We'll Keep a Secret (If You Keep Me Guessing)

Erin and I finally made it to Jack’s house in a matter of thirty minutes. When we walked up to the front porch, we could hear the music and people yelling through the door. Erin pushed the doorbell a couple times and stepped back, waiting for someone to answer. After standing there for a few minutes without a response, I started getting impatient, so I kicked the door a few times and yelled Jack’s name. It only took a short time before he finally answered. His eyes widened and he smiled when he realized it was only me.

“Soapy!” he exclaimed as he wrapped me up in his long, skinny arms and lifted me off the ground in the tightest hug. “I was starting to think that you weren’t gonna come.”

I chuckled. Just being around Jack made all of my negative feelings go away. “Well, I’m here now, aren’t I?”

He set me back down and released his grip on me. “Come on in,” he said, stepping aside and allowing Erin and me to enter the house.

It was packed in there. People were everywhere, jumping around and dancing to the loud music. I felt a sudden wave of tension wash over me. I was never much of a social butterfly, so being in really crowded places with a bunch of strangers made me exceedingly uncomfortable.

“Make yourselves at home. I’ll be around if you need me,” Jack said before disappearing into the thick crowd.

I sighed and continued to examine my surroundings. A good majority of kids were drinking, and half of them looked like they were already wasted. I scoffed and shook my head at the sight.

“You okay?” Erin asked me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah,” I lied.

“Look! There’s Rian over there,” she said excitedly, pointing to a corner to the left of us. “Rian!” she called out to him.

He looked up from the conversation that he was having with a few other people and flashed us his million dollar smile before waving. We waved back.

“He is so adorable,” Erin gawked. Her face lit up every time Rian was around or if anyone just mentioned his name. I could’ve sworn that she was in love with him. She turned and gave me a look, like she was asking if it was okay for her to leave me alone for a while so she could go talk to him.

I playfully rolled my eyes and laughed. “Go ahead. I’ll be fine.”

She smiled widely and gave me a brief hug before running off. I shook my head and started looking for a spot in the area that wasn’t so busy. I wandered into the living room and saw a chair that was unoccupied, so I decided to have a seat. Closing my eyes, I sighed and listened to the madness around me. Besides the fast-paced music that was playing, I picked up a couple meaningless conversations that some of the people around me were having. It’s amazing what kind of stupid, random things people talk about when they’re under the influence. After sitting there for a while, I suddenly felt someone put their hands over my eyes. It startled me, so I jumped a little.

“Guess who,” I heard a male voice demand. I was about ninety-five percent sure that I knew who it was, but I thought it would be fun to mess with him a little bit.

“Hmm,” I mused. “From the sound of your voice, I’m guessing you’re really hot.”

“You’ve got that right,” he said proudly.

I giggled. “Tall, strapping, really fit, and I’m sure all the ladies love you.”

“Right again.”

“Okay. Then you must be…” I trailed off, trying to think of some random person’s name, “Colby Stevens, the quarterback of the varsity football team.”

He huffed and removed his hands from my face. “That was a terrible guess. Everyone knows I look way better than he does.”

I laughed and opened my eyes. “Hello, Zachary,” I said, looking up at him. “What are you doing here? Didn’t you start school last week?” Of our little band of six, Zack was the only one who didn’t go to our school.

“Hi, Soph. Wherever there’s a party, you know I’m gonna be there,” he chuckled. He moved from behind me and sat on the right arm of the chair. “What’s up?”

I shrugged. “Not much. Just hanging out, I guess.”

He furrowed his brows. “You don’t look like you’re having too much fun. Why aren’t you up, mingling and dancing?”

I sighed. “Well, to be honest, I didn’t really want to come. Erin kind of forced me.”

“Ah.” He nodded. “She’s a feisty little one, but it’s not that bad. Go get a soda or something and loosen up. Practically everybody’s drunk, so they’re not gonna care that you can’t really dance,” he said, nudging me with his elbow.

I gasped. “I can so dance. I just won’t with you.”

His jaw dropped, and he placed his hand over his chest like his feelings were hurt. “I’m offended. I thought we were best friends.”

I giggled. “Speaking of best friends, I’ve seen everyone but Alex. Where is he?”

“Basement,” Zack informed, pointing to the door that led down to the lower level of Jack’s house.

“Thanks,” I said before hugging him and starting to make my way down there.

“At least try to enjoy yourself,” he called after me.

“No promises,” I yelled back with a laugh as I walked down the stairs.

It was surprisingly less packed down in the basement than it was upstairs. I looked around for Alex and spotted him huddled around a table with a group of five or six other guys, playing a game of six-cup. It was Alex’s turn. I snuck up behind him, and just as he was about to toss the ball, I yelled his name. The ball went flying from his hand and completely missed the table and all of the cups.

