Good Riddance

“I’ll see you at the party!” said Jess to Tre as he held her around the waist childishly, refusing to let go, “I’ve got to make Scar look gorgeous”

“Thanks” I said to her in a sarcastically disgruntled voice as she kissed Tre long and hard one last time and then prised herself away to get to my mini.

“Go get the house set up” said Jess to Tre as I walked around to the driver’s seat of the mini and unlocked the door. Billie had left in Kiera’s car so he could get a ride home but Mike was still stood around waiting for Tre to get his ass in gear. Jess finally got in the car in the passenger seat and I revved the little car so I could get out of the car park and back down to home. We passed Tre and Mike as they walked out of the school and I waved at them.

It didn’t take me long to get back to my house and we got out. I unlocked the door and after shouting hello to my mum we went up the stairs to get ready for tonight. As far as my mum knew, we were going out to a disco which would finish at eleven and then we were going back to Kiera’s. I had become an accomplished liar since I had met Billie, it wasn’t something I was proud of but it was necessary to keep what Billie and I had secret.

“Right, so what we got?” asked Jess walking into my closet.

“Dressy stuff there,” I said pointing, “And casual stuff there”

“Okey doke” said Jess turning to my dressy stuff and pulled out several skirts, discarding each one on the floor as she decided it wasn’t suitable. I would have such a clean up tomorrow, Jess was so messy.

“Maybe we won’t go for a skirt at all” she said and turned to my jeans rack and pulled out a pair of black skinnies.

“Why?” I asked.

“Tits or legs dear, tits or legs and tonight you’re going for tits” she said.

“I am?” I asked. She nodded with a grin on her face. I tried to cast my mind to any tops of mine that she might have in mind and then I remembered one that I had bought a long time ago when I was on a shopping trip with Sandy when I lived back in England.

“That one is a little revealing” I said, “I’ve never worn it”

“Well there’s a first time for everything” said Jess, “And you’ll look smokin’ in it”

I nodded just taking her advice, I didn’t want to argue with her.

“What are you going in?” I asked. Jess held up a short yellow skirt and a black top, there was a pair of yellow heels that went with it.

“Yellow’s my favourite colour” said Jess in explanation of the skirt. It was nice, it was just very bright. Jess walked over to my shirt draw and quickly located the shirt she had decided I was going to wear tonight. It was basically a waistcoat except it was held together by a silver belt just under my navel, it was a halter neck so it plunged right down to my belly and all my back was on show. It was revealing but still enough to be modest enough to wear.

“Hair!” said Jess, “Now what am I going to do with you?”

“This is so not like you” I said to her, “Since when did you care about my hair?”

“Since now” she said with a shrug.

“Okay” I said, “Who are you and what have you done with Jess?”

Jess just grinned and for the next half an hour she pulled at my hair and hair sprayed it within an inch of its life. She then did my makeup and then very quickly did her own.

“You know, if you don’t become a film director you should go into makeup and costume” I said examining my silver eyes in the mirror.

“Who told you I wanted to be a film director?” she asked absently as she put the finishing touches to her “nude” lips which were glossy none the less.

“Tre” I said curling a section of my newly curled hair around my finger, Jess had brushed most of the curls down so they were just loose thick waves but a few still remained as tight curls.

“Don’t do that!” said Jess as she watched me touch my hair, “It’ll get all messed up before we even get there!”

“Who’s going tonight?” I asked her as I walked over to pick a bag up.

“Anybody who knows Billie basically” said Jess, “Which is about four hundred people in this town alone”

“That’s crazy” I said, “How are they all going to fit in the house?”

“I’m sure they’ll find a way some way or another” said Jess as she finished touching up her mascara and straightened up, “Ready to go?”

“Sure am” I said with a smile, “Billie will be expected me soon”

“Have you-?” Jess’ question tailed off as she bobbed her eyebrows up and down.

“No” I said, “Not yet”

“You should go for it!” she said decisively.

