Don't Test Me

Chapter 18

The quanzet party was kind of fun to be honest. There were about a dozen people who showed up, all but Dana were Seth's friends. There were a bunch of plastic lawn chairs in there, Seth had brought them out and set them around in a large circle. The guys played beer pong while Dana and I drank beer together. The only other girl who came was Julie Matthews, who was going out with one of Seth's friends I didn't know. Julie and I were in the same grade in school, and she was always rude to me. She was one of the kids who liked to point out my family was on welfare when we were kids. As we got older, Julie just ignored me or shot me death glares in the hallways at school so she and I didn't have much to talk about. I offered her a sarcastic wave across the quanzet, she just flipped her hair at me and went back to hang on her boyfriend's arm. Dana and I studied her a bit, Julie seemed to want to leave but her boyfriend, I think his name was Derrick, wasn't ready yet.

I touched Dana's arm and gestured towards them, "Look out, here it comes. This will be better then Survivor." Dana sipped her beer and glanced in their direction.

Julie said, "Derrick I want to go now. There are no girls here!" He shrugged her off, "I told you I wanted to come out here to hang with my buddies, no one made you come."

She huffed at him and stomped her foot, "I want to go home now!" Derrick chuckled, "Look, babe, you can either walk home, call a friend or go wait for me in the truck. Your choice. Or you can go and grab a drink and stop bugging me." He didn't even look at her as he spoke.

I waited for a moment, sipping my beer. Dana leaned over to my ear, "I think if she was a cartoon character she would have smoke coming out of her ears right now." I nodded, trying not to be too obvious.

"Fine, I'll text Alison to come and pick me up. Thanks for a shitty night, Derrick. See if I answer your call next time." She shouted before she stopped out of the quanzet. Danny and Seth watched the angry girl walk out into the yard, they both looked puzzled.

Dana and I tried not to laugh but we failed miserably. I felt a little bad for her, but it only lasted for a moment. Seth and Danny walked over to us and Seth asked, "What was that about?"

I shrugged, "She wanted to go and her boyfriend didn't. So... she left."

Seth's eyes went wide, "She's not trying to walk home is she?" I shook my head, "No, she's getting a ride from a friend." He nodded and reached for my hand. I let him pull me up into his arms. He wrapped his arms around my waist, resting his head next to mind on my shoulder.

"Come on man, don't rub it in my face that you have a girlfriend and I don't. That's just mean." Danny teased.

Seth laughed and kissed my cheek, "Who's fault is it you don't? You could have stayed with Alison but you didn't want to be tied down. Say, how's that working out for you anyway?"

Danny glared at him, "Shut-up asshole." I smiled and kissed Seth's cheek, "Well Danny, it's never too late. You could call her now. I'm pretty sure I overheard she's the one who's picking up Julie."

He shook his head, "Nah, I don't need a girl like Alison." I cocked my head to the side, gesturing him to elaborate. He sighed and continued, "She's a lot of work. Like, scheduled date nights, minimum budgets for gifts, only so much time with the guys allowed. That kind of shit."

Dana stood up to join the conversation passively. I smiled at her but spoke to Danny, "That doesn't sound high maintenance to me, that sounds controlling. There is a difference."

He looked at me confused so I continued, "See, if a guy did that kind of stuff he would be called controlling but if a girl does it, it's called high maintenance. Just because a girl does it, doesn't mean it's not abusive. If she tires to control your whole life, then that's not cool. You are better off without her."

Seth smiled and kissed me, "See, Margot, you are so smart. It's so sexy, baby." I rolled my eyes at him, but in secret I was eating it up. Danny stared at me for a moment before reaching for two new beers. He popped the tops and handed me one, "I never thought about it like that, but yeah, you are right. Thanks. I couldn't put my finger on exactly why it wasn't healthy but you are right." We clinked the necks of our bottled and drank to new friends.

By the end of the night I'd decided Seth's friends were alright. I thought I would hate them all but these guys were pretty cool. I didn't mind a single one of them. Dana even had a good time, though she spent most of the night hanging out just with me. We had a lot of good laughs and I was feeling no pain by the end of the night. Most of the guys feel asleep in their trucks. Dana asked if she could crash in the trailer so we offered her the couch. Seth wasn't as drunk as I was so he put me to bed at the end of the night, making sure my wrist was propped up carefully. He slid into bed behind me, wrapped his arms around my middle and kissed my shoulder blade until I fell asleep.