Oblivious

Chapter 32: The Party

I locked the apartment door as we headed down the hallway towards the stairs. 

I began to fiddle with the keys in my hands, not really noticing that I was doing it, as I followed his path.

"Do you want me to put the keys in my pocket?" Craig turned around and held out his hand, the other in his hoodie pocket. His hand indicated to me that he was the one that wanted them in his pocket.

"Sure," I obliged as I gave them to him and he put them in his front pocket. I wiggled my fingers as if the keys were still in my possession before cracking my knuckles with my thumbs on both hands.

He frowned for a second and I thought he was just going to tell me how gross it was and how I shouldn't do it, but instead he looked at me with empathetic eyes.

I flashed a smile as I awkwardly laughed a "what?"

He mirrored my smile before asking "you nervous?"

I guess I was. I looked down at the floor as he slowed down to walk next to me and put his arm around me.

"A little..." I reached up for his fingers over my shoulder and started playing with them, reminding me of our first trip to Starbucks when I did the same thing.

"You'll be fine," He said reassuringly.

Personally, I didn't think so, but I didn't protest.

We made it downstairs and climbed into his car where we started our 12 minute journey. 

Evan doesn't live too far. 

I tapped my foot in the car as I watched the buildings whiz by us. It was 7:33 so the city was already lit up with scattered apartment window lights. Occasionally I would see a person hanging out on their balcony, often having a smoke.

I wanted to roll my window down and stick my head out like a dog, but I spent a lot of time getting ready so I refrained to prevent ruining my curled hair or mascara. 

"What time did you want to get home by?" He interrupted the peaceful silence.

I shifted my attention from the window over to him and pressed my lips together as I pondered.

"Hmm, I don't know, is there a specific time that he wants everyone out by?"

He shook his head, "not that I know of..."

I shrugged my shoulders, even though he was paying attention to the road. "It doesn't really matter to me then, whenever you wanna go I guess,"

"Okay,"

I looked down at my chipped red nail polish that I forgot to take off and started scratching at it, trying to get it off. My top was a tight gray t-shirt, so the red didn't really go well with it. Craig convinced me to go casual and comfy because it would help me stay relaxed and calm if I were to get overwhelmed. And he said he thinks my butt looks cute in these jeans so of course it was a no-brainer for me.

We quickly made it to Evan's house which had lots of cars parked in the driveway. It was at this point that the size of the party had started to sink in and I started feeling butterflies again. His house had a very modern look to it, lots of squares and dark tones. I could faintly hear the bass of a song pumping against the windows. 

I exhaled as I stared at the house and Craig got out of the car. As he shut the door and left me in the suffocating silence, I unbuckled my seat belt and whispered to myself "It's just a party Jordan."

I wiped my sweaty hands on the thighs of my jeans before Craig politely opened my door for me, inviting the refreshing sound of outside back into the car.