Not to be found

Chapter 29 - Confident

"Are you ready?" I can hear Noah calling from outside my door.

My heart pounds as I look into the floor length mirror, I'm wearing my best clothes; the ones that will make me fit in. My white and brown polka dot blouse is tucked into my black leather skirt that goes to my mid thighs. My long legs are in thin black tights with my black lace up chunky boots, along with my pale blue clutch bag.
My lips are dark red and my eyes are smokey, my small freckles and blemishes hidden under two layers of foundation and concealer.
My hair swept to the side and held down with hairspray.
I shouldn't be doing this.

"Yes," I force myself to say as I purse my lips together and stand tall.

I leave my bedroom with my fists clenched, Noah's jaw drops when his eyes settle on my body.
"Take a picture it'll last longer sunshine," I tease as I do a quick twirl.
For the first time in forever I actually feel confident within myself.

He removes his jaw from the floor, "maybe I will."

I wasn't expecting him to actually go through with it. But he gets his phone out anyway and I move back so that the backdrop is the white wall, I pose quickly with a smile and we go downstairs.

"Oh my gosh I need a picture of you two," Julie squeals as she fixes her sons hair, something that he does not like which makes me giggle.

I have such an ugly laugh.
Noah looks good though; his long hair messy and his long dark green t-shirt sitting over the top of his black jeans.

Julie and Mike both get a picture of us and we leave, my anxiety constantly creating tension in my stomach. I have to get over this.

*************************************
I'm not even sure that I should be here, just because I've made over my face and changed my hair doesn't mean that I'm one hundred percent in the clear to go out and party.
I literally wouldn't even identify myself as Lacey Grey anymore. Tonight anyways. Instead I'm Gracie Smith; the confident girl. The girl who is capable of anything.....or so she thinks. She's very cocky.

"We're here," Noah says as I come back to reality.

I smile, a wave of anxiety and uncertainty crashes over my body. I cannot have a repeat of last time.
The house is just like Noah's as it's absolutely huge, it's a little more box-shaped shall we say? Or modern? Maybe that's the right word. There is a white Ferrari parked on the long driveway and several people are already passed out on the front lawn, even though it's only 8pm; taken out by alcohol, poor souls.

Once the car is parked I step out of it and stand for a moment looking at the large box-shape that stands before me.

"Intimidating, right?" He asks as he stands next to me.

"You could say that, yeah" I feel the heat rush into my cheeks. Damn anxiety.

I feel a set of fingertips glide down my arm and then intertwine with my own, "you'll be fine," he reassures me, "I'll make sure of it."

I grip his hand tighter as he guides me towards the house and through the front door. As we step inside the table that sits in the hallway is littered with plastic cups; mostly empty but some filled with a brown liquid.

I can hear people laughing over the loud music booming through the house, and smell the sweaty bodies with a hint of alcohol.
My anxiety bubbles in my stomach as we enter what appears to be a very large living room. It's like a sea of people with raised plastic cups for driftwood.
Why am I doing this again? I can't do this.

"Oh hello," a blonde girl wearing a skin tight grey dress slurs to Noah, "you must be Gracie."

"Yeah I am it's nice to meet you......"

"It's Sophia but you can call me 'Soph'," she smiles whilst swaying, "hey Ed get over here you butt head!"

Okay so who is this girl? Who's Ed? How does Noah know these people? And more importantly how did she know my 'name'?

A guy who is practically the same height as Noah with short brown hair walks over to us with a plastic cup in his hand.
"Hey what's with all the shouting?" He asks, his blue eyes glassy.

"This....this is Gracie, ya know Noah's chick," she says eyeing me up and down.

She's pretty and I think she knows it as she tugs her dress down more to expose even more cleavage, either that or it's the alcohol talking.

"Oh hey, I'm Edward but I prefer 'Ed'," he reaches out to hug me so I awkwardly accept, he reeks of alcohol and musky aftershave, "I'm Soph's brother by the way, the better sibling."

I stifle a giggle with my hand, "it's nice to meet you."

"C'mon dude lets go get you a drink," Ed pries Noah from my side, that same wave of anxiety comes back with force as it washes over me as I'm left with Sophia.

She wraps her arm through mine so that they're looped, "we don't need them anyway, let's go and have a good time on our own."

I smile and nod, afraid to speak in case I say something wrong.
We reach the kitchen and she half fills up a plastic cup with Coke and the other half with vodka. She passes me it and I reluctantly take the cup out of her hand, she stares at me as I slowly bring the cup to my lips.
I've never had alcohol in my life, so this is something very new to me.

Wanting to look 'normal' I gulp down the contents of the cup, almost immediately feeling the burn in my throat and a strange sensation in my head.

"Woah," she says grabbing my hand, "you may want to slow down?"

"Maybe?" I grin, looking around the kitchen in search of something better to drink, something with a better kick.

"I think I'm going to like you," she smiles as she fills two shot glasses with vodka and passes me one, she looks over at me, "in 3 okay?"
I nod and bring the glass ready to my lips, "3.....2.......1......DRINK!" She shouts.
And I down the shot in one hit, the burn twice as satisfying as before. Why haven't I tried this before?

Soph then passes me another plastic cup, this time only a quarter of the cup is filled with Coke and the rest vodka.

This girl is going to get me so so drunk!
And I have a feeling that I am absolutely going to love it.
Maybe this party wasn't such a bad idea after all.