Blood [#Wattys2016]

Section 2 : More Good Booze and a Bad Conversationalist

We could feel the bass from the music before we could hear it, it shook the windows of Rick's clunky old car. He was very insistent on taking his car, he claimed he wanted the people he was meeting to know it was him or something, and quickly followed this by saying that if we got drunk enough to think we could drive home while intoxicated, he wouldn't want to mess up my car. I tried to counter this by explaining that if we were going to get that messed up, we should take a cab rather than risk our own lives, but it's impossible to argue with him when he's excited. Richard has already told me that the hosts had said that it'd be loud the first few hours so that people could find the house easily, and about now I'm starting to understand why. From what I've gathered from the idiot I've let talk me into this, but who's never actually been to this house before in his life, it's not so much a house as a mansion. It's in the hills just outside of town but not necessarily secluded. That sign down the road deemed this classy neighborhood 'The Lotus Valley'. Clearly who ever owns this place is filthy stinking rich.

We pull up to the mansion just after the music dies down, it's already full of people. "Wow." I say in true awe. The house is beautiful, it has been painted a pleasant yellow and is still more a castle than even a mansion. It has five sets of giant windows on each floor, through which I can see people laughing and talking. Not much dancing to be seen from the outside, but I'm not going to complain about something so trivial; in fact I'm happy. I never was one much for dancing, I tried it once in highschool, but once was embarrassing enough. The driveway is a wide cobblestone path that connects to a walkway through a garden which in turn leads to the massive double doors of the mansion. The garden is lit by glowing ornaments and colored floodlights, making the partiers occupying it appear almost ethereal, and the fountain at its center is pulsating different colors. The garden is not the only thing that's lit, however. The house has a row of hedges surrounding it and is lit by soft lights positioned behind them. In addition to these, spotlights have been positioned on the lawn, lighting everything from the edge of the yard to the woods surrounding it. I marvel at the vast number of people on the front lawn and wonder if there are many people left inside, or if this was the overflow.

"You ready to go in?" Richard asks eagerly, "Come one, let's go!"

I sigh, I really don't want to do this. "Do I have to? You know I'm not good with people."

"Yes, you have to come in!" he says, clearly my resistance is concerning him, "They're expecting me to be there, and I told them I was bringing my best friend. I told them you're a great guy and an author! Some of them have even read your book, they can't wait to meet you."

"Who are we meeting again?"

"A bunch of people I know. I met the one guy, David, while I was in the hospital last week, and he invited me to hang out with some of his friends the next couple of nights. That's when they invited me here! I told them I didn't want to come without you and they understood and said you could come! These are great people, you're gonna love 'em! And they're all beautiful people, like, physically flawless! Trust me, I know the kind of girl you're into, and Jason, these ones are just..." he mimes as if his head is exploding.

"But who owns the house?" I ask skeptically, examining the house once again. It's truly huge, one floor is probably ten times the size of my apartment, and my apartment is pretty big.

"Some bachelor businessman that David knows, his uncle or something, they said we're probably not even going to meet him with all the people that are gonna be here." I think for a second; if I really press Rick, he'll take me home, and we'll probably never speak of this again except for the odd quip at my cowardice. On that note, he really seems to want this. I can tell it would really mean a lot to him, and he probably won't get a chance to be around other people like this for a long time, or possibly ever...