Champagne's for Celebrating, I'll Take a Martini

She wasn't sure why she'd gotten herself dressed up, or why she was putting the address Jack had given her into the GPS in her car. She was going to a party where she really didn't know anyone—except for him that is—and she couldn't figure out why. He'd been acting like he wanted to be her friend; like he maybe wanted to be more. But he had Mandy. Arianna had been cheated on before and there was no way she was going to ever become "the other girl".
 
When she arrived at the address, there was no mistaking that she'd come to the right house. She could hear the pounding of the bass from her car and she could see a small group of girls, dressed in short skin-tight dresses and hooker heels, walking through the front door. They were laughing way too loudly and appeared to be a little on the tipsy side. Clear sign of a party.
 
Arianna sighed heavily and climbed out of her car, tousling her hair slightly as she strutted across the street over to the house. The second she stepped through the door, the stench of beer and sweat hit her like a ten ton truck. She was shoved to the side as another group shuffled through. Rude? She thought as she searched through the sea of people for a familiar face. With no luck, she ventured into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. Finding a spot in the corner of the room, she popped the can open and leaned back against the wall, taking a swig of the bitter drink.
 
It was pretty sad—if not downright pathetic—that since she'd started at Westridge, she couldn't find one person at the party that she recognized from one of her classes. She hadn't talked to anyone besides Jack. Where is Jack? She wondered, taking another sip of her drink. He had invited her after all. He had to be wandering about somewhere.
 
Suddenly the sound of chords being struck and speakers screeching pierced Arianna's ears. It was coming from the living room. Placing her now empty can onto the counter, she walked out of the kitchen to the source of the noise. People had gathered around a makeshift stage where four boys were standing. One with dark brown—almost black—hair, dressed in skinny jeans and a baggy hoodie held a microphone in his hand. To the left of him was a familiar lanky kid with blonde-streaked black hair and big brown eyes that seemed to be scanning through the crowd.
 
The drummer gave a six count and the band started playing, breaking Jack from his search. By the unsatisfied look on his face, she could tell he hadn't found what he was looking for. Arianna decided to stay towards the back of the huddled teens where it was relatively calmer. After the first few songs she had to admit that they had talent. Their singer had a great voice and it was obvious that they practiced quite a bit. She kept a watchful eye on Jack as he played. She remembered what he had said back at school about the band. It was his life and he could never see himself doing anything else.
 
When their set was finished, the partiers cheered and held up their drinks, wanting more. The four boys, with big grins on their faces, stepped off the platform to rejoin their friends. Arianna watched as Jack walked towards the kitchen, probably to get a drink. He turned his head to the person behind him and opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly paused. She felt all the blood rush to her face when she met his stare and immediately whirled around and started walking in the opposite direction. She turned the corner and stopped dead in her tracks.
 
There was Jack, standing right in front of her, looking at her as if he were trying to figure out if she were real or not. She started to feel awkward with him staring at her.
 
"Hey," she said breezily though judging by the look on her face, she was anything but breezy. "You guys were, um, really good up there."
 
Jack's expression softened and a smile appeared on his face. "You heard us?" he asked, taking a step closer to her. She rubbed the back of her neck and sidestepped towards the wall, leaning against it with her shoulder. "I thought you weren't going to come…" he added bashfully.
 
"Well you know I didn't really have anything better to do so…" Arianna shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. As much as she felt she shouldn't, she felt guilty for having avoided Jack.
 
"Right," he said, seeing right through her "too cool" act. "Well I'm glad you came."
 
Her awkward/anxious demeanor was beginning to wear off now, a colder disposition replacing it as she crossed her arms and shot straight through him with her piercing green eyes.
 
"Where's Mandy?" she frowned, looking around for a trace of the short yet intimidating blonde.
 
"Mandy?" Jack parroted, caught off guard.
 
"Yeah, you know, you're girlfriend?" she drummed the pads of her fingers against her arm, a sharp edge to her voice.
 
"Uh…well she's around…somewhere," Jack leaned back to look through the archway into the living room where people were mostly gathered. He turned back to her and took another sip of his drink before asking what he'd been dying to know for the past few days. "You've been avoiding me…why?"
 
Arianna's scowl disappeared and she looked up to Jack, wondering why she hadn't anticipated him calling her out. It wouldn't be the first time. She could say it was because he had a girlfriend and was so obviously flirting with her despite that. She could tell him that, but why should she? To him she was just the new girl—fresh meat. A challenge he'd been waiting for, but she wasn't going to become one of his personal conquests.
 
"I'm sorry, I didn't know I was obligated to be by your side at all times," she replied callously, resuming her icy glare.
 
"No, I just—"
 
"Stop, stop," she held up her hands, silencing him. "You don't owe me an excuse and I don't owe you an explanation. We go to the same school Jack. That doesn't mean we're friends."
 
Though he tried to hide it, Jack was hurt by her words. Although he could hear the coldness in her voice, the look on her face did not match. She had to be the most confusing person he'd ever spoken to. "You don't mean that," he said matter-of-factly.
 
"Oh I don’t?" her eyebrows rose.
 
"No you don't. Stop trying to keep up this act and just be real for once. So you're mad I have a girlfriend? You're mad that I want to be friends with you? Look I know I'm not perfect, but at least I've been completely real with you the whole time we've known each other. You, on the other hand, just keep walking around all high and mighty like you're better than everyone else. Well guess what? You're not."
 
