“Natalie!!!” I shouted through the flat. “What? I’m right here!”
“Do I look ok?” “Jess you look fine, everything is fine!” “I know, it’s just, some of these people are really posh and I don’t want to seem like a total idiot.” “It’s fine!” Natalie laughed, “Now stop staring in the mirror and help me finish setting things out.”
I followed her out of my room to our front lounge. We’d dragged the sofa up to the wall so that the floor was wide open, and there were all sorts of snacks and drinks laid out on the counter of the breakfast bar that looked into the room. “This is going to be the best holiday party any of these people have ever seen!” Natalie exclaimed as she plugged her ipod in and started the music. “I’m sure it won’t be,” I muttered, “But we’ll do our best.” Within an hour our flat was rammed full of people. Most of them were classmates of Natalie and I, but a few were friends from our respective jobs. Natalie and I were practically joint at the hip. We grew up together, our houses backing up to each other, and then moved down to London to attend uni and later do graduate degrees. We had the same interests, and even though we looked nothing alike, people joked we were practically twins. “Drink?” I asked someone from one of my management classes. “Thanks Jess,” they replied, taking a drink off a tray from me as I passed through the crowd. I offered over another drink, but then stopped dead in my tracks when I heard an almighty crash coming from the kitchen. Scowling I set the drink tray down on the coffee table and pushed my way into the kitchen to see what the commotion was. Four guys stood before me in button up shirts and jeans. This had me immediately annoyed, since the party was meant to be cocktail attire, no jeans allowed. “What do you think you’re doing?” I asked with my hand on my hip. “What are you doing?” one of the guys mimicked. “Shut it Kyle,” I said, “You weren’t invited.”
“Yeah, why not?” he asked. I looked at the other three guys to see they all had frowns on their faces. “This is meant to be a holiday party for my schoolmates, not you guys!” “Yeah well, we’re here now.” “But…” I stuttered, my eyes catching site of the mess that had prompted the loud crashing noise, “What the hell did you do?” “Ast dropped the Sambuca bottle,” Kyle shrugged, “It’s ok, we poured out the shots first. It was empty when it fell.” “But now there’s glass everywhere.”
“Relax,” Kyle grinned, “We’ll clean it up.” “Yeah, and then you’ll leave.”
“And waste these shots?” Aston pipped up, “I don’t think so. Where’s Nat, I poured her one too.”
“Natalie is mingling with our guests, as I should be doing!” I really wanted to scream this, but I had to keep it to a harsh whisper because I didn’t want to draw attention to the kitchen, “You guys need to go.”
“Shots first,” Aston said again, passing me a plastic cup with a fair portion of Sambuca in it. “I’m not doing this,” I muttered, setting it on the side. “God this is an awful party,” Aston said, holding his cups up for the boys to clink, “No one seems to be having any fun.” The other four boys clinked their cups against Aston’s, looking at me to join them, “I’m not doing it,” I said. “Suit yourself,” the Aston said, grabbing my glass and downing it along with his own, “More for me.” “You better be out of here when I come back or I’m going to kick all of your asses,” I claimed. “I’d like to see you try.” “Ughhh!!!” I stalked out to the main room, going to grab Natalie to help me with the situation. The boys were far too wild for this kind of party, and I really didn’t want my classmates to think I was some crazy party girl. Natalie and I were enrolled in a business management course and appearance meant everything. I could be the boss of one of these people in time. Or worse, they could be my boss. “What the hell babe?” she asked as I grabbed her arm. “There are four idiots in the kitchen!” I whispered. “Who?” “Your brother and his stupid friends! They’ve crashed!” “That’s what you get for not inviting them! Don’t be mean!” “I’ll be as mean as I want! They’ve eaten all the food!” I said, grabbing her arm and dragging her off to the kitchen. When we got there it was empty, no sign of the boys. “You’re sure you saw the boys?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. “YES!!!” “I don’t see them,” she said with a shrug, “Maybe you should lay off the champagne.”
“I haven’t even had any!!” “Ok, whatever,” she muttered, wandering back out to the main room again. I was so angry that these boys had essentially come, drank all my alcohol, eaten all my snacks, and then left like that. I stared around the kitchen, noticing that the glass from the Sambuca bottle was already cleaned up. “UGH!!!” I screeched. Those boys knew how to push all of my buttons. Kyle and Aston in particular.
