I looked at my alarm clock, it was almost 9. I spent the whole day in my room, avoiding talking mostly to Scotty. That was until I heard a knock.
"Scotty I really don't feel like talking right now."
"Please Katie just for a second."
I guess my silence indicated as a yes to him.
"What?"
"Are you sure you don't want to come?"
"I can't believe you're actually going honestly." I huffed.
Scotty looked down.
"I don't know, being a goody-goody has its perks but if Benny's okay with going I trust him. Besides I'm not drinking anyway."
I said nothing.
"Listen you don't have to go. I'm surprised that I'm even asking you to go, this conversation would usually happen the other way around."
I chuckled and looked up at him.
"How are you gonna convince the two overlords to even let you go?"
"Eh, I told them I was sleeping over at Benny's."
"Smart." I replied.
"Well listen if you decide to go, here's the address. It's not too far Benny thinks it's about a ten-minute walk." Scotty hands me a slip of paper.
I take the paper and set it on my nightstand, nodding at him.
"Alright well, I guess I'll see ya later," Scotty says heading to the door.
"See ya."
Right as Scotty opens the door, he stops and turns to me.
"Benny feels really bad Katie."
"I'm sure he does." I huffed under my breath.
"What?"
"Nothing, thanks Scotty," I say looking up at him.
He smiles and shuts the door.
After staring at the ceiling, I weighed my options: I could go to the party and not drink, I could get absolutely hammered, or I could sit here, letting my mind drive me insane. I knew what I should do, but did I really want to do it? Then I thought of something, and that idea I really liked.
...
"I think this is it," Benny says.
Through the window, the two boys could see the house practically shaking from the loud music. Boys were wrestling, girls were sitting on the couch talking.
"I don't know about this Benny, the cops could get called for a noise complaint," Scotty remarks.
"Squints said that apparently most of the neighbors were out of town too, something about a retreat for the church in town."
"Then where are their kids at? They must have babysitters or somethi-
"Scotty."
"Sorry."
The two boys hastily walked up to the door.
"So do we knock or-
The door swung open, with a kid drunk as ever, staring menacingly at the two while swaying back and forth.
"Y-you boys here for the party?"
They both stared then slowly shook their heads up and down.
"C'mon in little dudes." He said as he opened the door wider.
After giving each other a glance, they both headed in.
...
"C'mon Smalls one sip!" Ham shouted shoving his cup to him.
"Nah I'm good."
"Why are you even here if you're not gonna have a good time?" Ham was becoming drunker by the minute.
"I don't know, I thought it would be cool to just see what goes down at these things."
Ham just stared at Scotty like he was speaking another language, then took off when he saw Yeah-Yeah.
"What grade are you fine ladies in?"
"Get lost four eyes." One girl shoved Squints as they walked past him.
"Ah they love to play hard to get don't they?" Squints says nudging Benny.
"Ohhh yeah, they were practically all over you." Benny says raising his brows.
"What's your deal Benny, aren't you having fun?"
Benny stares at his cup shrugging.
"I guess but-
"Dude shut up, hottie 6 o'clock."
Benny turns around. He had a few drinks, he definitely wasn't drunk but starting to feel it a little. He tries to look past the crowds of people to see who Squints is pointing at. Then he sees her. Wearing knee-high white boots, a black skirt, and a tight-fitting white long sleeve shirt. Now Benny realizes he might be drunker than he thought, because the girl he was looking at reminded him of someone.
"Is that Katie?"
Squints laughs, holding his stomach.
"Dude, seriously? Man, you must be blitzed right now."
"I'm serious Squints, I think that's Katie."
"Why don't I go find out?" Squints smirk and stumbles past Benny.
...
"Oh god." I mumble under my breath.
"I can see some space that deserves exploration." Squints says pulling down his glasses, glancing over my body.
"Shut up Squints."
"Ooooh you know my name, what's yours then sweetcheeks?" He says, leaning in to kiss me.
After kicking him in the groin he hunches over.
"Yeah..... it's her." Squints grunts as he turns around and tells Benny across the room
I look up to Benny, seeing him stare at me from head to toe. I wanted to scream and go hide, I never dressed like this, ever. I even wore mascara and blush that I stole from Aunt Cindy. Not only were my clothes suffocating me, so was Benny's stare. Then I realized why I came, so I immediately broke eye contact and left the room, walking in the opposite direction. I picked out a plastic cup and filled it with whatever bottle of alcohol was sitting on the kitchen counter.
