Liv
After school, Kate had dragged me into her car and was now driving us to her house.
"... he's just so nice! The other day he took me on a picnic date and it was really cold, right? You know what he does? He took off his hoodie and gave it to me, even though he was only in a t-shirt and I had a long sleeve shirt on. And," Kate continued, slowing at a stop sign. "He smells amazing. And that tongue of his can do stuff you would not believe-".
"Kate, I love you, but I think I'm going to have to stop you right there. I really don't want to know."
Kate rolled her eyes at me, putting the car in drive when the light turned green. "Calm down, Liv. I didn't mean it like that-"
I gave her a look. "That's exactly what you meant, and you know it."
"You know what?" Kate said, smirking. "I did say exactly what I meant." She laughed, taking the final turn into her driveway.
"You're unbelievable." I muttered as Kate stopped the car and I opened my door, climbing out.
"You love it." Kate winked. She pulled the key out of a hole in a pile of rocks in the front garden.
Kate unlocked the door and we stepped inside.
Kicking my shoes off, I looked around. I liked Kate's house. It had a nice feel to it, the sort of feel that only an occupied place has. Kate's house felt more like a home than my spotless, impersonal house did. The only things we had in my house to prove that people did, in fact, live there were Caleb's many certificates of achievement.
The kitchen in Kate's house was mostly wooden features. The floor was wood, the counters were wood, even the kitchen basin was made of wood. There was a real earthy vibe going around the kitchen, and the rest of the house as well.
Kate was the middle child of three. Her older sister, McKenna, was off studying chemistry at university. I had been going around to Kate's house forever, to the point where McKenna was like a big sister to me as well.
Milly, Kate's younger sister, was six and three quarters years old, thank you very much. Milly had just hit her tantrum stage, where she would throw fits if Kate didn't play tea parties with her and her dolls.
For some reason, Milly adored me. So, when we walked into the kitchen to get an after-school snack, Milly came sprinting towards me.
"Livvy!" Milly yelled. "You're here! Can you come play with me pleeeeeease?" She asked, eyes wide and innocent.
I gave her a quick hug. "Sorry, Mils, but Kate and I have stuff we need to do. Maybe next time."
"Is it the same stuff Kate and the guy who wears the weird shirts do when he comes over? I always want to play with them, but Kate says they need to do important adult stuff."
Important adult stuff? Oh god. I mentally cringed, not knowing whether to laugh, cry or hit myself in the head to get rid of disturbing mental images that had appeared. I looked over at Kate, who had turned an interesting beet red.
"Go away, Milly, or I'll tell mum that you broke her favourite vase."
Milly gasped in horror. "You wouldn't do that, Katie?" Milly's sentence rises up at the end, more a question than a statement.
"Try me, Mouse." Kate replies, and Milly shot her a furious look before turning and stomping her way to her bedroom, screaming the whole way.
I leaned against the wall watching Milly go, while Kate opened the fridge to look for food.
On the fridge, there were photos, mainly of McKenna and Kate, and then the later ones of all three girls. There were pictures of the sisters at the beach, McKenna talking to a lifeguard while Kate chased a toddling Milly away from the water. My personal favourite was a picture of McKenna and Kate staring onto a cot, watching Milly sleep, taken just a few hours after she was born.
Kate looked up from the fridge. She closed the door, holding two yoghurts and a left-over burrito from the night before.
"Let's go." She said, and we made our way up the stairs to her room.
Her room was as messy as ever, clothes littered on the floor and make-up palettes lying open on the dresser. The room was painted a calm shade of lilac, and Kate's white bedspread matched the walls with lilac details. Her carpet was a dark shade of brown. I ran my bare feet through the softness.
Kate had flopped on her bed dramatically, covering her face with her arms. She chucked a yoghurt at me, which I opened and tilted into my mouth. I was glad Kate couldn't see me, she would have frowned at my behaviour. I was glad her arms were blocking her view.
To anyone else it would have looked like she was freaking out because of the arms over her head, but I knew she was only thinking. Probably of what outfits of McKenna's she could force me into.
Because inevitably, we would end up in Kenna's room. There was no way I was going to fit Kate's clothes. Kate was tiny. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't big – not by any stretch of the imagination. But I wasn't exactly small either. McKenna was more my size, so I knew that's where we would be headed.
I continued to slurp my yoghurt, licking the packaging when I was finished.
As if woken by a nightmare, Kate suddenly sat bolt upright. She leapt off the bed.
"Ouch!" I shrieked when she roughly grabbed my arm on the way out of the room.
"Oh, do be quiet, you." Kate replied airily, as she dragged me down the hall to McKenna's room.
Once inside, I looked around. McKenna's room hadn't changed a bit from when she was eleven years old. Her room was styled like she was a girl who dreamed of walking the streets of Paris, which she did. There were posters of famous Parisian landmarks on the wall, as well as paintings and even a pillow in the shape of the Eiffel Tower.
Kate made a beeline to her sister's expansive closet, throwing open the doors. Not wanting to witness the destruction that was about to unfold, I flopped onto the bed, face down.
Around me, I could hear the sounds of clothes as they were pulled out of the closet and then thrown into a pile. The sound was almost hypnotic. I found my thoughts drifting.
