ONLY YOURS

THE PARTY

It's half past midnight when I receive the text telling me to come out. Lora's Bright red Toyota is parked out front with light's off. Both at my parents discretion and my neighbours. We didn't want to get caught doing what we were doing. It was the summer before we started our real lives. Me, attending Camden University while Lora was planning on spending the year traveling abroad. We wanted to do something crazy, spend the entire summer doing crazy shit that when we were old and shrivelled, we'd pop our xanax and laugh about while the nurses spoon fed us our prunes.

A couple years ago, I invested in a portable ladder I got through on amazon. It was discreet, easy to stuff under my bed and perfect for nights that I felt couldn't be wasted at home. Occasionally, James would walk from across the street and use it. When we were friends, I didn't mind his spontaneous arrivals, though now that we've changed our dynamic I feel less inclined to have him over. Even this, going out with Lora. I usually would have invited him but I felt the need to have a night without him watching over my shoulder. Clearly Lora agreed, since she kept her music low and waited until we left the neighbourhood before we even spoke.

"I have to confess," she starts and my heart sinks to my chest, " I have an ulterior motive for this outing."

I raise an eyebrow, "What is it?" I strain. I hated when she did this. It either became one of the most memorable nights of our lives or one of the worst.

She bit her lip mischievously, "I heard from Hanna McNeil who's best friends with Lily Cormac's younger sister whose boyfriend's throwing a party and invited the Hellbounds. It's super lowkey. Apparently, the guys don't want anyone to know they're back in town yet."

"If it's super lowkey, how did it get all the way to us?"

"Girl, if there's one thing people do is talk. And everyone knows to run any information they hear about my man to me first."

Lora calls herself a Dean girl as if they didn't share a physics class together last year. He was held back and asked her for her notes a few times. At the time she couldn't care less, now, she's completely swoon.

The HellBounds consisted of three Brentwood High Alumni, Mathew Bryant, Dean McGill and Kyle Jameson. They were only a year older than us so I didn't really care about their band until they received a nomination for a VMA in the fall. Ever since then, it's become cool to be a fan of theirs. It wasn't niche, something that made you different. They were just like any other soft alt band reminiscent of Paramore but without the budget.

I don't fangirl about them in public or even acknowledge their music in general. I'm not being pretentious, the problem is Matt is James's older brother. One I don't particularly like. He's an ass and after what happened last year... Seeing him while avoiding James might be a bad idea.

"What if he tells James."

"He won't. Aren't you the one who said they don't talk anymore ever since Matt kicked him out of the band. I doubt that candle's gonna light again just because he saw you at a party."

"You don't know him. He might try to use it as blackmail."

"Jasmine, stop overreacting, He's not an evil mastermind,"

"Has his fame mushed that brain of yours? This is Matt Bryant we're talking about. The single most pettiest man I've met in my time on this earth. He slept with all of Jenna's friends after she dumped him. Then slept with her sister, months later, just to prove a point."