Fire Red Lipstick-Yenissa

6

Hair and makeup goes by rather quickly. I curl my 4 feet of golden blonde hair and let it cascade down my small back. Melissa applies eyeliner to my face (I'm terrible at it) and comes out of the bathroom in a rose gold slip dress and black flats. She looks. . . . wow.

A car horn honks outside and at the same time, my phone chimes. Jaxon is here. Melissa grabs my hand excitedly and drags me down the stairs. Luckily my aunt and uncle are at a casino spending all of our money and getting drunk, so our loud footsteps and laughs don't cause me any beatings or lectures!

         A shiny Tesla Cybertruck awaits us out front. Through the tinted windows, Jaxon has one hand on the steering wheel, the other adjusting this sunglasses. Leo is in the backseat, head down.

        Melissa's smile fades and she stops in her tracks. She whispers in my ear, "Why is Leo here?"

         "I-I-I thought I'd surprise you. You still l-l-l-l-like him, don't you?"

         "Er- yeah. . . ." she says, but her voice is slightly unsteady.

I climb into the passenger side and Jaxon kisses me passionately. He slips his tongue past my lips as he grasps my thigh. I moan into his mouth.

"Uh- guys?" Melissa and Leo are both staring at us.

        We both jump. Well, shit. That was embarrassing.

I clear my throat, smoothing out my outfit. Jaxon turns up the volume on the radio. "Clocks" by Coldplay fills the car. I hum along, but soon there are tears in my eyes. You see, this was the song playing on the radio when my parents died in the car crash. It brings back a lot of bad memories. Fortunately, no one sees my tears.

        We arrive at Gavin's house and, holy crap, it's big! There must be at least ten bedrooms in there! A stone fountain lies in the middle of the freshly mown grass, colorful lights shining up from the bottom. A senior, Keegan Dolkins, is sitting inside, soaking wet from head to toe. He has a can of beer in one hand and a speaker is on the ledge playing "Truck Yeah" by Tim McGraw. I have to ask Jaxon what the song is called because I don't listen to popular music; I mainly listen to really underground artists like Tame Impala and Lana Del Ray. I'm pretty sure no one I know has ever heard of any of them.

        Jaxon and I head up the steps to the double mahogany doors which are slightly ajar. Left unlocked for guests to easily come in. A terrible idea really — it's practically an invitation for burglars or Tray Venth-Mitchell. Jaxon has an arm around my waist. I turn over my shoulder to look back and Leo has his arm around Melissa's waist. Oh, how original. Melissa's tensed up and she's clutching her purse like it's a lifeline. She's unhappy. . . . but why? She has her crush's arm around her waist and she's going into a party with her friends! Why would she not be happy?