The Ghost That Saved Me

I heard Marek singing in the shower. I wanted to record it, not because it was funny or anything, but because it was actually quite beautiful. My brother had an amazing singing voice but he was too ‘proud’ to sing in front of anyone; even me.

He was going out partying, and he was excited that I was coming with him. I tried my best to look nice, even though I never thought I was presentable. Marek always tried to convince me that I was pretty, saying that any guy would want to be with me.

I always thought my nose was too small for my face and that my skin looked like Play-Doh sometimes; like it could just mold in to anything it wanted.

The only things I liked about my appearance was my blue eyes and long hair. My hair was always long, ever since I was little. I kept it that way and I wouldn’t ever cut it shorter than lower-back length.

I waited for Marek to get out of the shower so I could go in there and do my make-up.

We finished getting ready around the same time. My brother didn’t really care how he looked per say, he just wanted to look his best so that he’d have more than one girl to chose from at a party. He never told me, but I knew my brother. He was kind of promiscuous but it worked for him; he was happy with that.

Me on the other hand, I was the exact opposite. My experience was about a 2 out of 10. I wanted to wait until I was married but I realized that it most likely wouldn’t happen that way. I decided that if it felt right, with my next boyfriend it would happen. But the only guy that ever liked me was out of the question. So it looked like I would be waiting a while.

“Ready?” Marek said as he popped his head into my room.

I nodded and smiled. “You can head out, I’ll be right there.”

I checked myself out in the mirror once more before I followed my brother downstairs and out of the house.

My brother’s music was almost unbearable to listen to, but I tolerated it for the thirteen minutes it took us to get to the party. There were dozens of cars lined up on the street, and it made me nervous. For some reason I thought there wasn’t going to be a lot of people there.

We walked in and immediately people came up to Marek and hugged him, fist pounded him, and did secret handshakes; I had no idea my brother was so cool with all of these people.

He was polite and introduced me to his friends as his sister Rayne; not ‘my baby sis’ or ‘little sister.’ I appreciated that.

I wandered around the house and people-watched for a while. Everyone looked like they were having so much fun playing drinking games and being intoxicated together.

“Hey,” I turned my head hoping the voice was talking to me.

A tall good-looking guy was standing there with two drinks in his hands. At least he was talking to me and I didn’t look like a fool turning around.

“Hi,” I said with a slight shrug to my shoulders.

“I’m Brady. I don’t think I’ve seen you before. But I have to say that you’re absolutely smoking hot. Are you a model?”

I had never been talked to like that before; no one at school even noticed me. It was really nice in a weird way.

“Uh, no. Not at all,” I laughed. “I’m Rayne by the way. Nice to meet you.”

I blushed because he was blatantly staring at me; but I hardly minded. He was really attractive.

“I brought you a drink, since you don’t seem to have one.”

“Oh, thank you.” I peered into the cup and bit my lip. Against my good judgment, I accepted it and took a small sip.

For a moment I looked for my brother, and I quickly spotted him doing shots with 4 girls surrounding him. If he was having fun, so would I. I wanted him to be glad he brought me here.

“So, how old are you?” Brady asked me after downing the beer that was in his hand.

“17. How about you?”

His eyes got wide and he nodded. “Oh wow. You look much older. I’m 22.”

22 seemed so old to me, but then I remembered where I was. At my 21 year old brothers’ friends house. Everyone was older than me.

“Yeah I’m pretty tall and uh, mature looking. I‘ll be 18 in August though.”

The more I talked the dumber I felt. So I stopped talking and started drinking more.

Brady was kind enough to get me another drink once I finished the one I had. I did realize that he was trying to get me drunk…but for once in my life I didn’t care. I wanted to feel what it was like to be drunk. And he was so cute. I liked spending time with him.

“So do you play sports? You look so…strong.” I said and giggled into my cup.

Brady made me a nice drink, it was fruity and yummy and I knew I wanted another one after the first sip.

He smiled and flexed playfully. “I play baseball actually. Not what you were expecting I‘m sure, but it’s still a sport. How about you? You look like a dancer.”

I started to play with my hair.

“No. I’m so inept at sports. But baseball is cool. I like that.”

Brady and I talked for what felt like hours, and I really liked him. He was so straightforward and honest- everything he said was bold. Such a different experience for me. I hoped that I didn’t just seem like a stupid teenager to him.

It was only when his face was by my own that I started to freak out just a little.

“You smell nice,” he said with a smile, and moved to get closer to my ear. “Why don’t you come with me into an empty room?”

He grabbed my hand but I resisted. Did he really think I was going to sleep with him after just meeting?

“I- I can’t. Sorry.”

“Oh come on,” he whispered and reached for my arm again.

“No. I have to go. Goodbye Brady.”

I pulled back from him, put my drink down, and went to go find my brother. Things got way too carried away for my liking. I was ready to leave.