When You Think About Love - Part One

4: Stoplight Party

 Despite the fact that Victor had been dreading seeing Mia again in Chemistry, everything ended up being fine. The first few minutes were a little awkward, and then Mia made a joke that was unexpectedly corny, so Victor told her she sounded like his dad, and from that point on it was just the same easy banter that Victor had enjoyed so much during the first part of their date. They worked well together on their project, both of them good students, and the fact that he felt confident in earning a good grade helped him relax and enjoy his time with Mia.

As they were getting ready to leave at the end of the period, Mia glanced over at him quickly and said, "Um, this is kinda stupid, but I guess I'm hosting a party on Saturday. It's, like, one of those stoplight parties. Lake's idea, not mine, but, um, if you're free you should come." She shrugged, overly casual. "If you want to."

He had no idea what a stoplight party was, but he couldn't believe that he might be getting his second chance with Mia after all. "Yeah, sure! That sounds really cool. I'll be there."

"Oh, that's great." Mia's hair was hanging loose around her face today, and she smiled as she pushed a few curls back behind her ear. "Well, I'll see you there then. Bye, Victor."

Victor couldn't bring himself to ask in front of all of his friends at lunch, so he waited until it was just him and Felix in the hallway on their way to English. "Hey, have you ever heard of a stoplight party?"

Felix stopped walking, grabbing Victor by the shoulder. "Wait, there's going to be a stoplight party? When? Where? This is exactly the kind of moment I've been waiting for!"

"Uh, yeah, there's gonna be one at Mia's house on Saturday. She invited me this morning and I said I'd go... but I have no idea what it is."

"Holy crap, Victor! Why didn't you say anything earlier? This is so exciting! It sounds like things didn't go that badly on your date with Mia after all. Which you still need to tell me about by the way. Don't think I'm letting you off the hook just 'cause you didn't feel like talking the other day."

Victor rolled his eyes. "Could you just tell me what it is already?"

"Okay, so it's a party where everybody dresses in colors signifying their relationship status. Like, green for single, yellow for interested, and red for taken." Felix grinned. "Which means, this is the perfect opportunity for us to show the special ladies in our lives that we're interested!"

"Ugh, you did not just say 'special ladies'. What are you, my Abuelo Tito?"

"Seriously, Victor, this could be my chance to finally get Lake to notice me and for you to show Mia how you feel." He gave Victor some serious puppy dog eyes. "You will take me to the party with you, right buddy? Please?"

"Yeah, of course you can come with me. Just please don't do anything super embarrassing in front of Mia."

"I make no promises."

Saturday arrived quicker than Victor was expecting, thanks to how busy he'd been all week. There was basketball practice after school almost everyday, followed by evenings at Brasstown, and then homework, and by the time he went to bed each night he was exhausted. It was hard to find time to think much about the party until it was Saturday morning and then he was hit with a sudden wave of anxiety. He had to try to fix things with Mia. He'd been given a second chance and now he had to make the most of it.

He had an opening shift at Brasstown, and since he was full of nervous energy that morning, he ended up arriving about ten minutes early. The doors were still locked, so he hung around out front until Benji arrived and let them both inside.