“Hmmm” I said, “I don’t know. I only just overcame some of my self doubt yesterday”

“oooo,” she said, “What happened yesterday?”

“You are so nosy!” I said with a giggle.

“Sure am” she said, “And anyway I tell you what I get up to with Tre”

“What don’t you get up to with Tre?” I muttered.

“Precisely!” she said completely ignoring me, “So what happened yesterday?”

“Well we skived off and-“ I blushed heavily, “I sorta gave him a hand job”

I whispered the last part through my mortification.

“Awww my little girl’s growing up!” said Jess.

“Don’t be patronising!” I said, “I was scared!”

“Of Billie?” Jess laughed.

“No!” I said as we went downstairs, “Of doing something wrong!”

“You’ll be fine!” she said, “They don’t care, they’re counting their lucky stars that you want to do it in the first place! Also you've got your hand on their dick. They ain't going to be complaining!”

“I know that now” I said, “But I didn’t yesterday and anyway, I just want to take it slow”

“Your choice” said Jess with a shrug as we stepped out into the night before getting into my car, “You know he won’t think any less of you”

“I know,” I said, “He’s not like that, I’m just worried that I’ll think less of me”

“Okay” mused Jess, “Never been a problem for me and Tre but whatever floats your Billie boat...”

I laughed at her comment as we backed out of the driveway.

“Now are you ready to party?” asked Jess.

“Hell yeah!” I said with a grin as we raced through the empty suburban streets towards Billie’s house.

***

We pulled up in front of Billie’s house about five minutes later, he had reserved my car a space in front of the house. There were two other cars parked either side of the space, one of which I think was Kiera’s, but the space between them could only fit a mini so nobody else could park there.

I looked up at the house as I parked in my allocated space; it seemed like an animal. It was if the house had come alive, the party had started about half an hour ago and the building was pumping with music and people. There was people on the lawn already and I could almost smell the alcohol from here. I promised myself there and then that I wouldn’t get drunk.

“Coming?” said Jess as she opened her door. I nodded and got out my side, locking the car as I went. If anybody defaced my baby-car I would get Zach to hunt them down and hurt them very badly. The front door was shut when Jess went up to it but she just walked straight in, I went after her and the sight that greeted me amazed me.

There was pulsing lights everywhere and some blue lights flashed across Jess as I watched and moved continuously around. There was the dull throb of bass under the loud music and the stench of alcohol and something else on the air. There was people everywhere; up the stairs, down the hallway, in the study room off to the side and I distinctly heard something smash as I stood getting used to the feeling around me. The house was hot and the people in it were hot, it felt as though the party was clinging to me and pulling me down with it, I just wanted to have fun.

Half a second had probably passed since I’d entered the house and Jess grabbed my hand pulling me into the throng of people and towards the back of the house. She shouted something but I lost it in the noise around me. We went into the lounge, I had been in here briefly at one time to talk to Ollie but had never really seen it properly, most of the time I was in the house I was down in the basement with Billie.

I saw Billie a moment later standing in the center of the room trying to procure a can of beer from a guy, who by the gestures taking place in the argument, had probably stolen it. I waited for a moment longer until the guy who was holding the can of beer passed out. Billie looked slightly perturbed that he hadn’t had to have a fight but he plucked the can of beer of the guy as he fell and looked amused at his inert body on the floor. I chose this moment to pick my way through the remaining people between us and make my presence known.

“Hey” I said to him as I pulled on his hand and linked it with my own. He turned around to face me swiftly because he obviously hadn’t heard me say hey to him. He saw me and my top and his eyes nearly left his skull as they widened. I giggled lightly.

“You like?” I said giving him a twirl. He pulled my close to him and growled in my ear that he most definitely did like it; a lot.

“Jess picked it out for me,” I said standing on tiptoe so I could talk in his ear, “You should thank her”

“I will later” he said to me and nibbled on my ear. It made giggle and snuggle closer to him.

“The house looks incredible” I said to him, “How long did it take you to rig up the lights?”

