The following day we’re all in Jansen’s car – he leaves it Australia for his visits apparently – and we’re on the way to the scene of the party. Well not all of us are in his car, because it would have been too tight a fit. So Ryder, myself, Faith and Jansen – obviously – are in his car. In the car behind us – which belongs to Tasha – are Matt, Cash, Marissa and Mollie.
Honestly I do feel a bit of pity for Matt because he’s all alone. Well not alone, but he’s the only one without someone. Like Mollie even told me this morning at breakfast that even if Matt wasn't her step-brother she wouldn't be interested in him. Apparently she likes bad boys. The appeal girls have of bad boys, I will never understand. Though I suppose that’s how some would see Ryder going on appearance alone, if they’d never met him. He’s just very to himself, and Ryder will not hesitate to voice his opinion. On anything.
Little did I know that this party is on a boat. I mean I don’t have a problem with boats or anything; it’s the large body of water that the boat resides in, not to mention it’s a quarter until seven and therefore dark. Now if it were daylight it’d be a whole other thing. In the daylight you can clearly see the end of the boat and the water and all of that good stuff, but in the dark? Though I suppose this party boat shall have lights on it.
“Are you okay?” Ryder asks me, breaking through my train of thought.
I nod, looking over at him, “I’m good.” I pick my hand up and run it down the satin material of my dress, straightening a wrinkle. The dress is what I suppose could be called a lilac color. Earlier today Marissa, Mollie and I went to the strip mall and got new dresses. Ryder raises his eyebrows at me and I nod my head again, reconfirming that I am indeed okay. He honestly does worry entirely too much.
“You not afraid of boats are you?”
I shake my head, “What? Pssst, no of course I’m not afraid of boats.”
“You’re so unconvincing.” Ryder tells me, shaking his head and looking out of the window.
I take my phone out and see that it’s now 6:30. The party starts in a mere thirty minutes, and Jansen says we’ll be there in about ten. I put my phone back down in my lap and then tap my fingers along the top of my knee absentmindedly until the car stops. I look up and Jansen turns the car off. Everyone else opens their doors, so I assume we’re here, and I do the same.
I get out of Jansen’s car and then close the door securely behind me. My eyes widen to nearly the size of tennis balls as I turn around and see the actual size of the ‘boat’. “You said it was on a boat, not a yacht!” I whisper-shout to Ryder as he grabs my hand.
“It isn’t a yacht; it’s just a big boat.” He replies, pulling me by hand towards the boat where the others are walking to. I gulp hoping that Ryder can’t hear or tense my nervousness. “If you are really that afraid then we don’t have to get on. We can go back to Jansen’s place if that’s what you wanna do.” He says.
I shake my head, swallowing the lump in my throat, “N-no, it’s fine. I’ll be okay.”
“You’re sure? I don’t want you to like freak out on the boat or something.”
I nod, “Yeah, I’m sure. I’ll be okay.” I say, more to myself than to him. When we reach the end of the pier, Ryder drops my hand, and climbs over on to the boat, and reaches out his hand for me. I grab it, and he helps me over the steeper.
“See, not so bad.”
“I guess not.” I reply, looking around.
The party isn’t set to start for another ten minutes. I don’t know what to do, I’ve never gotten to a party this early, not have I ever been a frequent party-goer. I mean, yeah I went to house parties every now and then but that’s just the thing. They were house parties. Not boat birthday parties. And anyways, who’s gonna come to this party anyway? Surely not all of Jansen’s friends from California are here in Australia. There’s just no way.
----------------------
An hour and thirty minutes the party is in complete and full swing. There are kids – well not kids, but people probably around twenty, twenty-one, and a few of them teenagers – are everywhere. I guess they're just random people, or I guess Jansen could have friends down here. But sure not this many? I haven’t seen Ryder in about twenty minutes, though I’m not looking for him.
“Do you want another?” Marissa shouts over the loud volume of the music.
“I do!” Faith cries out loud, staggering a bit. If it isn’t obvious, she’s drunk.
I look down in my red solo cup, which is now empty. “Sure, why not?” I ask, giggling. I, on the other hand, am not drunk. I’m not stupid; Ryder would kill me if I got drunk. I mean just a few days ago when we went to the bon-fire he wouldn’t let me drink and we weren’t even dating.
