Explosive

24 || The Norm

~Dedicated to murmurare for creating the gorgeous art above. Check out her story, Beauty is Terror. Not only does the book have an awesome cover, the world that murmurare builds in her story is quite intriguing.

It takes a while for us to track down Josh. He's in one of the rooms, dancing with a girl dressed in black and wearing leather gloves. Blake and I had decided to split up to find the three idiots, Josh, Todd, and Cynthia. Both of us had agreed that the priority was Josh because of everything that happened today. My cousin starts to grind up against his dance partner, who is a few years older than us and then attempts to kiss her.

"Josh," I whisper before dragging him away from the girl, who gives me a death glare but doesn't say anything as she slips out the door. Josh is a mess, his eyes blood-shot and hair dripping with sweat, but he doesn't stop dancing. "Stop moving, Josh," I say to him desperately and grab onto his arms. He has been at the party for barely an hour but it looks like he has been here all night.

"Don't touch me!" he shouts while shoving me away. He stops dancing and attempts to look at me but he is too disoriented to figure out where I am. "No one cares about me," he then murmurs as he stumbles on his feet.

The back of my throat starts to itch at the sight of my cousin falling apart. "Don't say that sweetie," I whisper soothingly, while gently grabbing his face. His dilated pupils bore into me but there is no sign of recognition on his face.

"Get away from me, bitch!" Josh shoves me again and this time I go tumbling backward. Before I can fall an arm wraps around my waist and prevents me from falling onto my butt.

"What the hell?" Blake says while he pulls his arm away from me. Todd is standing behind him wearing a windbreaker and holding a cigarette. Seeing it doesn't make me angry, just sad. It was stupid of me to think that Todd would listen to me, that he would quit because the new girl told him to stop.

"He took something, Blake. Look at his eyes," I shout over the music, ignoring Todd completely. Panic is spreading through me and the haziness of the room is making my mind spin. We have to get out of here. Josh tries to push past us but we stop him.

"What did you take?" Blake says to his friend, keeping a hand on his shoulder but he doesn't answer him. For the second time tonight, someone passes out in our arms. This time, I am the one who catches the limp body. "Shit." Blake seems to have an urge to swear every time something bad happens. Slowly we place Josh onto the ground and check his vitals before putting him on his side.

"What did he take, Todd?" Blake turns to Todd, who takes a drag at his cigarette before shrugging.

"I think ecstasy. Nothing out of the ordinary," he answers nonchalantly.

"Ordinary? This is the norm for you?" I seethe. The anger from earlier tonight has returned, boiling my insides once again. "My cousin is passed out and in an absolute mess, and you're telling me that this is ordinary for you guys?" The two of them stare at me, their mouth wide open.

Todd squints his eyes at me. "What's up, Damsel? Nice legs," he says, gesturing to my bare calves. Groaning, I get up off the floor and head outside.

"I will get some water for him," I say to Blake. In the kitchen, there are a group of guys surrounding the counter on top of which a girl in red heels is swaying to the music. Her shoes look so familiar. Coming closer to the rowdy group it dawns on me that the girl is Cynthia.

As soon as she lifts her dress up to reveal a pink underwear, I climb up onto the counter, ignoring the boos from the group below me. In a quick gesture, I pull Cynthia's dress down and tell her that the cops are here. At this she sits on the counter but doesn't move to get off, instead, she looks around like a lost puppy. Grumbling to myself, I slide off the counter and help her get down from the counter.

She is so out of it that she doesn't even bother to insult me or call me by her favorite nickname for me. Inside the room, Josh is sitting up but his head keeps lolling forward, almost as if he is trying to go to sleep. "Don't let him close his eyes," I say to Blake who is holding up his friend, guilt in his eyes and a shadow spreading across his face. "We should probably go now," I say to no one in particular.

"But-" Todd starts to say but I give him a vile look. It may be because I am tired or the fact that he is smoking again but it doesn't matter. He helps Blake with my cousin, while I grip Cynthia's wrist. We thread through the thick crowd. My eyes water from the atrocious scent of body odor and something sickly sweet. Raspberries, I think.

When we are finally outside, the fresh and cold air feels amazing. Josh is tucked into the blue truck while Cynthia stumbles into Todd's car. With that we drive off into the night, leaving the party behind. Just as we pull away from the apartment building two police cars turn into the street and park where Blake's truck had initially been. "Damn. That was a close call," Blake says to me while looking at the rearview mirror.

We are driving for barely a few minutes when Josh mutters that he is going to puke. "Hold up, man. Just let me find a place to park." And then it happens, Josh throws up on me. The revolting thick liquid burns my nose and feels warm on my lap. It's painfully obvious that tonight's dinner of fried rice is dripping down my legs and into my underwear.

Blake finally stops the truck at the side of the road and we all jump out. Todd was following us in his car and he brings his car to a stop in front of Blake's truck. My cousin doubles over at the side of the road, emptying the contents of his stomach, or at least what is left.