Off Limits (Christoffer Schistad - Skam)

Part 4

Chris' head has started spinning long before he downed his first bottle of beer, or the second. He watched Mara walk around the house like she was the one hosting the party, handing beers to people, cheering and drinking with them, laughing with strangers that the alcohol cursing in her veins turned into momentary friends. She looked as joyful and careless as ever, no one would guess she just dropped the biggest bomb ever.

There was a certain lack of logic in his reasoning, but Chris figured that since his head was already a mess, the alcohol might do more good than bad, and maybe it would make him numb. Then it would hurt less to watch her go about like nothing at all happened, like she didn't just wreck his world and put him in a very bad place. Mara forced Chris to make a choice he has been postponing for far too long.

"Chris, man!" One of his friends called his name, barely audible over the loud music and Chris squinted his eyes to try and see who it was that was talking to him. "Over here!"

Chris finally saw someone waving at him to come over and he sneaked his way through the crowd, trying not to make contact wit the grinding couples. When he reached the group of boys, Chris greeted each of them with a tap on the back and a shoulder hug.

"Chris you look like you saw a ghost!" One of them felt the need to comment.

It earned him a shrug. Who cares? The neon blue and pink lights that kept flashing in the room made it nearly impossible to decipher anything anyway.

"And yet I still look better than any of you", Chris shot back with his signature smile and the boy who made the comment received a few sympathetic pats on the shoulders from his friends after that burn.

He stayed with them for a while, not caring or noticing the time passing, or the people dancing behind them. Chris plopped down on the armrest of the couch, and a couple beers passed in his hands before the first troublesome thing happened. They were all roaring with laughter at something Chris showed them on his phone.

"Oh, jesus, look at that!" Some guy suddenly said when something behind Chris caught his eye.

He shoved Chris in the shoulder to get his attention and gestured him to turn around.

"That's some hot piece of ass right there!" Another one said, which was followed by another fit of laughter from the boys.

Mara stood not far from them, facing away from them. She was talking to two other girls from her year, one of them being Iben, Chris' ex. His stare must have been too insistent because she looked up and over Mara's shoulder and when her eyes caught Chris' she glared daggers at him before lightly touching Mara's shoulder and walking away. This had Mara wondering what upset her so she turned around only to see all the boys look at her like she was some kind of piece of meat. Not one girl would have taken all this attention from drooling boys like a compliment, it must have been terribly awkward for her, not to mention degrading. Yet she smiled softly before returning to her conversation. Chris knew the smile was for him now, the relief he felt in this exact moment was indescribable. He hadn't realised how much it ate away at him to see her smile like that to other boys.

"You might as well take a good look because that's all you'll get from her," the only sober one said to his friends. "William's sister is off limits. Bros before hoes, you know the rule..."

A round of sighs and protests erupted from the group, but Chris wasn't listening anymore. Gone was the relief. Gone was everything. In one corner of the room stood William and Noora, gazing at each other like two lovesick puppies, unaware of their surroundings. In the opposite corner Mara danced with some girls, and some boys who not so subtly made their way toward her. Chris' blood boiled.