Chapter 15
Isabelle's P.O.V
Tonight was not supposed to go like this. We were supposed to be snuggled in our makeshift beds at Liz's house, watching rom-com movies and talking till the early morning. Instead, we were sneaking out of the house, poorly might I add because Anna kept banging into things, to wrap the boy's cars in plastic wrap. It wasn't my idea, not in the slightest, I wanted to watch Nicholas Sparks movies and cry my eyes out when one of the characters dies, but the girls had a different idea. So now here I was on the fence; literally on a fence, trying to avoid being eaten by Mrs. Philips dog.
"Guy's this is a horrible idea!" I shouted in a hushed tone, while peppermint barked frantically and kept trying to bite my left leg that was dangling over her side of the fence. "Don't be such a chicken and jump! Otherwise, peppermint is going to rip off your leg and we will have to take you to IHOP for every meal." All the girl burst out laughing at Liz's statement and I glare at her.
After ten minutes I finally jump off the fence, because Mrs.Philips came out to yell at peppermint. I would rather face the wrath of peppermint over Mrs.Philips any day. I dusted myself off and smiled. "See wasn't so hard now was it?" Liz smirked and I rolled my eyes. "Come on, we can use this fence to get onto the street without my mom seeing us."
Once far enough away from Liz's house we slowed and fell into step. Sam and Spencer's house was ten minutes down the road. Yesterday's events were behind us and we all fell into conversation. "So how was your dad at dinner with Nate?" Taylor asked. I began describing the events of yesterday's dinner and my confession to Nate afterward. "I totally forgot you were still a virgin!" Taylor shouts and Anna shushes her.
"Jesus Taylor, don't make it sound like a crime," I said feeling self-conscious. Everyone in our friend group had lost their virginity except for me. I would love to say it was because I was waiting for that special someone, but in truth the opportunity, if you could call it that, never presented itself. Of course, I wanted it to be with someone I was dating, but I hadn't dated anyone since Jake.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just forgot," Taylor said sheepishly. "So is Nate...?" Anna said cautiously. "No, judging by the way he choked up when my dad asked, I'm pretty sure he lost it awhile back," I say curtly hoping to end the conversation. I didn't want to think about Nate with someone else in that way.
"Do you think you'll lose it to him?" Natasha asked, she had been quiet all night, which I found unusual now because she had become more chatting in recent weeks. "I don't know, he hasn't even asked me to be his girlfriend. Anyway, let's change the subject," I said and instantly began asking what everyone was wearing to Robby's party tomorrow.
***
I walked around my house like a zombie the next day. After we had plastic wrapped all the boys cars and had successfully snuck back into the house, it was four in the morning. Then we were up at six because Liz's parents were banging every pot possible in the kitchen. "Hey sweetie, what are your plans for today?" My mom asked as I walked into the kitchen. "Lay out by the pool and contemplating the universe," I said non-nonchalantly. "Um okay then," My mom said going back to reading the newspaper. I was halfway out the door when she spoke again, "Nate is a nice guy, your father surprisingly like him." "Yeah, he is," "The condoms are under the sink in your bathroom," She said like it was a regular thing to tell your daughter. I felt my face go red in embarrassment, "Mom!" I shrieked. My mom was laughing, "Oh Hunny, don't be such a prude." "Mom, normal kids don't have this conversation with their parents," I said shutting the glass door, completely mortified from the conversation.
Does the summer suddenly make everyone start talking about sex? I thought, shaking my head and flapping onto a tanning chair. My phone began buzzing with our girl group chat.
Anna: What's everyone wearing tonight?
Liz: Probably a casual dress! I heard that some kids from Bay View were coming!
Taylor: Dress all the way. Yeah, I heard that too...
Natasha: Shorts and a t-shirt for me. Yeah, it's just a bunch of the football players. They've known Robby for ages apparently.
The conversation continued on and I choose to ignore it. I needed to get some rest before the party tonight. I put my phone on silent and tried to relax in my chair. I felt myself drifting to sleep until my phone started buzzing with a call. "Brayden what would you like? I am trying to nap." I said irritated, knowing it was going to be harder to get to sleep.
"Are you trying to nap because you spent half the night plastic wrapping our cars Is!" Brayden yelled into the phone and I jolted up. I had completely forgotten about that. I began laughing uncontrollably. "This is not funny Is! The twins were almost late for work," Brayden was no longer yelling and you could tell he was trying not to laugh with me, as he scolded me. "Oh come on Brayden. You guys have done worse to us! Remember that time you filled Taylor's car with plastic balls," I said giggling. Brayden began chuckling, "She was so mad! She was still finding leftover ones in her car weeks later." "See our prank was harmless," I said and heard him sigh into the phone. "You're right. Look I have to go, but I will see you tonight," Brayden said and hung up the phone.
I laid back still giggling to myself. Maybe our friend group would be alright again.
***
I was wrong, so very wrong. Our friend group was done, over, never again would we share laughs or have bonfires at Nathans. We were done.
4 hours earlier
I hated house parties. First off, the house reeked of booze, sweat and bad choices, which made it harder for you to get in the mood to down a beer. Secondly, the washroom lineup was horrendous. Also, you were peeing, what felt like every 5 minutes and then you have to wait in a line up that is backup down the stairs, because girls were taking endless selfies in the bathroom. Then the bathroom itself smells like vomit and piss, with a hint of perfume. You're also slightly afraid you could contract a disease from the toilet seat and to top it off there is piss all over the floor because boys can't seem to aim when they're drunk. Thirdly, the music is horrible, somehow someone always ended up playing that music that was just all screaming or depressing songs.
