Night Walkers

It was about 4 o’clock when I realized that I had neither the address to the house nor any of the guys’ phone numbers. I knew they lived on Juniper Way, but I was not about to knock on every door until I found the right house. I got ready anyway and then just decided to walk around Juniper Way until somebody found me or I ran out of dignity.

“Where are you going?” Dan asked.

“Out.”

“When will you be back?”

“Eventually.”

I stormed off down the street toward the general direction of their house. I had no idea what part of the street it was on and I didn’t really care. It was liberating to be out of that house for once and to be away from Dan’s BS. I got to the beginning of Juniper Way and gazed at all the enormous houses that lined the street. This wasn't a cookie-cutter neighborhood, either. Each house had its own subtle style that made it unique from the others. I would have loved to live in any of them.

I still wasn't completely sure exactly where the guys lived, so I just decided to start walking and hoping they would find me. After about a block, I sat down on a bench and thought about what I was doing with my life. I kept thinking about how ridiculous it was that I was still with Dan, and how I’d spent the last year of my life totally unhappy. My mind was replaying the events from earlier over and over and it was seriously pissing me off. I must have been really into it, because I didn't hear any footsteps until they were right next to me.

“Hey.”

“Oh, hey Zacky. How’d you know I was here?”

“Well, I didn't. I realized we didn't give you an address or phone number, which was pretty stupid. So I decided to just come pick you up myself since everyone else was uh…otherwise occupied.”

I looked quizzically at him but he declined to explain further. We started walking toward his house.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Hm? Oh, nothing.”

“No, something’s wrong. You’re super tense and I feel like you want to punch me.”

“I got in a fight with Dan after you guys left and I keep thinking about all the snarky, witty things I could have said.”

He laughed.

“When has someone ever looked back on a fight and been completely satisfied with the way it went? I know I sure haven’t”

“Yeah I guess so.” He smiled at me and I smiled back goofily before I realized how absolutely moronic I must look. My cheeks were red as sin as I turned my head the other way and tried to compose myself.

“You know, you have a really nice smile,” Zacky said. Unfortunately, I blushed even harder as I muttered out a thank you.

We finally got to the house and I almost laughed with joy at how beautiful it was.

“Holy. Shit,” I blurted out.

“What?” Zacky asked, confused.

“You failed to tell me that you live in the biggest house in the whole neighborhood.”

“What does it matter?”

“I can’t believe I even let you see my dinky house that I’m renting. Christ.”

“Really, Lily? If we were going to judge you do you think we would have invited you over?”

I shook my head but continued to take in the splendor of this gargantuan home. It was tan stucco on the outside, with tons of tall, huge windows. It had stone on the bottom. A large porch reached out from the front door and extended across the entire front of the house. There was a beautiful garden that was full of lavender and pale pink peonies. A large cherry tree was in the left side of the front yard, and there was a larger maple in the back that towered over the house. Did I mention that it was fantastically gorgeous?

“What do you do for a living?” I gawked.

“We, uh, p-“

“God, I’m so rude! I’m sorry; I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Right now I have like, no filter at all. I have mouth vomit.”

“So, you mean you have regular vomit. There is no other type,” He threw his head back and laughed really, really hard.

“I guess. God, this house is gorgeous. Mouth diarrhea, I have.”

“Okay Yoda. You mean diarrhea of the mouth?”

“That’s it!”

He pushed me toward the house and opened the front door.
“Guys we’re here! Stop fucking!” Zacky yelled.

I turned around to shut the door and when I turned back, eight people were standing in front of me. I jumped a foot and about shit my pants. Zacky was glaring at Matt, who mouthed the word sorry.

“We didn’t mean to scare you,” A beautiful blond girl stepped forward. “My name’s Val, it’s really nice to meet you.” She smiled and then stood next to Matt.

I was then introduced to Michelle, who was Brian’s girlfriend, Leana, who was Jimmy’s girlfriend, and Lacey, who seemed really antisocial and just gave me a short nod. She kind of looked sick, and Johnny took her back upstairs after we were introduced.

The girls gave me a tour of the house and it was almost as great on the inside was it was on the outside. Pristine, white carpet ran all over the bottom floor of the house and had a swirly pattern in the living room area. A huge black leather sectional ran the length of two walls and had intermittent arm rest/cup holders. A gigantic plasma TV was mounted on the wall and there was virtually every game console underneath.

The kitchen was done in all black and white, with red accents. A huge, whitewashed, pine dining set was in a nook adjacent to the kitchen. It had floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out toward the front of the house. A door ran off the other side of the kitchen and led into a little mudroom, which led outside to a large porch. The backyard was practically endless, and had a big, in-ground pool.

The other side of the ground floor had a long, narrow hallway that went back to a bedroom and bathroom that belonged to Johnny and Lacey. Another room ran almost directly next the front door and was Jimmy and Leana’s. A wide staircase led upstairs, and there were pictures of everyone on the walls leading up.

There were three huge bedrooms upstairs , which each had its own bathroom. Zacky’s bedroom was the closest to the stairs. Brian and Michelle’s room was on the opposite wall, and then lastly was Matt and Val’s.

I oohed and aahed at everything and then we proceeded to play some songs on Rockband. I will say that I am FUCKING awesome at guitar and I will take everyone down. The guys were so impressed that we had a tournament to see who could beat me. I totally owned Matt and Jimmy. Johnny put up a good fight, but defeat was imminent. Zacky almost beat me and probably would've if Jimmy hadn't farted on him near the end of the song. Brian and I played two songs and he beat me by less than a thousand points each time. He wanted to play again, but by then my fingers felt like wet noodles and I had to stop.