(The Ballad of Dyle)

1

"Ellie!" I shout as I run down the stairs, almost tripping over a rug.
"What babe?"
"Ralph is here to drive us to his house. You need to hurry!"
Ellie is my girlfriend. Yes, you heard me. The first one ever. She's been my partner for five months now and we get on quite well. My friends keep telling me that she's not suitable for a guy like me but I don't care. Life has taught me how to "don't give a shit". She's that kind of popular girl everyone longs for so I still don't understand why she had chosen me. I don't deserve her I guess. She's pretty and clever and fortunately way more optimistic than I am. We are such opposites. She had several boyfriends in the past, she's got lots of experience in relationships and that makes me feel awkward sometimes by her side.
Now it seems to take long for her to get ready, though it is just a small party we are going to.
Ralph is holding one, his parents are on vacation. It sucks not to take your son with yourself on a holiday but who am I to judge. I'm just a 19-year-old weirdo with a not very optimistic life view. The good point in leaving your kid at home alone is that he can arrange a party, carelessly. And if that kid is your best friend - talking about Ralph in my case - you get invited to parties often. And that's fucking cool. To be honest I love to get drunk. I'm not proud of it but it helps me escape my mind and since my mind is quite melancholic it's pretty useful.
I walk into the kitchen to pick up a bottle of vodka and some wine to show up with.
My phone buzzes, I take a look. It's a text message from Ralph.
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Ralph: What's taking you so long guys?
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Not bothering myself to answer I walk out of the building with the drinks in my hands.
The car is right there in front of the house. Ralph has his back up against it, leaning on it like a badass.
"Hello there, Danny."he waves at me.
"Hi Ralph. I'd really appreciate it if you didn't call me Danny, you know I hate it so much, thank you."I let out the sentence with one single breath. He doesn't give an answer just hugs me as I get close enough.
"How you doin'?"he chuckles.
"Kinda well. And of course excited about the party."
"Nice to hear, mate. Give me those."
He takes the vodka and the wine out of my hand and puts them onto the backseat of his car.
"Can we go?"he asks with so much excitement in his voice that I have to smile.
"Don't you forget about Ellie..."I warn him.
Ralph hates Ellie. With all of his heart. And that's very rare if we are talking about him. He's a very calm and relaxed person. In addition it can be horrifying when your best friend hates your girlfriend and keeps telling you that she's a bitch and that you shouldn't trust her.
But he's still my best friend. We spend most of our time together, coming around to each other's home, talking and laughing all day. Or we just drink in the park if there's nowhere else to go.
The most important thing to bind us together is music. We love music equally, I can also say that music is our life. He's got a pretty good voice actually. There's something in it that makes me feel like I could listen to his singing for hours. In his opinion my voice is amazing but I don't believe him, why would I?
"Can you just go in and tell her to hurry? The party is about to start in half an hour and our house is 15 minutes away from yours."
"Of course. Just a moment."
"Also I greet your sister."he yells after me.
It's just my sister who is home, except us. Our parents are still at work.
I run up to my room to find Ellie there still doing her makeup.
I sigh and walk next to her.
"Please darling, Ralph is getting impatient."
She puts everything from her hands down on my desk.
"I've just finished."Ellie says and smiles at me. Her face is just like an angel's.
"Can we go then?"I ask and smile back.
"Yep"
We walk downstairs. I help her coat on and open the door for her. As she passes by she kisses me. Her lips are so soft I could kiss them for hours.
"We're leaving! Will be back before midnight!"I shout to my sister. The house is echoing because of my voice. Without waiting for a response I close the door.
After Ralph and Ellie greets each other - not very happily - we get into the car and drive away.

***

I'm pretty sure Ralph invited whole London to his party. I can barely move in the sea of people. Quite frustrating. I've got a glass of vodka in my hand. Feeling a bit dizzy I decide to sit on the stairs. I can see so many unfamiliar faces that I feel uncomfortable. They're all so different. I know only a few of them but I'm not in the mood of making new friends now. I start to search for Ellie in the crowd, it's quite hard due to the pale lights inside. Everyone is dancing and the whole crowd blurs into one. The music is pretty great so I just sit quietly for a minute or two until I see Ralph.
"Hey dude have you met Ellie? She disappeared."I ask.
"No, I haven't, but I don't even mind it man. She's probably making out with someone in one of the rooms."
"How dare you?"
That's the only thing I can say as I start to feel the effect of the vodka on me. I mumble up the stairs to the second floor.
"Have you seen Ellie?"I ask from a random guy, I don't have an idea who he is and I'm too drunk to even care. He's got quite a nice beard and a moustache tho and he's wearing a funny T shirt with cats on it. He seems to be a nice kid.
"No, I haven't, sorry."he says crossing his arms and walks away.
Fuck I just can't believe that I can't find my girlfriend in a bloody house.
"HEEEEY EVERYOOOONE ATTENTION PLEEEEEEASE!"I shout out of control.
"HAS ANYONE SEEN ELLIE?"I ask still yelling.
I don't get an answer just some sentences like; "Who the hell is that guy?" or "Who the fuck is Ellie?"
Nice. I am walking through the corridor. Suddenly someone grabs my arm. I look at that someone in shock. It's just a poor girl looking at me sadly.
"What's wrong with you?" I smile at her in confusion. I can't articulate, what I'm saying is cannot be understood.
"I don't want you to get upset bro but I'm pretty sure that your Ellie is right inside that room with another guy."
I start to laugh as the words roll out of her mouth. I can't imagine how is that even possible. Ellie can't cheat on me. She just can't do this to me. I approach the room quietly and open the door. What I see makes me feel sober. There are some situations which are so unbelievable that you even forget that you are drunk. Well this is one of those.
I can see Ellie on top of a guy, both naked and kissing like crazy. This picture hits me like a truck. They don't even realise that I entered so I decide to go away as quietly as I came. I close the door and all I can feel are hot and salty tears running down on my face. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck. Why is this happening? The night was about to be awesome and now I'm here crying because of a disloyal bitch. I have to find a place to be alone. Yeah, bathrooms are perfect for this purpose. I rush into the bathroom and in my embarrassment I crawl into the bathtub. I'm just sitting in it, crying like a baby. I feel so betrayed and angry that I have to let the stress out. I start to shout as loud as I can. I don't care who hears me. I need to do this. My voice suddenly goes away so I lean back again in the bathtub and continue crying. Until a few minutes later someone comes in. The random boy with the cat T shirt.
He looks at me in horror.
"Am I disturbing?"
"No...please stay"I sob silently.
"All right. Actually I have to pee but we can talk if you want to."
I just nod and also try to smile.
"Will you let me join you in the bathtub, mate?"
I make some space for him and wipe my face with a small towel I found a moment ago on the floor.
"So."he begins after he squeezed himself in.
"Let's introduce ourselves."the random guy says and puts a wide smile upon his face.
"Hi, I'm Dan, I'm 19 and I really want to die."
"Hello Dan. Nice to meet you. I'm Kyle, 20 and I won't let you die."
I lift my head up to look at his face. That sentence of his was full of hope for me.