Late Night Company

six

As the door opened my nostrils were flooded with the smell of must and alcohol.

Jasmine, who only once mentioned protocol if I lost her, left me as soon as we passed the threshold. Ironic I know.

I began looking around and observing all the students that I went to school with everyday. I have never felt so out of place, yet this is where they fit in.

I catch a glimpse of Josh walking towards what seemed to be the kitchen and I walked towards him. Standing by the entry I watched him kick back a beer and laugh at a joke made by one of his friends. As I caught one of them staring at me, Jake turned around and threw his hands up in the air.

"Lillian! You made it! Babe, look, come meet some people." He stammered out and grabbed my waist, forcing me towards the strange crowd. 

Scanning their eyes over my body, the boys regarded me with smirks on their faces as if they were aware of something I was oblivious to. 

"Boys, this is Lillian, Lil this is Brian, Joseph, Mark, and Logan." I smiled at all the boys, but I hope that Jake knew I would never be able to remember their names. 

Josh guided us away from the boys as they dispersed and as I turned I almost ran into a couple making out against the counter.  My apology is probably not heard, so I continue out the door of the kitchen. Josh offered me a red cup, assuming it was filled with alcohol, I held onto it but didn't risk taking a sip. He mumbled something about beer pong and I nodded my head, following along.

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Five rounds of beer pong, Josh reining as ring leader, he was drunk off his rocker and I told him I had to go pee, but really I needed a few minutes away from him. He was such a loud drunk. 

On my way to the bathroom, I caught sight of Jasmine headed up the stairs and knew I was losing her for the night. The line for the bathroom was at least fifteen minutes long, but I didn't mind the wait. Jake was no longer fun to be around, he was very sloppy and yelled at everyone all the time. A girl turned around and smiled at me as her face lit up in recognition. I also remembered her as a girl that sat with Jake and his friend group at lunch, I think her name was Harley or something like that.

"Hi! I know you! The boys at my table talk about you all the time! Are you and Jake together yet? I really hope so, I am currently rooting for him to win!" My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, did she mean she hope he won beer pong? Because he was currently rocking the world at that, but the pit in my stomach told me that there was a deeper meaning to what she has said. I wanted to question her on it more, but the line had moved and she dissipated into the bathroom. 

After finishing my business, I ran into Josh on his way to the dance floor, he yelled for me to join him and I looked down at the cup in my hand, and decided that the only way I was making it through dance floor time with him was to get as drunk as he was, so I downed my cup and grabbed his, doing the same. My face scrunched up as I winced at the burn it brought to my throat. 

For the remainder walk to the dance floor, I began grabbing every cup I saw and drinking it to further myself into oblivion and by the time we reached it and he slung me up against his body, I could barely feel his nasty, sweaty body lazily grinding against me. I suddenly feel out of element and also sick, I am not this type of girl and as far as I can remember from Jasmine and I getting into dads liquor cabinet, I could not handle my alcohol. 

********************

Around forty-five minutes later I had separated from him a bit and could feel my body slipping around without my permission. My body, out of control from my mind, began crawling to the coffee table and urged to crawl on top. 

I had never been a terrible dancer and I actually enjoyed dancing half of the time. However, I didn't think I would enjoy dancing when I had no idea what I was doing, but I think that was the least of my brains worries. 

Swaying my hips around, I began attracting attention from the people around me, and the eyes seemed to make my body even hotter. Because of that, my brain decided that fanning myself, with the bottom of my shirt, was the only option. I was pretty toned, blessed with a natural metabolism, and wasn't concerned as my shirt lifted from my stomach to fan my upper body. I was however concerned, when people began to yell "take it off" and my brain was not in the right state of mind to defer from that decision.  

The second I let it fall and began to reach for the hem, I was jerked down from the table and the people began yelling a my kidnapper. I was thrown over the shoulder of a very muscular body, the head covered by a hood, and all I could think about was how my stomach was churning as I was jolted down the driveway. 

"I think I'm going to be sick" I muttered to my captor, in which he responded by throwing open the door of his truck and sitting me in the passenger seat. 

"Yeah well you deserve it, what the hell were you thinking? If I hadn't have stopped you, you would have pulled a strip show for everyone in there." He huffed and flipped down his hood to which I finally received an answer to who he was: Marcus. 

"I'm sorry, I just was tired of dealing with Jake sober-minded and thought the only way to stand him was to catch up. I'm glad you saved me though, I don't know what I would have-" and then I threw up, projectile vomit and he barley moved out of the way, only a bit skimming his jogging pants. 

"Oh my God Lil, I'm taking you home" He shoved my leg in the truck and walked over to hop in, clearly frustrated. I just sat beside him, embarrassed and groaning as I felt the beginning stages of a headache. 

He turned the radio to a low volume and I could see the bruising on his face and knuckles from a few nights ago when oddly enough, we were in opposite situations. I turned to glance out the window, slowly drifting off until my vision faded into complete darkness. 

**********

My body jolts as I feel myself being lifted from where I was previously seated. I pry my eyes open to reveal Marcus carrying my body closer to my front door. Embarrassed that he was currently carrying me, I spoke finally.

"I can walk, you can let me down." I wiggled my body more, but he remained holding my body tightly against his. 

"Lillian just let me carry you, were almost to the door." The sternness in his voice persuaded me to keep my voice down and not argue the situation. Instead, I relaxed my head into the crook of his neck and inhaled his sent, closing my eyes. 

We reached the door and he easily opened it, closing it with his foot, and we headed upstairs to my room. I assumed it was around one or two o'clock and that Rosie and Ava were asleep. 

As my door became closer and closer, my brain began to panic, not knowing how to end this awkward night; however, as soon as Marcus sat me on my feet in front of my bed, the only thought on my mind was how fast I could reach my toilet to empty my alcohol submerged stomach. 

"Shh, it's okay" Marcus muttered as he rubbed comforting circles on my back while I was face deep in the toilet. The Marcus that was currently present was unlike any Marcus I've seen. He has never before shown this caring side of him, and if I wasn't so embarrassed, I'd actually be enjoying it. I leaned back, Marcus pulling my hair up and sloppily tying a hair bow around it to keep it from my face, as I silently regretted every decision I made tonight. 

"Angel, I don't understand why you let him do this to you" I scoffed, that's the funny thing, nobody did this to me, I did it to myself because of my urge to fit in where I don't belong. I didn't say that though, I only managed to mutter "It's not his fault" yet, I think Marcus still understood what I meant. 

It was comical that someone I didn't know existed, recently almost always ended up in my bathroom for some type of emergency. Recent ones including alcohol. 

Marcus helped me up off the floor and stood by me as I brushed my teeth, then stood outside the bathroom door as I changed into my pajamas. After I was laid in bed, he sat on the side and we fell into a comfortable silence before I moved over and patted the empty bed space beside me, welcoming his warmth for the remainder of the night. And I was completely comfortable with the thought of that.