hello anne: book one

11:12 p.m.

"Amanda's in the kitchen. Mikey's in the bathroom with Charlotte. Lily's in the corner with Jordan. What else is new?" Kevin says, drinking club soda from a red solo cup. He was right. All these parties were the same. Same music, same crowd, same conversation. Just last weak I remember hearing Sara and her friend Nicky having s conversation about Mason Ronder, and now they're talking about some kid named Steven Frut. Sounds like a prick.
"I know. But I mean, that's all parties are anyways, right?" We clink cups and cheers, downing the soda and sighing with relief.
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Annie on the couch in the back with Jordan, her on his lap and her arms around his neck. "That should be my lap, and my neck" i think, trying to look away.
"Get a room!" I yell. It wasn't worth it though, the house was too loud.
"Oh be quiet. That was you six months ago. It's just a girl." He said. But that's the thing. She wasn't just another girl I picked up and just forgot about. She was Anne. Sweet Anne, wise Anne. Now she was bitch Anne, slut Anne. Maybe she left me because I was too much like her. Now we are completely different.
I walk around the house for a bit, making at seem as if I was looking for a restroom or something. A couple people had passed me and told me "down the hall, to the left" and they would give me a thumbs up and a wink. That made me uncomfortable.
I wandered into a small little living room, which no one had seemed to find yet except for the girl sitting in there. My eyes widen as I look at her, noticing that this was my so called girlfriend that I had mentioned to Anne. Janie sat on the couch, her hair French braided, wearing a sweatshirt, shorts, and a pair of sneakers.
"Well, you seem underdressed." I say, leaning on the door frame and taking a sip of soda. It had gone flat by now, but I wanted to look cool.
"I almost passed out for your information." She tells me, crossing her arms and looking at me.
"Drank too much? Been there." I chuckle, sitting across from her on another little couch. She takes a stray hair and tucks it behind her ear. Her pearl earring was now visible and prominent.
"No. I skipped all my meals today. Wasn't hungry, I guess." She pulls on the tassels of the sweatshirt and looks at me, her green eyes locking onto my brown ones.
"What's the real reason?" I ask her as I place my cup on the table in front of me.
"Why do you care? Are you drunk or something?"
"My girlfriend...well, ex-girlfriend, used to do that. She would starve herself for days and eat small meals of chopped lettuce. I cannot tell you how many times I had to tell her to drink some water everyday." I look at my fingers and count them.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
I wasn't dreaming. I did this often because of my horrible lack of seeing what's real and what's not. This was real. Getting back with Anne was not.
"I'm fine. Just not hungry." Interesting. She still won't admit to starving herself. I can't blame her, I probably wouldn't budge either.
"So, are you and Mikey a thing?" I ask her. Her eyes go wide, and she quickly shakes her head.
"No. Mikey is gross."
"Small dick?"
"The smallest!" She laughs, throwing her head back on the couch. I smile at her and take another sip of my soda even though it was flat and gross.
"I'm Matthew E-"
"Yeah, I know. We were in science together last year. You were all puppy dog eyes for Anne. She's sweet. I like you two together." She says, resting her chin in the palm of her hand.
"Yeah. Me too."