"Nearly a year."
"Huh. And this was last year? Either he was getting some from someone else or he's gay."
My mouth dropped open at her declaration.
"Why can't a guy just be waiting for the right moment the way a girl can?"
She looked at me like I were a curious creature previously unknown to mankind. "Duh. Because guys aren't built that way. Go on. Look at his Instagram. I'm sure we'll find clues there."
And so a good half-hour was spent with Sarah convincing me that Randy was gay. I couldn’t believe how true her words were. He had his arms around this one guy far too often, and with a loving look I simply hadn't seen him bestow upon me - ever.
"God. No wonder it was so easy with him." I blew out a loud sigh.
"Who broke it off anyway?" Sarah asked, half-curious.
"I guess you could say it was a mutual decision. We realized we were happy going our separate ways and could still hang out with our mutual group of friends like before."
"Gay," Sarah repeated. "And never in love."
I threw a pillow at her, which she caught easily. A shrill ring sounded, and Sarah grabbed her phone from the nightstand and looked at me with wide eyes.
"Hey, Jules," she greeted. "Uh, no. No, it's okay, you go ahead. How'd you get invited anyway? Oh, she's with me. Yeah, you remember her mom's away this weekend. No, Jules, I’m pretty sure she doesn't want to go to that party."
She handed me the phone, looking exasperated. My heart sank as I remembered the twins' party this weekend. Jules would definitely want to go if she had been invited.
"Hey. Um, I left this morning. No, I don’t feel like going back there. They didn’t invite me anyway...yeah, I do live there but doesn’t mean I can invite anyone...um. Okay. Are you sure? Uh, okay I’ll ask Sarah. I’ll call you back.”
My heart plummeted after the phone call. I hated that I cared about people too much sometimes. “Jules really wants to go. She’s asking if I could just accompany her there briefly...and if I hate it, we can go.” I looked pleadingly at Sarah. “This is too much to ask, but I don’t think I’ll last two minutes if I go without you.”
Sarah sighed and put down the book she was starting to read. “Alright,” she said reluctantly. “But if it looks like one unoriginal drinking fest we’re out of there.” I almost raised my hands in silent gratitude. Sarah understood where I was coming from.
We quickly picked out some outfits from her closet that looked good enough to party in. I ended up wearing a leather jacket over a spaghetti-strap tank top that showed a good amount of midriff, and threw on my jeans with it. It wasn’t that I was a biker-style kind of girl, it was the only outfit that covered most of me and kept me warm at the same time. I left my hair in short curls, so that I looked like a naughty pixie of sorts.
“Looking good,” Jules said, giving me a high-five as we met her outside. Sarah insisted she would drive, which was perfect in case we wanted to get out of there early. Jules looked great in a red halter-neck dress and large hoop earrings. Her look of excitement made me feel torn – part of me was glad I had obliged her, but another part of me was annoyed that she was so fascinated by these popular kids. I decided I would have to talk to her about it.
Chapter 16
Ella
I almost didn’t recognize the house when we arrived. Already, cars were parked along the lawns, where people whose faces I didn’t recognize were milling around, red cups in hand. As we exited the car, the sounds of heavy metal could be heard blaring from the house, whose front door was thrown open just as we reached the front steps. Sean and Jeremy stood there, high-fiving some guys who had just arrived.
“Oh god, oh god,” Jules said under her breath, touching her hair self-consciously. “Do I look okay?”
Sarah looked at her incredulously. “Of course you do. Chill, will ya?”
I watched as Jules’ eyes widened as we reached the front door. “Shit.” Followed by, “Hey guys!” Her too-wide smile, to my eyes, appeared guilty. I guess she didn’t get an invite after all.
Sean looked at us up and down, rocking his sexy nerd look in a black tight tee and faded jeans. “You girls look great,” he said finally, his eyes landing on Sarah and keeping them there. Sarah barely blinked, putting her arms around my waist to move us along. Jules was still gawking at the guys, and I was frozen at the entrance, my heart pounding, the way it usually did at parties, but more so now, knowing the twins were around.
The house was transformed, colors bouncing off the walls from the strobe lights, a bar set up in the large living room with a bartender mixing up drinks, partygoers dancing to the rhythm that made the vein on my forehead pulse as if in sync. I recognized some people from school, but most of them were unfamiliar faces.
“Who are these people?” I shouted at Sarah, as I made a beeline for the kitchen, suddenly feeling thirsty. I hoped my good luck in avoiding the twins would hold at least until I got to my room. Jules had already gone off somewhere.
“They’re from the other two schools in Gray Lake. Some show up uninvited though, ‘coz it’s well known the kids from Gray Lake hold the best parties.” Sarah stopped to talk to some girls I recognized from Biology and motioned for me to grab her a drink, too. I found some cold cans of diet Coke in the fridge and headed back towards her. After handing her a can and signaling to her that I was gonna disappear, I headed
