“You don’t like her very much, do you?”
I might be convinced Sasha has a crush on him, but he doesn’t seem to return the favor. At all.
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His lips are pinched and he watches the scene in front of us with narrowed brows. He hasn’t let go of my hand yet, despite the fact my palm is beginning to sweat. “I don’t like predictability.”
Ignoring his comment, I call out, “Sasha!”
Waving, I finally capture her attention and she grins. Her eyes are already slightly glassy and she stumbles trying to reach us.
“My friends!” she cries, throwing her arms around us. When she steps back she frowns at our joined hands. “Come on.” She tugs on my arm that’s holding the cereal box and it falls. “Oopsie.” She puts a hand to her mouth and giggles.
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Why did I even bother coming? Drunk people are my least favorite kind of people.
Ansel bends down, grabbing the cereal box. He passes it to me, glaring at Sasha as he does. “Watch it, Sasha. You could’ve hurt her.” I don’t miss the way he angles his body slightly in front of me.
“I didn’t mean to,” she snaps, frowning. “You know I didn’t mean it, right, Dani?” She bats her big eyes at me.
“Right.”
I try to ignore the huff that comes out of Ansel.
“Let’s play.” She doesn’t grab me this time, but I follow her, Ansel reluctantly trucking along behind us.
I join Sasha’s team, which consists of her and two other people—a guy named Henry and a girl named Josie—who are both on the school’s tennis team with her.
A few minutes into the game Ansel whispers in my ear that he’ll be back in a little bit.
He doesn’t say it, but I know more than likely he’s off to sell some weed.
I stick with Sasha, drinking more alcohol than I intend to during the game of beer pong.
After the game is over, Sasha drags me over to a makeshift dance floor—basically an empty section of the basement where other kids are dancing.
“My cereal,” I cry as it gets left behind at the table.
Sasha is oblivious. She gyrates around me while I struggle to find my rhythm. My leg is protesting already and the night has barely begun. The walk from the parked car to the house in my heeled boots was a bad idea, but it’s not like I could have gone barefoot.
“Loosen up, Dani!” Sasha yells above the music.
Grabbing my arms she shimmies around me. I’m not used to this kind of dancing, or even this kind of party. Sure, I went to a few back home, but mostly it was a much smaller group of us hanging around in someone’s basement drinking beers and being obnoxious. This is a party like the ones I’ve always seen in movies.
After a few minutes I start to feel more comfortable and dance with her, singing along to the lyrics of the song playing.
“This is amazing!” she shrieks.
I nod in agreement, my body flushed from the beers I’ve downed.
“Where’s Ansel?” I voice, looking around for him. It’s been about thirty minutes, maybe longer, since he left us.
“Who cares?” she shouts back. “Have some fun, girl!”
With the alcohol burning through my veins I listen to her words, losing myself in the music and vibes from everyone around me.
Tossing my arms above my head, I let out a whoop swaying my hips.
“Yes, girl! Get it.” Sasha moves her body far more gracefully than mine.