Tattoos and Mistakes

I should have seen it coming, a ska show. The new craze of the year. Arriving to the house’s backyard, I saw groups of people talking in their own social circles or possibly getting high together while a local band plays. Only a few people turned their heads to see me, a girl in a red dress at a party filled with people dressed in tight black jeans. I turned to Veronica.
“I shouldn’t have come here wearing this. I feel like I stick out too much.” I crossed my arms nervously, wondering why I was there again.
She was about to say something when Yesenia, one of Veronica’s closest friends, came out of nowhere, seeming drunk. She hugged Veronica.
“You’re finally here! How I’ve missed you so!” After letting go, she looked at me briefly, almost shocked, and whispered something in Veronica’s ear. I started to feel uncomfortable.
Veronica started to laugh. “Chill dude, I brought her here from prom. She didn’t want to go there.”
Yesenia rolled her eyes. “Well, whatever. You should come get drunk with me! Isaac left me alone to get high with his friends. I think he’s secretly cheating on me, that jerk.” She pulled on Veronica’s arm.
“Be right back.” Veronica said to me before she disappeared for that part of the night. How disappointing it was that I was left alone to find someone else to talk to. However, it didn’t take me long after all.

“Jessica! What a lovely surprise! You’re even wearing a dress!” I turned to my left to find Sophia and I immediately hugged her.
“Sophie! How are you?” I asked, as I let go from hugging her.
“I’m great! Omigod, you never come to parties and now here you are! Omigod, omigod, you gotta try noz dude. It’s awesome.” She pulled on my arm for me to follow her to the farthest back of the yard where there was a huge tank with people blowing up balloons.
I hesitated. “Umm, I don’t know how to do noz.”
“Easy thing ever.” She said as she grabbed a new balloon and filled it up with whatever the tank had. She handed it to me. “You just suck it in. It gives you a quick but amazing high.”
I sighed. If it’d help me feel better about Veronica leaving me then I guess I could just try it just this once.
I took the balloon into my hands and was about to take the first bit when Veronica came back. Not for me though.
“Sophie! I’ve been looking for you. Fuck, Yesenia is shit faced right now. She tried to start a fight with Isaac again. We gotta take her out of here to calm her down.” Veronica lead her inside and I quickly give the balloon to a random person before following them myself. Inside one of the house’s rooms was Yesenia, sitting on an old couch, crying with her hands covering her face. Veronica grabbed her hands to help her stand up. I looked around and saw nobody else, so I assumed that Isaac and his friends left her by herself. He is a jerk.
“Come on Yesenia, we’re going somewhere else. Sophie, can you drive my car? I’m a bit buzzed at the moment so you’ll drive.” She handed Sophia the keys and we all started heading out to Veronica’s car.

I had to sit in the front passenger seat since Veronica was in the back with Yesenia, calming her down. As Sophia was driving, I found myself constantly looking behind.
“Men are dicks. All of them. I should just be like you and date girls. They’d never do this to someone they love.” She told Veronica and they both laughed. I turned away from them and faced the windshield. From the rear-view mirror, I could see Veronica take out her phone and begin to take photos with Yesenia.
I asked Sophie where we were going and before she could respond, Yesenia interrupted, yet again.
“Jessica, you don’t look like her.”
I looked back at her, confused. “Excuse me? Look like who?”
It took a couple seconds for her to collect her thoughts. “I mean, you and Adriana have nothing alike, except for maybe the glasses, but you don’t look like her.”
I lift my eyebrow. Why was she bringing this up?
“Umm.. what’s your point?” I asked.
“My point here is that you are nothing like Adriana. Adriana is an amazing, beautiful girl while you’re not. Just because you’re graduating early and heading off to USC doesn’t mean you are better than her. So I think you should just leave Veronica alone because Adriana is her type and her girlfriend, not you.”
Shocked at what she just said, I began to really regret coming to the party after all. Sophia stayed silent while Veronica just started laughing at some game she was playing on her phone.
Finally, after two minutes, Sophia talked. “I think we should head home. Yesenia, you first since your house is the closest.”