Society | A Evan Lennon Story

12 - Bella's Party

At lunch the next day, we're sitting around and eating and talking when Celeste suddenly says, "Don't forget about Bella's party Saturday." I look at her. Barrett does too.

"How could we? You won't let us forget." Barrett says. I laugh lightly.

"Ha ha.." She says in a mockery way. "I'm serious. You two promised you'd come." She adds.

"I know. We'll be there." Barrett says and he looks back down at his tray.

"Yeah. I would've been there anyways, now that things are different between Bella and I." I say.

"Oh, are you two dating?" Zamora asks, looking at me from the two and she shoves chips into her mouth. I open my mouth to speak, but Celeste speaks instead.

"Oh, no. They only hook up every now and then."

I look at her. "Uh, excuse me, she asked me. Thank you." I say with a soft laugh. I look at Zamora and she's staring at me with a confused look on her face. "Ignore her, while that's true, it's not like that anymore." I say. "We decided to stay as friends." She nods in understanding.

"Yeah, after they hooked up for the tenth time."

I look at Barrett and I grin. He's grinning proudly at me as I say, "Don't be influenced by Celeste." I look at Celeste. "She's a idiot." She scoffs and throws a chip at me. I laugh.

It's the weekend, the night of Bella's party. I'm sitting on my porch stairs as I wait for Kate, she always takes so long to get ready. I pull out my phone and text Bella.

Are you still up for this party? I thought you would cancel with your dad being back and all. 7:36pm.

I stare as she begins to type. It's takes a while, so I look up. I'm not so sure I'm up for this party anymore to be honest but I promised Celeste, and I want to be there for Bella because I know she's going through a lot right now. I look down when my screen lights up.

I was going to but decided not to last minute. I'll be fine, I have you. 7:38pm.

I smile.

Of course. 7:38pm.

I look back when I hear the door open. I stand and shove my phone in my pocket as I turn toward Kate. "Finally." I complain but I was only joking.

She lets out a breath of amusement and walks past me to start walking. "Shut up before I leave you to walk by yourself."

I grin as I follow beside her. "Wow." I drag out. "That's the last time I wait for you." I say. She turns and pushes harshly at my shoulder and I laugh. "Oh, now you've done it." I reach to grab her, but she squeals and starts to run away from me. I chase after her, which didn't take long to catch up to her and I wrap an arm around her and lift her and spun around.

"Oh my god, Evan, put me down before I throw up!"

I chuckle and I let her go. She glares at me but she's smiling and she turns away. We're walking again. I watch her, trying to decide if I should say what I want to say to her. I do. "Stay close by, okay?"

She looks back at me with a look of confusion. "Why?" She asks.

"Because Ben will be there and I don't want anything to happen to you." I say.

She laughs and looks away. "I'll be fine, Evan. I'll be around friends."

"Guy friends?"

"Some. Yeah."

"Okay, good."

We walk through the front door of Bella's home. There's flashing lights, blaring music, conversations over conversations and a lot of drinking. "See you later, loser." Kate says before she walks away. I look at the crowd of people surrounding the corridor from her and I begin to make my way through them. There are a few people greeting me, shouting my name, but I continue walking through with occasional friendly hey's and how's it going's but ultimately, I reach the kitchen where there wasn't many people. I see Bella and I grin. "Hey." I say. She grins at me and I pull her into a comforting hug. "You doing alright?" I ask softly.

"I'm okay." She says. I pull back from our hug and look down at her. "I'm ready to get wasted tonight."

I laugh. "I'm there with you." I look back at the crowded room then back at her and I say, "I'm gonna go find the others, you gonna be okay?"

She laughs softly and pushes me back. "Yes. Go. I'll be here."

I laugh. "Alright." I turn and walk back through the crowd of people but this time, I look for my friends. I stop when I get a glimpse of Celeste and I walk in the direction. I end up in the garden where she stops to talk to Zamora and Barrett. I walk over to them and smile. "Hey, guys." They look at me.

"Hey. We were just wondering where you were." Celeste says.

"Sorry. I was talking to Bella." I say.

Celeste grins. "Oh, and, uh, how is Bella doing?" She asks, her voice full of amusement.

I roll my eyes as I grin. "Piss off." I say. They laugh.

I'm sitting on one of the couches in the living room with Barrett beside me. I'm watching as Celeste and Zamora drunkenly dance around to the music. I glance into the other room, where currently, there was a game of beer pong being played. I see Kate with her friends. She's doing good. Good. Then, I look for Bella for the same reason, to make sure she's okay, which she is. "God, it's hot."

I look at Barrett and laugh. "Then take your jumper off." I say. He groans lightly, obviously not comfortable with the idea, seeing as there's plenty of people around. But he takes it off. I see him look down at his wrists in a way that would indicate he's disgusted with himself. I frown.

"Ugh. I hate them." He says.

"I like them."

He looks at me. "Why?"

I smile reassuringly as I say, "Because they're sorta.. unique like you're unique. I think they're beautiful." He smiles. I place a hand over his arm and go on to say, "Don't worry so much about it. I know that's easier said than done but I would never judge you for them."

He smiles more and then, he looks down. "Thank you, Evan..."

I smile and nod. "You're welcome." I take my hand away and place it on my cup in my lap and I look back at the girls. I feel his eyes on me but I don't want to embarrass him by letting him know that I know he's staring at me, so I continue looking forward.

Later on in the night, there was some drinking games played that I participated in and I ended up getting pretty drunk. I wandered upstairs to Bella's bedroom to hopefully sleep some of it off because I know Kate would freak if she knew I got drunk. I plop down onto the bed, not bothering to shut the door and I shut my eyes. I hear the door shut a few minutes later. I assume it's Bella and say, "I'm just getting some rest before I-" I feel weight on me. I open my eyes and I see the girl I don't know the name of but seen around school lately. She's straddling me with a sort of flirtatious smile on her face. "Hey, can you get off me please?" I ask nicely because I think she's just as drunk as me. She doesn't move, which I assume is because my words are slurring and barely audible. She runs a hand down my chest and I stare up at her. "Hey, stop." I push her hands away from me and I try to stand, but she pushes me back down. Usually, I'm a lot more durable but because I'm like hella drunk I can barely stand on my own.

"Relax." She whispers, her lips inches from mine. And she reaches behind her. She leans back after a second and shows off a condom. "We're just having fun."

I realize by how she's talking, she's perfectly sober, maybe a bit tipsy, but the point is, she's fully aware of what she's doing. I push at her. "No. Stop." She scoots back to undo my belt. "No." I push at her hands, but she continues. I groan lightly as my vision blurs into a sort of haze. "Stop.." My words are quieter and it's getting harder to speak, it's harder to move. I shouldn't have drank so much. I shouldn't have came up here. I should've told somebody where I would be. I should've asked somebody to come up with me. I should've went to Kate and told her I wanted to go home. I should've done so many things differently and maybe, I wouldn't be in this situation. Maybe, I wouldn't have to live with this for the rest of my life.