Arianna was sure that her face was red and steam could be seen fuming from her ears. All the anger in her body was rising, boiling up to the top, and the mental image of her punching Jack in the face kept flashing in her mind. She hated being yelled at and she especially hated him right now.
 
"Well if I'm so horrible, why do you even want to be my friend, huh?" she snapped.
 
"Because believe it or not, I actually like you!" he shouted, though his voice was drowned out by the blaring music pulsing throughout the house.
 
Arianna rolled her eyes. He'd been drinking and nothing he could possibly say about her would win her over. Not as long as he still had that ball and chain weighing him down. "Well that's great Jack, I'm going home," she pushed past him and started heading out the front door.
 
"No, wait!" Jack called after her and to his surprise she stopped. Taking this opportunity, he left his drink abandoned on the shelf of a bookcase in the foyer and jogged over to the still steaming girl. "Can we just go somewhere? It's a little heated in there don't you think?" he suggested as he stepped outside into the cold night chill.
 
"Yeah sure," Arianna mumbled, looking down at her feet. As stubborn and hotheaded as she was, she didn't want to go home just yet.
 
A smile appeared on Jack's face and he bravely linked arms with Arianna, leading her down the porch steps and onto the street. "Great I know a place we can go."
 
***
"So this is where all the cool kids hang out?" Arianna reluctantly cracked a smile, taking a seat on a swing. Jack had taken her down the road to the neighborhood park. The only light coming from street lamps and, of course, the moon gave the park an eerie atmosphere. Arianna felt like she was in a horror movie and soon the killer would pop out of the bushes and cut them to pieces with a machete or something of that nature.
 
"Duh," Jack replied, plopping down on the swing next to her. Silence fell between the two, the only sound coming from the howling of the wind and the scraping of their sneakers against the woodchips.
 
"So…why'd you bring me here?" Arianna broke the silence, turning to Jack.
 
"I want to get to know you better. You're kind of a tough puzzle, you know that?" he said, meeting her gaze. She bit her lip, holding in a grin, and turned away again.
 
"What do you want to know?" she asked. Jack's face twisted up deep in thought. She was finally giving him a chance to find a way in through that thick exterior she put on every day. He didn't want to say the wrong thing.
 
"Where'd you come from?" he asked, receiving a snort in response. "Wait, that didn't come out right…" he said quickly, a sheepish grin forming on his lips.
 
Arianna laughed softly. "California. I lived there my entire life up until my step-dad got a better job offer and moved us all out here."
 
"So you have a big family?" Jack asked. Arianna nodded.
 
"Two little twin brothers, a little sister, and one older brother, but he's in college now so I don't get to see him too much anymore," she explained.
 
"You miss him?" Jack frowned, noticing the sad look on her face.
 
"Yeah. He goes to school in California and he and my step-dad don't really get along too well so he tries not to visit as much as he can…" Arianna said looking out straight ahead as she slowly swung back and forth on the swing. She wasn't sure why she was being so open with Jack now, but it felt good to talk with someone. No one else ever seemed to have any interest in her these days.
 
"Oh…that sucks…" Jack offered sympathetically. He wasn't always the best with words and comforting people, but Arianna could tell he was trying. She mustered up a weak smile and looked over to him.
 
"Now it's your turn," she said. "Tell me something about yourself."
 
"Well…" Jack began. "You know I'm in a band and that I'm incredibly attractive…hm, what else is there?" he joked. Arianna hit his arm playfully and laughed. "All right, all right, um I have one brother and sister, um…that's really it, I'm a pretty simple guy," Jack said, laughing softly at himself. He never was good with talking about himself. "What are your parents like?"
 
Arianna sighed and shrugged her shoulders, slowly coming to a stop from her swinging. "My dad used to be my best friend. When we were little, he'd always round up my brothers, my sister, and me and take us on the wildest adventures…to us anyway. We'd go to the zoo or see a movie or a local fair. He always wanted to have fun and he loved his kids…" she trailed off.
 
"What…um…what happened?" Jack asked hesitantly, not sure if he was entering guarded territory or not.
 
"I don't really know," Arianna mumbled, looking down so that her dark hair shielded her face from his eyes. "I guess my parents just get along better separated."
 
Jack nodded understandingly. "And you're mom? How's she?"
 
"She's…" Arianna couldn't finish. She loved her mom and knew that she loved her children all the same, but she didn't have a clue what was best for them. She was completely oblivious to the way Stephen treated Arianna and her sister. He loved the boys because they were little and cute, but he always talked down to her and Marissa. She used to tell her mom all the time about how Stephen crossed the line when it came to disciplining them, but she never did a thing. All she did was make excuses for him.
 
"Oh he means well, he's just new at the whole father thing," her mother would say.
 
"Arianna…?" Jack poked her, noticing the vacant look in her eyes. She snapped out of her thoughts and turned back to Jack.
 
"Sorry," she apologized and ran her fingers back through her hair. They continued to talk, their topics becoming less serious and more senseless. They joked with each other and discussed the most random insignificant things. Arianna had missed this feeling—the feeling of being silly and goofing around with friends. She'd had to hold it all in ever since she'd come to Baltimore. It was a freeing kind of feeling and though she would never do it openly, she had Jack to thank for that.