come back...be here

Happy, Free, Confused, and Lonely

Ella

THE GROUP OF FRIENDS piled into Toby's Jeep Wrangler shortly after the ceremony had ended. Of course all of them had gone to their families and friends to recieve statements of congratulions, but then they quickly went to the parking lot to try and beat the post-ceremony traffic.

They were heading to Greg's house to set up for the HUGE graduation party he was throwing, graduates only of course.

Greg's parents were away for the weekend on a trip with a family friend, and they never really seemed to care what Greg did when they were gone. It was the perfect spot for a party.

It was 9:00pm by the time they arrived at Greg's house. They had to stop at the store to get snacks, then went to the local gas station (which Greg knew wouldn't card) and stocked up on as many drinks as they could afford.

The four of them lugged the grocery bags and boxes of drinks into the house, desperately trying to make only one trip.

When they got inside, Lainey and Ella ran upstairs to the guest room with their overnight bags. They were still in their graduation gowns and needed to change before the party. The boys just took off their gowns and threw them in Greg's room, their outfits they wore underneath already suited the party.

Once in the guest room, Ella pulled a gorgeous, pink, sparkly dress out of her overnight bag. She threw it on quickly, she was so excited to see it on.

It was bodycon and hugged her in all the right places... it was perfect.

"Ella wow I love that dress!" Lainey exlaimed, "I've never seen you wear it before...is it new?"

"It actually just came in yesterday," Ella responded,"I haven't even put it on until right now...thank god it fits!"

Lainey pulled her dress out afterwards, it was her go-to dress for every party, but it was perfect. It was a tan fit and flare dress, that had embroidered little flowers all over it. Lainey looked beautiful in it, as always.

Ella checked the time, it was 9:30pm. The party was planned to start around 11:00pm, but Ella knew some would be bound to arrive early.

"Let's head downstairs and help out the boys," Ella said to Lainey.

I'm sure they could use it," Lainey replied with a smile.

The girls giggled and headed out of the guest room and down the stairs.

The boys actually had done a pretty good job at setting up, at least better than the girls had imagined they would.

The two girls came down the stairs to Greg on top of a ladder in the middle of the living room, and Toby standing under it, keeping it stable.

"WHAT are you doing?!" Ella yelled, shocked to see a ladder in the living room.

"We're putting up a disco ball...duh," Toby stated glancing up at Ella, he seemed to have done a double take, but Ella took nothing of it.

Ella and Lainey looked up at the same time to see a beautiful disco ball hanging from the ceiling. Neither of them knew where it came from, but they didn't bother to ask.

Greg came down from the ladder and walked over to the two girls.

"Lainey, babe," Greg said, "that dress never ceases to amaze me."

Lainey giggled as Greg pulled her in. She planted a kiss on his lips and then pulled away.

"Gross," Toby said as he walked past. Ella laughed at his remark.

- - - - -

Just as Ella had thought, the guests slowly started to trickle in around 10:40pm, twenty minutes before the party actually started.

The party itself looked amazing, flashing, colored lights were placed around the house. The ones that hit the disco ball Greg had hung turned the room into a light show.

The counter was packed with liquor, along with two coolers at each end, containing Trulys and Mike's Lemonaid. Red solo cups towered over the counter, ready to be used.

Music blarred over the speaker system Greg had in his house, filling every room with song. The four of them had made the playlist for tonight together, knowing all their tastes in music combined would please everyone at the party.

Ella greeted people as they came in the door, giving hugs and having conversations of the excitement over high school finally being over.

As people slowly stopped trickling in, Ella turned to head towards the party.

"Finally heading in?" Toby said, stopping Ella in her tracks. He was standing in the entryway to the kitchen, where Ella was headed.

"I thought you'd already be partying away Toby," Ella said with a smile. Deep down she was happy someone had waited for her, it made her feel like she mattered, despite how she hated having to relying on others for her happiness.

"Got you a drink El," Toby replied as Ella walked closer, it was a tropical berry Truly, Ella's favorite.

"How'd you know?" Ella asked, popping open the can.

"Pretty hard to forget when it's all you drink," Toby responded, laughing. "C'mon let's party, we deserve it!"

"Let's," Ella responded with a smile as she followed behind Toby into the kitchen.

The kitchen and living room were connected, which was an ideal situation for a party. The drinks were never too far away.

Toby and Ella pushed through the now crowded living room until they finally found Greg and Lainey, who were dancing together.

"There you are!" Lainey said, bringing Ella in for a big hug. She had obviously already had at least one drink, Lainey was a bit of a light-weight when it came to drinking.

Greg on the other hand was not a light-weight...at all. He laughed watching Lainey act silly, knowing that stage wouldn't hit him for at least two more drinks. He kept looking off to a corner of the room, like he was looking for something, or someone. Ella disregarded it.

"SPIN THE BOTTLE!" A voice yelled from across the room, Ella looked over and saw it was Shane Morrison, the football quarterback.

A decent amount of people shuffled out of the living room and into the kitchen, trying to avoid the game that was about to begin. Ella and her friends stayed though, it wasn't like they had never played before, so they all sat down in a circle.

Now this was sure to be fun...

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