“Dammit!” he screamed in frustration. He turned around with a pissed off expression on his face, but it softened up when he realized that I was the one who messed him up. “Sophie. Why am I not surprised? Buzz-kill.”

I smirked. “Well, hello to you too, Alexander.”

“Hi, Sophie,” he said, engulfing me in a warm embrace. When we pulled apart, he chuckled a bit. “I’m actually surprised to see you here. The party scene’s typically not your cup of tea.”

“I know, but Erin and I got into a little argument, and she sort of manhandled me here.”

“She manhandled you?” he asked with an incredulous look.

I let out a small laugh. “Yeah. It’s sort of a long story. Let’s just say instead of talking things out, we went about it a little differently.”

He nodded, deciding to leave it alone. The music that was playing upstairs could still be heard loud and clear down in the basement. The current song was slow.

“May I have this dance?” he asked as he held out a hand to me.

I rolled my eyes playfully. “I guess so.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck loosely, and he placed his hands firmly on my hips.

“So, how have you been?” I asked casually. We hadn’t spoken to each other in about two weeks because we were so busy with our individual affairs, and not having him around was like missing a vital organ.

He shrugged. “Fine for the most part. I’m just coming to terms with the end of summer among other things.”

I nodded absentmindedly. Then something clicked in my head. Where was Alex’s girlfriend, Rebecca? I hadn’t seen her in the dense mob of people upstairs, and she was nowhere to be found in the basement. It was odd because she and Alex were usually attached at the hip.

“Hey, where’s Becca?” I asked curiously. “I haven’t seen her all night.”

Alex sighed and his grip on my hips tightened for a second and then went back to normal. “We, uh… We broke up.”

I pulled away from him a little and gave him a disbelieving look. He was absolutely crazy about Rebecca, so it was really shocking and unexpected to hear that they had split up. “When? Why?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it,” he said as he released me and stepped away.

I suddenly regretted asking him about it. It clearly upset him. I leaned in closer and wrapped my arms around him tightly. “I’m sorry.”

He huffed and hugged me back. “It’s okay.” We pulled apart, and he forced a smile. “I’ll get over it eventually.”

We were just about to get back to our dance when the basement door burst open. Everyone stopped what they were doing and slowly looked up to see Jack standing at the top of the stairs, sweating and panting overdramatically. He ran down and snatched me away from Alex.

“Soapy!” he cried as he clutched me to his body and laid his head on my shoulder. “I heard about what you said. Is it true?”

I tried to hold in my laughter. “Is what true?”

He lifted his head and looked at me. “Erin said that you didn’t care about my feelings. Did you really mean that?”

I rolled my eyes and giggled. “Oh, Jacky, you know you mean the world to me.”

“Hey! What about me?” Alex asked, pulling me away from Jack.

“She doesn’t love you!” Jack screamed back. “God, Alex! You always do this. Just because you don’t have any friends, doesn’t mean you have to steal all of mine.”

Just then, Zack, Rian and Erin appeared. The boys stood in between Jack and Alex, and Erin stood next to me.

“What’s all the shouting about?” Rian asked.

“Jack is trying to hog all of Sophie’s love,” Alex whined.

“I don’t wanna share,” Jack pouted as he folded his arms across his chest.

“Come on, guys,” I intervened. “I have enough love for you all.”

“Promise?” Jack asked.

I nodded. “Yes. Now can you two make up?”

Alex and Jack looked at each other for a few seconds before wrapping their arms around one another. Rian, Zack, Erin and I all aw’d.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Jack pretended to sob. “I love you, man, but sometimes I just…”

“I know,” Alex said as he patted Jack’s back. “It’s okay. I love you too, bro.”

I just laughed at them and shook my head. Then I noticed the clock hanging on the wall. It read a quarter to nine.

“Oh, crap!” I said, a tad panicked. “It’s almost nine. I’m going to be late getting home. My dad will kill me.”

“I could give you and Erin a ride,” Rian offered.

I smiled up at him. “Thanks. That would be great.”

“Aw. Do you really have to go, Soapy?” Jack asked with his bottom lip poked out.

“Yes, Jacky. If I don’t, my dad will come looking for me, and I know you don’t want that.”

He shook his head quickly. “Uh-uh. He scares me.”

Erin and I said our goodbyes to the boys before following Rian out to his car. He got me home just in time, so I didn’t have to hear my dad gripe at me for being late. I ran straight up to my room and did a belly flop right onto my bed. I exhaled deeply, glad to be home. The night actually wasn’t as hectic as I thought it would be, but now I had to get into the mindset for school in the morning. Erin and I would be starting our sophomore year while the boys would be seniors. I wasn’t too nervous about it. I figured nothing could be worse than the first day of freshman year. I showered, changed my clothes and rolled into bed. Then I sighed and turned off my light. I had a big day ahead of me.