“Apparently Mike is a lighting expert as well as a bassist, so not long” Billie smiled, “Although when Marley arrived with her turn tables it took a moment to get them down the hallway and to the back”

I looked over my shoulder and saw a girl with short spiky hair stood behind the turn tables which were blasting out music, she had a set of ear phones to one ear but was using the other hand to mess about with the decks.

“She’s an amazing mixer. The guy we wanted went away and recommended her.” said Billie in explanation as he sat down in a chair, he pulled me down onto his knee so my head was next to his so we could talk me easily.

“Marley?” I reminded him.

“She’s done a year sound tech course at college and yet she still finds time to come a do decks at my place” said Billie. I smiled at the proud look on his face.

“Anybody else I should known around here?” I asked him.

“Um yeah” said Billie, “I won’t introduce to them all, I’m sure you’ll get to know them in time”

“I’m sure I will” I said a touch dryly. Billie didn’t notice it which I think I had something to do with the decent amount of alcohol in his system.

“That over there,” said Billie pointing at a woman in the corner, “Is Shell.”

“Shell?” I asked as I looked over, trying to be inconspicuous.

“I think her full name is Rachelle,” said Billie, “But she’s just known as Shell, I don’t even know her surname”

“Who is she?” I asked him still looking at the woman.

“She’s the founder of the cult down by the bridge” said Billie, “If you’re good with Shell, nobody is going to touch you in this town, or certainly in this circle”

“She’s not mafia is she?” I asked tentatively, still looking at her.

“No!” said Billie quickly and then he thought for a moment, “At least I don’t think she is”

I half smiled as I looked in the corner Shell was stood in. She looked about twenty three and she had long dark brown hair, it was curly, but they were defined curls, I got the impression it could have been slightly frizzy when she was younger. I couldn’t really see her face from here but it looked as if she were wearing dark purple glasses, I wondered for a moment why she didn’t wear contact lenses but shrugged it off. There was a man stood with her, he had large muscles in his arms and because he wasn’t wearing a shirt I could see he had a ripped chest, he had short black hair and a pointed stretcher through his left ear.

“Who’s the man with her?” I whispered to Billie.

“With Shell?” he asked and when I nodded, continued, “That’s Joey. He’s Shells erm, partner, they aren’t married or even officially together but they’re acknowledged as unavailable, if any girl tried to hit on Joey, Shell would make sure she most definitely didn’t do it again and if any guy tried to get with Shell, well Joey would kick his ass into next year. He's a scary dude.”

“He looks like he’s capable of doing that” I said looking at the muscles in the guys chest.

“Yeah,” mused Billie, “Joey is also Shell’s dealer and bodyguard”

“Dealer?!” I asked, “As in drugs?”

“No,” said Billie taking the mick, “As in chocolate”

I frowned at him and he just kissed me on the cheek.

“I need to go get a drink” I said to him and stood up off his knee, “Where are they?”

“The ones the mob are drinking are in the back garden but the ones we’re drinking are down in my room” said Billie getting a key out of his back pocket.

“This is the time when having a lock on your door comes in useful” I said with a grin. Billie nodded and slid his hand under my top and held onto my waist as he guided me through the crowd toward the basement stairs. I nearly got crushed by a drunk guy who fell over, I stepped over his inert body as his, I assumed, girlfriend knelt down by his unconscious body and tried to revive him.

“Get him out of here Melody” said Billie as the guy came round a little bit, Billie helped the girl called Melody get him to his feet.

“Billie, my man!” roared the drunk guy as he sort of stood up while leaning on Melody and another girl.

“Hey Stix” said Billie with a grin as the guy promptly dropped his head forward and didn’t say another word as Melody and her friend helped him to the door.

“He is going to have such a hangover in the morning” I said over the music as we got to the door that led to the basement stairs, Billie opened it and I was shocked by what I saw. There was two people having sex on the stairs and they didn’t even break when Billie opened the door, they were half drunk and I don’t think they really noticed. I walked past them with wide eyes until we reached the door at the bottom. There was note pinned to the door of the bedroom which read: ‘HA HA, I LOCKED IT, YOU’LL HAVE TO FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO FUCK!’

