Skinny Love

I closed the metal gate behind me, finally arriving to what many people anticipated being known as "the party of the century." The biggest party in Portland, the real-world Project X. Held in a fucking junkyard. Now, don't get me wrong. The idea of it seems cool, hundreds upon hundreds of grungy teens hanging out, getting high and drunk off their asses with people they've never met, surrounded by scraps. The place was already a mess, so no clean-up would be necessary for the hosts. Sure, it was trespassing. But, isn't that the point of it? Rebellion, an almost symbolic way to give the government a giant middle finger to the face? With that being said, I do highly appreciate the idea. But, a junkyard is still a junkyard, and the smell that filled my nose would probably stay there for weeks.

I looked for my friends I was supposed to be meeting up with for a good twenty minutes, milling through a crowd of strangers. A song I couldn't quite put my finger on was pulsing through every bone in my body, and before I knew it, a drink, the contents of which being unknown, was pushed into my hand. Finally, I found my stupidly intoxicated friends sitting in a corner, one of them stuck in a rogue tire, and the other laughing at her expense.

"There you guys are," I said, hardly acknowledging the fact that Isabella was actually stuck in a piece of rubber, and Jen was far too close to pissing her pants. "Hammered already, and it's only 10:30."

"Riley!" the two bastards exclaimed. Jen stood up, as best as she could in her state, and wrapped her arms around my neck. She gave me a sloppy kiss on the cheek. "Missed you, babes."

"Heeyyy Ry-sies," Isabella slurred, in her flirty voice, which often came out after a few shots. "Care to help a bitch out?" She gave me her cheesy smile.

I laughed and grabbed her arms, pulling her out of the tire. She tried to compose herself for a minute after standing up, and gave me another kiss on the cheek. "Thankya, babygirl. Now, time to get you drunk, and me, a guy. Let's go."

Grabbing Jen and I by the arm, Isabella seemed to wander aimlessly throughout the yard, pushing people out of her way, and even knocking a few drinks out of hands.

"Bells?" I tried to be the voice of reason, the only sober member of our little trio. "You sure you know where you're going?"

"Positive, Ry-sies," she kept trucking through the crowd of people for a minute, before stopping herself short. "I'm out. Love you guys, but the target has been spotted." She ran off to some guy she had supposedly had her eye on, leaving Jen and myself alone for the rest of the night.

Jen and I decided that what we really needed was some more alcohol. So, we set off on our way to the table filled with liquor. About halfway through our journey, Jen turned to me in her drunken stupor. "Riles, you don't mind if I peace out, right? That guy over there is most definitely giving me the eyes and I'm going in." Before I had the chance to argue, she was gone.

Cool, cool. The only two people I knew at this big-ass party left me to fend for myself. If I already had some of that lovely liquid poison running through my veins, it would have been a totally different story. But, these bitches left me sober. Regardless, I still managed to make my way to the alcohol table. I figured I might as well bite the bullet, and have a strong one to get me feeling it. I kicked back whatever I had tossed into my cup, letting what I now identified as straight vodka burn my throat on the way down. I chugged it, and went back for a refill. Shooting it down my throat, I felt much better about the night in front of me. I tossed my cup onto the floor and began to wander around the party, seeing what, or even possibly who, there was to do.

I saw a group of kids sitting around in a circle in one of the darker corners of the party, and looked to see what they were doing. I saw what I liked to call the stick of nirvana being passed around the group, more commonly known as a joint. Fuck yes. I made my way over to the group of kids, who looked up at me. A girl with bright red hair scooted over and made room. "Care to hit?"

"Oh, hell yes," I said with a laugh, sitting down cross-legged in the circle. Once the joint made its way to me, I inhaled deeply, holding it in for a few seconds before releasing the thick, white smoke into the air. I instantly felt amazing. Everything became like a sort of jelly, relaxing and warming my body intensely. Everyone around the circle sat in silence, just passing the joint around and enjoying the music. No stupid conversations, just great vibes with total strangers. It eventually reached the end, and everyone went their separate ways. Some walking fine, others stumbling. One girl was passed out on the ground. Teenagers.

I stood up, legs like complete jelly, and just laughed at myself. Nothing was funny, but at the same time, everything was a fucking riot. I felt great. After a few minutes, though, I couldn't really take standing anymore, so I floated over to a tire and plopped my stoned ass onto it. I just closed my eyes and swayed with the music, which seemed to sound increasingly better as the night grew older.

What seemed like an eternity went by before I opened my eyes. When I opened them, I saw the most beautiful stranger in the world looking at me with a smirk. My god, this boy was fucking gorgeous. As our eye contact refused to break, he made his way over to me, and believe it or not, the beauty seemed to intensify the closer he came. He had the most beautiful brown eyes, and this sexy dark brown hair I'd give anything to run my fingers through. His lips seemed to be the most kissable things on this Earth. I took a deep breath as he finally arrived in front of me.

"Hey there, beautiful." he said, offering me a hand to help me up. "Got a name?"

I chuckled, in my almost comatose state, and grabbed his hand as I struggled to stand. "Riley. And you are?" I smiled, looking into those beautiful eyes. Maybe it was the weed, or the alcohol talking, but this was the most attractive human I'd ever seen.

"Austin," he said, a smug smile crossing his face. "You been drinking, gorgeous?"

I laughed. "Maybe, like, a little," I replied. "Is it obvious?"

"Not so much the drinking, but you're definitely stoned," he laughed, pointing at my eyes. "Those beauts are bright red."

"Yeah, it's been a stressful day, gotta release the tension," I kept laughing, the high clearly not fading anytime soon.

"Gotcha. Wanna talk about it?"

This altered state I was in was most definitely a bold one. I leaned in close to him, whispering. "Why talk, when our mouths could be doing other things?"

He smirked at me, grabbing my hand once more. "Come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"My car, unless you're one of those freaky chicks who hooks up in public."

I giggled, grabbing this gorgeous fucker's hand and following him into the night.