Labyrinth of Life

Chapter 2

Mina, Rosi, and I are standing at the front of a giant mansion-like house, where we hear the party emerge from behind the white doors in front of us. I didn't think parties like this existed in real life. I thought house parties like these were only reserved to be experienced through movies. When we arrive, it's almost eleven in the night, so it's completely dark outside. Because we barely know anyone and don't even know the host of the party, it's best if we show up once the crowd has reached its peak.

The sky is barely lit with stars, which I'm not surprised about. The city lights make it very difficult to view the stars, but at least there's almost a full moon tonight. It gives us a decent amount of light from the sky.

Instead of leaving for the party straight away, we spent some time at Rosi's condo, just so we wouldn't be one of the first people to arrive. Since Rosi lives by herself, to our benefit, we don't have any parental supervision whenever we go over to her place, unlike mine or Mina's home. Since I'm the one who drove tonight, the two ladies had already begun their drinking for the night at Rosi's place. Rosi's a bartender, so she is always able to make tasty alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks for us.

Rosi frees her light brown hair out of her high ponytail, which extends down her entire back and frames her square-shaped face beautifully. She turns her hazel eyes to Mina in amusement to ask, "Mina, I swear Dylan only had like thirty people in his program. The party sounds like it's packed with people." Rosi is much taller than both me and Mina, who is the same height as me. She's three inches taller than us, which makes her 5 feet 7 inches. Rosi always blames her height on the fact that she's Portuguese, but frankly, I've always loved her height. With her height, she's able to pull off outfits that I couldn't even imagine wearing. Like tonight, she's wearing a medium-length, light blue, smocked dress that comes down right below her knees and has a slit to the right of it. If I were to wear a dress like that, it, most definitely, wouldn't be at the length that I would want it to be. "The guy who's hosting it was from a different class, but the same program. I think he's friends with one of Dylan's classmates, but he told Dylan, and the rest of their class, to invite whoever they want. I guess people didn't hold back," Mina, who is a slim Korean woman, slurred with a small chuckle. From the amount of alcohol that she consumed while the both of us were at Rosi's place, and from what she drank before the two of was walked over to the front door, it's clear that Mina is a little bit more than tipsy. And to be honest, I kind of wish that I was on her level of intoxication right now. It sure would make this party a hell of a lot more fun. Rosi, on the other hand, although not as intoxicated as Mina, is still slightly tipsy.

Tonight, Mina is wearing long brown checkered pants that flare out a bit at the ankles. With it, she has on a white, mid-sleeved, turtle-neck crop top. Her glassy medium-brown eyes look between Rosi and me, as she asks, "Alright, are you ladies ready to head in?"

"Here we go," Rosi said before the two of them walked through the two white front doors. Just as I'm about to follow my two best friends, the buzzing of my phone draws my attention. I take out my phone to see that the caller ID reads, Amma. It's barely even midnight and her phone calls have already begun. I know she's calling to ask many overbearing questions and inquire as to why I'm not home yet.

I contemplate answering her phone call but decide against it. I don't want to risk the possibility of having her hear the background noise of the party. So, instead, I let it go straight to voicemail and wait for her text message, which routinely comes about thirty seconds after her phone call goes unanswered.

As if right on cue, I receive a text message from her that reads, Where are you and why are you not answering your phone? You should be home by now.

With an annoyed sigh, I reply to her saying, At dinner. Can't answer the phone, my battery is going to die. I already spoke with Appa, he said I could come home later. My go-to excuse whenever I want to dodge a phone call from my mom is to tell her that my battery is going to die. I mainly don't want to speak with her on the phone because I know she's going to somehow find a way to ruin my mood, and I don't want that to happen, especially if my night hasn't already begun yet.