“Come on.” Marissa says, lacing her arm through mine and pulling me away from the center of the boat down the stairs which is where the kitchen - which is only stocked full of alcoholic beverages at the moment - is. We push past the hot sweaty bodies in the vicinity. We walk over to the counter and I pick up the first one I see. I read the label - my vision only a tiny bit blurred, and I read it out loud.
“The Long Island Ice Tea. This one sounds good.” I tell Marissa.
She grabs it from me, holding it close to her face. “Hey! I’ve had this one before. Don’t tell Cash; he’d murder me in my sleep. This one is really really strong though.”
“Yolo.” I say, shrugging my shoulders, nonchalantly. It is a party after all. What, am I supposed to drink water?
“You’re so stupid.” Marissa replies laughing as she takes the cap off and gives me pours me some and then she fills her own cup before putting it back down.
We go back up to the deck of the boat. I take a sip of my drink and cough as it goes down. Marissa whacks me on my back as I swallow and says, “You okay?”
I nod, “Yeah. Oh God that is strong.” I lick my lips before bringing the cup back up to my lips and taking another sip.
“I wonder where Faith is; I hope she didn’t fall overboard.”
“That would not be good.”
“Definitely not.”
Suddenly I feel someone smash into me from behind me, ‘causing me to spit my drink out. Marissa shrieks, jumping out of the line of my alcoholic spew. I turn around; ready to tell the person off that smashed into me. I recognize who it is though and I calm down. “Hey Mollie.”
“McKenna, hey. I was just looking for you.”
“Well,” I say shrugging lazily as I finish off my drink. “Here I am what’s up?”
“Have you seen Ryder?”
“Ryder my boyfriend?”
Mollie nods, “Who else?”
“Not lately, why?”
“Oh nothing, just have to show his something.” And with that, she prances off with all the grace of a drunken elephant.
“Why’s she looking for your boyfriend?” Marissa asks me.
I shrug again, “I dunno. Said she had something to show him. She’s kind of weird.”
“You got that right.”
I feel a hand grasp my waist from behind and then his voice says, “Look at you looking all sexy and what not.”
“Matt.” I scowl him.
“What? I’m complementing you. All you had to say was thank you.”
I sigh, “Thank you.”
“Sure.” He says, taking a deep breath and then gulping down his drink from his red cup and then tossing it to the ground. “Where’s that boyfriend of you. Richard?”
“You know that isn’t his name.”
“Ryder, whatever.”
“I don’t know where he is. I haven’t seen him in a while actually. Mollie’s looking for him.”
“So you wanna dance?”
“I really don’t think that’s the best idea.” I say. Then I look over to Marissa, “Hey will you get me some more to drink? I’ve gotta talk to Matt.”
“Yeah sure, there’s Faith, I’ll bring her with me.” She replies, gesturing to a sloppy drunk Faith who’s randomly walking up to people and hugging them.
“So what do ya say?”
“I can’t dance.” I tell him shrugging, “Sorry.”
“Why do you always think I’m trying to hit on you?”
“’Cause you are.”
“Well look at you; can you blame me?”
“Matt.” I groan, “Stop it. You’ve gotta get over me.”
He shrugs, “I dunno. I mean, I think you and Ryder will probably be dunzo soon enough.”
I cock my head to the side, “Why would you say that?”
“It’s just what I think. Just a guess.”
“Is there something you’re not telling me Matt?”
“Nope.” He says way too quickly.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Well, how’s this. One kiss for one piece of information. And not a cheek kiss.”
“No.” I say, bluntly putting my hands on my hips.
“Well then, I know nothing.”
“You’re a lousy friend, you know?”
“Oh yeah, of course I am.” Then with that he walks off in the opposite direction.
“Hey, I got your drinks. Though I don’t know why you wanted two. You seriously can’t drink so much of this shit. You’ll like pass the fuck out in the middle of the floor. And Mollie told me to tell you that Ryder is now looking for you.”
I take the drinks from Marissa, and bring the first cup up to my lips, gulping it halfway down. It’s strong, but it’s pretty damn amazing. Suddenly some song that I think I’ve heard maybe once or twice blares over the super huge speakers which are strategically placed all over the boat. As I absentmindedly dance, I hear Ryder behind me.
