I Should Be Studying

02: I Shouldn't Be Partying

Word Count: 1,996

By the time Colleen is done "beautifying" me, the sun has set and the moon has come out. The music is blaring outside and shouting and laughing and chanting and cheering is going on. I can only imagine how loud it will be when we actually open the door.

Colleen fluffs her hair as a last touch then links our arms and walks us to the door.

"Wait," I jitter. "I'm nervous."

"Don't be," she coaxes. "Just go with the flow. You've got this! You're a single college girl! Enjoy it while the night lasts."

She opens the door and the party is already at full blast. In just a half hour or so the room went from the maximum of 10 people to the minimum of 200. Practically every sorority and fraternity will be here since Colleen is a social butterfly.

Virtually everyone is holding a plastic cup in their hand and taking intermitted drinks. As we walk down the stairs, I feel as if all eyes are on us.

"Col, they're staring at us," I mutter to her, loud enough to barely be heard over the music.

"Because we obviously look hot," she says flipping her curls behind her shoulder. "Follow me," she says into my ear. "Jamie told me where he is, which means Darragh is somewhere around. It's a fraternity thing with them."

Colleen takes my hand and we walk side by side, out the sliding door, to the backyard and see Darragh along with some of his fraternity friends standing by one of the lawn chairs, deciding on who to dare to push Aaron Fletcher, my already-drunk classmate, into the pool.

I see Niall, who no longer is wearing his beanie but instead his dark-blonde hair has a slight tousle, at the opposite end of the pool. I smile at him as he looks up and his eyes widen at the sight of me, which I take in offence. I sigh, looking down and scuffing my feet, with no desire to be here anymore.

As we're about a few meters away, I begin to feel jittery again. When she's close enough, she taps on his shoulder and he smiles widely at her.

"Hey Colleen," he shouts, lifting his drink to the air and bringing her into a hug as she's still holding onto my hand. "Thanks for inviting us."

"Well it's not a party without you guys," she giggles, pulling away and tugging me a bit closer. "I wanted to introduce you to my friend, Evelyn. She's from the states and goes to uni with us."

His brown eyes turn to me and my heart begins to thump. He smiles oh-so-sweetly and I'm lost for words.

"Hello," he mumbles. "I'm Darragh."

"I know," I giggle.

"Why have I never seen you before? I'm sure I would've remembered you." he says, playing with the black ring pierced through his lip.

"I don't dress-," I begin but my hand is quickly squeezed by Colleen and remember what she told me about a persona which would lure him in. "You obviously weren't looking hard enough," I correct, making him smirk and his whole group, including Col, burst out in 'ooh's.

"Well, I found you now." He smiles as he bites down on his lip. "Can I get you a drink?"

"Oh, I don't-" Colleen squeezes my hand again so I quickly stop talking and correct myself once again. "I would love a drink." His smile widens.

"Don't go anywhere, ok," he jitters, walking back slowly and holding his arms out to make sure I don't leave.

He bumps into one of his friends and quickly apologises, handing him his drink and jogging to the closest keg, leaving me and Colleen laughing to ourselves.