The party definitely wasn't the best part of my day.
In fact, it was everything I've had imagined. Lots of alcohol, loud music and a crowd of people that wouldn't budge even if you still begged for them to move.
I'm not trying to sound like the introverted kid in teen movies but those where exactly the reasons I hated high school parties.
Fortunately, I did recognize some friends so I decided to hang with them for Harry had abandoned me the moment he walked into the house.
We started having a nice conversation, but half way through it I started to doze off. Maybe it was the alcohol. The idea made me laugh, I looked at the half empty bottle I had gripped in my hand, the condensation slowly melting between my fingers was proof of my failed attempt to try to blend in by getting slightly drunk.
I felt someone place a hand over my shoulder. I looked up to see the girl with the pink hair Harry had introduced me the last time he dragged me to a party.
"Hey! You." I tried to sound casual but the truth is I had forgotten her name.
"How are you doing Adam?" and she remembered mine. "Dance with me."
I hissed "I really don't-" I looked around. The truth is I was going to fall asleep on that couch if I didn't move, so maybe dancing wasn't a bad idea. "Okay."
"Yes?" she asked excited.
She grabbed me by the hand and led me to the middle of the living room. I looked around, there weren't many people dancing; most of them were just standing and chatting, some couples were making out and the rest were just drinking.
"You're not much of a party guy, right?" she said, probably referring to my awkward dancing.
"What makes you say that?" I asked sarcastically.
"I never see you at parties, except for the one last time, which was... five months ago."
I laughed shaking my head "Yeah, I try to keep my parties at two a year."
"No, I'm guessing it would be zero if Harry didn't dragged you to them."
We both laughed but were interrupted by a commotion coming from the kitchen.
Without thinking, we approached the commotion.
There were a group of people surrounding a fight. It was between two guys, they were cussing at each other and the only thing stopping them from breaking into a fight were two other friends holding them back.
"So ridiculous" said the voice besides me and I was about to agree with pink hair when I recognized one of the guys involved.
It was Billy, my younger brother.
He was supposed to be at a friend's house working on a project, at least that's what he told Aunt Sheila.
He was so dead, and so was I; the moment Aunt Sheila was made aware that Billy had been drinking on a school day and even worst, making a complete fool of himself in a fight, she would take it upon me. I was the older brother, I had to look after him.
The older brother. That was a role I had taken seriously during my whole life. Ever since my parents died I understood I had become responsible for Billy. When Aunt Sheila took us in she was still young and unexperienced; she didn't know how to react when Billy started having nightmares every night to the point that he couldn't sleep alone, or when I had my first allergic reaction to those cookies we didn't know had peanuts in it.
It wasn't her fault though, she had to learn, as me, to take care of us, and we did it together: she had traded night parties for dinners with us and I traded playing with video games for helping Billy with his homework.
This was something that always irritated her, the fact that I hadn't had the chance to be a "normal boy", she always blamed herself saying her parental ignorance had taken away my childhood. It wasn't uncommon to hear her reply teasingly "okay dad" whenever I scolded her.
The truth is it actually made me happy being able to take care of my little brother. I felt proud of him, he was charming and sweet with everyone; and he was a good kid, had good grades, didn't disobeyed and was very honest.
He always admired me, which made me feel great. He always looked for me to solve every problem, he thought I was the smarter guy in the planet, kind of how a child looks at his dad.
However, during the summer Billy had changed drastically. We didn't even looked like brothers anymore.
We both used to be the skinny, baby faced kids. In fact, he used to be even smaller than me which only reassured the image of a younger brother.
But maybe aunt Sheila's diet based on carbohydrates and proteins had a supernatural effect on his body because in a couple of months he became much taller and buff. And with that, came the sudden burst of confidence. He started going to parties and hanging out with another group of people.
Despite this transformation I still saw him as my little brother, as the sweet and innocent boy he always was. He, on the other side, seemed to have taken upon himself to turn the tables.
It started with him ruffling my hair whenever he walked by, or eating my beloved left overs because "he needed to eat more, he was bigger after all." Then he just became straight sassy; if I was watching T.V. and he came and wanted to watch his show, he would pick me up over his shoulder and lock me in my room.
