"How do I look?" I stand in the doorway of Mo's bathroom and smirk at her, wiggling my eyebrows.
"Like a daddy." She sticks her tongue out, in the most sexual way, and winks. I decided on wearing black skinny jeans that make my ass look great, if I do say so myself, and a light pink long-sleeve crop top. What is it with me and long-sleeve crop tops?
"Hm?" Mo asks once she finishes getting dressed.
"Yes. Yes." I say with wide eyes. She laughs and looks in the mirror. She's wearing a black skirt with buttons down the middle and a dark red shirt tucked in. She has her hair straightened, unlike mine which is wavy. She looks stunning.
"Okay. Let's go." She grabs her phone and keys and we leave, luckily going unnoticed by Grant.
We arrive at the house and I look it over as we step up to the doorway. Not bad.
"Terrence said it'd be unlocked." Mo mutters before opening it. There's already more people than there were at Sara's but not as big as I've imagined a college party would be.
We walk in straight to the kitchen where Terrence, Harry, and a few others are.
"Hey." Mo smiles casually.
"Hey." Terrence says with a lip bite. "Lookin' good."
"Thanks." She puts on a smug smile.
Okay, Mo. I haven't seen this side of you but...okay. I'm here for it.
"And the First Noel over here." Terrence points at me. I roll my eyes.
"Let me get you girls a drink." Terrence says and turns toward the counter a few feet behind him. "What would you ladies like?" Mo walks over to him to pick something out, and I awkwardly stand at the counter until I notice a water bottle being set in front of me.
Thanks, Harold.
"Thanks."
"Mhm." He takes a sip of his drink, and I open the water bottle.
"You bitches and dicks wanna play truth or dare?" Terrence asks.
"Yeah, sure. Basic party game, but sure." Mo says.
"Whatever." Harry shrugs. Everybody else in the kitchen agrees to it.
"I think I'll sit this one out." I tell Mo quietly, but apparently Terrence hears it.
"Come on, First Noel, we'll go easy on you." I roll my eyes, once again, at the nickname and sigh, walking to the backyard with them. Are we seriously doing this in the backyard?
I see a fire pit with chairs around them and I sit in a chair right next to Mo. Terrence is next to her and Harry is almost directly across from me.
"Wanna start us off First Noel? Truth or dare?" Terrence asks and I sigh.
"Truth." A few people laugh, including Harry. "Make fun of me all you want, I'm sticking with it." I say, crossing my leg over the other and getting comfortable.
"Okay, then, um..." Terrence puts his finger on his chin as if he's thinking real hard. As if he actually has a brain up there. "Describe your last make-out session. In detail." Terrence folds his hands over his stomach. What a perv.
"I haven't-" I stop myself mid-sentence, knowing everybody is gonna laugh at me. "Never done that." I say it quickly. Rip off the band-aid quick, right?
"You've never made out? Okay, then, have you ever like, kissed anyone?" Terrence asks, clearly surprised.
"No." I shrug and look down at my legs. My eyes find their way up to look at people's reactions. Terrence just looks genuinely shocked and Harry looks deep in thought. I sigh.
"I'm sorry. I know I'm a bit of a dick, but I wouldn't have tried to embarrass you like that, I didn't know."
Woah, there's a nice side to Terrence?
"It's cool." I shrug. I usually don't care about not having my first kiss yet, but in a crowd like this, it's a bit embarrassing.
"Okay, then, how 'bout, um, Mo. Truth or dare?"
The game continues and nobody decides to ask me truth or dare. Thankfully.
I wander around inside, looking for somewhere to go. I find my way to the kitchen again. I stand by the counter awkwardly and lean against it.
"So what have you done?" I hear a voice, and recognize it as Harry's, obviously because of the accent.
"Not much." I lightly laugh. Harry clicks his tongue three times.
"What are we gonna do with you?" He opens the fridge and takes out a water bottle. He holds it up to me as if asking if I want one, so I grab it from him and thank him quietly. He grabs one for himself. "Noelle." He says in a way that tells me he's asking if that's my name or not.
"Yeah." I nod. He laughs a little before drinking his water. "What?"
"Nothing." He shakes his head. He's probably thinking of that song like Terrence. I mentally roll my eyes as he walks away.
••
I've decided I don't like parties. This whole night has been a bore. Mo checked with me first, but I let her go with Terrence and his friends to dance. So now I'm here.
"Hey, Noelle." Mo comes up to me shyly. I know it immediately: she's drunk.
"You drank, didn't you?"
"Sorry. Terrence says I should stay over. Shouldn't be driving, you know?" She says shyly. Mo gets shy and giggly when she's drunk. That's how I can tell. "You can stay too. Just ask Harry what room, I think." She smiles and nods.
"Okay. Don't get too messed up, Mo." I tell her with an amused smile.
Well, in that case, I wanna go to bed.
However, I'm not sure that I want to ask Harry where to sleep, let alone actually sleep in his house.
I sit on the couch for about an hour, using every ounce of energy I have to stay awake.
"So Terrence tells me you and Mo are staying the night." Harry says as he approaches me. I nod. "You look tired."
"I am."
"K, follow me." I get up and follow him upstairs. He brings me to a room at the end on the right side of the hallway. "Do you need something to sleep in or something."
"No, I'll sleep in this."
"Okay." He shrugs. "Have fun." I roll my eyes as he closes the door. I immediately lie down and crash.
••
I wake up and momentarily forget where I am. I rub my eyes, then curse at myself for forgetting I have makeup on. I wipe underneath my eyes blindly until I can get to the bathroom mirror. I check my phone.
7:34am.
Why did I have to wake up so early?
I slowly open the door and walk out into the hallway. I take slow steps and watch Harry downstairs cleaning. That bitch deserves it. I hear faint humming. Is that him? If it is, it sounds good. It stops for a minute, but then picks back up, this time with lyrics. And they go,
"Her name is Noelle."
