When in La Jolla

The Party

Hibba's POV: Zoe walks out of the shop staring down at her phone with her eyebrows furrowed. "Why do you look like that?" I ask. She finally looks up, "Some guy named Baron invited us to a party in LA tonight," she says it more like it's a question though. Zaynab looks concerned, "The last time you guys partied out of town it didn't go so well.." But I get excited. I have not just wanted to go out but I feel the absolute need to do it. "Zaynab that was a long time ago, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity LETS DO IT!!" Yovanni and Zoe say they are both down, Zaynab is still on the fence but we'll either convince or force her to come with us. We go back to the hotel to get ready. I can already feel that this is going to be one hell of a night in the best way possible.

7:32 p.m. "Oh my god you guys Baron venmo'd me $150 for us to Uber there and back. Zaynab we HAVE TO go!" Zaynab puts a little grin on her face, "fineee you guys whatever as long as I don't have to take care of your drunk asses." We all jump and cheer, we are finally finishing up our makeup and picking out our outfits. I have to look amazing tonight, LA is a big deal, especially with all the hot guys there. After everything that went down with my ex, I am finally ready to move on and put myself out there again. I decide to wear my favorite pair of blue jeans with a brown tank top and a cream corduroy jacket and to finish it off with my white hijab, everyone approves so I am very happy with the fit. Yovanni has on yet another sparkly mesh top, Zaynab is wearing a floral dress, and Zoe is wearing a shirt with fucking dogs on it. Thank god Zoe is finally 21 because there is a gift shop in the hotel full of alcohol so she bought some bottles and we decided to pregame before our Uber got to us. It's about an hour away so we leave at 9 to go out. I am already starting to feel a little funny but I wait to drink more until we arrive so I don't get too wild before we even get there. Yovanni on the other hand... I'm glad Zaynab finally decided to let loose and drink as well, she deserves it.

The Uber driver was lit sauce and even let me aux. We went from Moment 4 Life to Captain Hook to Love in this Club and obviously some Rihanna. I truly have the best aux game of my time, hopefully, they play some good jams like this at the party. I ask Zoe if she thinks anyone famous will be there. She shrugs and tells me probably not and that the guy who invited her looks like a wannabe TikTok famous guy but reassures me that we will still have fun no matter what.

9:47 Our Uber jolts to a stop and says, "Gah damn this place is nice!" We are all confused so we glance up and it is one of the nicest places I have ever seen. The mansion is white with an orangish-brown Spanish-style roof. It looks as big as a football field, maybe even bigger. You can hear the faintest sound of music while we all stumble out of the car. The driveway was super long and slanted so we started to walk up as Zoe called Baron to tell him we are here. I take a swig out of my water bottle that I filled with vodka to prepare myself for what we are getting into. Once we get to the door, the guy whom I assume is Baron opens it and hugs Zoe, "glad you could make it! Introduce me to your friends here.." Zoe tells him our names and we walk on inside. It smells like a mix of weed, perfume, cologne, & alcohol but in the best way possible. They are playing Give Me Everything by Pitbull and I am here for it. The music is fairly loud but I can still hear Baron as he brings us further into the house telling us where everything is. There are probably around 100 people here, which seems like a lot, but this place is huge so they are all sprawled out. After Baron shows us the grounds we decide to go to the dance area and bust out our moves. Two songs pass by and Yovanni is on Grindr trying to find someone to pick him up because he says this place is 'white and weird' and not his scene. Zoe decided to go find Baron to take some more shots so it just ended up being Zaynab and me. We dance to a few more songs until Zaynab has to run into someone she knows. I swear to God this bitch knows everyone, I am out of the loop and starting to get a little sweaty so I tell her I'm going to go outside to breathe (because I have asthma).

As I am trying to remember where the doors to go outside are, I realize I have to go piss girl. I see stairs so I decided to walk up those and find a bathroom, most doors are locked but one isn't. When I open the door it's a bedroom but I see a bathroom inside, so I just go in there. I can tell it's a man's bathroom off the bat. It's fairly clean with a huge glass mirror, after I pee I will be taking a mirror selfie for sure. The bathroom almost feels like deja vu for some reason. I wash my hands, take my sexy pic for VSCO, and walk out. I notice a balcony going out of the room, so I walk out there to cool off. As the refreshing air hits my face I realize how drunk I am. I lean against the banister of the balcony and look down at all the heads, "THEY LOOK SO SMALL LIKE LITTLE ANTS!!" I realized I said that kind of loud and then I hear someone laugh behind me & I jump frantically. I had no idea someone was out here, how did I not see them. I am suddenly embarrassed, do I even turn around? The laugh starts to speak, "What're you doing on my balcony?" His voice is deep and smooth, I like it. I turn around and instantly can not breathe anymore, ironic that I came out here for something that I now cannot attain. "Oh my god, I am umm I am so sorry I will go." I am now flustered, this man is the most beautiful person I have ever seen in my life. He is wearing gray sweatpants and a tight black shirt to compliment his muscles. He has this light brown curly hair, mysterious brown eyes, the most perfect lips, AND HIS TATTOOS. He laughs yet again, oh why is he doing this to me? "It's fine really, this is the perfect hideaway, especially when my roommates throw these awful crazy parties." I decide to talk because if I run away it will be even more awkward. "Well, why don't you come downstairs and give it a chance? Have you left your room at all?" We make eye contact after I ask him, he's sitting on a metal chair in the corner with a cigarette in his hand. He waits for a second, I bet he's thinking of what to say, "there's nothing for me down there. I have everything I need right here." He takes another drag from his cigarette looking up at the stars. I know I have to say something. Fuck. I pretend to look around the balcony and ask the first thing that comes to mind. "Can I take a hit?" He holds out his cigarette to me and says sure. I take it out of his hand and take a drag out of it. After inhaling I start to cough the smoke out, I can hear him laughing again. "First time?" he asks. I didn't want him to think it was so I told him I have asthma. He laughs while saying, "Damn that sucks, my name is Vinnie by the way. What's yours?" We ended up talking on his balcony about his life and my own and how I'm about to start college in the fall.

I feel my phone buzzing in my back pocket, I pull it out and see it's Zaynab calling. It was 3:30 am, time flew by, I had no idea we had been talking for that long. I told Vinnie that I'll be a second. I answer Zaynab's call and immediately she sounded worried and asked where I went. She proceeded to tell me they ordered an uber back to the hotel. They thought I had gotten upset and left because they all went their separate ways at the party. I called her a dumbass and asked why she would leave without trying to get a hold of me first. I panicked and told her I would figure something out then hung up. Vinnie was looking at me with a concerned look. "Hibba, is everything okay?"