The Truce

Chapter14

"Whose party is this, anyway?" I asked Natalie as we left her car and hiked toward the house.

"No idea," she said. "Wes just gave me the address, but I'm pretty sure it's someone from school."

We had to park a million miles away, but it wasn't hard to figure out which was the right house long before we could see the address on the mailbox. People spilled out onto the sizable lawn, and music poured outside, just barely quiet enough to not get the police involved. Or at least not yet. It was only eight.

We turned onto the walkway and as we approached the house, I blushed as a few guys made suggestive comments. It wasn't that cold, so I didn't think to bring a jacket, and it really made me miss having my hair to hide behind.

I was about to take the first porch step when some guy I didn't know threw himself at me.

"Hey, baby, you're really hot." He clung to me, reeking of beer and attempted to stick his tongue in my mouth.

"Ew! Get off!" I said, giving him a hard shove so he released me.

Calling me a name, he staggered off and probably forgot all about me.

"Great," Natalie said. "The idiots are already drunk. Come on. Let's get inside."

We hurried up the steps and through the open front door, and the nerdy introvert in me felt the urge to turn right around and leave. I'd never been to a party like this before. The last one I attended involved a piñata and a rousing game of pin the tail on the donkey. People were everywhere and they were all in motion. The house was large, so there were probably a few hundred here, at least. Some I recognized. Many, I did not.

"Don't even think about it," Natalie said before I could voice the request. "We just got here."

I grumbled my acquiescence and she pulled me into the house.

~~~~~~~~~~

Several people told me I looked good. Most of them guys, and mostly with surprise. I wasn't really sure how to take that. Was I that hideous before?

"Hey, you made it!" Wes found us after about ten minutes of wandering through the mass of bodies. He gave Natalie a big smile and then nodded to me in a polite kind of way. Acknowledging Natalie's friend, the stranger.

He started to look away but then realized who I was. "Michaela?" He did a double take.

"Hey."

"I didn't even recognize you."

"Yeah, I'm getting that a lot." Well, I wanted a change...

"Natalie, who's your friend?" Ford was suddenly behind me.

I turned so he could see my face and he reacted the same way Wes did.

"Wow." He looked me over and my face heated quite a bit at the scrutiny. "Boyfriend, right?"

I nodded.

"Well, if you ever get tired of him, let me know."

"I'll keep that in mind." I rolled my eyes. We had been in kindergarten together. This was the first time he ever even thought to look at me like that. So apparently he was looking for that deep, meaningful kind of relationship.

Ford drifted away and Natalie and Wes were talking close together so they could hear each other without having to yell. Natalie knew I'd be uncomfortable on my own, so I doubt she planned to leave me, but I wasn't about to get in the way tonight. Taking her arm in one hand and his in the other, I gave them a little push.