Is Life A Lie?

Chapter 12 - Party Central

The look on Hazel's face was priceless. We'd all yelled out a synchronised "SURPRISE!" as she stepped over the threshold of the villa, causing her to nearly fall over in shock. Best reaction to a surprise party, ever.

I wiggled out of my hiding spot, sandwiched between Declan and Lukey, and ran over to throw my arms around Hazel. "Happy birthday babe! No holding back tonight," I winked at her as I passed her a whiskey coke. "To Hazel everybody!" I raised my own vodka lime in the air, and the rest followed suit. Hence the party began with just the right start—plenty of alcohol consumed and good vibes all around. (Good vibes because I'd finally stopped calling Claire Gingerbitch in my head, and had actually accepted her as Alex's girlfriend). (Also, Eugene had stopped in his tracks when he saw me all dolled up.)

The rest of the night worked like clockwork on LSD – not necessarily a bad thing. The alcohol was flowing freely. We ate, we drank, we danced, we laughed, we were flying high. Declan got a strip poker knockout tournament going—once you were down to your bikini bottoms/drawers, you had to jump into the pool. From across the garden, Alex caught my attention and nodded appreciatively at the number of topless beautiful women in the pool. I nodded back in Claire's direction. She was in the pool, topless. I gave Alex the thumbs up. Claire had an amazing pair of breasts. As a girl, I can definitely tell a good pair when I see them, right?

The winner of strip poker was Hazel. Obviously we let her win, because it was her birthday. But we obviously also didn't let her get off scot-free. Where's the fun in that? Eugene and Ruell picked her up and threw her right in the middle of the pool, to the wild cheers of everyone. Watching Hazel scream and trash about, I grinned to myself from the other end of the pool. This was such a good time. I was having an amazing time. I was feeling sufficiently buzzed—not drunk and not sober, the perfect place to be in my opinion. Spotting the less occupied Jacuzzi, I made my way over.

"You having fun?" Claire asked me. Declan, Cara and Claire were lounging in the hot tub. "Oh, absolutely. Are yous?" I sank into the hot, gushing water and sighed with pleasure. "Duh. Look at where I am, and who I'm with!" Declan slung his arms over Cara and me, puffing out his chest. I laughingly rolled my eyes as I let my body relax, while my senses were pumping to the music. Right now Vinai – Wave was pumping through the speakers.

"Hayley, come quick!" Amanda stood by the edge of the hot tub, pulling me back to reality.

"What is it?" I asked, sitting up straight. Looking around, I could see nothing amiss.

"Just come!" Amanda was insistent, so I sighed and got out of the comfort of the tub. "Follow me."

I was dragged, dripping wet, into the villa, and to a sobbing Hazel. Instantly sobering up, I knelt down in front of her, my eyes shooting questions at Amanda, who simply shrugged. "Babes, what's wrong?" I gently sat down next to Hazel on the plush bean bag she had crumpled herself over.

"He's all up in her face." Hazel wailed.

"Who's up whose face?"

"Ruell. Up Mandy's face," she managed to get out through the hiccups. I felt my heart sink as I remembered that I put Ruell and Mandy together in charge of music. Oh damn. This was all my fault. And all I wanted was a good night for Hazel. I'd gone and botched it. I KNEW Hazel and Ruell had a thing for each other, even though it was unspoken.

"Babes. If he's going to act like a scumbag on your birthday, do you really want him?" I tried the diplomatic approach. All she did was cry harder. "Alright. That's it. Clean yourself up." My stern voice worked. She peered at me through her lashes, sniffling, "Where are we going?" I had texted Alex an SOS and knowing how attached she was to her phone, she'd be bound to see it soon. I dragged Hazel to the nearest bathroom and held her hair while she washed her mascara-streaked face. That was when Alex came barging in, armed with supplies. "Shit, what happened to you?"

"Code Ruell and Mandy. We're going on operation Find Hazel a Non-Scumbag." I rummaged through Alex's bag and found makeup and perfume.

"About damn time." Alex grabbed the makeup from me. "We want it to be a success. And that's not happening with you doing the makeup."

"Ouch." I clutched at my heart, pretending that hurt. Hazel couldn't help but chuckle at the pair of us.

Together, Alex and I spruced Hazel up and scoured the party for a guy we approved of. We both instantly agreed on Matt, an Irish-American, who was on the uni football team. We had been friends with him ever since we started attending uni and loved his easy-going personality. On top of that, he was studying to be a scientist, so he was a beauty with a personality and brains.

"Hey, Matty! Thanks for all the help setting up earlier. Hazel here wanted to thank you too," I gave him my most angelic smile, nudging Hazel forward.

"No worries! It was my pleasure. Happy birthday! You having a blast yet?" Matt leaned in to give Hazel a hug. Thinking quickly, I surveyed the area and saw that most people had stopped dancing and were in the water or on the lawn chairs drinking. I took this as a positive sign and grabbed Matt and Hazel by the arms. "Come on guys, let's start up a dance floor."

Alex quickly picked up on my cue, signalling to Alysha, who was on the decks, to turn it up. We danced our way to the middle of the garden, Alex grabbing people to come with along the way. I grabbed a hold of Eugene, who was playing beer pong. Our goal was to create a group large enough so as to not make it awkward, but small enough so that Hazel and Matt are forced together.

Thirty minutes of dancing later, Alex and I found our way to each other amidst the crowd on the 'dancefloor' which had grown immensely. "Looks like we did it. They hit it off." We were shaking our booties to Hardwell's Chameleon now. "Oh my gosh I know!" Alex squealed. Despite heaps of people joining in, Hazel and Matt had been dancing together for the entire duration. Alex and I had taken turns making made sure they had a constant supply of alcohol. Because sometimes friends need a bit of Dutch courage. We watched, our hearts bursting with pride, when Matt led Hazel into the now-empty hot tub.

"We did it." Alex and I exchanged gleeful high fives, finally allowing ourselves to relax. The night wasn't ruined for Hazel after all.

"What did you two do?" Eugene asked, coming up from behind and wrapping his arms around me. I grinned at him. "Never you mind. Let's just say, my good deed of the week is done." I twisted around to give him a snuggle. I felt slightly bad for ignoring him for the most part of the party. But hey, I was making up for it now. Alex pretended to gag and went off in search for Claire. 

"I'm so happy today worked out." I leaned into Eugene's arms. He ran his fingers through my hair--which I'd managed to keep dry in a bun atop my head. "I'm proud of you. You pulled off a great party." I let myself be bathed in my boyfriend's praise as we danced the rest of the night away.