In Another Life | deena johnson

chapter 3 - a night to remember

First person pov

I remember the night that I saw Deena for the first time. It was the last week of summer before the first day of school and also the week where my nightmares started. I was in a desperate need of a distraction, so when Lisa asked me to go to a party with her, I agreed without giving a second thought, even though I wasn't a party person.

Lisa started dating some guy from Shadyside that she met in a football game and the party was in his house in Shadyside, a fact that she waited until the last minute to mention. But like I said, I was desperate, so I didn't mind.

But when we arrived at the party, I started to regret going in the first place. It was a small house with a large group of sweaty drunk teens, so the place was overcrowded, and if there was one thing that I hated was big crowds.

Lisa was by my side most of the time, but I knew that she wanted to hang out with her boyfriend, so I just let her and decided to try and have fun all by myself.

I went to the kitchen to try drink alcohol for the first time. Yeah, it was my first time drinking, so I decided to take it easy, but after a while, I was stumbling while I was walking and my body temperature started to rise.

I was starting to feel overwhelmed so I just went to the bathroom to cool off, but to my surprise, there was a girl in there already, sitting on the bathtub, holding a bottle of vodka. She had a curly dark hair, that cascaded down her shoulders and was wearing a black knit cap.

Her brown eyes met mine and I blushed of embarassement. Also because it was really hot.

"Oh, i'm so sorry." I apologized.

"No problem." The girl replied, her voice soft and husky. "You look a bit lost."

I just stood there, awkwardly, not knowing what to say. "I was just... wondering where the bathroom was."

The girl chuckled. "Well, you found it."

"I'm sorry, I can just leave."

"Don't." She asked. "I could use some company."

I didn't know what to say or do, but I didn't felt like going back to the party so I sit in the bathtub, right in front of her.

"First time drinking?" She asked me.

"How'd you know?"

"I can tell." She smirked, and I could tell that she was a bit drunk also. She raised her hand in front of me. "I'm Deena."

I shook her hand, still feeling a little dizzy. "Lorraine."

She took a sip from the bottle. "How come we never met?"

I don't know where the confidence came from, but I grabbed her bottle and took a sip. "Maybe we did."

"Nah, I would remember you." Deena replied, with her raspy voice. "So, what's your excuse for being here?"

"Just wanted to party." I told her.

"Please, if that was the reason, you wouldn't be in the bathroom talking to a drunk stranger."

I sighed, feeling my face heat up. With a swift motion, I slipped my jacket off, revealing the white thin tank top that Lisa had lent to me, and in that instant I felt exposed. I always hated to wear revealing clothes in front of strangers and even some friends.

"What about you?" I asked, trying to play it cool. "Why are you drinking in a stranger's bathroom all by yourself?"

As soon as I said that, I regretted it, thinking that I was rude, but Deena didn't seem to mind. "First of all, this house belongs to a friend of my friend Kate, so it's not a stranger's house. And I'm here because she forced me to come, and I also needed a distraction."