This party was going to be the first time I met Kate's new boyfriend. I wondered what he was going to be like. Kate said that he was "an absolute dream" which I thought was pretty corny, but whatever. It was clear Kate really liked him. He didn't go to our school, Kate had told me. Apparently, he went to St Patrick's across town.
When I had heard that, I had frowned. I had told Kate she was fraternising with the enemy. The look Kate had given me would have melted the remaining ice in Antarctica and I had earned a slap for that comment.
It was then that I realised that I didn't even know the mystery guy's name. Had Kate told me? I wracked my brains trying to remember. Eventually, I came up with nothing.
Lifting my head, I looked at Kate.
"What's his name?" I asked.
Kate whipped around angrily. "Olivia, its Jake. I swear I've told you this before. Maybe it's time to get your hearing checked. I don't even know why I bother-" I tuned her out by shoving my face back in the bed and covering my head with my arms.
Something grabbed hold of my ankle and pulled. With a bump, I was on the floor.
"Holy shit, Kate! That was mean!" I cried. Kate just rolled her eyes at me.
"Go try this on, Liv."
Getting up from the floor with a huff, I grabbed the garment Kate was holding out to me and stomped to McKenna's en-suite bathroom. Standing at the vanity, I looked at myself in the mirror.
There were circles under my eyes – not an uncommon occurrence – and my nose was tinted a light shade of red. Of course, today had to be the day I forgot to put sunblock on. My fair skin had burnt like a marshmallow thrust in an open fire. New Zealand was notorious for its bad sunburns, what with a hole in the ozone layer right above our country.
I pulled off my jeans and t-shirt and stepped into the dress.
I turned to look in the full-length mirror, admiring the way the dress clung to my top half but flowed once it hit my waist. There was no denying that McKenna had impeccable taste. The thing Kate had picked out for me looked good. It was a deep blue dress had a low neckline, skimming across the top of my cleavage. The whole thing was held up by straps and the hem reached to about mid-thigh.
I exited the bathroom and Kate gave me an approving nod. Then she dragged me back to her room to do my hair and make-up.
Half an hour later and we were ready.
Mark had arrived in his pick-up about ten minutes earlier, and it was Kate sitting shot-gun while I sat behind them. Leaning in between the two front seats, I looked at Kate and Mark, the latter was suppressing a smirk.
I gave him a look from the side of my eye and shook my head. There was just no understanding that boy.
I leant my head against the window, the glass cooling my tired head. I wasn't even at the party yet, and I couldn't wait to leave.
We rode on in relative silence, the only sound coming from Kate's nails as she typed on her phone and Mark as he hummed along to the radio.
The quiet wasn't unusual. The three of us had been to a few parties together over the years, and we had figured out that it was better to conserve our energy for when we actually got to the party.
By over the years I meant last year, which had been our first time we had gone to a party. Kate's parents had refused to let her go and there was no way Mark and I were going to ditch her. Where one of us went, all three of us went.
You could tell when we were entering the higher-class area of town. Small brick houses were swapped for houses that couldn't really be called houses at all: they were practically mansions. The sections grew larger so there were more expansive lawns with flashy topiary and zen garden displays, completed with ponds full of fish.
Mark kept driving, still humming to his music but he had now started mumbling the words under his breath. I couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but whatever it was wasn't in time with the music on the radio.
Not being able to take it anymore, I broke the silence.
"Okay, so where are we actually headed?" I asked, and Kate put her phone down. I could see Mark roll his eyes in the mirror.
"Honestly, Olivia, we'll be there soon. It's only about another five minutes." Mark sighed. His eyes met mine in the rear-view mirror. "It's not like we're kidnapping you, or anything." He added.
"No need to be a dick about it." I mumbled. Not looking up, I could almost sense the giant grin Mark probably had across his face.
Sure enough, Mark was true to his word. About being five minutes away, I mean. I still wasn't sure on the kidnapping as of now, you could never tell with Mark.
Mark manoeuvred his pick-up onto the side of the street, which was absolutely packed. I grabbed my phone and my favourite cream coloured clutch and hopped out of the car, closing it behind me. Mark, ever the pessimist, came over behind me and opened my door again before slamming it shut.
Of course, he would believe I was incapable of anything.
I gave him a quick punch to the gut.
"Oomf!" Mark doubled over. Checking that I had everything in my clutch, I looked to Kate and nodded. We both headed in the direction of the house, leaving Mark standing in the street nursing his stomach.
The house was a living, breathing being. The walls vibrated from the sheer volume of the music, giving the house the ability to move.
It was a nice, typical house. Well, as typical as upper-class houses got, I guessed. The lawn was vast and was littered with teenagers standing on groups. Already, I could see a body bent over the bushes, vomit falling out of their mouth. Another person was rubbing the vomiting girl's back encouragingly.
Just the thought of vomit was enough to make me gag.
Mark caught up to us and he was panting from the running.
"Aren't you a little too unfit to be a basketball player?" I asked innocently. Kate stifled a laugh.
Mark scowled. "Are you body shaming me?" he asked with a pout.
I raised an eyebrow. "Do you even know what body shaming is?"
Mark didn't get to answer my question.
We reached the front door and were sucked inside.
~+++~
I am sooooo tired right now. I uploaded this later because it's been a busy day *wipes forearm across eyebrows*
Anywhoooo, please enjoy the chapter and don't forget to vote and comment!!
also if you see any mistakes please point them out I edited this in a rush ahaha
-Mia