The Ride of My Life (an Ansel Elgort story)

Chapter 45

Lucy's POV

Ansel must see the worry in my eyes because he takes my hand and says, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just a little overwhelmed. That's all."

"Everything will be fine. When you're with me, you're safe." He squeezes my hand and I smile. I'm so lucky to have someone looking out for me.

Cory and Kat have hit it off and already went into the house, leaving us on the sidewalk outside.

Since neither of us drink, it makes me happy knowing we'll be able to keep things under control. Well, at least keep ourselves under control.

We get into the house and it reeks of spilled liquor and body odor. It's very crowded. The music is so loud that I can feel it in the floorboards.

There's no use in looking for Kat or Cory. They're long gone by now. I just have to try my best to stay with Ansel.

"Do you want a drink?" Ansel yells over the music, adding hand gestures to make sure I understood.

"Water!" My voice sounds so small that I'm not sure he hears me right until he nods. He pulls my hand through the crowd and onto a deck out of the back of the house. It's so much quieter.

Ansel opens a cooler, pulls out two bottles of water, and hands one to me. I open it and smell it to make sure it's not vodka or something.

"Are you having fun yet?" Ansel asks with a cheeky grin.

"Best day of my life." I say, sarcastically. I can't help but feel like a buzzkill. I'm only 18, so that's one reason I don't want to drink. Then again, most 18 year olds get drunk or stoned every night.

Part of me wants to let loose, get drunk and high and sleep with every guy possible. But the smarter and more responsible part of me knows that if I do that then I'll ruin my chances of a good future.

"Hey, why aren't you guys drinking?" A familiar voice comes up to us. My back is facing the person, but I can already see the fury in Ansel's eyes. I don't even want to see who it is.

Curiosity gets the best of me and I cautiously turn around. Ansel moves to stand next to me and puts a protective arm around me.

It's Chase.

Is he really going to be at every party I go to? Maybe I'll just stay home from now on.

"Why the hell are you here?" Ansel snaps at him.

"I'm here to party, man." His words are slurred and his posture is slumped, so I'm guessing he's drunk, again. What a surprise.

"You know this is a party for college kids. Are you even smart enough to get into college? Better yet, are you even smart enough to read?" Ansel says as I try to hide my laugh.

"Look, dude. I'm here to have a good time."

"Just stay away from us, asshole." Ansel leads me back into the house and we find an empty room to sit down in.

"I'd take you home, but I don't want to leave Cory and Kat. And there's no way we'll find them right now."

"Why is it that every party we go to, something happens in the first 10 minutes and it gets ruined?" I laugh.

"I'll tell you why, it's Chase. I can't stand him anymore." He makes a scoffing sound.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"If it wasn't for me, you'd still be friends with him." I look down at my hands.

Ansel grabs my hands and I look into his beautiful brown eyes.

"Listen, you have nothing to be sorry for. Because of you, I saw who he truly is. He's a dick." We laugh.

"Very, very true."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After about an hour, we go searching for Kat and Cory. We get lucky and find them playing beer pong. They're both quite drunk, so we have to help them walk to the car.

"I want... French fries!" Cory yells from the back seat, his words barely understandable.

"You can get French fries tomorrow." Ansel calmly says as he drives.

"No. NOW!" Cory yells even louder. Drunk people are like toddlers. If this is what parenting is like then maybe I don't want kids.

"Where are we?" Kat asks sleepily. I don't answer because I know she doesn't really want to know. The alcohol is speaking for her.

What a great first 'date' for Kat and Cory. They both get hammered and probably found out nothing about each other. So much for Ansel's genius plan.