A Crimson Rainbow

Chapter 5

Ok, let me make one thing clear.  I absolutely HATE cleaning.  But, for some weird reason, when I start doing it, I find it difficult to stop.  As such, I need to make it more enjoyable, so, once Mum left for work, and I started stacking the dishwasher, I went into my Spotify and started playing my favourite songs on shuffle.  When the sounds of percussion started blasting through my speakers, followed by Axl Rose's "ow!" before he introduced himself as a man of wealth and taste, I started singing along, wiping the benches, mopping the floor, and going room to room, tidying up.  After some time, I was walking to empty the vacuum tub when I saw a shadow standing at the door.  I opened it, and there was Ellie.
I looked at her, puzzled, then glanced at my watch and realised it was almost 6pm.  I switched off my music, only for it to be replaced by me being berated. "Seriously Spence, I was here knocking on the door for at least 10 minutes, and I mean, for all I know, you had fallen and hit your head.  All I could hear was music, nothing more."
I looked at Ellie, shrugged my shoulders and turned to walk back into the house, leaving the door open for her to come in.  "I guess I just got a bit carried away.  You know what I'm like when I start cleaning."
Ellie looked around, obviously seeing what I had been doing.  "Yeah," she said slowly.  "I can see you've been busy for a few hours."
I turned back around and gave a huge, cheesy grin.  When Ellie rolled her eyes at me, I grabbed a hand-towel and flicked her with it.  "Don't look at me in that tone of voice," I giggled.  "Come on, let's get ready to party!"  As I began making my way upstairs, Ellie made a comment about my hair looking really good, followed by me telling her I got some weird random to do it.  Cue my ass being slapped, and then being called a smartass.
"Oh shit," I suddenly remembered.  "Speaking of asses looking smart, I better get the clothes out of the dryer.  Need to look good for Jared."  I threw a wink at Ellie as I rushed to the laundry, and I could practically hear her eyes rolling again.
After taking out the clothes and transferring the second load to the dryer, I started getting ready for the evening.  Ellie had brought some eyeliner to bring out my eyes - "those eyes belong in the ocean, not in a human" were some of the first words Ellie ever said to me - so she applied that to me before adding some final touches to her own makeup.
Once we were done, we both stood in front of the mirror, doing your usual Insta-poses to ensure we were ready for any pics to be taken that night.  I even did a few sideways poses, as I couldn't get over how hot my ass looked in these jeans - like, seriously, I'd do me.  Just as we both decided we were satisfied, our Uber arrived.
"Our chariot awaits, m'lady," I told Ellie, ushering her out of the bathroom, down the stairs, and out the door.
After spending so much time as a wallflower, it was time for Spencer Young to bloom.

