The Day Girls Started Chasing Me

Chapter 9

12 hours earlier

"Okay, so we broke into Steve Wrecker's house. Now what do we do?" It was a big house, probably filled with many hiding spots. But no one had arrived to the party yet and it was still pretty empty. I suddenly understood why it was bad I'd arrived so early. No one was here.

Ezra was clicking away at his phone, seemingly preoccupied by the blue lights in his screen. "What we do now is text your date and tell her where to find us."

"You mean Cheryl?" I ask.

"Yes, Adam, who else?" he says a bit withdrawn. "And when she gets here the party will follow."

"Why is that?"

"She's a party animal. You didn't know?" I didn't, but I could see it. The first time I met her she was wearing a weird, animalistic headband. Not to mention it was two in the morning when the evident scent of liquor trailed off of her. Were parties really second nature to her, or maybe, first nature?

"So what do we do in the meantime?" I question.

"Drink and do drugs." I laugh, but he doesn't laugh with me.

"Oh, you're being serious?"

"We can have sex too if that's more your par. But you can't get attached because I'm going to be upfront with you, you're really not my type," he adds. I just stare at him, my eyes wide and jaw open in disbelief. "That one was a joke."

"Oh," I laugh shyly but am still stuck in the disbelief of the whole situation.

"Did someone call a Cheryl?" She appears behind Ezra, startling me from her abruptness.

"Yes, we did." Ezra bends over and gives Cheryl a quick peck on her lips. My eyebrows arch up in confusion as a response.

Cheryl nears me. Her hand grabs the nape of my neck and she pulls me in. I feel a wet substance hit my ear. She pulls back and greets me, "Hello, Adam."

"Don't worry, Adam. She does that to everyone the next time they meet. It's her way of saying she likes you since you left a good first impression for you to have to meet again," Ezra smiles, not that his explanation makes the fact that she licked my ear any less weird.

"H-hi C-cheryl," I smile while at the same time rubbing away the remnants of her tongue from my ear.

"Did you bring the stuff?" Ezra asks Cheryl. With a giddy laugh, Cheryl pulls a brown paper bag from her purse and hands it to him. "Yes! You're the best!"

She giggles and begins up the back steps. "Gentleman, follow me." Ezra speedily races up after her, but I take a minute to ponder by the steps.

Did I really want to go up those steps? There's only one thing college students put in paper bags, and that's a substance I've never messed with before. I could just leave, go back to my unexciting and superficial life. But if I went up that staircase, maybe I'd finally be given the courage to say what was really going on in my mind. Maybe I'd finally be noticed.

Screw it. I follow them up the staircase and into an empty room. We sit on the bed in a circle, the paper bag set in the middle of us. I stare at the bag and hold my breath in anticipation, waiting for what was to come next.

"Cheryl, would you do the honors?" Ezra says.

"Well, of course!" She grabs the bag and sticks her hand in it. Before pulling it out, she looks at both of us with a slap-happy smile on her face. The revelation: a bag of Sour Patch and a Coke bottle? (Yes, actual Coca-Cola.) Ezra squeals and snatches the items while I can't help but be disappointed. I'd expected some sort of illegal substance, the sort of thing that could tear me out of my shell and make this whole party situation a lot easier on me.

"What's wrong, Adam-bum-bum-bum?" Cheryl coos, as if I were a baby. "Why so sad?"

"I'm not sad," I lie, my heart sinking in my chest more and more.

"Yes, you are," she persists. "Why? Were you expecting something more, like . . . coke, but the hard stuff instead of the carbonated stuff?"

"NO!" I answer, maybe too quickly and too defensively.

"Adam, have you ever even had drugs before?" Ezra questions, half the bag of Sour Patch already in his stomach.

"Ah, yeah!" I lie again. But Ezra stares me down which leads me to confess the truth. "No . . . I just got confused because downstairs you said we were going to, and I quote, 'Drink and do drugs,' end quote."

"Yeah, drink," he raises the bottle of Coke, "and do drugs." He raises the bag of Sour Patch. "These things are addictive, like, I'm not even joking."

"Well how was I supposed to know you were speaking figuratively?" I ask bewildered.

"I hang out with Cheryl. At some point she just started rubbing off on me." Ezra retorts defensively.

"Well, I've just never had the real deal before," I finalize, crossing my arms.

"And now you want to?"

"Kind of . . ."

"It's okay Adam-bum-bum-bum," Cheryl condoles, "we've all felt that way at one time or another. I mean, we all get curious. One time, I saw a bee and wondered how it felt like to get stung. I harassed it until I got what I wanted, and then I realized, I'm actually allergic to bees."

"Okay . . ." That's an odd way to comfort someone. But the uneasiness of her story somehow made me feel a little better.

"I'm just saying, if I'd never ventured out and got stung, I never would've known I was allergic. Then if I get stung somewhere in the future and happened to be in a place that's not good for bee stings, I know how to handle myself now." In an odd way, it made sense.

"Look, I've got a little something that I can let you try, but you didn't get it from me," Ezra warns. He pulls out a bottle of what looks like prescription pills and hands me one. I look at the small white pill, a rush of excitement suddenly taking me whole. I throw the pill in my mouth and swallow.

I sit, waiting for it to kick in, but I get nothing. "I don't feel anything."

"Of course you wouldn't. I gave you a 200mg Ibuprofen. At your weight of approximately 110 pounds that does nothing." Ezra laughs as he places the bottle back into his pocket. All I could do was throw him the scariest glare I could muster up, which wasn't very scary considering it had no affect on him. "Adam, you don't have the personality to be doing drugs. I'm telling you, that stuff is only going to mess you up. As your friend who's had experience with that stuff before, trust me when I say it's not worth it."

Friend. He called me his friend. Even Frank hadn't called me his friend before, we kind of just got to that place. But here Ezra was, showcasing that he cared about me and the choices I made.

"Yeah, bees are different than drugs. As your friend too, I also agree with Ezra." Cheryl adds as she puts a hand on my shoulder.

I can only smile, two friends in one day was a lot more than I could take. I was overwhelmed with joy. I looked at Ezra, and then Cheryl, before giving them a solid answer. "Okay guys, I won't do drugs. Now pass me that bag of addictive Sour Patch."

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And that's a wrap! Sorry it's so short, but I promise you, the next chapter is SO going to make up for it.

What do you think will happen in the next chapter? I mean, it's a party! A lot of stuff happens.

Let me know in the COMMENTS below. Don't forget to VOTE if you like it and FOLLOW me to keep up with my postings. Tune in next Wednesday for Chapter 10.

Until next time, PEACE! :D