Photogenic

Mason and Laci walked up the driveway toward this huge house (it was almost a mansion). Joey was next to me behind the two. He kept trying to slip his hand into mine as we walked. He was doing the same thing in the car. My Espadrilles lightly clicked on the cement as we passed car after car. I moved away from Joey while I looked at the front yard to see it was well kept, but being destroyed by adventurous party goers. Once inside the hour, it was blatantly evident that the parents didn't know about the party; the beautiful artwork and breakable objects weren't put away or even barricaded to keep ruthless drunks away. The house was too loose-- people snooping in every room and others dancing on expensive looking furniture. I lost Mason and Laci somewhere between the front door and the living room and Joey soon parted to dance with some random girl, thank God. I was here to have fun, not tag along with a couple or be forced onto Joey's arm.

There was a slight pause in the music as the song changed to something more electric and fun. I noticed that the people around me started dancing in more sharp jerky moves as I crossed the room. Two girls were dancing provocatively on the polished coffee table. A stereotypical white gangster hooted them on as they grinded against each other. I rolled my eyes at the over sized clothed man, deciding that I definitely would need a drink. Exiting the room once again, I looked for the kitchen, brushing past loiterers in the hall with drinks in hand. The alcohol was always in the kitchen, right? It was at this party. I grabbed myself a beer from the keg on the nice marble counter and leaned next to it, surveying the room.

Three girls were chatting near the stainless steal refrigerator and holding red plastic cups that matched mine. I felt extremely out of place standing in this kitchen with these girls alone. I looked down at my brown sun dress as I took another drink, wondering if I should try to find someone I knew here. Out of all the college students here, I surely would find one I knew, or at least knew enough to socialize with for a while.

Pushing myself away from the counter, I decided I might as well try to socialize if I wanted to have fun. Drinking alone wasn't much fun, specially with the fear of Joey suddenly taking advantage of your loneliness. Taking another drink, I exited the kitchen and decided if I could find someone in the living room. The song had changed to something more recognizable and slower. The two girls that were once dancing on the table were gone now, replaced by a different one, this one dancing slowly. The way she moved reminded me of a belly dancer or something like that. The dreaded man in over sized clothes was watching the new girl in amazement, as if he hadn't seen someone move like that before.

I watched everyone in the room move from my little corner by the door. No one noticed me this way and I could drink in peace while I observed everything. After another song, I spotted a familiar friendly face amongst everyone. His brown hair was just the same as it always had been-- somewhere between long and short and styled just right that it was tasteful. He had make up on, though. Something he only did on occasion. His tastes didn't change much either-- he still wore plain flannel button down shirts with khaki pants and his nice shoes. Always dressed the best he could for anything.

He was dancing with two girls (very closely, I might add). Something I hadn't seen since high school. It was nice though, to see him in such a memorable way, after all these months. The song ended quickly and he stopped dancing with the two girls (they walked away together laughing after he leaned in to kiss their cheeks). He was heading towards where I stood, but I knew he couldn't see me by the way he walked. But as he neared, he scanned the faces. His eyes landed on mine and he stopped dead in his tracks.

I smiled at the expression of disbelief on his features. It took a second to long for him to realize that I was real. He took quicker strides and was embracing me in a tight hug. He was my height when I had these heals on.

"How are you?" he breathed in my ear. "Oh my god! Come on! We have to catch up on everything!"

He took my hand and pulled me out of the living room and into the grand hall. Minglers looked on as we passed, but didn't give a second thought to us disappearing into a side room where the music was much quieter.

The room looked more of a family lounge than anything else with plushy sofa's and armchairs that matched the black and cream decor. Matt pulled me down onto a cream sofa, sitting cross legged facing me. Because I was wearing the sun dress, I couldn't copy him, but I made myself as comfortable as I could.

"How are you, Ry?" he gushed, using the old nickname of my childhood. "We haven't talked in a while. How's the fam'?"

"Slow down, Matt," I laughed. "I'm good, just over worked." He mumbled a "I can tell," but let me continue. "What about you? Have you found anyone yet?"

He smiled. "Not yet. They're out there, though." His shoulders rose and fell quickly, passing up the topic. "I've been working too much. Alex wants a completely knew wardrobe by winter and there's been many costumers coming into the shop lately."