As we pulled up at the address Jared had given us, I began wondering how the hell I had never seen this house before.  It was like something you would expect to see in the movies, not in suburban Melbourne.
We approached the front gate, which was at least 2 metres high, with iron spikes that reached skywards.  Each side of the gate were walls that were covered with ivy.  From here, we couldn't see the house, except through the gate, but once we walked through, we saw a home that seemed too big to fit onto the block of land, as if it was an optical illusion.
Every window had lights shining out of it, with flashing coloured lights all along the ground floor.  Music was thumping so loud that we could feel it through the ground.  Mixed in with the music, we could hear so many voices talking over each other, each trying to gain the attention of an unseen person.  All of a sudden, a loud squeal overrode all other noise.
"Oh my god, Ellie!  You made it!"
Candice Fisher ran over to us, drink in hand, and gave Ellie a hug, somehow managing to not spill a drop.  As she straightened up, Candice gave me the up-and-down.  "Not bad, Spence," she muttered.  "Not bad at all."  Grabbing Ellie's hand, Candice began to lead us inside.
I looked around and saw just what you would expect at an 18th birthday house party - people standing around drinking, couples making out in inappropriate areas (couch, kitchen bench, fireplace, anywhere you looked), people vomiting into the garden.
I'm not sure how, but this house looked bigger inside than it was outside.  On top of that, looking out into the backyard, I saw what felt like half the school population hanging out around an Olympic-size swimming pool, complete with a diving board at the end closest to the house.  No matter where I looked, everything I saw screamed "money".   This was so different to my world, I felt as if I was just above the poverty line in comparison.
Even though I knew most of the people here, none of them were people I would actually talk to, so I excused myself from Ellie and went to find Jared, so I could at least wish him a happy birthday.
After walking around for what felt like an hour, I finally found him to the western side of the house, sitting in the shadows.  Something looked so peaceful about him, in stark contrast to the drunken excitement elsewhere on the property.  I was contemplating whether I should just leave him alone, or go see if he was ok, when he realised I was standing there.
"Hey Spence," he said in an un-Jared-like soft voice.  I couldn't see much in the darkness, but there seemed to be sadness or melancholy in his voice.
"Hey," I replied, gesturing to the space next to him.  "Ok if I sit?"
Jared pat the ground, so I walked over and joined him.  Normally, he was full of energy, and I had almost never seen him without a glow of happiness in his eyes, so seeing him this way, away from the party, was the last thing I expected.
"Everything ok?" I asked after a few moments of silence passed.  Despite the thumping music creating an atmosphere behind us, it was like we were in another world, all to ourselves, entirely separate from everything surrounding us.
Jared took a deep breath - or was it a sigh? - and responded with an unconvincing "yeah".  Despite the darkness, he could see the skepticism on my face and gave a soft laugh.  "I just ... I dunno.  I thought this party would put me in a better mood, but it's doing the complete opposite."  He took a swig of his beer, then looked at the bottle as if it held the answers to the questions occupying his mind.  "I'm guessing you heard I ended things with Stef?"
"Yeah, we already spoke about it.  We even talked about the rumours.  Shit, you must be drunk if you forgot that," I said, hoping the slight humour in my voice would help lighten the mood.
Jared gave me a sideways look, then laughed.  "Which ones were your favourite?"
I laughed, thinking of the crazy theories that were going around.  "Oh, my personal favourite was the one where you were thinking of some guy when you were with her."  I laughed again, thinking of how ridiculous it was that Jared could be anything but straight.
Then I realised Jared wasn't laughing with me.  I looked at him, and saw he was facing me.  His jawline was perfectly highlighted in the moonlight, and his eyes held the reflection of the moon, itself being reflected in the windows behind us.  His eyes studied my face, as I studied his.  Before I knew it, he leaned in and kissed me.  It was a gentle kiss, as if it was his first time kissing someone, but there was so much tenderness behind it.
My hands took on a life of their own, as they came up and cradled his face, holding our lips together.  After a minute, I came to my senses, and backed off, looking down at the ground.  "Sorry," I said sheepishly.
Jared gave a soft laugh, before saying, "Why?  I'm not."
I looked at him a moment, drinking in the incredible view before me.  My mind was racing, one part analyzing every microsecond of what just happened, and the other telling me that this was a mistake.  I knew I needed to say something, but couldn't work out the right thing to say.  Before I knew it, the words escaped my lips.  "You're drunk."
"So call me a taxi to take me home," Jared laughed.  He looked around, and I followed his gaze.  There were a few people around, but they were all too engaged in their own conversations to notice anything else.  I was sure nobody had seen us.
Still confused about what had just happened, I stood up, and reached a hand out to help Jared up.  "Come on," I told him.  "Let's go get you some water before you do something you really regret."
"I'm fine," he said, trying to reassure me that he was still in control.  "And I don't regret anything that just happened."  He rubbed a hand over my bicep, before turning towards the backyard, and heading back to the party.  I watched him walk away, and my eyes couldn't resist watching how good that ass looked in those jeans.
What.
The.
Fuck.
Just.
Happened?