What We Want, What We Get (a boy x boy novel)

Chapter Twenty Five - "Ask me when I'm sober."

My top five schools are UCLA, University of Southern California, Penn State, NYU, and Arizona State. I also sent in an application to our community college, just in case something happened. NYU is a stretch because my GPA is just barely at what they want, but I'm hoping my personal statement and letters of recommendation push me through.

Brad and Alice applied to UCLA too, and I know for a fact Alice is getting in because she's been egging that school for information since she got in high school. Caroline wants to stay close to home, so she'll probably go to Colorado State. I wanted to kill Jayna when she told me she wants to go to an international university. She applied to two universities in England, one in France, and two in Sweden. She already got accepted to the one in France, but she really wants to go to England. Before we broke up, Paul said he wanted to go to the University of Miami, but I don't know if that's still his choice.

It scares me that we'll all be splitting up once next fall comes around, but I also know we'll always be best friends, no matter how far we go in the world. No matter who we meet, we'll always be each other's centers. Plus, if we all split up, I have a place to crash when I go to visit.

I hear noises as I'm shaking my hair to give it that cool unkempt look, and as I turn around the entire gang is here. We have Caroline and her "friend" Jason, Brad, Jayna and Dennis, Alice and Jenna (she's Alices' cousin who's visiting for the holidays). I hear one of Steph's friends down the hall (Lindsay I think her name is), and she's calling Jourdan to see where he is.

My parents went to see my uncle last night with Bryce and they won't be back until tomorrow, so having all these people in my house won't be an issue. Caroline and Brad snuck some tequila out of their parents' liquor cabinets and brought it over here. We all go the kitchen since all the shot glasses are there, and we play Cards Against Humanity until Jourdan comes.

Jason has a thing for Caroline (she told me when she came over for Christmas dinner the other day with her niece), but she's not really into him like that. He's inches away from her, trying to talk to her, but she's play fighting Brad most of the game to get his moment in. I know she's just using him for his car, which is smart and cruel at the same time. He's also not drinking, so I'm assuming he's her designated driver.

Once Jourdan arrives, it had been decided that Jourdan, Jason, and Jenna are the designated drivers since they don't really drink. The rest of us are free to go crazy if we damn please. I'm riding with Jourdan, Steph and Lindsay since we're all coming back here after the party. Jason is driving Caroline and Brad, and Jenna is driving Alice, Jayna, and Dennis. I should go with Brad and Caroline, but I'll be with them the whole night, and a little separation won't kill us. We down our last shots and head to our designated cars.

I sit in front with Jourdan so the girls can talk about their Christmas presents and all that. Jourdan plugs the address into his GPS and we start taking off at around 9:30. It's lightly snowing, so it'll probably take us a little while to get there. Luckily, the radio was playing the best of 2015 music for the rest of the night, so that kept us pumped up for a while.

I don't ask Jourdan about Christmas because he's Jewish, but we do make some small talk about what we could expect at the party, from girls in six inch heels to boys getting blackout drunk. If I see either or, I'm putting it on the internet because it'll be gold. He definitely thinks he'll see a lot of uncomfortable making out, and a possible gay make-out session. I wouldn't be surprised by the latter, but I doubt it since I know most of the gay people in school, and they all have boyfriends already I think.

I don't think anyone has seen me at a social gathering since before Paul and I broke up, so it's a little weird making my social re-entrance single, but also a little empowering. I don't plan on hooking up, but if I do at least I'll have no attachment to no one else. I'll see how I feel a little later on, though it would be nice to have a new year's kiss.