Entropy

Chapter 1: Smoke and Mirrors

The crowd pushed Tina along like a boat among rough surf.

The smell of cigarettes, liquor, and sweat hung in the air, and the music pounded in Tina's ears. Her head throbbed. After spending an hour of chatting outdoors, the party atmosphere inside the house was oppressive in comparison.

Despite not being there long, Tina was ready to leave.

All she had to do was find her friend, Nikki, and have her call the guy that drove them there.

From Tina's perspective, it didn't look like Nikki was anywhere in the living room amongst the dancers.

Tina silently wished that she was Nikki's height, so that she would be able to look over the crowd instead of drowning in it. Unfortunately, she had to ride the flow of the crowd just to get to the kitchen.

Once there, Tina pulled at her red sundress, the skirt of which had ridden up on her voyage there.

Tina spotted blonde hair in a group of people standing by the kitchen sink.

She approached the blonde and tapped her on the shoulder, but recoiled when she turned around.

Tina's face prickled with heat. "Sorry, wrong person," she stuttered before walking away.

Someone gestured for the rest of the group to lean in closer. "Was that a middle schooler?" they said. Another person snickered.

Even though it was a whisper, it was still loud enough for Tina to hear. Everything else became a blur, and the only thing she could hear was her own rapid heartbeat in her ears.

Without thinking, Tina grabbed a can of beer from the table and downed half the contents.

***

Tina had spent the next ten minutes in the backyard, giving herself a pep talk and finishing her drink, before going back indoors and continuing her search.

She had checked every room on each of the three floors, and the buzz was starting to hit her by the time she got back to the first.

There was only one more place to check: the basement.

She grabbed the railing with one hand, and put her other hand on the opposite wall as she carefully made her way down the stairs.

At the bottom, there was a group of people seated in a circle. They were gathered around an empty beer bottle laying on its side. They looked at Tina for only a second, then turned their attention back to the door near the front of the basement.

As soon as Tina reached the bottom step, Nikki came out of the room with a random guy and smudged lipgloss. She was wiping at the corners of her mouth when Tina approached her.

"Tina!" She said with a hiccup. "We were just playing Seven Minutes in Heaven. Wanna join?"

"Uh, actually, can you call your friend?"

"Why?"

"I kinda want to go home."

"Aww, but we're having so much fun!" Nikki said with a certain drunken enthusiasm. "Can't you just play just one round, then we can go?"

Whether it was her desire to fit in with the crowd or the alcohol talking - or both - Tina consented.

When she joined the circle, the girl in charge of the spinner was already choosing the next player. The neck of the bottle passed Nikki and fell upon the tall, skinny boy sitting next to her. He reached for the bottle and spun, getting matched with Tina. Some people in the circle, including Nikki, giggled.

Tina stood up slowly, hoping that her bra stuffing wasn't showing, and she followed the boy to the laundry room.

Before the door closed behind them, she heard Nikki say something along the lines of, "Mark likes going for second base!"

Mark made a growling noise, which he meant to be sexy. Tina sighed and took the socks out of her bra, discarding them on the floor. She looked up at the dimly-lit outline of Mark's face, and she noticed the odd smell coming from his clothes.

"Hey," Mark said. "You're pretty cute."

"Thanks," Tina said, grinning. She was grateful that it was too dark for Mark to see her blushing. "You're kinda hot."

Before he said anything else, Mark reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter. Tina stared wordlessly as the flame flickered to life. Mark took out the blunt he had behind his ear and held it out to her.

"You ever toked up before?"

Tina shook her head. Without thinking, she blurted out, "Could I try it?"

Mark lit the blunt, took a hit, and passed it to her, holding it to her lips. She inhaled too quickly and was left with a nasty cough.

"Take it easy, chica," Mark said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

He took another hit and gave the blunt to her. Her second try was much better.

Somewhere in five minutes, Mark and Tina started feeling each other up, in between shotgunning the smoke into each other's mouths.

Despite the lack of light, Tina felt like she was seeing color for the first time.

Before they could go any further than heavy petting, the timekeeper knocked on the door.

Tina straightened herself out and left the laundry room, sweaty, flushed, and blazed. The smell clung to her clothes and her messy, black hair.

"I think I'll stay a little longer," she said to Nikki as she walked past the circle with a sly smile.

Nikki smirked back, as if she were expecting this to happen.

As Tina walked back upstairs, Mark followed close behind her.

***

The duo spent the rest of their time on the living room couch, completely ignoring the other party-goers. The only focus was on each other and the sudden sparks between them.

When they had done just about anything that could be done while clothed, Mark spoke. "Wanna take this somewhere private?" he asked, eyeing her lustfully.

Before he could get an answer, a loud knock was heard at the door.

Everyone went quiet, but the stereo was still blasting dance music.

Then, there was a mad rush to hide the evidence of any illegal activity.

During the rush, Mark grabbed Tina's arm and made an escape out the back door.

The only other people in the backyard were Nikki, who was smoking a cigarette, and some drunk kid passed out in front of the back gate. Nikki dropped her cigarette on the concrete when Mark nearly ripped the storm door off its hinges.

"Jesus Christ on a cracker," she muttered. "Where's the fire?"

"Cops," Mark said flatly, but with an undertone of panic.

Nikki stomped on her cigarette, and the three of them climbed over the concrete barrier into the alley. At the end, there was a chain-link gate with a lock, but in a stroke of luck, the lock appeared to have been gutted a while back.

When they were a few blocks away from the house, Nikki finally spoke.

"God, I've missed that."

"Some first party, huh, chica?" Mark addressed Tina.

Tina nodded wordlessly.

Before Mark turned to leave them, he took out a marker from his pocket and wrote on the back of Tina's hand. When he was gone, Nikki called her friend to pick them up.

They uneventfully snuck back into Nikki's house, and Tina fell asleep on Nikki's bedroom floor, face down, with her hand cushioning her face.

She woke the next morning and found the ink on her hand faded, but Mark's phone number was printed neatly on her forehead.