Matt was a personal assistant for Alex Male, an aspiring model that is spoiled to no end and treats Matt like scum a lot. Along with that, Matt works for a high end clothing store in the city, owned by Alex himself.

The subject soon changed from our careers to our past together. We drank as we recalled the good, band and laugh worthy times growing up and through high school. We laughed together about our "brief" 'more than friends' relationship in tenth grade. Back then, we hadn't even kissed by the time we broke up after a solid two months. Those months went by quickly then and we were more into just having fun than falling into the social norm of couples. I had been teased like no other when that got out, though. Of course, Matt, being the good best friend he was, stood up for me then and that's probably what kept us friends afterwords.

"Oh my God!" Matt exclaimed, lightly touching my knee as I faced him after taking a sip from my red cup. "Do you remember Kaden?" His eyes grew wide as he asked.

How could I not remember Kaden? He had been Matt's first boyfriend... that I met at least. I nodded and he continued.

"He came into the store last week! And guess what!?" he was so excited to tell me the news that I couldn't help but smile. He didn't wait for my guess. "He's getting married!" All his excitement seemed to bubble over and he squealed to himself. "It's so exciting!" I laughed, feeling his excitement at one of his old boyfriends. Usually, people would feel sour and try to forget, but not Matt. He was always happy for others' excitement, no matter how much it possibly could hurt him in return.

After a little more chatting, we decided that we definitely needed more to drink and we left the room. We headed toward the kitchen, getting through the crowd in the hall pretty easily. Once in the kitchen, Matt took my cup and refilled it for me. I swept the room with my eyes curiously. That dreaded guy was standing in the corner on his cell phone, nodding to whatever the other person said.

"Nein! Nein! Sie ist hier, ich schwöre-" His head lowered farther as he shifted his footing and pulled his baggy jeans up slightly. He listened to whoever was on the other end carefully.

It took me a full second to realize that he wasn't speaking English. It was some weird language I've never heard before. Matt caught my attention and handed me the refilled red plastic. I smiled in thanks and took a long drink as he refilled his.

"Sie sollten kommen, die Partei ist noch nicht zu Ende," he paused, biting his lip as if he expected the response from the other. "Kommen Sie heran! Sie haben keinen Spass in Amerika gehabt!"

Matt touched my arm, motioning to the table that sat in the corner of the room. I smiled and sat in the wooden chair next to his. He leaned towards me, looking at the cell phone talker briefly before looking back at me.

"He's hott!" he gushed, a smile suddenly breaking across his face as he looked back over to the foreign speaker. "Oh my God!"

I giggled at him, amused by this. I took another drink. I wasn't even buzzed yet, which was a good thing, compared to how the last party had went for me. As if my giggle was an alert, the guy looked up and his eyes widened slightly before he began to speak rapidly in the unknown language again.

"Bill! Sie ist hier vor mir!" he paused, looking down again with the same expression. "Kein Witz! Ich bin in der Küche, und sie ist hier. Kommen Sie hier jetzt!"

Matt squealed, grabbing my arm. "He's foreign!"

"Beeilen Sie sich. Ich werde mit ihrem ..." he paused, a smirk on his face. It must have been the alcohol, but I didn't feel guilty about hearing the conversation, though I couldn't understand it. Maybe that was why. "Ja. Ich weiß." He was looking down again, this time more out of annoyance. "Kälte, Bill! Ich gehe mit ihr nicht schlafen..." He looked at me, his eye brows moving, slightly disappearing from view underneath his hat. "noch."

He hung up the phone and made his way, rather slowly, I might add, to me and Matt at the table. Matt looked at me with wide eyes. I could practically feel his heart jumping out of his chest when the guy sat down next to me. I looked at him oddly, only now realizing that he look familiar. But I was sure I'd never seen him before.

"Heeey," he said in a deep voice, dragging the simple word out in an accent laden tone. "You're Vrylynn, right?"

Although he said my name wrong just now, I could tell it was only because of his accent, not intentional. I nodded as he leaned closer to me. I could smell his cologne. Familiar and not over powering. I looked at Matt to see that he wasn't freaking out, but I could tell that mentally, he was. Looking back at the guy, I noticed that he was eying me.

"I'm Tom," he declared, as if he had just introduced himself as God. "Vant to dance?"