"Woah there girl, you're drinking that straight? Who broke your heart?" I turn around to see a girl, obviously older than me.
"Uhh-
"Here at least put some of this in it, the taste won't be as bad." She pours half a can of citrus soda in my cup.
"Thanks."
"First time?" She asks.
"Umm yep." I laugh.
"Ahh, well take it easy with this one, hard alcohol will-
I immediately start chugging the whole thing as fast as I can.
"Geez! You trying to kill yourself!" She pulls my arm down, but not forcefully.
"Hopefully," I say, wiping my mouth, wincing at the sting of the alcohol burn all the way down my throat.
"Damn girl, what's got you so down?"
"I don't know, my boyfriend and I got into an argument. It was about going to a party- this party I guess. I didn't want him and his friends to go cause I didn't want them drinking themselves to-
I paused, every word I said felt like someone hitting me on the back of my head. The girl raised her eyebrows at me.
"Wow, that came out a lot worse and hypocritical now that I say it," I said looking into my almost empty cup.
"Eh, it's okay, at least you admitted it. Listen, parties can be a good thing sometimes, and your first time is important. You can learn about how much more your tolerance can be, or for all these people, what your limit should be." She glances around at everyone stumbling and dancing recklessly.
"Yeah, that's true I guess."
"Listen I don't want to give advice, and I won't. You just need to enjoy these years, do what you want."
"So I should probably let my boyfriend do what he wants then, right?" I finish the rest of my drink after asking, already knowing the answer.
"No advice, I already said I wouldn't," She says holding up her hands.
"Well, thank you."
"What's your name?"
"Katie." I say, pouring more of the clear liquid in my cup, feeling my chest get warmer.
"Nice to meet you Katie, I'm Lisa." She says.
"What grade are you in?" I asked.
"Junior." She replies.
"Oh cool."
"Well, I'll see ya around. Maybe at school?"
"Yep, I'll probably be there." I smile.
As she walks out of the kitchen I see Benny walk right past her. My body forces me to take another huge swig of my drink.
"Katie?" He asks, I can tell he still has doubt that it's even me.
I only nod, then I drink, and drink, empty again.
"What are you drinking?" He asks.
I stare at the bottle in front of me, holding it up to my eyes.
"Smirnoff, vodka." I pour more in and set the bottle down.
"Didn't take you to drink the hard stuff. In fact, I didn't think you liked to drink at all." His voice turned angrier.
"I'm just full of surprises aren't I?" I give him the same tone back.
"Why are you being like this?" His voice now seems more concerned, sad.
I paused, tears tried to push their way through, for some reason it was harder than normal to push them back, then I realized my own stupidity when I saw the almost half-empty bottle of Smirnoff. I shook my head.
"I don't know."
Now Benny pauses, grasping his cup.
"Listen I'm sorry, I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that in front of the guys."
"No I should've just been fine with it, I really don't like being lectured so I know you didn't like it either when I said that stuff to you."
"Eh, my parents have done worse."
"Same here." I chuckled, nervously taking yet another drink.
We both paused and looked up at each other. Then Benny held my face and pushed his lips against mine. The Smirnoff however, made me a bit more aggressive. Then I pulled away for a split second.
"I'm sorry." I whispered.
He smiled,
"Woah, how much did you drink, I never realized you knew those words."
I shoved him laughing.
"Also, I've never seen this before either." He tugged at my skirt, to which I immediately slapped his hand.
"Geez." He hissed, holding his hand.
Suddenly, my body felt numb, and my mind felt euphoric. My drunk self assumed the more I drank, the more the feeling would last. So I chugged the rest of my cup's contents. Reaching again for the bottle and trying to count which pour this one was. Benny grabbed my arm.
"How much did you drink already?"
"Uhhh, well there was one with Lisa, and then another one...I don't know. I thought it would take longer to make my body feel all, tingly." I say, holding out my hands.
"What do you mean one? One what?"
"Cup." I said, all to confidently.
"Okayyyy, well I think I'm going to have to cut you off ma'am." He takes the bottle out of my hand and sets it down.
"C'mon, there was soda in it too Benny," I say, my hand grabbing his chin.
