The Sidekick Club

0.7

Ethan tried to call Noah's phone as he turned onto Lyndon Street, but the boy didn't answer.

He was correct in assuming it wouldn't be very hard to find the party if he only knew the street name, because even though Noah gave him the wrong address (330 instead of 3043), he found himself parked outside a house filled with colorful lights and way too loud techno music.

As he looked up at the house, Ethan tried to call his friend again. When it went to voicemail for a second time, he determined that it was probably too loud in there for Noah to even feel the vibrations of the call, let alone hear the actual ring.

With a defeated sigh, Ethan shut off the engine and got out of his car, accepting the fact that he was going to have to extract his friend manually.

When the bouncer at the door asked him if he was invited to the party, Ethan simply told him that he was picking up a friend but he wasn't answering his phone. Only with the promise that Ethan and his friend would be on their way as soon as they found each other, did the bouncer let him inside.

"Hi!" Some girl shouted as soon as he stepped through the door. She pushed a red solo cup of some mysterious red liquid into his hands before he could refuse it. It looked like punch, but he knew better than to find out. Ethan was going to give it back to her, but when he looked up, she had disappeared into the sea of bodies.

The music was so loud, it felt as though it was going through him. He could feel the vibrations traveling through the floor and up into his legs, chest, and skull. Not to mention that he wasn't even near the sound system. He had a feeling that he would either go deaf from the noise or blind from the lights before he found Noah.

Ethan stood on his toes for a second as he peered over people's heads. He couldn't see Noah. He couldn't see anything actually. People kept moving and swaying and frankly, Ethan found it a bit dizzying. He hadn't even had any alcohol.

Not liking his options, but knowing it had to be done, Ethan took a deep breath and pushed his way through the mass of bodies.

He cringed as something moist touched his arm. He hoped it was just a spilled drink, and not some sort of body fluid. That would be bad.

Ethan found himself turning around in circles, checking people's faces in search of his best friend.

In the end, he only became overwhelmed and took refuge in the kitchen.

It was quieter there, and less crowded, but Ethan had to share the space with a man passed out on the island and a couple making out aggressively near the sink.

He tried not to look, but he couldn't help but sneak a few glances. To say the least, he felt very uncomfortable.

For some reason unbeknownst to him, there was a lit candle on the kitchen counter. The couple, in the midst of sucking each other's faces off, failed to notice they'd knocked it over.

Ethan watched as the flame jumped onto the edge of a discarded paper plate and started to burn. As the couple left the room in a fit of giggles, he walked casually over to the flame, glanced down at the unidentified drink in his hands, and poured it over the fire. It went out with a small hiss.

The door to the kitchen opened again, and when he turned to look, he was relieved to see it was Noah.

"Thank God," he breathed as Noah squinted at him. Ethan set down the remainder of his drink and walked over to his friend.

"Hey, man," Noah greeted with a grin as he slung an arm over Ethan's shoulder.

"Hey. You ready to go? It's like two in the morning."

"Yeah. I was just trying to find..." he trailed off and squinted at the man draped uncomfortably on the kitchen island. "Aha! Curtis!"

"Who's Curtis?" Ethan asked, eying the unconscious man suspiciously. He had dark brown hair similar to Noah's, sharp features, and a lingering five o'clock shadow.

"My-" Noah paused to burp a little with his fist on his chest, "secret college boyfriend."

Noah walked over to the guy and poked his chest. When he didn't respond, Noah slapped his cheeks a little and the guy's eyes peeled open.

"What happened?" He groaned as he tried to sit up.

"Curtis. You passed out on the table," Noah laughed at him.

Curtis blinked heavily a few times, looked around the room, and nodding with an impressed expression, "Damn I'm good."

"Anywho," Noah said. "Curtis, this is Ethan. He's gonna drive me home since he's sober and shit."

Curtis squinted at Ethan for a moment before sending them a thumbs up.

"I'm gonna sleep off my shit-facedness," he mumbled before leaning back on the island and draping his arm over his eyes. He was sound asleep within seconds.

Not wanting to spend a second longer at the party, Ethan grabbed Noah's arm and dragged him out of the house.

Honestly, he just wanted to go home and sleep.