The World and Her

ii. empty wishes

Cara knew it was a mistake to come to the party the second she stepped foot into the mansion of a house and was unceremoniously smacked with a throw pillow.

Rubbing her nose and ignoring Jupiter's chortling from beside her, she picked up the fluffy weapon and looked for who had thrown it, but the wall of students in front of her made it impossible to pick out the culprit. Clenching the pillow tightly, she made a quick survey of the house and its highly hormonal occupants.

The huge cooler by the stairs containing beer bottles hinted that there was no parental supervision, or none that she could see at least. And from what she saw from her position on the ground floor, the second floor was even worse, with the floor littered with empty bottles and cans and what looked like clothes hanging on the wooden banister.

She was already halfway across the nicely trimmed lawn when Jupiter caught up with her.

"Wait, wait," he held her shoulder with a firm grip. "Where are you going?"

"Home," she answered curtly.

"No," Jupiter whined. "You said-"

"I said," Cara interrupted, whipping around to face him, "that I would accompany you to this party on two conditions: that it was supervised and that there would be no alcohol. If something were to happen to me or anybody here..." 

Her voice faltered as she scowled, another memory surfacing. Her voice became hard. She shrugged off his hand, her tone final. "I'm leaving, Jupiter. You don't have to drive me back. I can walk." She started strolling away.

"It wouldn't be a party if it was supervised, Cara," he argued, completely missing the point as always. "And I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. I promise." His own voice was determined and strong as he followed her.

Cara halted when she reached the white gate on the front lawn. "Well," she drawled, "when you put that way..."

Jupiter smiled.

"... I'm still not staying," she deadpanned, and watched Jupiter's smile fall.

"Jupiter!" A girl's voice from behind them.

Jupiter looked over his shoulder but Cara already saw the source of the high-pitched voice. The host of the party came bounding to them, dressed in a light blue mini dress that flared slightly at the bottom. Her hair was pulled into a perfect bun with a few strands of hair framed around her heart-shaped face. Her lipstick was a bright red and her makeup perfectly done. Small diamond ear studs glinted in the late afternoon sunlight.

Cara blinked as Jenny stopped beside them, panting a little. Her blue eyes glanced at Cara but she addressed Jupiter. "Leaving already?" She gave him a bright, pearly smile.

Jupiter rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and opened his mouth to give what was surely an excuse but Cara beat him to the punch. 

"Actually, no." Jupiter raised his eyebrows at her but there was already a growing smile on his face. Jenny's eyes shifted curiously between the two. 

Cara cleared her throat. "We were just getting something from the car. Jupiter bought some drinks for the party."

"Oh. Okay." Jenny blinked. "If you need any help, I'll be in the kitchen. I'm passing out some homemade Oreo cheesecake later, so I hope you stay until then." Her voice seemed sincere enough but Cara narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her.  

 Jenny clapped her hands together then and smiled, slowly walking backwards towards the house. "I'm really happy you guys came," she added. 

 Her gaze lingered on Jupiter, but he was grinning smugly at Cara so she turned and disappeared into the crowd of teens.