Finally, everyone is hooking up with everyone. I mean seriously, it was never a surprise when you find out someone had gotten mono. The worst part was that they were sucking face everywhere and I mean everywhere, against walls, in the closets, on kitchen counters. When making out got boring they either moved onto someone else or moved to the bedroom. That's why I tended to like the bonfires on the beach or the bush parties, because it was all fun, and you only having to deal with making out. No drama, no wildness and definitely no cops.
When the girls and I arrived at Robby's house, the party was in full swing. When I walked in I was surprised to find the house mostly how I thought it would be. Except that, the music on the radio was a mix of pop and country. Well, at least that was a plus. Robby's house was located on the outskirts of town, which meant we wouldn't be disturbing the peace too much.
The girls had all went their separate ways leaving me to try and make my way to the kitchen by myself. I began making my way through the throng of people, stopping and saying hello to people as I walked passed them. I had finally reached the kitchen when someone bumped into me and spilled the entire contents of their cup down my dress. I groaned looking down at my dress, at least the spill was barely noticeable because it was a navy blue with a flower pattern. I'm going to have to add getting spilled onto my list of reasons I hated all parties.
"I'm sorry love," Some guy said in a British accent as I eyed up my dress. I looked up and met Josh's eyes, who wore an expression of shocked when he realized it was me. "Oh hey Isabelle," Josh said awkwardly losing the accent. I hadn't talked to or seen Josh since our fight a couple of days ago. "So is that how you get girls? A fake accent." I said smirking trying to dissolve the awkwardness that had settled around us. He laughed awkwardly and scratched his neck, "Yeah, no girls know me here except for you and I thought I would try it out." I nodded, "How did you know about this party anyways?" I asked looking at him curiously. "I do have friends here," He said smirking. I nodded again and looked around the kitchen spotting Brayden walk in. I made eye contact with him and he began walking over.
"Hey Is," Brayden said walking over and giving me a hug. I could smell the scent of beer on his breath, he had obviously been here awhile. "Hey, this is my friend Josh," I said directing Brayden's attention to Josh who had a weird look on his face. "Josh, this is Brayden," "Hey man, nice to meet you," Josh said putting out his hand. Brayden eyed him, like a protective brother and then slowly shook his outstretched hand.
"Yeah, you too," Brayden turned back to me, "Let's go get a drink," Brayden said and I wondered why he wasn't looking for Natasha. "I can take her," Josh piped up and I instantly cursed Brayden for even bringing that up. He was going to say something but I gave him a look to shut up. "Brayden how about you go find Natasha and I will find you later and we can do a shot," I smiled up at him and hoped he would stop acting like a big brother who needed to protect me. "Fine," he grumbled out and walked towards the living room. "Sorry, he's over protective, no matter if there a friend," I said putting emphasize on the friend. He nodded and guided me out to the backyard, where the keg was. He filled up a cup of beer and handed it to me. "Oh I don't drink beer actually," I said and walked back to the deck to get a cooler from the ice bucket.
Josh continued talking to me, and I tried to be nice and pay attention but it was hard. Before I knew it I had only had three coolers and was leaning down to grabbed my forth, when I felt someone's hand on my back. I was turning to tell them not to touch me when I saw Nate giving me a tight smile. "Hey, there you are," I say because I had been keeping an eye out for him while I was listening to josh talk. "Hey boo," He said slightly cringing when he said it. I gave him a funny look at the name boo, he never called me a pet name. Josh coughed to remind Nate he was here. Nate looked over and gave him a blank stare, "Oh hi Josh, nice to see you again." "Nice to see you too. I'm going to go and try my accent out, I'll see you later?" "Yeah," I said and watch his retreating form.
I turned my attention back to Nate who was glaring at Josh's back. "Boo?" I laughed. "I don't like that guy," He said still watching him walk away. "Why?" I asked he didn't really know the guy. "I don't like the way he looks at you. Like your some conquest," He said finally looking at me. I smiled, "He's harmless," I say, but I'm not really sure I believe it myself. His face softened, "I'm sorry for calling you that, I got jealous." I nodded, not really knowing what to say. "I know were not dating, and I shouldn't be jealous, but I was hoping to change that," He was smiling as he said it, and I wasn't really registering what he was saying. I just stared at him dumbfounded.
He began to chuckle, "Will you be my girlfriend Isabelle?"
Before I could muster up a response, I heard a crash from the house followed by yelling. I turned and went towards the house with Nate following closely behind. As I stepped in I heard a voice screaming, that I wasn't expecting. I ran into the living room to find Taylor screaming at Sam to stop being an idiot. I looked towards the floor to find Sam fighting a guy, I couldn't see the face of.
Brayden was drunk trying to rip Sam off the guy, while Natasha was yelling at him about never being nice to her friends. Natasha's friends stood behind her egging her on and giving little digs every now and then. My eyes scanned to the corner of the room where Anna was trying to walk away from Nathan who was pleading for her to talk with him. Liz and Spencer were nowhere to be found but, I'm sure they were fighting too. I looked at Nate pleading him to make it stop to find him already ripping Brayden and Sam off the guy on the ground, who was Josh. I was left to assume he was hitting on Taylor, which .
"Cops!" Someone screamed out, I looked at the window and saw the flashing red and blue lights. Nate grabbed my arm and pulled me at the back door. I ripped my arm out and ran back to the living room and found all my friends gone.
"Isabelle, come on, we need to go before we get arrested," Nate said pulling me away. "But..." Nate didn't wait for my response and pulled me through the backyard. I numbly followed him as he held out his hand to pull me over the fence and away from the cops that were exiting the sliding glass doors. I looked at the house one more time and all I could think of is, we were all supposed to stick together, we all left each other without a second thought.
As I ran towards my house hand in hand with Nate, all I thought was, I was wrong, so very wrong. Our friend group was done, over, never again would we share laughs or have bonfires at Nathans. We were done.