Benny lifts up and rattles the empty can in my face.
"The last pour you did was straight alcohol, you never poured anything else into it."
"Oops," I say, letting him go and shrugging my shoulders.
"Will this be another babysitting date with Katie?" He asks, smirking.
I furrow my eyebrows confused.
"When you got your teeth pulled?"
"Ooooohhh. Well, that was- this time it's- you don't-
"Wow, this time might be worse." He laughs.
"Shut up, you're drinking too."
"I've had like three or four beers Katie."
"Shit."
That was the last word out of my mouth before my body was limp, fumbling across the kitchen. I feel Benny's arms lift me up.
"And that is probably our queue. Scotty!"
"Shhhhhh." I put my finger against his lips.
"So loud," I whisper.
With his hands around my waist, he pulls me closer to him.
"Such a troublemaker." He whispers into my ear.
I practically melted in his arms after he said it. His voice, a much more different voice than I ever heard from him. Benny helps me walk to the living room.
"You ready to go Scotty?"
"Yeah I think so, I don't really know if I like- who is that?!"
"Katie."
"Benny seriously who is-
"Oh my god Scotty enough chit chat I'm really starting to get sick of these shoes," I say, throwing one of my legs in the air.
"Andddd were gonna put that leg back down," Benny says pushing down on my thigh.
Embarrassment floods over me when I remember I'm wearing a skirt, but quickly vanishes when I feel his hand wrap around my thigh. I grab his hand and guide it up my leg.
"Okay and we are leaving now, Scotty let's go." Benny grabs my hand, the other around my waist.
"I told Yeah-Yeah I'd walk him home," Scotty says.
"Well, are you still staying at my house then or no?" Benny asks.
"I don't know, I'm still looking for him. I might have to stay at his house, is that okay?"
"Shit, okay well Katie needs to go home."
"She can't go back home like that!" Scotty says.
"What?" Benny whips his head around.
"My mom can hear anything, and if she hears her puking, we're both screwed."
"Well what the hell should I do?!" Benny shouts.
I press my lips against his cheek, he ignores me and pulls away.
"Did you tell Cindy where you were going?"
It almost pained me trying to formulate a sentence, so I just shook my head no.
"Shit, okay. Alright well I guess I'll bring her home with me but we're both going to have to sneak in." He tells Scotty.
Scotty nods, "Thanks Benny I owe you."
"And as for you,"
I gulped as he turned his head towards me.
"You need to be quiet when we get there."
I smirked.
Why did I smirk? Holy shit am I turned on right now? I don't remember thinking this much after I had my teeth pulled. My body feels just as numb as when I was given that medication, but I'm more conscious than when I was-
"I'm serious Katie."
"I'll be fine." I said quietly.
He helps me fumble down the steps and we begin walking on the sidewalk. He releases his hand from my waist but still held my hand as we walked. Benny doesn't say anything for what felt like hours.
"Are you mad at me?"
"No, I'm just trying to figure out how to get us both in my house," He replies.
More silence.
"I really do promise that I'll be quiet."
He could tell I felt bad.
"Sorry for getting mad at you."
"It's okay it kinda turned me on not gonna lie."
"Yeah and we probably- wait what?" I felt his grip around my hand tighten.
I said nothing and kept walking. He said nothing, he didn't know what to say. I released my grip from his and started skipping down the sidewalk.
"Katie wait."
I continued until I saw the pool. I stopped and waited for him to catch up.
"How about a swim Mr. Rodriguez?"
"With you drunk? Yeah, I'd prefer that you live." He said.
"Please?" I placed my hand on his chest and slid it down over his buckle.
"Katie."
"What?" I said innocently.
I started undoing his buckle when he quickly grabbed my wrist.
"I tried being nice."
"What-
Suddenly I was lifted in the air and then thrown on his shoulder. I was in awe that he could even do that, especially due to the fact that I was definitely not some 120-pound girl.
"Okay Benny, I'm sorry," I say, waiting for him to put me down, but then I feel him start walking.
"Benny, you can't...carry me all the way home." Words fumbled from my mouth.
I assumed I wasn't making any sense when he didn't reply.
"Benny put me down."
"No." Was all I heard.
"Okay, don't get mad when your legs are jellooooo." I say laughing.
Silence, then I heard those words again.
"Such a troublemaker."