Looking At Us

12. cody

For those of you who have ever chugged two Monsters at once, congratulations. For those of you who haven’t, I will warn you right now: it will burn your bones to ashes. 

     My friends—Darrin, Sasha, Cori, and Hadley—were all giving me killer support, which was to say, screaming ‘‘Chug! Chug! Chug!’’ right in my ears. And it wasn’t helping that Hadley was sitting the closest to me, right by my legs, her teeth centimeters from my hip. 

     I drank the last sip of the second Monster and inhaled broadly, putting a hand to my stomach like it was about to burst. Everyone clapped. I bent down and kissed Hadley before she made me go crazy. 

     I said, ‘‘Holy freakin’ God, that was shitty. The taste gets to you after a while.’’ 

     Hadley pulled on my ankle and I changed my position from standing to sitting on the table. Everyone was either high or drunk or erotic: Darrin’s ADHD was acting up from the alcohol, so every now and then he did something sexual or stupid; Sasha never broke apart her physical contact with her boyfriend, and she was already high from the seven Advil pills she’d taken for her cramps. The two of them seriously needed to find a private room with a bed in it before they started taking off their clothes in public. 

      Cori was holding a Red Bull in one hand and her phone in the other, texting or sending photos. Her hair was down, and she looked desirable. 

     Hadley kept dropping hints that she wanted to lock me in a room and give me a strip show, but I was pumped. I wasn’t ready for seduction yet. Those two Monsters were creating a demon inside of me. 

     Darrin and Sasha started making out. Sasha put her hand in Darrin’s pants. 

     ‘’Oh my God,’’ Cori said. ‘’Go find a bed, you two.’’ 

     ‘‘Guest room’s free,’’ I offered. 

     So they staggered to the guest room, and Darrin’s shirt was off before they even closed the door. 

     Triggered, Hadley put herself in my lap and rubbed her mouth against my neck, teeth brushing my skin. She looked truly incredible with her dark, silky hair and the turquoise tank-top she was wearing, besides the fact that her shorts were tiny. My hands rubbed up and down her thighs, feeling her cool skin, thinking about the time we’d had a shower together. 

     ‘‘Talk to Cris lately?’’ I asked Cori. 

     She shook her head gently. ‘’He texted Megan the other night, though. Didn’t you hear?’’ 

     Hadley stopped trying to get my shirt off for a second. ‘‘Megan’s a whore.’’ 

     ‘‘She is,’’ Cori agreed, shrugging like it didn’t matter to her. ‘‘But she doesn’t know it yet. She’s too innocent, hanging around with Shain and all.’’ 

     ‘‘Can I tell her?’’

     ‘‘Not yet. I’ll tell you when you can, though.’’ Cori took another sip of her Red Bull and pulled off her blouse, revealing a skimpy tank-top like Hadley’s. At fourteen, I was only just beginning to find out that just a sardonic smile could make girls take their clothes off. 

     ‘’I think Shain’s a lesbian,’’ Hadley said, massaging the skin just above the waist of my jeans. ‘’Or bisexual.’’ 

     ‘’I think she was bisexual for a bit, right before she dated that creep Levon.’’ 

     ‘‘Either that, or Levon’s gay,’’ I said. 

     We laughed. The high of the two Monsters was beginning to wear off of me, plus the fact that Hadley had unbuttoned my jeans and was provocatively tracing her fingers along my chest, and I was starting to lose it.