A Summer to Forget - Collection

Friends

Angie + Daniel Short - One

Angie'sPOV 

During the party, I felt miserable.

Kesha's Die Young was pounding my eardrums. The heavy bass made the floor tremble.

While my sisters were off having their boy time, I was sitting near the corner, doing absolutely nothing. Mainly observing.

The crazy teens had red - or blue - solo cups in their hands as they shriek with laughter and shout the lyrics from the tops of their lungs.

There was a group of scandalously dressed girls, and guys in their football jackets taking shots in the kitchen.

There were the group of high-looking people who were probably sharing brownie with pot in it.

I was mostly trying to avoid everyone who came my way, and pretty far, I was doing a pretty damn good job at it. The secret is to pretend you're texting someone and if you happen to still be approached just pretend that you've got a call. I was having a pleasant time doing this...

Until Daniel decided to slide into the seat next to me.

"You look like you're having a bad night," he says.

"Sure," I reply, pursing my lips. Please, just go away and mind your own business... 

Again, it wasn't that I despised Daniel's company and everything, but my ability to converse and interact with people, especially if they were the opposite gender, was tragic. 

"Come on, loosen up," Daniel says, nudging my arm with his elbow. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," I reply immediately. "I just—-I'm not good with parties." Or talking.

Daniel chuckles. "No, you haven't even tried to party yet. All you've been doing is sitting here."

I shake my head. "I wasn't sitting here the whole time, I ate with Holly, and you brought us up to the third floor. So, technically, I wasn't sitting here the whole time," I explain, proving my point. 

I hear him laugh lightly beside me. "That's probably the most you've said this evening." He pauses for a moment, as if contemplating what he should do next. "Come on," he says, softly grabbing my arm to pull me up. "Let's go outside."

I'm reluctant to go with him, but outside with the fresh air sounded better than being in this stuffy house. It smelt like booze and cigarettes everywhere you went. So I let him guide me through the crowds of people, throwing their heads around to the beat of the music.

"I feel like you're going to kidnap me," I mumble, uncomfortably.

He laughs again and I find myself surprised that I like his laugh. "Taber has this cool pond near the back of his house..." Okay, that definitely sounded like he was up to something suspicious. If he was trying to win Creep of the Year, I think he has a good chance at being first.

"The back of the house?" I question, skeptically.

I can hear his smile as he says, "I'm not going to kidnap you."

And he didn't. We had walked past Taber's backyard and sure enough, across the yard was a shallow pond. 

"Okay...but why'd you bring me all the way out here to show me a pond?"

He shrugs. "Thought you'd might like it out here where it's private rather than being swarmed in the house."

I sit down in the tall grass, my legs stretched in front of me. I feel him sit down next to me.