I looked back to the couple of the stairs; well they obviously hadn’t bothered moving very far. Billie unlocked the door and pulled me inside locking it after him. He didn’t turn the light on so all I could see was the shapes of the furniture as they were illuminated by the moonlight streaming in from the small windows at the near ceiling level on the far end.

“Billie, where is the drink?” I asked with a smile in my voice.

“Over here” he said, “I’m just trying to find it”

“Wouldn’t it better with a light”

“Yeah” said Billie, “I’m just a lazy ass and can’t be arsed to turn it on”

I giggled and moved to the side of his bed and flicked on the light that was there. Billie had got three unlabelled bottles and was pouring them into a small glass. He mixed it with a wooden mixer and it made a clear mixture.

“Taste that” he said with a grin as he made his way over to the bed where I had sat down.

“What’s in it?” I asked him warily. I wasn’t scared about him trying to give me anything, I was just apprehensive about the amount of alcohol in this glass.

“Just taste it and find out” he said with a smile. I nodded and sniffed it, it smelt slightly of apples so I decided it wasn’t going to be too foul, I took a large gulp taking the advice of Sandy who had once told me never to sip a drink like this. How Sandy knew this when she was younger than me, I didn’t know. I swallowed an intensely hot but not unpleasant feeling went down my throat. I could taste the sugary sweet taste of apples and a sort of darker taste. I couldn’t really describe it, other than that it was nice.

“Well?” asked Billie.

“It’s really nice!” I said to him, “But what’s in it?”

“Apple Liquor, White Martini and a splash of Vodka” Billie said proudly.

“Just to make it truly mind blowing?” I asked.

“Yeah,” said Billie, “Don’t drink too many otherwise you’ll be absolutely wasted”

“Hmm” I said to him with a grin, “Are you bringing the bottles back up? I want a dance!”

“Alright” he said with a grin, “Knock that back and then take your glass up with you”

“Knock it back?” I asked him incredulously looking at the amount of clear liquid left in my glass, there was at least five large gulpfuls. Billie laughed at my apprehensive look.

“Fine then!” I said to him, “If I drink back in one, you have to do whatever I want for the rest of the evening”

“And if you don’t?” asked Billie banking on my lack of drinking experience.

“Then I will do whatever you want for the rest of the night” I said.

“Whatever I want?” asked Billie, “Now that does sound fun”

“You haven’t won yet” I reminded him as I raised my glass, “Cheers”

I put the glass to my lips and started to drink, the hot feeling in my throat came after the second mouthful and I swallowed the rest to try and get it down. I finished the last drop and slammed the glass down on the bedside table, I drew my finger across the bottom lip and then I got an idea, I smiled evilly at Billie who was still looking shocked that I managed to knock the drink back, I put my finger into my mouth down to the third knuckle and sucked on it hard, Billie’s eyes widened as I drew it out of my mouth a just sucked on the tip of my finger. I almost heard his groan. I grinned and then got up off the bed, enjoying the immediate sensation of light-headedness from the drink. Billie grabbed the bottles off the side and held them.

“Are you coming?” I asked him and held out my hand. He took it and it pulled him up to the door.

“You are so bad” he growled at me.

“Must be rubbing off on me” I said to him as we went back out the door. The two people who had been having sex had gone and I was immediately re-immersed in the sound of music, which I couldn’t hear very well in his bedroom. Billie locked his door again and we went back up the stairs, I giggled lightly as I tripped on one of the stairs. The lights were flashing brightly around me as we got back into the hallway.

“Where did you go?!” a voice to my left shouted. I looked around to see Jess.

“We went to get some drink” said Billie, “Scar downed a 42%er”

“Wow Scar” shouted Jess, her pupils were a little dilated and she had an inane grin on her face, “I didn’t know you would be able to do that!”

