face still as red as an over ripened tomato.

“What? I don’t want this to be a secret relationship anymore Lyn. I’m sick of hiding it.” Austin’s face displayed a very convincing heart breaking expression. His lower lip quivered, while it was slightly jutted out.

“Au—“

“Austin, knock it off.” Penny interceded, giving her older cousin a slap on the chest.

“Ow, Penny! What the hell was that for?” Austin complained, massaging the spot where Penny’s hand was just at.

“You were being a jerk.” The redhead simply stated, tossing her hair behind her shoulder.

“I was just having a little fun. Lyn’s a good natured lady.”

“Yeah, yeah, I don’t want to hear it. Just help us lug in the beer and go, ‘kay?” Penny said, giving Austin a look.

“Okay, but I’m not leaving.” He grinned childishly. “I think I’m gonna stick around for a bit and keep Lyn company tonight.”

“No, you’re leaving. I don’t think Lyn wants you anywhere around her tonight, right?” Lyn inquired, gazing over at me.

“Err…” I trailed off when I noticed a silver Porsche parking right in front of Austin’s car.

The engine was killed, and from the passenger side, a snooty golden blonde emerged, Taylor. Since Taylor seemed to always come alone to parties, I didn’t expect anyone else to come out of her car, but a moment after Taylor shut her door, the passenger side opened with a dull click. From that door came the person I had been trying to avoid, and that person was David. A smirk found its way to his mouth when his eyes scanned the small crowd and land on me.

An unnerving feeling settled in on stomach. It was the same feeling that I always felt every time I was near David now. This feeling was bugging me to end. I had never felt it before, but I knew that eventually, I’d have to figure this damn thing out.

Realizing that I had been staring at David, I snapped my head back in front of me, meeting three pairs of curious eyes. “I…think I’d like Austin’s company tonight.”

“Really? Great, I think tonight’s going to be fun.” Austin chuckled, his light blue eyes reaching mine.

Penny raised a questioning brow at me, which I tried to shrug indifferently to. I took a secretive glance at David and Taylor who were now reaching toward our small group, and then I looked back at Austin, who still had a goofy grin plastered on his lips.

At least now I’d have someone to keep me away from David tonight.