The Dare

Chapter 34

"We better get going, we're late" i say getting my jacket on and opening the door.
"Boo hoo, let them wait." Ellie says walking past me as I held the door for her. Emma laughs with us and follow Ellie. We laugh and link our arms, walking outside to wait for our taxi.
I'm so cold in this car. It's snowing outside, Ellie, Emma and I are in mini dresses.
I look out the window as the car came to a stop. We're in the middle of traffic. Great.

30 minutes go by.
We barley moved. Bryce's house is forty five minutes away. I sigh and lean back in my seat, getting used to the cold by now.

Another 10 minutes go by.
We're finally moving. We're out of hell, and we're going to that party. I pull out my phone to call Noah to tell him about the delay. I press my phone to my ear, I waited as it rang and rang, eventually going to voicemail. He's not picking up. I try texting

-pick up phone.

I try ring him again, and he picks up.
"Noah's phone." Noise blared, drunken and raucous, in the background.
A combination between relief and irritation twisted in me.
"Is Noah there?"
"Who's calling?"
I paused "Who's answering?"
The guy inhaled, and his answer came out tight, like he had just taken a giant hit off something. "Bryce"
"Bryce. It's y/n"
He let out a controlled breath "Noah's
y/n?"
Someone in the background let out a sharp "Dude"
"Yes" I say after hesitating.
"Oh shit" The line went quiet, muffled as if someone was holding a hand there. When he came back, he said simply "Noah's not here"
"Did he go home without his phone?" I asked.
"Nah."
Confused, I said "So how is he not there if you know he didn't go home."
"Y/n" A slow drunken laugh, and then "I am way too high to follow that"
"Okay" I said calmly. I turn to Ellie and Emma who is confused, not knowing what's going on.
"Bryce" I hear someone protested in the background.
"What I-
And then he hung up.

We get to Bryce's house, his house was new looking. I could hear his loud house blasting music as soon as we turned onto his street. With cars jammed the long driveway, the taxi came to as stop at the bottom of the hill. We slide out and trudge up the steep hill.
It seemed silly to even bother knocking. The door was already ajar, noise pouring out, so i just pushed inside. There were cans, bottles and stubbed out joints on nearly every flat surface. In the living room couch, two guys were passed out, a third guy sat with a controller in his hand playing video games.
"Have you seen Noah?" I asked yelling above the hammering music.
The guy looked up, glanced over to the kitchen then shrugged.
Ellie says "I'm gonna get a drink"
"I'll come with you" Emma says.
"You'll be okay?" Emma asks turning back to me.
I nod as they both walk away.
I headed to the kitchen.
The room was huge. Blender drinks had been attempted and abandoned. A pyramid of beer cans sat on a sturdy marble island, surrounded by snacks, trails of m&ms and smears of salsa.
"He's upstairs" someone said behind me. I turned, and it was Bryce. His eyes were bloodshot and dilated nearly to black. At his side, another guys stared wide- eyes at me, looking like he was going to be sick. It was Jason.  Noah's two best friends.
"Upstairs?" I repeated. Bryce lifted his chin in a nod, rolling a toothpick form one side of his moth to the other.

"He's really wasted" Jason says, following me when I turned to head out of the kitchen and upstairs. His voice grew increasingly desperate as my foots hit the first step.
"Y/n, I wouldn't. I think he's been sick."
"Then I'll take him home."
"We'll bring him home." Jason wrapped a gentle hand around my elbow.
"Let him sleep it off." 

My pulse beat in my throat, in my temples. I wasn't sure what I would find... but no, that isn't quite right. I think I knew. I understood Bryce's laconic smirk and Jason's buzzing anxiety. Looking back, it's hard to know whether I was prescient to head up there, or whether it was just so obvious.

"I would just head home y/n" Jason pleaded.
"When he wakes up, I'll have him call you."
His voice continues as a hum in the background, following me all the way up the stairs. I turn to the only closed door, at the very end of the hall. I pushed inside and stopped.
Noah's in a bed. He's lying on his back with his right arm hanging over the edge. Jason was right. He's passed out.
But so is a blonde girl, lying on his torso.
I took a step back, right onto Jason's chest.
"Oh my god." I whispered.
"Y/n, it really isn't what you think" Jason said, cupping his hands on my shoulders.
"Please trust me."
"It looks like he just slept with her" I said numbly, shrugging him off. As much as this horrified me, I couldn't look away. Emma's mouth was open on his chest as she snores.
Jason shifted anxiously "Its her, y/n. Noah wouldn't-
"Oh shit" Bryce said coming up beside me. "Not a good look, y/n"
I made some gasping, choking sound that he seemed to interpret as a question.
"And they have a history. Just... let it go." Bryce said, and then held in a rumbling belch and punched his chest with his fist. "It's not really a thing. They just mess around sometimes."
I turned, bursting past them down the hall, my feet fumbling down the stairs, through the kitchen, where I spot Ellie and Emma.
"There you are" Emma says holding up two drinks.  She notices my tears.
"What's wrong" she says putting down the two cups behind her and turning back to me, holding my hands. Ellie comes bedside me and puts he hand on my shoulder.
"Noah" I said quietly. She wouldn't be able to hear me but I could see her reading my lips. Her face drops.
"I want to go home"
Emma nods and holds my hand, and the three of us walk out the front door.