Then, it was the whole, "don't ask me how my day was, why do you care?",and sneaking out of the house late at night to go to a friend's house. Aunt Sheila knew perfectly well what Billy was doing, she had done it herself when she was young, and so she only warned me to keep an eye on him and to make sure he wasn't doing any drugs.
But I bet she never thought Billy was drinking to the point of babbling incoherent things and causing a commotion in a crowded place.
"Hey, hey, hey!" I called barging in the fight.
Billy snapped out of his anger when he saw me and gave me a quick smile "Adam! Good to see you here!"
The alcohol in his breath pierced into my nose and made me take a step back from him.
"Billy, you're drunk!"
"So are you!"
"No, I'm not!"
"No, you aren't." He giggled "Do you want a drink?" It seemed as if he had forgotten about the fight. The other guy had been dragged away by his friends.
"What was that all about?" I asked while he fixed me a drink.
"Nothing, he was just talking shit about someone."
"About who?"
He stopped and looked back at me with a smug expression on his face "You have no idea who I'm dating."
"Who?" but before he could answer I felt someone jump by my side.
"Hey! I thought I had lost you" it was the girl from before "I saw you jump on that fight and I was worried." She looked back at Billy "Hey, there! Who are you?"
"I'm Bill, I'm Adam's brother." He slurred.
"I didn't know you had an older brother."
Billy snickered and I rolled my eyes.
"He's my younger brother" I corrected her scratching the back of my head.
"Oh" she gasped blushing and then she threw me an apologetic smile.
I felt grateful when the awkward silence was interrupted by Billy falling face flat on the floor. It made me laugh, I have to admit, but then I realized it was time to leave the party. I sat him in the couch with the help of one of his friends.
"You should take him home." He said.
"Yeah, let me find our ride."
I looked around the house, there were hundreds of people, which only made my quest for Harry more difficult.
I finally found a friend of ours. When I asked him if he had seen Harry he said he had seen him outside. So I headed to the garage. Hoping he better not have left me alone at the party.
I peered around a little more when I heard some muffled voices. They came from the path that connected the garage with an alley.
It was dark so I couldn't make out their faces, but there were definitely two people talking. Scratch talking. It looked like they were having an argument.
"...stop...and just mind your own business." It was a woman and she sounded irritated.
"Then stop this!" I recognized that voice instantly, it was Harry's.
And then I saw Jessica Lancey flee out from the shadows. She glanced at me with disinterest but I could see she was upset.
Harry and Jessica had been a thing for a while. They were a type of "it" couple, although everyone knew they were destined to a nasty breakup. Jessica was a conceited and narcissistic girl, the type Harry couldn't hold a conversation with, and Harry wasn't exactly "boyfriend material", and yet, the two most popular people in our high school had started dating after a series of hookups.
It lasted for a few months but the breakup came, inevitably, after an unpleasant discussion. Jessica had taken upon herself to create any possible rumor about Harry the weeks after but, as soon as she started dating Jacob Ross, they started to slowly fade away.
After that I never saw Harry speak to Jessica again. Not until now.
I walked into the spot she had left and found Harry with a blank space in his face and a cigarette in his hand.
"Hey buddy!" He said with a half-smile.
I wanted to ask him what was that all about but he had that don't dare to bother me look on his face. So I just answered with a nod and walked next to him. When I looked up at him I could see only a fraction of his face, the light was only hitting his eyes, which made it look as if he was wearing a balaclava. I grinned, even the criminal look suited him.
"All the bad boys are staring in the shadows..." I teased.
He smirked.
"... and all the good girls are home with broken hearts" Then he snorted sarcastically. "Do you want to leave already?"
"Me? No, I don't want to leave, but Billy is drunk so I should take him home."
He looked taken back. "Billy is here?"
"Yeah! It looks like my little brother is officially popular."
"How long has he been here?"
"Well, he's pretty drunk so..."
It was funny how even Harry, who started going to senior parties since he was fourteen, would act scandalized when Billy was the one doing a rebel thing. I guess he always felt a brotherly affection towards him as well.
He jumped and elbowed me softly in the arm "Stop being so bitter about your brother being cool."
He started walking towards the house leaving me dumbfounded.
I wanted to ask him what he was discussing with Jessica. Were they back together? Although it seemed as if they were in a fight.
I made a mental note to talk about this later.