“There you are.”
“Hey, look who it is.” I say, turning around, facing him.
“Are you having fun?” He asks over the loud volume.
I nod, “Yeah. Are you?” And then I take the last sip of my second The Long Island Ice Tea drink. Why it’s called that I don’t know. I think Marissa said that there’s tea in it, but not a lot.
Ryder nods, then his eyes fall to the cup in my hand. He raises his eyebrows, looking back at my face. He takes the cup from me and then sniffs it before blinking a few times. “Long Island Ice Tea?”
“How’d you know?” I ask, amazed at the fact that he merely smelled it and knows what it is.
“Lucky guess. The better question is why are you drinking it? It’s way too strong for you.”
“But it’s good.” I whine.
“I’m the worst boyfriend ever; I’m letting my underage girlfriend drink one of the strongest drinks out there.”
“No, you’re the best boyfriend ever. You know why?” I say, feeling a sudden dryness in my mouth.
“Why?”
“Because you’re so cute.” I whisper and then laugh to myself.
“McKenna, please tell me you aren’t drunk.”
“I’m not drunk.” I tell him truthfully.
“Promise me you won’t get drunk?”
“Are you gonna get drunk?” I challenge.
“No.”
“Well then I promise you that I won’t get drunk.” I say.
“Good.” He says, nodding.
“So did Mollie find you?”
“What?” He asks.
“Mollie; she said she was looking for you. Did she find you?”
“Oh right, yeah she found me.”
“And?”
“And what?” Ryder wonders.
“And what’d she want?”
“Aren’t you a nosy little kitten today?” He says, flicking my nose.
I swat his hand away, “I’m not a kitten. So what’d she want?”
“You really wanna know?”
I nod, “Yes, I really do.”
“Too bad, because I’m not gonna tell you. Now I’m gonna go find Jansen, will you be alright or do you wanna come with me?”
I shake my head, “I’ll be okay.” I say grumpily, bringing the brim of my cup - this making it my third cup of it tonight - up to my lips and let it pass through my throat, burning slightly on the way down.
“Aww Mick, don’t be like that. It was nothing.”
“Promise?” I ask, looking up at him.
Ryder averts his eyes, looking up at the sky for a second. Then he looks back down at me, and blows out a breath. “Yeah.”
“Are you sure, because you don’t sound sure.”
He raises his eyebrows, “Are you getting jealous over something that you don’t even need to get jealous about?”
“No. I’m not getting jealous.”
“Yes you are.” He disagrees.
“You’re making my head hurt.” I mutter running my hand through my hair.
Ryder closes his eyes and then opens them slowly. “Okay baby, I’m sorry. You wanna get outta here? We can go back to the Jansen’s house.”
I shake my head, “No that’s okay.”
“Are you sure? You seem mad.”
“I’m not mad.”
“Promise?”
“Yes Ryder, I promise.”
“Okay. Well do you wanna hang out, or should I just see you later?”
“Yeah, I’ll just see you later. I have to go find Marissa.”
“Okay.” Ryder says, nodding and leans down to me. “I know you’re mad, but can I still get a kiss?”
I roll my eyes at him chuckling, but I kiss him lightly and then pull back. “I’ll find you later.”
“Alright.” Ryder says, smiling at me. Then he steps away from me and then walks away from me, probably going to go find Jansen.
It’s not that I don’t trust Ryder, because I do. It’s the Mollie girl I don’t trust. I haven’t even the faintest idea of what she could have ‘shown’ him. Though she probably didn’t show him anything, just talked to him. But then, why won’t he tell me if really is nothing? I’m probably just overreacting. Ryder would never do anything to jeopardize our relationship. He may look all tough and hard on the outside but he really is just a big softie. So instead of being upset with Ryder, maybe I should go talk to Mollie. I put my almost empty cup down at a table and walk off in the direction in which I last saw Mollie going in. It’s probably nothing, but either way I’d rather be safe than sorry.
Author's Note: Sooo it took me like five hours to write this to get it right. Hope y'all liked it.
Do y'all think Ryder's lying? What's Mollie's deal? Is McKenna just being paranoid?