I'm Convinced We Don't Make Sense

C-POV:

“Who’s car? Mine or yours?” Marisa asks while strapping on her heels.

“Um, yours. I’m not good with taking directions,” I say as I get my things ready.

She nods. “Good point. Alright, let’s go!” she says and stands up.

I look her over and smile. “You look amazing, Marisa.”

She shakes her head and places her hand on my shoulder. “You look amazing, Carolina. All the SD boys are gonna be on your ass.”

I look down and feel my cheeks get hot. It took me hours to find an outfit to wear. I really did want to make a good first impression. I’ve seen pictures of Marisa’s friends, and they’re all so, very attractive. Marisa always attracts the beautiful people, since she’s beautiful herself. I envy her in that way, but I never let it get between our friendship. Behind every weird, normal looking girl, there’s a beautiful best friend encouraging her. Me being that weird, normal looking girl of course.

We drive off into the dark streets, and a couple minutes later, arrive at a nice house.

“Jaxin invites too many people, all these damn cars…” Marisa mumbles as she tries finding parking. We finally find one and she cuts the ignition off.

“I’m nervous.” I say with a straight face.

She chuckles. “Why?”

I turn to her. “Why? Did you really just ask why? I’m going to a party where I know no one. Absolutely no one…”

She opens her car door and pokes my arm. “Uh- you know me. Through me, you’ll know everyone else. Don’t be nervous, these people are really cool and chill. They’ll love you.”

I swallow nervously and get out the car. “Just- don’t leave my side, okay?”

I hear her laugh at me. “C’mon- let’s go...” she says tugging my arm towards the front door of the house.

She doesn’t bother knocking, the music is too loud for anyone to hear anyways. We walk into the home and the smell of smoke, alcohol, and some other random substances fill my lungs. Marisa lets go of my hand as we enter. There’s people almost everywhere, though its not as crowded as I thought it would be. Their all holding a red cup or some beer bottle in their hands.

I turn to Marisa and watch as she looks around the place. Her face lights up and she nudges me. “Look,” she says and points to the kitchen. “Go get a drink from Mike.”

“Who?”

“Mike, he’s right there.” she says fidgeting her index finger in the same direction. “The one with the bottles of vodka and whiskey all over him. He has a black snap back on and a black tank on too.”

I search the kitchen. I run my eyes over the many guys in there, then finally see him. A tall dude with tattoos all over his body. He’s mixing some drinks, laughing, and chatting with random people as they pass by.

“Oh.. I see him.”

“Go over there with him while I go and talk to my friend, he’s close to Mike, you’ll see me.”

Marisa starts to walk away and I quickly grab her arm. “Wait- you’re just going to leave me?”

She grins. “It’s Mike, Carolina. He’s a close friend. Really nice too, make acquaintances with him, get a drink from him, be yourself.”

“I’m not good with people, Marisa, you know that,” I say urgently, still grabbing her arm. She peels my fingers away and laughs.

“Just go! You’ll be fine.” Then she walks off.

I start to panic as I approach him. I’m so bad at introductions, oh god.

“Ay! Gimme another, Mikey!” a guy shouts. Mike smiles and hands him a shot glass filled with whatever.

The guy takes his shot and yells out, then walks away. I clear my throat and stand in front of Mike, watching him mix his drink. Should I say something..?

Thankfully, he glances at me and makes the first move. “Uh- hey? Want a drink?”

I smile and nod. “Y-yeah, please.” I’m such an awkward freak.

He nods and smiles. “Any preference?”

I look over my options and shake my head. “No. Surprise me?”

He chuckles. “Alright.” Once he’s done mixing up some vodka and a random juice together, he hands the red cup to me. “There you go, hope you like it.”

I take the cup in my hands and sip it. Not bad at all.

He gives me a shocked look. “Damn, not even a cough? I can already tell you’re a drinker.”

I laugh and shrug.

“So, don’t mean to be rude or anything, but who are?” he asks while taking a drink from a bottle of Jack.

“Not rude at all. My name’s Carolina. I’m here with-” I try looking around for Marisa. She said she’d be close. No use, I don’t see her. “-with Marisa..?”

His face lights up. “Ohh!!! You’re Marisa’s best friend, huh? The vet?”

I laugh lightly. “Yes, her best friend.. and no, not yet a vet. Getting there though!”

He nods and offers his hand. “Well! To me, you’re a vet already. I’m Mike by the way, nice to finally meet you!”

I shake his hand. “Yes, Marisa told me to go up to you for a drink. Nice to meet you too!”

Once we’re done shaking hands, Mike looks around, then turns back to me.

“I see Issa.”

Issa?

“She’s talking with Tony, come on-”

He grabs my arm and we try walking through all the people. Finally, we get to Marisa. She’s chatting with a tall guy wearing a white LBG tank that show off his many colorful tattoos. Tattoos seem to be a trend here in SD. His ears are stretched out pretty damn big too. His longish hair flowing out from under his black, SD snap back.

“Issa!” Mike says giving her a one-armed hug.

