Breaking Away From the Flock

Last Night's Party

Chapter One

They drank themselves silly and I knew because, even from my car, I could hear their drunk screams and cackles of laughter, even their slurred words as they tried to sing along from the thumping song I could barely recognise over the techno beat.

“Well,” I muttered to myself, my hands clutching at the steering wheel. “Better now than never, right?” One by one, I peeled my fingers away from the warm leather of the wheel, reaching for the car door handle, sucking in a deep breath as I glared up at the brightly lit house. “Or maybe I could just stay here a while longer....” I breathed, turning back to clutch the steering wheel. Why was I such a wimp when it came to these things?

Maybe it was the stupid amounts of times I’ve had to hold their hair from their faces as they chucked up all that they ate the night before. Or maybe it was the ridiculous amounts of times I had to pay for pregnancy tests just for them to make sure that they hadn’t made a mistake. It doesn’t really matter, because either way, they all put me off stepping a foot inside one of these large parties.

There was a thump on the window beside me and I jumped, pulled from my sickening thoughts as I glared up at Will, his black hair falling into his eyes as he smiled down at me, his eyes untouched and free from the alcohol the rest were probably consuming by the tonne.

“Are you going to come inside?” Will shouted over the music, jabbing a thumb back towards the house as I opened the car door just a jar, cringing at the too high volume of the beat. “Or are you just going to sit in the car and say that you came?”

“I think I like the last option.” I muttered, scratching my temple as he chuckled. “Are you drunk?” I asked blankly, looking up into his smoky grey eyes, the ones that always glittered with things I never knew eyes could portray.

“Do I look drunk?” Will smiled, shaking his head and walking around the car before opening the car door and dropping onto the seat beside me. I gave a small shrug and his wide smile grew even larger. “No need to fear, fireball, I haven’t touched anything since I took a step inside the house. Heaven knows what’s been in all that crap they have laying out.”

I grinned, closing my own door to keep the loud throb of the music out. “Well, you might want to go back inside because there’s no way that you can coax me inside. I’ll get a headache within two seconds, I can assure you.”

“You don’t even want to try?” Will asked, raising an inky eyebrow. I frowned, knitting together my own chestnut brows. “Fine,” he smiled, holding up two olive hands in defence, “don’t come inside, but you won’t know what you’re missing.” Will paused, biting his lip and his hands fidgeting in his lap. “Actually, I didn’t come here to coax you to come inside.”

“Then what did you come here for? I don’t have my bag of jelly beans with me,” I teased, rolling my eyes when his face dropped in disappointment. “Are you serious? You come here for lollies?”

“No, I came here to ask for a lift home. I don’t feel too good and I caught a lift with them.” Pointing over my shoulder, Will gave a half-hearted smile. “And I think I rather keep my limbs, thanks.” I bit my lip, curious as to why he wanted to get home so early. “Please?” Will battered his long, black eyelashes at me, knowing from plain experience how much he could get away with when he did that.

“Alright,” I sighed, turning my silver key in the ignition, waiting by the gutter until he clicked his seatbelt on. “But you owe me something.”

Will grinned, pulling out his black leather wallet from his back pocket of his dark jeans and slapped a ten dollar bill on my knee, smiling widely. “Here you go, that should cover the gas fee too.” I smiled, laughing as I shook my chestnut hair about my face, driving out onto Main Road and towards home.

“You know, I don’t know why you even hang out with them, fireball.” Will muttered, my pet name rolling off his tongue in his slow, Southern drawl. “You don’t see anything like them, yet you still do. I don’t think I could cope. How did you end up with them, anyway, fireball?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed honestly. “I really don’t know.”