Sparks Fly

CH:4 A Perfect Gift

"You're super late."

"Sorry. Got a message from your mom she said not to get too crazy and when she comes home she wants it neat and clean," I tell Sara who's dressed in a floor length red gown with a matching red lip and heels.

Looking around her house one thing is clear that it would be quite the task to get this house cleaned. She got hold of party lights and the entire house is bathed in red and blue light. The sound coming out of the speakers can burst an eardrum or two. As I step inside someone engulfs Sara into a hug and she disappears into the crowd. Guess I'm on my own now.

Teens are all over the house with a red cup in hand. I make my way into the kitchen where there's a mini cooler wide open. I take out a beer for myself and make my way further into the house. Sara is having the party at her fathers house and mind you it's quite the house. When we were little we would spend quite a few hours playing hide and seek all around the house, so I know the layout like the back of my hand. Her father was kind enough to let her have her party here. The watch on my hand reads 9:30 pm, so half an hour more of this monstrosity of music and then she is officially obliged to shut it off.

Entering into her parents former bedroom it is filled with a group of people smoking either hookah or vape. With a couple in the corner making out with one another and on the brink of tearing off their clothes. I'm about to close the door when I see a door to the room's balcony and make my way to it. Stepping into the balcony the familiar smell of the cigarette smoke wafts into my nose.

"I knew you would be amongst your people."

"You seem to be adjusting pretty well too," he says while pointing to the beer can in my hand.

"I just picked it, don't know why. You can have it if you want. Wash down all that smoke in your mouth." I offer Neil the can who opens it and takes a big gulp and hands it back to me.

"I don't want it,"

"No harm in trying." He offers the can again but I go for the cigarette dangling between his fingers and take a puff. The smoke enters my throat leaving me in fits of coughing. My eyes start to water when I feel Neil's hand on my back, rubbing it. The fits subside and Neil takes back his cigarette and crushes it.

"After this you're not drinking tonight," he says and all I do is laugh.

Neil and I enter the house after that and notice the music has stopped and the crowd has thinned. I catch Sara's eye who calls me over to her. Leaving Neil behind who anyway had already started making his way into the kitchen.

"Where were you, I was calling you?" she asks.

"I couldn't really hear the ringing over the music, So what now, are we finally cutting the cake?"

"Not yet, come everyone's waiting for you."

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Seven of us are sitting in a circle with an empty beer bottle in the middle, with four boys and three girls. I recognise a few of Sara's friends while the others are total strangers to me. Sara cosies up to the guy on her right side and is coyly smiling to whatever he says. This doesn't sit well with me and I try to look for Neil from the corner of my eye but he is nowhere to be seen. Sara looks away from the guy to everyone in the room and asks if everyone's ready before spinning the bottle.

The first victim of this is a girl sitting beside who is blushing very hard while the guy has a grin on and is receiving bumps from his friends on his back. He stretches out his hand and the girl takes it. Together they both move towards a room. Sara looking at the empty area beside me shifts there and says,

"I hope you know the game."

"Well the fact they are going towards a room tells me it's seven minutes in heaven."

"You're right, I'm kind of excited for you," she giggles while I start to murmur

"I don't think I wanna join this kind of fun." But before I could move away from the circle Neil comes and sits down at Sara's earlier spot and shakes hands with the guy she was talking to.

"See, even Neil is here, it's about to get interesting. What if the bottle stops on Neil and Aanu there." A dead 'yay' is all the response I have.

"What if it's Neil and you next behind those doors," she says. I give her the uninterested, dead eyes which she trades for a smile.

Neil and I share a glance when the duo steps out of the room and join back the circle. Both of them are awfully quiet as the bottle is spinning again. Next victim is Aanu who confidently strikes into the room while the guy is amazed and slips in nervously. The third round is all mine as the bottle lands on me and on the other end is the guy Sara was talking to, beside Neil.

"Definitely not him," Neil says rudely and gulps down whatever was in his cup.

"Why not," I ask. Sara intervenes and sternly says,

"Gia, not him." I look at her questionably and she has an expression which says she's not backing out. Embarrassment creeps up to me and I stand up.

"This is stupid anyway." I walk out on them and go deeper into the house.

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I'm sitting in the kitchen staring at the wall when someone comes and stands in front of me.

"You're blocking my view, with your large body."

"Oh apologies because here you were staring at Picasso," Neil says sarcastically.

"I wanna go home," I tell him.

"I'll take you," he says while trying to remove my fingers gently from around the cup until my hold lightens and he grabs it and puts it on the nearest table.

"That was embarrassing," I confess

"Maybe you're overreacting..." he says but changes his sentence when he sees my expression drop, "Let's talk about it later." He holds my hands in his and together we walk out of the kitchen. I feel a flutter inside my stomach and stop midway, holding my hand to my stomach. Concern laces his face and he drags me to the nearest bathroom thinking it's something else.