A Brush with Love

This party is so lame, she thinks as she passes through the living room and makes her way to the back door, letting herself outside into the fresh night air. She'd gone willingly, thinking that she'd enjoy the party that a friend of a friend was throwing to kickoff the summer. She hadn't anticipated the total barbaric behavior of the other teenagers in the house. It's like they had watched Mean Girls a few too many times. People are throwing vases around. A couple of guys pulled a mattress off a bed and have begun sledding down the staircase. Others are having a wrestling match in the kitchen. Things are broken. The place is trashed. And it's only 12:03 am. The night is still young by party standards.

The emptiness of the outside seems eerily quiet compared to the pounding of the bass and the shouts of drunken high schoolers booming inside the house. She sits down on the porch steps and plucks a piece of grass out of the perfectly manicured lawn. She sits, carefully ripping the blade of grass into the tiniest pieces she can manage, dropping each one and letting it flutter to her feet. A crashing noise sounds from inside. She turns briefly to look in through the sliding screen door, but turns her attention back to the backyard after just a moment.

A horse whinnies somewhere off in the distance, the sound echoing off the cool air. She rises from her perch and pads her way slowly across the dark yard. The grass squishes under her steps, and as she ventures further across the enormous yard, she can hear the sounds of frogs croaking nearby. The longer she wanders, the more the sounds of the party become nothing but background noise before filtering out completely. An owl hoots overhead and the whinnying of the horse grows louder as she gets closer.

She makes contact with the rails of the corral and leans her arms against them. She can just make out the outline of the horse in the moon's dim lighting. It strolls lazily along the edge of the ring, coming to a stop when it reaches where she stands. She gingerly reaches out to pet the large animal's long nose. He makes a snorting noise in response, and presses his nose firmer against her palm. After a moment, the animal turns away again, continuing his stroll.

"I thought I was the only one who knew about this place," a male voice rings out into the blackness. She gasps, not expecting anyone else to have been there. The bodiless voice steps out from underneath the shadow of a tree and into the slightly illuminated patch of grass. "Didn't mean to startle you," he apologizes.

"It's fine," she says meekly.

"So what brings you out here?" he questions, leaning against the rails and clicking for the horse to come closer to him so he can pet the creature.

"I was at this stupid party that just got way out of hand. I needed to get away from it all for a while."

He chuckles a bit. "Yeah, I know that party. I'm the one throwing it."

She's glad it's dark so the stranger can't see her cheeks turn crimson. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult-"

"No, no, it's fine," he cuts her off. "It is stupid, I agree. That's why I'm out here with Boris."

"Is he yours?"

"My neighbor's."

Silence falls between them for a while, but it's not the uncomfortable silence shared by most strangers. It's the kind of silence that you don't feel the need to talk through, the kind you just enjoy and take in. After a couple beats pass, he breaks that silence. "I'm Vinny, by the way."

"Millie."

"So who did you come with, Millie?"

"Some friends of mine. They know the guy who's throwing... They know you," she amends sheepishly.

"It wasn't even my idea to throw that stupid party. My best friend wanted to do it, but couldn't because his parents are always around. Mine are away this weekend so he jumped on the opportunity. And I was too much of a pushover to just tell him no."

"That would explain why you abandoned your own party then."

Vinny picks up a half-eaten apple that's lying just inside the corral and holds it out to Boris. He approaches the apple carefully before gobbling it up in one swift bite.

"So how bad is it in there?" Vinny asks once the entertainment of watching Boris eat the apple has passed.

She heaves a sigh before answering truthfully, "Not great."

Boris snorts and flicks his tail. "I better get back to the house then and do whatever damage control I can," Vinny excuses himself before making his way back down the invisible path Millie had taken to get there.

Boris stomps and snorts, bobbing his head. A cool breeze blows through, sending shivers up Millie's spine. She wraps her arms around her body and takes a step back from the metal rod of the fence. She watches as Boris rubs his neck back and forth against the fence across the ring from her, trying to soothe an itch. As the wind picks up in another gust of a breeze, she slowly begins backing up, taking a couple steps before turning around. She laggardly mimics the path taken just moments ago by Vinny until she finds herself once again at the back porch of his house.