“Mikey, whats up man?” she says hugging him back.

They pull away from each and that Tony guy glances over at me. I quickly take a long drink from my cup.

“You met Carolina?”she says motioning her head to me. I smile and nod.

“Yup! She’s a drinker and a vet? You’re best friend’s already on my good side!”, Mike says.

I laugh.

“Oh- Tony, this is my best friend, Carolina. Carolina, Tony.” Marisa says as she waves her hand at me, then Tony.

I wave at him and he shyly grins back. Aw, he’s a shy one.

“Nice to meet you.” I say and sip my drink.

He nods. “You too.” he says and also takes a sip from his cup.

I turn to Marisa, she smiles and then looks off to the distance. Her expression changes from happy, to what I think is, annoyed now.

I try to find what she’s looking at. A guy with slightly curly brown, shoulder lengthened, hair walks towards us. In his arms, a short, skinny white chick.

M-POV:

My eyes locked with Vic's. I hated that Cara was with him. She didn't need to be attached at his hip. I did. The group said hello to the both of them, Carolina was introduced to Vic and Cara through Mike.

"Would you guys excuse me for a minute?" Cara spoke up. "I have to make a phone call." She looked over at Vic, smiling at him then kissing his lush lips. Cara walked away, making the group feel somewhat peaceful. No one had time to start a conversation because we heard a familiar voice shout.

"Shots, anyone?" We all turned to see Jaime with vodka and a stack of shot glasses.

"Hime-Time!" Both Vic and I yelled. I grimaced slightly, go ahead Vic, use the name I made up. Jaime put the stack in front of each one of us until there was only one left for him.

"Great job, Jaime. We were in need of shots," Mike said with a smile.

"Carolina, this is Jaime," I told her. "Jaime this is Carolina, my best friend and new roommate."

"Nice to meet you," she said with a smile, awaiting for him to pour alcohol in her glass.

"Nice to meet you too," he smiled back. Jaime poured in each of our glasses. He put the bottle on the floor as we readied ourselves to down the liquid. We clinked our glasses and downed the shot.

Tony's POV:

I looked over at Carolina as she finished her shot. She didn't seem like a lightweight, which made me glad to know. Marisa was a lightweight at times, it was nice to have a girl around that wasn't.

"I need another drink," Marisa spoke up.

"Me too," Vic chimed in, putting his arm around her. Marisa rolled her eyes. "I'll make your drink, I know what you like." Marisa walked off, Vic trailing behind her. Carolina looked confused by the conversation between Marisa and Vic. I leaned over to her, talking closer in her ear.

"Marisa and Vic had something going on before. We were on Warped Tour when they met. Immediately they hit it off, going into this mutual understanding that they liked each other. They never became official, Cara came back in the picture and Vic took her back," I explained.

Her eyes were wide. "Oh my God. Are you fucking kidding me? She kind of told me all that, but fuck, I didn't think it was that much drama."

"He's normally a stand up dude, but with Cara he's different. We all know they still have feelings for each other, but they deny it," I sighed. She looked down at the ground, obviously not knowing what to say. She was beautiful, I couldn't deny it. Constantly she tugged at her skirt, obviously feeling self conscious.

"Hey," Jaime said, taking me out of my thoughts. I looked at him. "Issa and Carolina are gonna stay the night with us. I can tell she's getting shit faced."
I nodded, looking over at Carolina, her big brown eyes met mine.

"You guys are staying the night with us. You and Iss can take my room."

"Oh really? Are you sure? I don't want to take your room over like nothing," she said.

"I don't mind. I'll have to toss all the clothes on my bed into my closet, but other than that we're good," I said with a reassuring smile.

As the night went on, more drinks were made and shots were passed around. I didn't see much of Jaxin that night, I didn't see much of anyone. I was far too focused on Carolina.

"Tone," I heard someone shout. I turned to see Marisa.

"What's up?" I asked, Carolina was still at my side along with Mike.

"Jaime says we're leaving now. Back to your place, I guess. Get there safe, alright?" she said. She didn't seem as wasted tonight, usually she gets hammered when Cara is around.

"Alright," I responded. I looked over at Carolina and Mike. Mike was busy texting, Carolina's eyes were scanning the room. "Hey!" I shouted at Marisa before she was gone. "I'll take Carolina and Mike, you go with Hime!"

"Carolina, you cool with that?" she asked. Carolina looked nervous all of a sudden, but she nodded.

"Alright, see you guys at home," she responded then disappearing. Marisa would call it home. She spent a lot of time there, even when we weren't there, she would clean up after us.

"Let's go guys," I announced to the two. Mike and Carolina nodded and we walked out to my car. Carolina was quiet, Mike was still occupied with texting.

"Some night huh?" I asked Carolina, Mike trailing behind us slightly far.

"Yeah. I didn't think my first day in San Diego would be at a party drinking then spending the night at new friend's house."

"Well do you like San Diego, then?" I asked as we reached my car.

"Definitely," she said with a smile.