Written in the Stars

Four

Luke and I have to park a block away and walk back to Josh's house. His is the last place I want to be and if Luke had told me he was the one having the party, I would've flat out refused. In the end, Mum was the one who convinced me to go instead of staying at home with her. She pulled the 'Dad would want you to go out and enjoy your final year of school' card, so I really couldn't say no without upsetting her.

Luke and I walk in and straight away he's accosted by his football mates. There's a lot of backslapping and secret handshake stuff. You wouldn't know they'd finished at the bottom of the table last year the way they carry on with each other. They're all just heroes in their own minds. Always have been.

"Come on," Luke says, grabbing my hand and pulling me through the crowd. We weave our way past dancing, sweaty bodies. I don't recognise half of these people but I'm not surprised. It would be just like Josh to have an open house party. I follow Luke through to the kitchen, where there are empty bottles all over the island bench and eskies and kegs shoved in wherever they'll fit.

"What do you want to drink?" Luke asks, sifting through the ice in one of the eskies.

"Surprise me," I reply. "Just nothing alcoholic."

"Suit yourself," he says. He scrounges around and hands me a Coke and opens a beer for himself.

Some girls stumble in in search of more drinks. They pull open the fridge door and take out a bottle of wine.

"Hey, Luke," one of the girls says. "You should come upstairs later. They're playing strip poker."

Luke laughs. "I'll see," he says.

"Sure," she replies, and busies herself trying to pour a drink from a keg. She's failing miserably. I lean over and take the tap from her, hold her cup underneath, and pour her a drink.

"Thanks," she says.

"No problem." Pouring a beer was something Dad taught me. Mum would totally freak out if she knew.

Luke slaps me on the shoulder. "Come on. I'll show you out the back. Wait til you see the pool." He turns and heads out the back door. With nothing better to do, I follow him outside.

It's a lot quieter outside than it is inside. I can hear the thump of the music but it's nowhere near as loud as when we were in the kitchen. There are pink and yellow fairy lights everywhere through the garden, and the pool's shining an iridescent blue. Luke runs over and leaps into a giant beanbag that's sitting beside the gazebo. I wander the long way around the pool, past a couple of people I don't know making out on deck chairs. Doesn't anyone do that in private anymore?

I sit down on a chair beside Luke. "Is this it?" I ask.

Luke laughs. "You're so jealous." He's so right. When we were kids, Luke and I used to talk about buying a place like this when we grew up. Two stories, with ten bedrooms and five bathrooms. A pool, spa and a waterfall that you can dive off of. Now I wonder why anyone would want a house so big.

"So have you decided what you want to do after school yet?" Luke asks, taking a swig of his beer.

"Bumming around I guess."

"Isn't that what we've been doing for the past eleven years?"

"Speak for yourself," I reply. "I've been working my ass off just to get to the formal so I can wear a penguin suit and look like a dick beside you." Luke snorts and leans back into the bean bag.

He sighs. "It's scary isn't it?"

"What is?"

"Growing up," Luke replies.