The Girl Next Door > jariana (COMPLETED)

forty-nine

Rachel

Holiday Bomb 2014 arrived with as much flare as ever, my last and final high school party. My house was decorated in silver and white. My mother was impressed with my selections of faux trees and lighting. She's complimented me on the placement of my arrangements and offered me to be her assistant on her next job for The Screen Actor's Guild. Working with her was something I thought would never happen in a million years. Things were looking up for me.

Dump and Sienna were the first to arrive and we chilled sitting at my back yard table. "So, you're not gonna believe this, but I met someone," I blurted out.

Dump slammed his hands down on the table's wooden surface so hard that the red cups hopped in the air. "Hallafuckingluja! Can we all just move on now, finally?"

Sienna guffawed and elbowed Dump hard. "Stop it!"

"Ouch! Damn, Darlin'," Dump smirked, glancing between the both of us. "That little Python of yours got some bite." He rubbed his arm a bit longer. "That's gonna be a bruise, you know."

"You deserve it," Sienna remarked, but then she reached over babying him, rubbing the area she'd just abused. "I'm sorry."

Dump reached over grabbing his pack of cigs off the table, popping one in his mouth. "So who's the unlucky bastard?"

"His name is Scott and he lives in Palos Verdes."

"Really?" Sienna chirped. "What the hell? Did you just meet him? Like yesterday?"

I laughed. "No, I met him when I was with my mom at one of her events."

"So? Prey tale." Sienna begged.

"He's a valet."

Dump laughed. "I bet your mom loved hearing that."

"She did!" I laughed too. "She was such a rotten crotch to him."

"And you weren't?" he asked.

"Actually, no I wasn't. It was kinda unexpected. At first I thought, as if, naturally. But then something just happened and I can't tell you what it was. The funniest thing of all, my mom thinks he's some loser, the help, but he's so not. His house is bigger than ours and his dad is some big shot. His parent's make him work for everything. I'm never telling my mom. I want her to die a slow death thinking I'll fall in love with losers for the rest of my life."

We all laughed our heads off at the thought.

Justin finally arrived and his eyes roamed around and I knew he was looking for Mike and Ariana. I wondered what game he was playing and how he could tolerate Mike being with Ariana, when he clearly was still in love with her. The whole thing seemed sick, more than anything I would have been able to handle.

Poor Mike.

The DJ's beats pulsed through me. I watched as my back yard began to fill with people. The six commercial sized heat lamps placed around kept the growing crowd warm. Thankfully my parents were on their way to their own New Year's Eve festivities, because I needed to calm down. I found one of my fringe friends all the more willing to knock back a shot of tequila with me.

I was nervous about having Justin and Scott in the same room and apprehensive about Mike and Ariana. I searched the thickening crowd for any of them. A soft blow in my ear sent my hand flying back into Scott's face and his beer sloshed out all over the front of him. I was so involved in my search that I didn't realize he and his friends had arrived.

"Oh my god, Scott, I'm so sorry!" I laughed and apologized profusely. "I thought maybe you were some drunk d-bag trying to be cute!"

"It's cool." He held out his arms and tugged on the front of his jacket, leaning over trying to keep the droplets of beer from falling onto his pants. "Got a towel?"