Our Escape in the Stars

The Party

Sitting in the car, I check how I look in the sun visor mirror one more time. I'm sitting in the passenger's seat with Zoe driving the car next to me. I wring my hands together and place them on my lap.

"Don't worry! It'll be fun," Zoe tells me, glancing at my bouncing leg.

I sigh, taking a deep breath to calm my nerves.

The whole day was chaos. Zoe came exactly as she said and we went shopping right away. I don't think I've ever visited that many shops or tried on that many clothes in one day before. It wasn't that bad though, I quite enjoyed the dressing up. Zoe and I had so much fun trying on crazy outfits that were purposefully insane-looking. We also tried on really fancy clothes that I was afraid to even touch because of how expensive they were. In the end, though, I found the perfect mini dress. It's made out of deep blue satin that is tight around the body but loosens at the top to show a modest amount of cleavage. It's shorter than I expected it to be but Zoe said it looked amazing and I felt amazing in it so I didn't care. With that, I'm wearing some black flats and a black small purse to make it look more casual. Zoe didn't buy anything; she said she already had the perfect dress planned. I look at her sitting behind the steering wheel; she's got a mini black dress with lace down the front and on the straps, making her look very elegant. After long hours in the city center, we went back to her house to get ready. In the end, we look ready to walk the red carpet.

As we near Jake's house, I check my purse for the fifth time in the past 20 minutes, double-checking if I have everything because there's a small creeping feeling in my head that I had forgotten something but I just can't figure out what it is.

We get out of the car, starting our way to the door, and I push the feeling aside telling myself that this is my night. I will enjoy the party as much as possible, not caring about anything else because I deserve to have some fun.

Zoe knocks on the door and a few seconds later, Jake himself throws open the door, the bright flashing lights and blaring music meeting us from behind him.

"Hey guys, welcome. Come i-" he stops once he finally looks at us. "Woah, well hello there. Come on in." His eyes full of awe and a sly smirk on his face as he moves away to let us inside.

I smile at his obvious attraction and walk past him. He follows us and asks if we want anything to drink.

"I'll have some Coca-Cola with rum, please," says Zoe, with a mischievous smile.

"Anything for you," replies Jake, checking her out. "And for you... uhh...?"

"Iliana," I fill in for him. "I'll just take a soda, thank you."

"Of course, I'll be right back." With that, he leaves for the side of the large living room to the drinks table.

"Only a soda?" Zoe looks at me questioningly.

"Yeah, I decided I wanna try to have pure fun, without any alcohol. And if it doesn't work, then I'll get drunk and never go to a party again," I say.

She laughs at my response but nods anyway.

"Here you go ladies," says Jake, returning with our drinks in hand. I can barely hear him because of the blasting music, but I take the soda from him. He and Zoe start talking so I go to give them their space, quickly asking her to hold my purse for me, and giving her a small smirk before turning away to the dance floor.

I take a drink of the soda and feel the bubbles go down my throat and into my chest. It gives me the confidence to go out on the dance floor. The music isn't as sensual as I had expected it to be, basic club music is blasting from speakers in every corner of the large room. In the middle, a large crowd of people is dancing and jumping together to the music. I push my way closer to the center and start moving to the music with everyone else.

Before I know it, my soda can is empty and I'm sweating from all the dancing. I feel the music vibrate through my body and I jump to the beat with a bunch of other bodies around me. It feels so exhilarating. Occasionally, I find a person next to me to dance and laugh with them. We scream the lyrics with everybody else and it feels liberating.

While jumping and dancing to a random upbeat techno song, I look around and think about how happy I am at this moment. I am genuinely happy, without any alcohol or anything. I think about how I almost said 'no' to Zoe about going to this party, but I took the opportunity and now I am here, having one of the best nights of my life. I know I would've never agreed to come here if Ethan didn't encourage me to try new things to make me happy. Ethan is the reason I am happy. Oh no, Ethan!

I completely forgot to tell him I was coming to this party tonight. I was so consumed with getting ready and preparing for this party that I had forgotten to text him that I wouldn't come to the hill tonight. I need to call him!

I run out of the crowd, all of a sudden panicking. I'm such a horrible person! I go find Zoe and take my purse from her, thanking her for holding it for me and giving her my empty soda can instead. I take out my phone and find his contact. I press the button to call him and wait. I run outside so that I can hear him better because I wouldn't be able to over the loud music inside. I wait anxiously with the phone to my ear as it rings. It rings for way too long. I wait. My nerves spiking. When all of a sudden the ringing stops and all I can hear is my heart pounding.

"Hello? Ethan?" I question into the phone.

"Hello?" comes the response. My heart drops. It's a lady's voice. "Who is this?"

"Uh... I'm a friend of Ethan's," I respond. "Who is this?"

"Hello, my name is Kiera. I am a nurse at the Ashwood Hospital." My heart stops. That's the local hospital. Why do they have Ethan's phone?

"Where's Ethan?" I ask frantically.

"I am so sorry but there had been an accident." No. "Your friend, Ethan, had been walking along Ashhill Road when an intoxicated driver hadn't seen him and hit him." No. " The medics were called but the driver wasn't there when our ambulance arrived." No. "He was taken to the hospital immediately, but he is in a pretty bad state and we aren't sure if he'll make it." No.