Sleep Magazine (Completed)

The Energy: 1

As they walked through the side door into the kitchen, heads and chests still abuzz with the lingering effects of their car ride, AJ stopped abruptly over the threshold, keeping his posture solid as Celia collided into his back. 

She shifted her weight up onto her toes and peered over his shoulder, taking in the the view of the dimly lit kitchen, noticing that everyone appeared at least five years older and three times as drunk as she and AJ. Loud music bellowed into the room as people mingled with one another with drinks in hand. 

Besides the alternative nature of the peoples' clothing, the short and forward cadence of their conversations seemed equally as foreign to the teenagers in the doorway, their stomachs jarring with each unfamiliar word and phrase. 

One woman, in the foreground of Celia's gaze, swayed slightly as the man she was talking to grabbed her elbow to stabilize her balance. Celia eyed the petite woman's feet as she adjusted her stance in tall platform boots, visibly inebriated but not quite sloppy. The woman giggled in a slightly deeper, more controlled tone than in which Katie had performed her incessant giggling earlier at Stephen's house, and Celia instantly committed the sound to memory so that she could copy it in the future. 

The young man's eyes, like Celia's, gazed down to the woman's small, booted feet as they shuffled endearingly on the narrow, maple floor boards and then darted back up to her mouth to witness its pretty shape as a beautiful little laugh escaped from behind her bright white teeth.

In those seconds of observation, Celia inhaled deeply and allowed herself to lean into AJ's back as she exhaled, only slightly comforted by the stability of his spine. Feeling the hesitation radiate through Celia's chest, AJ reached back to squeeze her hand before he began to tug her along behind him.

They trailed through the tightly packed crowd of mid-twenty-somethings gathered around the formica kitchen countertops and leant up against the built-in cabinets and low-end appliances. AJ brushed past the groups of people nonchalantly, his sights fixed on the hall at the end of the room, as he kept a strong grasp on Celia's hand. 

People who noticed the handsome boy maneuvering through the crowd turned their heads just in time to catch a glimpse of Celia squeezing past them, her shoulders pulled up tightly and angled sideways to make herself smaller as she kept pace with AJ's pull on her outstretched arm. 

Celia kept her gaze down toward the floor to watch her step and noticed that in the dim, yellow lighting of the party her long, wavy hair looked especially red. She glanced up through the fringe framing her face and locked eyes with a group of young women sitting atop the kitchen counter; they sipped hastily from their wine glasses as Celia instantly realized they had just been talking about her, most likely due to her obviously younger age. 

Detecting a tinge of jealousy in their stares, Celia smiled widely at them as AJ pulled her swiftly into the living room.

This room was much more spacious, lined with mismatched leather couches surrounding a large, empty floor space with a pair of cylindrical speakers set in one corner, allowing Celia to step a bit quicker and place herself beside AJ. She loosened her grip on his hand though he kept his fingers set firm over her knuckles, signaling for her reciprocation. 

As they walked by the speakers, Celia heard the tone of AJ's voice but could not register his words over the loud music and bass. She turned her head up to look at him but only caught his smile at the end of his sentence. In a second's time she considered asking him to repeat himself, but decided against it. She smiled back at him and quickly looked away. 

Together, they took a few steps into the hallway before AJ stopped again and pulled his buzzing phone out of his pocket. Celia leaned into his arm so she could peer at the screen, her stomach turning slowly, half expecting to see Anna's name. Just as AJ hit the side button, she caught a glimpse of the word "Dad" before the screen went black. AJ quickly shoved the phone back into his front pocket.