Self-Developed

"Hey mom, is it okay if I go stay over at Tommy's today for his birthday?" I asked.

"Will his parents be there?"

"Yes, mom," I rolled my eyes. "No drinking, no smoking, no sex, got it."

She looked over me with an irritated look on her face. "You know the rules, I know. I just have to make sure," she said with a sigh of relief.

"So, I can go?" I asked again.

"Yeah, that's fine," she replied.

"Thank you, mom!"

"Josh, bring the damn keg over here!" Tommy yelled from across the yard.

I lugged a heavy metal barrel over to the table Tommy yelled from. "What else do we need?"

"I have the cooler full of jungle juice, four beer pong tables, six twenty-four packs of beer, there's a bong in my bedroom that I will get right now, I got a couple Gs from my buddy, cups, Jell-O shots; yeah dude, I think we got everything," Tommy said. It was his birthday and his parents were allowing him to throw a party.

"Awesome dude! Happy fucking birthday to you man," I gave him a bro hug. "This is gonna be the party of the year dude!"

It was ten o'clock and people started showing up. I was in charge of the door and taking tickets. Tommy and I had pre-sold tickets for four dollars each and we had sold around eighty tickets already. People came by groups of five to ten and I took tickets, money, and alcohol if they brought some. An hour or so into the party, people stopped showing up and I joined the party in the backyard.

The music was loud, the people were having a good time, and everybody was getting drunk. Except me. I still had not had a single drink. I walked over to the cooler of jungle juice and got a cup for myself and called next for one of the beer pong tables with Tommy. We were the dynamic duo when it came to beer pong. At every party we both went to, there would be tournaments and we would win every single time. We won our first match against two football players and we took a small break before our next match.

I took a few shots of vodka with Tommy and things started to get a little bit hazy. This guy came up to me holding a bong and asked if I wanted to take a hit. I looked up and saw a taller boy, he had green eyes which were surrounded by his irritated red veins from being stoned, brown hair, and he had a cute side smirk. I had never smoked weed, the one thing I had never done. I had no idea how to do it.

"Sure," I said hesitantly. I grabbed the bong and attempted to figure out how to take a hit. I put my mouth on the hole at the top and the boy lit the bowl and I started to inhale. Three seconds passed and I couldn't take anymore smoke into my lungs.

"Hold it, hold it, hold it!" the boy said to me. So I did, and I looked towards him to see when I should let it out. He seemed to know I was waiting for him as he nodded as a signal to let it all go. I exhaled and started coughing. The guy laughed and patted me on the back. "It's okay, let it out. It happens to the best of us," he said with a chuckle.

I could feel the alcohol in my stomach reacting to the smoke. "Fuck!" I covered my mouth with my hand and ran behind Tommy's grey shed where there was no party-goers and let it all out. Between violent heaving, I heard footsteps behind me and felt a warm hand rubbing my back as I continued to let everything in my stomach out. I didn't bother turning around to see who it might have been, I just focused on trying not to throw up anymore. I took a couple slow breaths before standing upright.

"Are you alright?"

I turned around as the hand slid off of my back. It was the guy that handed me the bong. "Yeah, thanks; I think I'm alright now," I said gratefully.

"Let's get something in your stomach," he said grabbing me by the shoulder. "Something for your breath would probably be a good idea too." He chuckled again.

I followed him towards the house and went inside. We walked through the living room and passed by Tommy's parents, who looked at me somewhat worriedly. He took me to the kitchen and sat me down on a stool that was around the kitchen island. He turned around and looked in a few different cabinets before coming back and started creating something. He ended up making me a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich to eat. He even cut it into halves, something that only my mom would ever do.

"Here, eat this," he said, setting down the plate in front of me. "Let me get you some water too." I took the first bite and watched him grab a glass cup. He filled it with ice and water and brought it over to me and set it down.

"Thank you, for taking care of me. I've never been high before or ever smoked," I said between bites of the sandwich.

"Don't even sweat it, dude. I understand. I was the same way when I first smoked. It's normal, I mean I didn't throw up, but I also wasn't drinking when I first got stoned," he replied with a satiric hint in his voice. His side smirk started to form.

I smiled. "Well, maybe drinking and smoking wasn't the smartest idea."

He looked down at his hands and laughed to himself. "Yeah, maybe it wasn't the smartest idea."

"Hey! Don't laugh at me!" I said playfully.

He looked up and smiled at me. "I'm Brandon."

I didn't even realize that he hadn't introduced himself until that moment. "I'm Josh," I replied.

"Alright," he said looking at my empty plate. "Now we have to do something about that breath." He dug into his pocket and pulled out a pack of 5 gum and handed me a piece.

"Thanks," I said.

"Now that you've got some food in your stomach and you seem to not be throwing up anymore, how about we get back to this party for your friend?" He stretched his hand out toward me. I grabbed it and stood up and followed him back into the backyard.

"We're just going to go really slow now, okay?" He grabbed two cups of jungle juice for each of us and I reached to grab mine from him and he pulled it back. "Slow, okay?"

I nodded. "Give me the damn drink." He handed it to me and started drinking his. He watched me from the corner of his eye as I moved the cup to my lips. I rolled my eyes.

Four drinks later, one more round of beer pong, and it was five in the morning. Most of the kids were starting to find rides home or were asking if they could just stay over. There was probably a good twenty people who were staying over. Brandon was one of them. He found a spot in the living room for both of us. Before laying down, I went down the hall to Tommy's bedroom, who happened to already be passed out on his bed and grabbed a couple blankets out of his closet.

Brandon had already found a comfortable spot leaning against the couch when I came back into the living room. I sat down next to him and threw the blankets on top of us.

"Thanks for these," Brandon slurred. I smiled at his drunken state.

"You're welcome." He started to close his eyes and slowly leaned his head on my shoulder. I followed his lead and laid my head on top of his and shut my eyes. Before I fell completely asleep next to him, I felt movement, but didn't bother to open my eyes. A few seconds later, I felt pressured warmth on my lips. I fluttered my eyes open and saw Brandon's face in front of mine. I returned the pressure on his lips and then he stopped and fell back to sleep.

I sat there, his head on my shoulder. "Did that really just happen?"