What A Lie Looks Like | ✓

1.18: sephine

I currently have a headache from the pulsing sound of music that is playing loud enough to rattle the window panes on the house. I wouldn't even call it music either. Just people talking fast enough that you can't understand them and bass-thumping loud enough you can't think.

In my defense, I didn't want to come. Too many temptations and all of them are bad for me.

To avoid Liv's complaining, I wore a tube top that should be illegal to wear when it's this cold outside and a pair of skinny jeans that I had to hardcore negotiate with Liv instead of the skirt she wanted me to wear. My hair was down, covering my open back leaving my entire stomach on view for the whole party to see. Still, no one seems to notice because it's what everyone was wearing.

I'm holding a can of Coke and leaning against the bar while half of my grade made a fool of their drunken selves on the makeshift dance floor. It must be nice to let loose like that.

"What's your story?" A guy yells over the music after settling into a spot next to me.

"What makes you think I have a story?" I reply, taking a sip out of my drink.

The stranger gives me a bored look, "I think it's quite obvious considering you seem to be one of the only sober people here."

"Do you go to Hermon?" I ask, looking over his face for any familiar features.

"No, Weatherly, but some of my friends go to Hermon, and I got dragged here with them. Something about them not letting me spend New Years alone."

I nod, agreeing with him, "Sometimes it's better to be alone."

He smiles next to me, "No girl without a story would say something like that. Care to take a step onto the deck away from the loud music?"

I grimace as the bass reverberates through my head, "I don't know your name."

"Chris."

"You aren't going to roofie my drink and then push me over the railing, are you?" I tease, and he groans, hitting his head with his hand.

"Damn, you caught me." Instead of walking away, I follow Chris along the outskirts of the dance floor until we reach a backdoor that I hadn't even realized was there. It's quieter out here, and definitely colder my body reminds me after goosebumps ripple up all over my bare skin. "Do you need a jacket?" He asks, looking my outfit over, and I shake my head, covering my bare stomach with my arms.

"I'm good. Thanks for offering though."

He gives me a grin that I can't help but return as the wind tousles his dark hair. "So why are you sober and alone tonight."

I take a deep breath of the cold air and look out at the ordinary backyard in front of my eyes. There's a playground with a built-in sandbox, swings, and a dog house. "I'm avoiding my boyfriend."

He nods all knowingly, "I should have known there was a guy."

I almost don't hear what he says though, because I'm trying to imagine myself as a child climbing up backward on the playground. "You know I never had one of those when I was younger?"

Chris follows my gaze to the playground, "A backyard?"

My throat tightens, "Yeah. I grew up in a boarding school in Seattle. Not much room for playgrounds when your busy dancing all the time."

He whistles low, "Sounds like you have some deep-rooted issues."

It was meant to be a joke, but it hits closer to home than he knows, "You have no idea." I tease back, and he chuckles.