The Prophecy

11: It's Party Time!

When we walked through the front door of the house together, I was relieved to see that there weren't as many people present as I had feared. I'd expected the entire school to show up since it was an open invitation, but it didn't look like everyone had come. It was definitely crowded, just not as bad as I'd expected. Making our way through the small crowd in the hallway, I attempted to avoid bumping into anyone. I spotted Julian across the kitchen and gave him a small nod of acknowledgment while I continued to follow behind Micah. I planned to stick close to my friends, having no desire to be on my own in the overwhelming environment.

"Well, here I am. What are your other two wishes?" A voice said from behind me, and I shook my head.

"Where do you get all these pickup lines, Oliver?" I asked without even bothering to turn around.

"Google, of course," he responded like it was obvious, causing Micah and Hazel to laugh lightly. "You guys should come downstairs. It's a little less crowded down there. There's a pool table too."

Micah grabbed two cups from the guy in charge of the keg and tried to pass them to Hazel and me. Hazel took hers, but I refused the one meant for me.

"You go ahead. I'll drive if you want," I said. I'd heard alcohol could cause people to lose control of themselves, and I just didn't have the privilege of letting go like my peers.

Micah shook his head and passed the cup over to Oliver, who sat it down on the counter.

"Can't. My dad will be waiting when I get home. He's looking for any reason to kick me out of the house," Micah explained.

I felt saddened at the mention of Micah's father. He didn't bring him up often, but when he did, he hadn't hidden the fact that he didn't exactly see eye to eye with the man. He apparently couldn't accept that his only son was gay. My life hadn't been great, but I had never once doubted my parents' love for me.

Oliver led the way downstairs with the rest of us following behind, trying not to lose sight of him in the crowd. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, I was pleased to see that he was right about it being less crowded. It was surprising more people weren't trying to play pool. It looked like most people were more interested in drinking, dancing, and trying to hook up.

Our group made our way to the far side of the room and leaned against the wall to watch the show unfold around us. I found myself amused by the couples making out without a care in the world that they were in a room full of people. Teenage hormones obviously overrode any shyness. Others had made a makeshift dance floor out of one half of the room. A couple guys were making use of the pool table while others stood around, watching like we were.

We were only standing there for a couple of minutes when Hazel nudged my arm and gestured towards the stairs with her head. Lawrence was coming down the stairs towards us, his eyes already locked on me. I admired the way he looked in his light grey long sleeve polo shirt that was pulled tight across his chest. When he reached our group, he leaned over and dropped a chaste kiss to my lips like it was completely natural, and he'd done it a million times before, catching me off guard.

I noticed how Micah and Oliver's conversation fell silent at Lawrence's arrival, but I chose to ignore it. I had hope that we could all get along once they got to know Lawrence without it being awkward.

"Love the sweater," Lawrence whispered in my ear, and I gave him a look, making it clear that I didn't share his sentiment while pulling at the material once again. All that accomplished was making more cleavage show at the top. Sighing dejectedly, I decided to just give up.

Hazel slid to the side, making room for Lawrence to lean against the wall between the two of us, and he took the opportunity to slide an arm around my shoulders, holding me tight to his side.