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

"Je suis désolé, je ne parle pas français."
 
Arianna brought her fingers to her temples and began to rub in slow circles. Tutoring Jack in French was more difficult than she had originally thought. "How about we take a little break then?" she suggested, getting up from the couch. He agreed and also stood up, leading her into his kitchen. It was late in the afternoon on a Saturday and she hadn't eaten since ten that morning. Once again, she had been in a rush to ensure she would avoid Stephen.
 
"Doritos, popcorn, or chips?" Jack glanced over his shoulder to her as he searched though his pantry.
 
"Doritos," Arianna shrugged. She didn't really have a preference. He grabbed the new bag of nacho cheese Doritos and ripped it open, dumping half into the plastic bowl he'd pulled out from the cupboard. She grabbed a 2 liter of Coke from the fridge and filled up two glasses. The two walked back out to the living room and plopped down on the cushy couch and turned on the TV.
 
"So when's the next show?" Arianna inquired, munching down on a Doritos chip. The boys had been booking more and more house party gigs. Arianna hoped that soon they'd be playing in some local bars so that she wouldn't have to spend her weekends in a stranger's house with a bunch of people she didn't care about.
 
"Well Mandy's having another party next weekend and she wants us to play again," Jack answered and Arianna's soft demeanor turned sour. "Oh come on," Jack rolled his eyes. "She's not that horrible. I mean sure, she can be bossy and a little bit of a snob, but there's a few redeeming qualities there."
 
Her eyebrows rose, surprised to hear Jack Barakat defending his girlfriend. "Yeah? Like what?" she challenged.
 
"Well…she's--"
 
"Hot?" Arianna interjected, crossing her arms over her chest.
 
"Yeah…but she's also fun when she wants to be and she doesn't let the small shit get to her like just about every other girl does."
 
"So, you like your girls tough," Arianna raised her brows, making more of a statement than posing a question.
 
"More like strong."
 
"And you think the head cheerleader is that?" she asked, turning in her seat so that she was facing Jack head-on. He nodded and grabbed a handful of chips from the bowl.
 
"Do you see anyone messing with her?" he said before stuffing the chips into his mouth and turning back towards to television. Arianna thought about what he said for a few minutes longer than was necessary before finally surrendering her attention to the TV as well.
 
***
Arianna stepped into Mandy Hudson's house, once again feeling like a little fish out of water. She knew Mandy didn't care for her too much. In fact, with all the death glares and snooty looks she received from the cheerleader, she was amazed that booby traps weren't going off as she walked through the hall and into the living room where the center of the party seemed to be. She looked around for a familiar face, looking calm and collected on the outside but a bit anxious on the inside. She hoped she wouldn't have another encounter with the preppy blonde.

"Air!" she turned around at the sound of Julia's voice. A smile formed on her face when she saw the brunette walking up to her. Since she'd become a regular at Jack's lunch table, she gotten to know his friends a lot better and realized that they weren't half bad.

"Hey Jules, where are the guys?" Arianna asked, looking around for them.

"They're setting up," Julia answered. "You want a drink?"

Arianna nodded and followed Julia into the kitchen that was filled with already drunken kids, some of whom she recognized from classes and some she'd never seen before at all. Julia retrieved two beers from the fridge and handed one over to Arianna. She opened it and took a long sip, letting the cool drink slide down her throat. "Ahh!" she sighed, satisfied.

"Oh, don't look now, but hottie in the Abercrombie is totally checking you out!" Julia tried to whisper subtly.

"What?" Arianna's eyes immediately darted around the kitchen in search of this "hottie".

"He's coming over," Julia mumbled, bringing her beer bottle to her lips, trying to act nonchalant. Arianna just stood calmly and waited. Just as Julia had said, a good looking guy wearing an Abercrombie button down shirt with short blonde hair and bright blue eyes appeared in front of the two girls.

"Hello ladies," he greeted with a perfectly white smile. Suddenly a spark went off in Arianna's head. She was sure she'd seen this guy before.

"Hey, don't I know you?" she asked. "You're in my history class aren't you?"

"Oh yeah, I think you seat behind me," he replied and took a sip of his drink.

"Right, you're the kiss ass who always has his hand up," she teased, a slight icy quality to her tone. She didn't care much for show offs. Abercrombie boy only laughed, unfazed by her.

"I guess that would be me," he shrugged. "I'm Scott by the way."

"Arianna," she smiled coyly, taking another modest sip of beer. Scott smiled at her, his eyes wandering up and down her body before settling back on her face. She felt herself blush, the heat pooling in her cheeks.

"Annd I'm the third wheel, clearly!" Julia interjected, breaking the eye contact between Scott and Arianna. "See you later, Ari," she winked before making a quick exit into the living room. Arianna laughed softly, shaking her head at her friend before turning back to Scott.

"So you've sat behind me for like a month now? Why haven't we talked before tonight?" he said.

"I don't know, probably because I secretly hate you for making it so hard to cheat off you during Mr. O'Brien's pop quizzes," she replied, cracking a small smile to let him know she was joking. He laughed too.

"Sorry about that," he grinned. The sound of guitars suddenly boomed from the other room. Scott and Arianna both turned their heads to the source of the noise. The boys were taking "stage" now. "You want to dance?" Scott asked, turning back to Arianna. She made a face, a small wrinkle forming in between her brows.

"I don't think it's really the dance-y type of music…" she said. Once again his confidence shone out and he grabbed her hand.

"Any type of music is the dance-y type!"

No longer protesting, she abandoned her drink on the table and let him take her out into the mass of people crowding the living room. He'd pushed through, putting them right smack in the middle of everyone. She took her hand out of his and looked up to Jack, but the guitarist wasn't looking her way. Instead, his eyes were on Mandy who was right up front, cheering on her man. She saw him smile and wink at her before he started playing his guitar. She quickly looked to Alex as he started singing the first verse and felt Scott snake his arm around her waist from behind.

She glanced over hr shoulder and couldn't help but smile. He was trying to show her how easy it was to dance to the music. He looked ridiculous, but still somehow pulled it off. What the hell, she thought and finally gave in and joined him as the band broke into the chorus.