ethics [ogoc]

five

Lucy Marie Johnson.

"Gilinsky, I'm being so serious right now," my brother says as he clicks his right turning signal on.

"I get it, Johnson," Gilinsky says from the passenger seat.

"This is real shit, G, okay? You can't just play around with stuff like this." Jack rounds the corner and proceeds slowly onto a residential street. We pass houses upon houses before he finally slows to a stop and they both hop out of the car. I climb out of the backseat of my brother's black Toyota and immediately regret wearing this dress. As cute as it looked in the store, this tiny black piece of cloth is entirely too tight and too short for me to ever be comfortable in. I would've just worn some jeans and a cute top tonight, but I already know that Gabi is going to show up and automatically be the center of attention. At least wearing this ridiculous dress and these strappy black shoes will give me a chance to compete with her for that spot.

"Gilinsky, you're not listening to me," my brother pauses for emphasis, "You're not thinking about this enough."

"I fucking hear you, J," Gilinsky sighs, clearly exasperated, "It might be dangerous, but aren't most things in life?"

We finally make it to the driveway of the house party and I still have no idea what Jack and Jack are talking about, nor do I honestly care. I just want to get inside this house and get drunk enough to forget about how much these shoes are hurting my feet.

By the time we get inside, the intensity of this party is the highest I've ever seen. I've been to so many high school parties because of how popular my brother and Gabi both are, and I guess I'm kind of popular by association with them. In the last month, I've been to five different house parties and they were all cool, but none of them were this crazy. Amongst all of the people and bottles and cups, there seems to be some kind of organization that I immediately pick up on. The right section of the house is where the upbeat music is blasting, where a full open bar is being operated, and a crowded space in the living room that looks like a makeshift dance floor. The left side of the house is where the music is lower in volume, but where some of the smaller bedrooms are located, for drunk hookups and smaller intimate conversations.  Straight to the back of the house, there are two magnificent full-sized glass doors that lead to the backyard, where I can already see the air full of smoke. I scan the house from left to right to weigh my options. There's no sign of Gabi anywhere yet, so I decide to follow my brother and Gilinsky outside to the yard.

Gilinsky opens the sliding glass door from left to right, and Jack and I walk out in front of him. As soon as I step outside, I am slapped with the strong scent of weed. Nothing I've never smelled before, but still hits me every time I do. I turn to the right after Jack and we approach a round table surrounded by a few familiar faces. These are all of my brother's friends, and most of them are extremely high already. I'm the only girl outside and, with the exception of Jack and Jack, the only one sober as well.

"Johnson, nice to see you man," one of the familiar faces says calmly. He stands up to greet my brother.

"Yo," he moves my brother out of the way to get a better look at me, "Is that who I think it is?" He steps towards me, his eyes never breaking our eye contact. He gets really close to me and then envelopes both of his arms around me and picks me up off the ground.

"Hi, Swazz," I try to laugh, but he's squeezing and softly shaking me from side to side. After he finally puts me down, he takes my face in his hands and dramatically kisses the top of my forehead.

"Lucy, it's been for-ever," he slurs. I laugh at how high he is right now.

"We saw each other two weeks ago, John," I chuckle.

"Too long without seeing you kiddo," he pouts and lets go of me and sits back down in his seat around the table.

"Gilinsky, did you guys bring the stuff?" Another one of the guys at the table speaks up.

"Hell yeah we did," Gilinsky pulls a small bag out of his back pocket, "Just for you, Big Mike."

Jack and Jack pull up two chairs to be included in the circle with their friends, so I'm the only one left standing up awkwardly by myself. I unlock my phone and swipe across the screen to make it look like I'm actually doing something interesting.

"Hey, Lucy, are you finally down to get high with us tonight?" Mike asks me, diverting everyone's attention towards me.

"You ask me this at every party," I laugh awkwardly, "And the answer is still no. Weed isn't really my thing."

"Who says we're smoking weed tonight?" One of the unfamiliar faces says to me.

"Well, what else would you guys smoke?" I hear the glass door open behind me, and immediately after, I feel two firm hands squeeze my shoulders.

"How about you and I switch places, Lucy?" I turn around to discover that the two hands belong to Sam.

"Hey, Sam. I was wondering where you guys were." I give him a quick hug.

He sighs deeply, "You know Gabi. As soon as we walked through the front door, 20 people swarmed her and pulled her off to go get drinks and dance. She's somewhere in the living room now, you wanna go find her?"

"Yeah, sure," I smile. I turn back around to say bye to the guys, but they are all looking at the small bag in Gilinsky's hand. I'm not an expert on drugs, but I really don't think there's weed in that bag. Maybe this is what they were talking about earlier in the car? I'm not sure, so for now I decide to ignore my instincts and go back inside the house to find Gabi.

•

a/n: sorry this update took a bit longer than expected! to make up for it, i am doing a double update for you guys and i should have chapter six up in lucy's pov again very soon!!

for those of you who speak french or know people that do, sam and i are proud to say that this book is being translated as we write it by tomlinsonash ! we love her for it, so spread the word for us :)

comment, vote, and share!

tatiana x