Childhood Games

~Chapter 8~

Naomi

I absolutely hated parties.

What was the point? There were too many people talking all at the same time. They had their loud music and red solo cups and cliques. The food was shit and the drinks were even shittier. And the best part? Of course the one goal majority of those party goers had in mind: sex. I wasn't about that.

So why was my middle school best friend here helping me pick out an outfit for one?

"Oooh! What about this one?" Arianna exclaimed. She held out a royal blue dress that literally looked like a piece on wide elastic conjoined by some trashy zipper going up the front.

"Um, hell no." I responded. She made a pouty face at me.

"You keep rejecting these outfits I'm picking out for you! You only like the things that would be appropriate for a dance in junior high."

"You mean the ones that don't show my ass cheek or a nipple?" I asked.

"Yeah!" she said putting the dress back on the rack. I rolled my eyes.

"Listen, Nomi, you got to loosen up a bit. It's a different ballgame now. College party," she cooed, wiggling her eyebrows in the process. "Embrace your body, girl, because Lord knows you have one."

"Are you blind?"

"Not blind enough to see that you have huge jugs and a flat stomach. Man, I wish I was that lucky," she sighed. "Who knows? Maybe you'll get lucky tonight."

"Uh, that's the last thing I want to do." I scowled.

I mean, not the last thing. I was still a virgin. Was I scared? No. Call me old fashioned, but when that time came, I wanted it to be with someone who I felt I deserved it. So far, nobody did. And if anyone was asking, I wasn't rushing it either.

"Ah! I found it! This is what you're wearing!" Arianna shouted. I looked around and saw all the customers and sales associate focus their attention on us. I hated to be embarrassed, but with friends like Arianna, it was a natural occurrence.

I looked over the dress she had picked out for me. It was a black body-con dress that ended mid-thigh. There was a zipper in the back that was gold. It had sleeves that were made out of lace and had somewhat intricate designs. The more I looked at it, the more fond of it I became, so I took it to the counter and paid for it along with black pumps.

Arianna dropped me off at the house two hours before the party was supposed to start and promised to be back to pick me up with enough time to spare. I walked inside the house, went upstairs after showing my uncle what I'd be wearing and began the process of getting ready. So time consuming.

After putting on my favorite shade of pale red lipstick on and receiving a text from Arianna that she would be pulling up in about 15 minutes, I grabbed my purse and began to head downstairs towards the kitchen. There was no telling whether or not I would be drinking, but I decided to get a little something in my stomach just in case.

Once down the stairs, I saw Alan, his dump truck of a girlfriend, and that one kid who couldn't decide what his name was all sitting at the counter laughing about things I didn't care about. Suddenly, "confused kid" turned around and made eye contact with me. My heart tensed up for a second with nervousness.

"Well damn, Naomi," he exclaimed, "who the hell are you blowing me off for looking that hot?"

"I blew you off?" I questioned. That sounded wrong.

"The party tonight? I invited you, remember?"

Oh yeah, that's right.

"You did invite me to that, didn't you?" I murmured. "Sorry. Other plans."