She was shouting a little louder than normal and a minute later the reason became apparent. Tre arrived at her shoulder, a cigarette in his mouth, in that moment with my senses dulled by the drink I wasn’t really aware of what it was, but then I smelt the smell that wasn’t like tobacco. My slightly foggy mind realised that this must be weed and that Tre and Jess had been smoking it.

“Come on let’s dance!” said Jess grabbing my arm and pulling me through to the living room. Kiera and Mike were already on the dance floor grinding up against one another, I lost my inhibitions and danced to the beat of the music, Billie came up behind me and started to dance behind me. Jess spun around to dance with Tre who by now had stubbed his cigarette out on the in a nearby ashtray and grabbed Jess’ ass to pull her close.

A slow number came on.

“For all the couples I can see on the dance floor” said Marley into her mike next to her. I half smiled and turned to Billie, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and we slowly swayed to the beat of the music. His hand was on my thigh and under my top, he leaned down to kiss me sweetly and I tasted alcohol on his lips. I pulled myself flush against his body and the slow thud of the bass seemed to match the thud of my blood as it raced around my body. The strong drink I had had was having effects on me because I wasn’t used to it and I knew that they would be short lived. I could feel my blood moving around my body and my head felt heavy, but in a way that didn’t matter as Billie’s lips were on mine and the party was raging.

Through the rest of the night I drank another two glasses of Billie’s cocktail but I waited till each one had more or less worked itself off before having another one. Marley turned the volume on the decks down at one so we didn’t get the police knocking on the door, by that time it was mostly couples swaying in the lounge, other people had migrated upstairs to either crash out in a drunken stupor on the floor or to continue the amorous adventures in one of the bedrooms which wasn’t locked.

Kiera was out on the sofa, she had an empty vodka bottle next to her and I got the impression that she and Mike had drunk the whole thing between them. Kiera had been drinking more than Mike however so while she was out of it Mike was sat with her head on his lap and was leaned back against the sofa, contenting himself with watching his sleeping girlfriend and the rest of the party.

Jess had come down off whatever she had taken at about eleven and had been quite depressed for about half an hour but Tre had taken her somewhere and she had come back looking bright and cheery with a glow about her. Billie had muttered something about ‘post-orgasmic’ but I didn’t know whether to believe him or not. As for me, I was just feeling sleepy now, it had been quite a long day and I had my head on Billie’s chest, leaning against him.

“Do you want to go downstairs?” he asked.

“Not if you don’t want to” I muttered to him. My eyelids were dropping shut from time to time and my muscles were aching from the dance class that I had had this lunchtime. I couldn’t believe that I was suddenly so tired and I guessed that the unusual amount of alcohol that my system had taken on tonight had something to do with it. Billie looked down at me and smiled, he then picked me up bridal style and I wrapped my arms around his neck once again.

I wasn’t really aware of what anybody was doing anymore and I rested my face in the crook of Billie’s neck, he carried me downstairs and somehow, while managing to keep hold of me, unlocked his bedroom door and placed me on his bed. I was sort of aware that a few moments after he lay me on the bed, Mike came down the stairs and placed Kiera on his bed in the corner, he would sleep in the sleeping bag beside her that was meant for her.

Billie stripped my down to my underwear and I didn’t even care that Mike was in the room doing pretty much the same thing to Kiera. Billie pulled one of his large t-shirts over my head and then lay me on my side, propping me up with pillows so I didn’t roll onto my back. I wondered why the alcohol wasn’t making him tired and feel bad as well but then I thought that he hadn’t actually drunk that much, yes, he’d got a bit happy but he hadn’t knocked three glasses of whatever I had drunk.

The last thing I was really conscious of was Billie kissing me softly on the lips and promising me that he’d back in a few moments after he had been back upstairs to sort some stuff out. I remembered murberling some incoherent sounds and then falling to sleep with the sounds of Kiera’s breathing in the background.