Penny For a Thought

Three Cents

An acquaintance of mine who was finishing his last year of university called me to let me know of a get together that was going to happen at his flat, or as you Americans call it, an apartment. I knew him because he was member of my rival school and our first meeting was at a hockey game.

Have you ever been to a hockey game? They are quite fantastic. A group of dim-witted buffoons and drunks all gather around to cheer on violence. It's not unlike football. Although, I understand football less than I do hockey.

Anyway, he invited me and of course, I went. I went because it was his a way for me to congratulate him on graduating and free drinks. Who can pass that up?

The flat was crowded, booming with music, people conversing with strangers as thought they'd known each other their whole lives. So I stuck myself at the pretend bar and chatted with a few gentlemen who came and went as the girls caught their eyes or left them. Drunk girls are not my type, it seems too degrading to seduce a woman when she's inebriated.

But there was a group that caught my eye. One girl seemed completely shy to be around these people. She clung to another boy's arm, which made me wonder if they were together and hence why I never bothered trying after her. She was sipping from a bottle of water, wasn't dressed up, and kept looking down. She was intriguing. But in my mind, she belonged to someone else.

Hours later, I was standing by the DJ, talking to my friend who had invited me to the party. He introduced me to a girl there. She was by me the whole conversation. But in the midst of the crowd I saw the girl I saw earlier, stumbling and being pushed by the crowd. So I excused myself from the group and walked up to her as quickly as I could before she got hurt.

Even then, all I could think of was her.

I grabbed her elbow gently, so she wouldn't get scared. She swiftly turned to face me, but she couldn't see me. Her eyes were glazed over. I realized then she was either drunk, or on some other form of influence.

"Are you alright, love?" I asked in her ear so she would hear me.

"What?" She woozed out.

"How much alcohol did you drink?" I tried again. She frowned as she thought about her answer. Then kept looking strangely with her glazed eyes at the people around her.

"No alcohol, thank you I don't drink." She mumbled looking around. Something was wrong with her. So I decided to lead her to my group and ask if anyone knew her. She followed me with no trouble as I still had hold of her arm. We got to the group and she was still very much unfocused.

"Do any of you know who she is?" I questioned as soon as I got back to the group. They all took a good look at the girl with hair below the shoulder in a black long sleeve shirt with simple denim trousers on. A friend of the one who invited me pointed at her and filled us in on who she was.

"She's Caleb's sister!" He exclaimed. "He didn't want to leave her home alone, so he brought her along. Where'd he go?" None of us except for this friend of friend knew a Caleb or his sister. My friend nudged my arm and nodded to the girl who was starting to sway lightly, almost leaning on me.

"What's wrong with her, man?" My friend asked.

"I have no idea." I frowned at her body language. She was so unaware of what was going on, she didn't even pay attention to me still holding her arm, keeping her from falling probably. She needed to be away from people, she needed air, quiet. She was clearly disoriented.

"I'm going to take her to the balcony in your room is that alright?" I turned to my friend to ask the question. I knew where his room was, and she needed supervision and space. "Try to get him to find her brother and come for her there." I nodded to the other man looking at his phone for the purpose (hopefully) of finding this girls brother.