She reclaims her spot on the step, listening to the chaos going on in the house behind her. When will this stupid thing just end already? she wonders, leaning forward to pull a dandelion out of the grass. I should have just met them here... Then I could be getting into my car and leaving right now. She hears the screen door creak open behind her, but she ignores it, figuring it must be someone who is looking for some fresh air to cool off a bit after being trapped in that sweat shack all night. When the person unexpectedly takes a seat next to her, she turns to look at who it is.

Vinny.

"Oh, hey," she greets with a smile.

"I shouldn't have gone in there. That is going to be a huge mess to clean up. I'm gonna kill Drew," he reports solemnly.

Feeling bad, she offers, "I could stick around and help you clean up if you want."

"Nah, you don't have to do that. I'm gonna make him do it all."

She giggles at this before the comfortable silence falls between them again. He lays back, pillowing his head in his palms, and looks up at the starry night sky. She follows suit and adjusts her ponytail so she's not laying right on the rubber band. Once the shuffling stops and she's settled into a position, the pandemonium from behind them rings out again.

"There's the Big Dipper," Vinny speaks, pointing out the constellation.

"Oh yeah...neat," Millie chirps, a small smile spreading across her lips.

One of her hands is draped across her stomach, rising and falling with each breath; the other is laid down beside her, in between herself and Vinny. He brings down the hand he'd pointed with, accidentally dropping it on top of her's. They both jerk away in surprise. "Sorry," he mutters.

"S'ok."

She slides her hand closer to her body to allow him some room to lay his down too. He lays his arm next to hers. Several beats pass before he works up the courage to reach over and gently interlace his pinky with hers. Her smile spreads wide across her face, a heavy blush creeping into her cheeks. She bites her lower lip in excitement because things like this never happen to girls like her.

Silence envelopes them once more. They remain out there for the next few hours, occasionally bringing up a random topic and talking about that briefly. Most of their time out there, however, is spent soundlessly enjoying each others company and gazing up at the twinkling stars above them, until the sounds of the party start dying down, signaling that people are beginning to leave or pass out on the chairs and sofas.

Vinny lets out a sorrowful sigh, propping himself up on his free elbow. "Looks like it's about time I get Drew to start the cleanup. He's not going to sleep until that place is spotless."

Millie smiles weakly, not wanting the moment to end. "Guess so," she agrees.

They both rise to their feet, dusting themselves off as they take the few steps into the house through the screen door. Millie follows Vinny into the living room, where they are greeted by the sight of Drew already passed out face-down on the couch. Lindy, Millie's ride, isn't hard to find either. She's just across the room curled up on the recliner in the corner.

Vinny lets out a grumble, cursing under his breath. He shakes his friend who takes several seconds to respond. He moans and bats Vinny away, conking back out almost immediately.

"Fabulous...juuuust fabulous," Vinny seethes, looking around the completely destroyed room. "He better hope he doesn't wake up tomorrow because his fate from me will be worse than death."

"Like I said, I can help you clean up. It's really no trouble," Millie offers firmly, already picking up one of the half-full trash bags, beginning to pluck empty bottles and cans off the furniture and throw them in.

"You really don't have to do that..."

She holds her palm up to him to stop him. "I'm helping you," she insists.

He nods and grabs a bag of his own. The pair works for a nearly two hours before the house begins to look the least bit normal and clean again. By the time they finish, the sun is already peeking over the horizon and light is starting to trickle in through the windows.

"Can I get you some coffee or something? It's the least I can do..." Vinny offers.

"Sure," Mille says through a small, tired smile.

Vinny gets the coffee going and takes a seat kitty corner to Millie at the table. The coffee pot brews, making soft bubbling sounds, and the people strewn throughout the house begin to groan and wake up as the light comes through brighter and stronger.

"You're gonna have a line in here once they get a whiff of that coffee," Millie warns playfully.

"Tough. This is their karma for leaving us to spend all night cleaning up the place," Vinny jokes devilishly, causing Millie to smile once more.

Something unusual, yet eerily familiar, bubbles up inside of her. Hope.