Summertime Vibes

(12) DURBAN NIGHTS

There's always a certain vibe that goes with nights like this. Peru by Fireboy DML and Ed Sheeran is playing in the speakers at a high volume. Teenagers already flooded Ghyslain's living room, holding cups in their hands while enjoying the moment. Some were smoking from tubes they call hubbly in the corner where Jackie and gang were at. Among the people who were outside, Alex was leaning against the fence with his lover, Jilian.

I look to my side where Melissa and her friends stands. She looks really happy. I didn't want to spoil the night for her by being the only one in the group who wasn't talking. Reason being I wasn't relating to anything they were talking about and likewise I was the odd one out. So I had to find a way to sneak out of that circle and eventually I ended up being by myself.

I take the last sip of the drink Melissa introduced my tongue to then place the cup on the table. I stand next to a table that had a veriety of alcohol beverages that was bought from the tavern down the road. I've never tried any of them except for the pink box on the other side of the table that's daring me to drink more.

Tyron comes out of nowhere holding an empty bottle of Savanna. He's had way too much to drink. I can tell by the way he's swaying as he walks towards me. "Damn Tyron." I say, looking into his red eyes which give off an aloof facial expression. "You look like shit."

Moments later I manage to drag him into one of the rooms in the second storey of Ghyslain's house. This is after taking him to the toilet to throw up some of the toxic liquids mixed with food matter from the dinner we had this evening. The lights were off. None of us really bothers about the dark surroundings in this room. I close the door, blocking some of the noises that is uttered over the song Calm Down by Rema and Selena Gomez that's currently playing.

He throws himself on the bed and stretches his arms out. I pass him a bottle of water before taking off my sneakers to sit comfortably on the edge of the bed. "How do you even allow yourself to get so wasted?" I ask.

"It's her. She makes it so hard for me to stop thinking about her." He complains. "Like, I only came to this party just so I can forget about this chick."

"Who? Chantel?"

"Yha." He takes out his phone from his pocket to show me the messages that Chantel has been sending him. I scroll through these messages. She started off with a 'Hey bbe' followed by a 'cn we talk' then came an entire paregraph about how guilty she feels about leaving him on that bridge a few weeks ago and that she wasn't thinking straight because of some family drama that's going on in her life right now. Also she wants Tyron and her to be a couple again. Her last text reads 'I luv u 2'.

My cellphone vibrates which makes me switch my attention onto it. Melissa's text message on the notification bar reads 'Where are you?' I look back at Tyron who's rubbing his hands against his face. "Yeah, but you don't need weed and beer to help you forget about her." I say. "I don't think it works like that."

He looks up at me and says. "Sometimes it does." He takes off his sneakers and comes to sit next to me. I lose focus of what I'm going to say next as I look into his adorable brown eyes. Theres a serious mood that arises between us. "Djimmy, I have something to tell you." He blurts. "And I feel like now's the perfect time to tell you cause we're alone."

"What?"

"I like someone."

My cellphone vibrates again twice. I ignore the urgent to respond to it and look back at Tyron.

"Tyron, I know I'm not the one to talk but I don't think it's the right time for you to jump into another relationship right now." I advise. "What if this person hearts you."

"I know this person won't hurt me." He says. "Its just, other people won't like what I have with this person."

"Nahh I don't think that's true. If you know she won't hurt you then..."

"It's you Djimmy, it's you." He blurts.

I feel my heart just skipped a beat. I should be perking up to a euphoric level by now. Yes, I've always wanted Tyron to be my lover but not like this. Not when his breath has a stinking smell of liquor. The smell that's making it hard for me to ignore the truth, that he might not remember this conversation after he wakes up tomorrow morning and even after his hangover.

"Tyron, that's just the weed talking." I say.

"No, but I'm serious. I..." The burst of shoutings that we heard from outside the room makes him stop talking.

I immediately put my sneakers back on and race for the door. The shoutings come from the living room downstairs. We stop by the stairs and witness a verbal fight between two girls who are surrounded by a crowd of people.

How is this even happening?

"Don't mess with me laaitie, I'm warning you!" I familiarise the girl who is rebuking from the pictures that Melissa showed me of Chantel.

"I'm not sca- I'm not scared of you." Melissa rebuked back, she is being held back by Jackie. "You second hand whore."

The crowd goes wild. Alex and Kapinga stand in front of Melissa, blocking the girls from getting into a brutal fight. Tyron grabs my hand and we make our way out of the house through the back door. We join the others who are walking down the road. I had my eyes on our hands the whole time until Tyron let go when we came closer to the gang. I watch him walk towards Jackie and Kapinga and he didn't even look back at me.

No, not even a side eye.