Unparalleled

Party Poopers

It takes a moment for
my eyes to adjust to
the sudden movement,
but I soon find myself
staring back at Eunice,
who looks absolutely wrecked.
Her hair is a mess,
her clothes disheveled -
but her eyes are lit up
and giggles are bursting out
of her parted lips
almost uncontrollably.

"Matty!"
she shrieks when she sees me,
throwing herself forward
and nearly toppling over.
It makes me laugh
to see her so uncoordinated,
more so than normal -
but some small part
of my mind registers
that this is still unusual behavior,
even for her.
Worry starts to war with
the excited carelessness
that the music had brought on,
and I eventually
bend a frown towards her.
It feels unnatural
on my lips.

"What happened to you?"
I ask as the music
dies down a bit
between songs.
"And have you
seen Natalia?"

"This party is a blast!"
she enthuses,
ignoring my questions.
"Oh my god, I feel
like I could fly!
Do you think I could?"
she adds, growing
slightly more serious.
"Wanna go test it out?
We could fly home,
instead of letting this
party pooper here drive us."

"Hey!"
Seth says indignantly
at the same time as I say,
"No, Euni -
no, that's a horrible idea.
You'll hurt yourself."

"I won't,"
she snorts,
"because I am a bird,
and I can fly.
I'm Superman!
Just watch me!"

It takes both Seth and I
to hold her back
when she makes a break for
the front door, apparently intending
to climb to the roof
and test her theory out.
Even though I am
pretty worried about her
mental stability at the moment,
the wild way in which she
insists that she has wings
and can fly anywhere
makes me laugh again.
Suddenly sagging back
against me, Euni joins in,
but her laughter isn't nearly
as nice as Nat's had been, I find.
It's caught between hiccups,
as if there is something
stuck in her throat.

"This is getting
too out of hand,"
Seth insists again as
something crashes in the distance.
Someone yells in response,
barely audible over the music,
and Euni breaks out laughing again,
clutching at her chest.
"We need to leave
before something bad happens."

"Oh, lighten up,"
Euni tells him
while I nod in agreement.
"Never been to
a party before, Sethy-poo?
Or are you just scared
of all the pretty girls around?"

"Don't call me that,"
he grumbles, looking mutinous.
He probably says something else
after that, but I
lose the conversation as
a pale head of hair
in the distance
catches my attention.
Natalia?
Briefly, bizarrely,
I remember that I haven't yet
given her my present -
and for whatever reason,
now sounds like a very good
time to do it.

I'm almost surprised by
the lack of hesitancy
as I shoot off towards
where I thought I'd seen her.
Seth calls after me,
I think, sounding just as
frustrated as always.
Euni is right -
he really should lighten up.
He'd have a lot more fun
if he wasn't so serious
all the time.

I guess maybe I
misjudged where I'd
last seen Nat, because
she's nowhere to be found
when I push my way into the kitchen.
The crowd seems a little
less dense in here,
leaving me with a bit of room
to stand in that isn't
occupied by everyone else as well.
Some boy looks like he's
trying to raid the fridge, while
a couple other kids are chanting
as a girl struggles to drink
the contents of a red plastic cup.
I don't know what's in it,
but I don't think
I want to know.
None of them are Natalia,
so I soon turn my search elsewhere.

The music is even more deafening
when I get back out
to the living room,
pulsing in my ears
like it's alive.
But my thoughts aren't
on it, now -
Natalia is nowhere to be found,
and since she disappeared
so suddenly, I have
no idea where she
could have gotten to.
Not far away, I see
Seth pushing towards me,
Euni trailing in his wake
like a little puppy -
but I don't want to
talk to them now.
Something about Seth
when he appeared in Nat's place
put me on edge, and
the feeling hasn't yet
gone away, so I
don't think I want to
talk to him yet.
I'd much rather find Natalia,
wherever she is.

I think I might have
made a circuit of
the whole downstairs before
I find her in the dining room.
She's laughing with someone
by the table, clutching
yet another plastic cup
in her hands, as if
it's a lifeline, and she'll
otherwise drown.
Her eyes light up
when she catches sight of me
in a way that almost
makes my heart
skip a beat.

"I thought I'd lost you!"
she tells me, losing interest
in her previous conversation
with whoever it was.
They've already moved on,
anyway, so they
don't seem to notice or care.
"I went to get us both
another drink, and then
you disappeared."

"Seth wants us to leave,"
I tell her, wincing
at the spark of disappointment
that appears in her
wide green eyes.
I don't think I've noticed
just how pretty her eyes are,
flecked with a golden brown
at the edges,
wide and dark at the center.
They crinkle when
she frowns and says,
"But you just
got here -
why would he
want to leave?"

I don't get
a chance to reply
because suddenly, someone
is behind me again,
someone tall and masculine
and more than a little familiar.
"Because this party
is getting too out of control,"
Seth tells her,
looking more irritated than
he had before.
He's holding Euni
by the wrist, as if
she might try and break free
if he doesn't keep
ahold of her at all times.
As I meet my sister's gaze,
she rolls her eyes
in his direction
before giggling under her breath.

"It's not!"
Natalia protests,
stomping her foot like
a young child.
"You're just a...
Uh..."

"Party pooper?"
Eunice suggests,
sounding smug
despite the way her words
slur together.

"Yeah!"
Natalia agrees,
looking triumphant.
"You probably don't even
like birthdays, Seth."

"Whatever."
He obviously doesn't
care enough to return
her pathetic insults.
"C'mon, Matty,
let's get you guys home before-"

Suddenly, the music stops,
halting us in our tracks.
It's a harsh, abrupt loss,
and as though it had been like
a second heart this whole while,
the room feels dead without it.
Beside me, Nat stiffens;
her eyes are wide and
focused on something I can't see
as I turn to look at her.
She's staring towards
the front door some feet away,
watching as two people enter -
two people who look
very much like her, I realize,
and also very angry.
The room gradually silences
as their gazes scan the crowd.

"Natalia?"
the man I assume
to be her father
calls out loudly, stormy-eyed.
He's still searching, but then
he apparently catches sight
of his daughter,
and his eyes narrow
in our direction.

My friend, however,
just smiles,
a nervous little grin
that barely hides
the anxiety on her features.
"Dad!"
she squeaks.
"Mom!
I didn't realize
you would be back
so soon..."

On my other side,
I hear Eunice whisper,
"Now they
are the real party poopers."

×

I don't know why, but this was honestly my favorite chapter to write in this story. It's also long af, so there you go, guys. So much for trying to make these things shorter...

If you guys liked this chapter, I'd love if you would vote and leave me some feedback!! It would be much appreciated <3