Now I truly understand what it feels like to be the other woman.
Chapter 2
“Love is not blind; it simply enables one to see things others fail to see.”~ Author Unknown ~
There’s always a party the Saturday before the first day of school. A final celebration of summer coming to an end. It’s not a celebration for me. I’ll miss summer. My time with Henry.
Henry Garner. The most beautiful boy I’ve ever seen and the only boy I’ve ever loved.
Will we still see each other? And if we do how much will the relationship we have now change? I don’t know for sure and the thought of his absence scares me.
The party is held in an abandoned farmhouse on the outskirts of town. Miles away from the road, tucked between a rotting barn and field full of over-grown grass. I’ve been to parties here before. The family that used to live here abandoned it a few years ago. Sometime later it became the hot spot for reckless and wild behavior.
I go alone. My best friend Rosa texts me as I park my car in the abandoned field.
I’m running late. Meet U in an hr.
Music blasts, filling the field. The bass from some crappy rap song bumps so loud that as I walk up the gravel driveway I can hear the house rattling.
The sun is setting and the sky above me is a mixture of hues. Blue, orange, pink, and yellow all swirled together to make a lovely shade of violet. My feet scuff against the gravel, kicking up rocks as I take each step forward and the party-goers come into view.
Kids from my grade and some from the grades below me crowd around the porch smoking cigarettes and holding red cups. Farah Cuppler, a junior, with long curly red hair, stumbles to the edge of the porch, gripping one of the crumbling wooden columns and starts puking. Puking already? I wonder when this party started. Or if it’s already over. Or if maybe Farah got way too wasted way too fast.
There’s a crunching noise coming from spots in the dead, swaying grass, followed by whispering and huffing. Hook ups. I assume most of the rooms in the house are occupied, but I can see the appeal in being outside to do what they’re doing. A rush of adrenaline only enhances your senses and your buzz.
I scale the rickety wooden steps and spot Henry in the darkness. He’s on the edge of the porch talking with a group of his friends. We exchange an affectionate glance. My heart pounds. My pulse races. I’m hot for him—lusting for him—and it all it took to get me there was a seductive glance and a demure smile.
His eyes wash over me, taking in my appearance from head to toe. He looks hungry. And ravaged. I don’t know why. I’m not dressed particularly sexy or anything. In fact, I think I look like someone who works in a library.
A slight chill was in the air when I left the house so I opted for a pair of jean shorts and long sleeved baseball tee. My hair is pulled back in a ponytail and I’m wearing my night-time glasses.
I look away from him and open the front door. I step forward when Callie Banfield stumbles out the door, missing the small drop from the interior of the house to the porch. She falls into my shoulder and spills beer all over herself. “Watch where you’re going, it!” she yells. “This is a BCBG shirt!”
Laughter is stuck in my throat and a weird grunt comes out instead. I walk around her as she continues whining. “Whatever.” Then I walk inside.
The music cuts out for a second then picks back up with a slow song. There are so many people I feel like an ant amidst larger ones in a colony. I push my way through the people and they don’t seem to notice. Everyone is wasted.
Some guy I don’t know grabs my arm. He smiles and one of his front teeth is slightly crooked. “Where are you going?”
Observing him, I peel his fingers off my arm. First of all, his beer breath is putrid and I almost plug my nose in disgust. Second he looks way older than seventeen or eighteen. Probably in his mid-twenties. And it bothers me that he’s a party with a bunch of high school kids.
After I slip back into the crowd I yell, “Who knows?” If I tell him where I’m really going he might follow me and that’s the last thing I want.
Three junior girls swish past me talking and taking sips from their red cups. Where are the people getting the cups of beer from? I scan the empty kitchen. A dull flickering lamp is plugged in in the corner and it gives the room an eerie vibe. The shadows of party-goers flash along the brown mildew-stained walls. A door opens to my left and a guy walks out. As soon as he passes I see that his cup is full.
Jackpot.
Being sneaky, I slip into the utility room. A frayed string hangs above me. I tug on it. Damn it. The light doesn’t work. It’s so dark I can’t see a thing. As my eyes adjust to the darkness, metal gleams from the edge of the room. A keg. I brush against the old, slightly rusted washer and dryer, and pick up a red cup from the stack resting on the top of the cold aluminum container.
Taking a swig, I walk out of the utility room and my attention shifts to a sliding glass door. Whenever I came to parties here in the past this is what I’d usually do. Sit on the patio and watch the stars.
I close the door behind me and my phone vibrates in my pocket. I hold my cup with my teeth and whip my phone out. A text from Rosa.
I’m here! Where R U?
I text her back.
Do U evn have 2 ask?