Counter Lotus

Chapter 15

"My plan is to get you to shake some ass." She raised her arms and swayed her hips, making her glitter catch the dim light.

"Then I better get at least one drink in me then," I said, taking a big sip before offering an over-enthusiastic wound-up high-five.

"Okay, let's put that away, dork," she snorted, lowing my palm.

"Embrace the dork," I laughed, shoving my hand dramatically back up in rebellion.

It's been a while since I've let loose. Like really let loose. Being an anxious person, with other responsibilities, I always had to judge when I could allow myself to have fun. When I could flip that switch from adult mode back to being a kid. Believe me guys, I liked indulging in that kid-side and having fun. I liked parties, drinking, doing stupid funny shit. I didn't realize how much I missed it though until now.

After slamming the rest of my drink, I grabbed Carla's hand and moved to the middle of the small crowd of people dancing. I started to sway with her over dramatically, driven entirely by my need to be goofy and not the music. We couldn't help but laugh as I over-obnoxiously started moving with the beat. I drew some weird looks, but most of them grinned in approval and laughed with us. We danced to a few songs, talked between a few, and it was a damn good time.

Carla soon became distracted though. Upon seeing 'fresh meat,' she bid me farewell on her quest to obtain the cute guy she spotted. Great. Now who was I supposed to hang out with? Well, the snack table seemed like a good conversationalist. I didn't plan on drinking more anyway until I got something in my system.

Walking over to the long table against the wall, I saw there were chips, pop, beer, and stack of pizza boxes. I also wasn't the only one who made the snack table their focus.

A girl shot me a smile after taking a bite of her pizza slice. "Enjoying the party?"

"Yeah, it's great so far! Feels weird being the only one doing something illegal though," I chuckled. For all the parties I went to before, they were all thrown by minors for minors. So, breaking the law on my own instead of as a collective group felt strange.

"You aren't alone," she said, raising her plastic cup towards me before sipping.

"Oh, you aren't part of this college group?"

"Nope. I'm only 18, so if the cops come, you won't be going down alone."

"Well, that's a relief," I chuckled. "You know, if they don't bust us, we could keep our illegal streak going after the party. We could rob a bank and sell some fake drugs."

She laughed. "Or buy real drugs with the money from the robbery."

"Hell yeah. Jack the price up real high too. People in college probably love drugs."

"Sounds like a plan." Amused, the petite girl shifted closer as more people took advantage of the food and drinks. With brown hair and an innocent face, she had soft eyes and freckles along her cheeks. "So, what brought you here tonight? If you don't mind me asking. I just haven't seen you before at any of his other parties."

"You wouldn't have. I just moved here."

"Oh, you must be the girl from Illinois then? Josephine, right?" she smiled.

"Yeah! How did you know?"

"I'm Zack's girlfriend, Katie. He told me how you just moved here and were excited to check out the sights and have fun. You came to the right place," she said, taking another bite of her pizza. "Do you like living here so far?"

"For the most part." You know, aside from all the unexplained drama. "It's worth it even if I have to bear through college now."

"Don't be too nervous. I'm starting my first year there too in the fall."