the purge - matthew espinosa [a / u]

chapter five.

chapter five.

after a long, defeating journey back to matthew's house, stopping and scurrying into relatively decent hiding spots to avoid conflict- and death for that matter- we'd finally gotten back. we'd all crashed on the couch, a few disappointed sighs, as well as those of relief. now all we had to do was wait, wait till morning, and maintain an optimistic attitude for the time being. oh, and of course, stay safe.

it was about 10:30 p.m. by the time we'd gotten back to our little party, arriving quicker than i'd thought, probably for the best. that meant there was still eight and a half hours left of this waiting and anticipating; as to how long of it i would last through, who knows. something about sitting around, doing absolutely nothing helpful to jack and i's parents felt wrong, but it was nearly our only option, other than wandering the dangerous streets on a dangerous night doing dangerous things. and i think it was obvious what choice we'd all agreed on.

finally, after laying around, taking off all of the gear we'd strapped on, letting our heartbeats slow down to a normal pace, my brother spoke, taking me out of my thoughts. "guys, i say we just do what we would on any other night, turn on some music and dance, eat, talk," he began, "maybe even a round or two of truth or dare," jack added with a wink, gently nudging jacey's side.

i was thankful for my brother's sudden enlightenment, and his attempt at distracting is from what was going on outside, but regardless of what we did tonight, nothing would keep my mind off of wondering where my parents could be.

"i'm with jack," sammy chimed in, sitting up and propping each elbow on his knees.

matt gave me a questioning look and i nodded. he gave me a warm smile and whispered to me. "we can hang out down here for a little bit, and then i've got a surprise for you," he said, wrapping an arm around my waist. i felt the heat rise up in my cheeks at the thought of this surprise. birthday... surprise... i think it was easy to see what could come from this. but, nervous as i was, i nodded, planting a quick kiss on his cheek.

minutes later, the remix of foreign by trey songz and justin bieber was blaring from the surround-sound, the bass thumping throughout the walls. bodies writhed as we all laughed and smiled, dancing around. even kassidy looked like she was having a good time, engaging in multiple conversations.

as we all sang off tune, bumping into eachother, driblets of punch getting on the rug, i felt happy. maybe this birthday wouldn't be totally awful. next the song no interruptions by hoodie allen came on, and matthew sang along with a cheeky grin. "i'll give it to you no interruptions," he chuckled while shimmying. i slowly inches backwards, bumping into violet.

"you're such a nerd," she teased matt, rolling her eyes. we burst into giggles as matt just stood there, pouting.

"oh, you big baby, get over here," i grinned. he quickly pulled my close, wrapping and arm around my waist and then slinging me over his shoulder.

"matt!" i squealed as he pushed through our friends to the stairs. i kicked and squirmed as he rushed up the stairs with no trouble. so this is what football did to ya, eh.

"go matt, go matt!" johnson cheered. i could hear him laughing.

"get some!" sammy shouted and i lifted my head up to see my bestfriend hip-thrusting, and my brother had a mixture of disgust and irritation in his eyes. brielle shot me a quick wink, and jacey gave me a thumbs up as we rounded the corner, walking down the hall to his room. i could hear burnie barking from inside his parents room when matthew tossed me on the bed and slammed the door, switching the light on.

"cover your eyes!" matthew said with a giddy smile. i sat up and pulled my legs up on the bed, sitting criss-cross but arranging my skirt so that nothing showed.