your body is a weapon → brad simpson | ✓

thirty four

The holiday went pretty slow considering I was alone most of the time. With my dad away and Brad at the tracks over the weekend, the only exciting thing that happened was the New Years party that Brad is holding at his house.

"You're wearing the dress I bought you, right?" Brad asks as he calls me. He's on the way here to pick me up and I'm ready to go. The party doesn't officially start for half an hour but Brad wants to pick me up and have me there first before it gets too crowded.

"Yeah," I say, looking over myself in the mirror. The baby pink dress is nice, and it clings to me comfortably. It ends midthigh and I worry in case it's too short but I shook it off and wore it anyway. It's too late to change now, anyway.

"Right, I'm pulling on to your driveway. Come on down, we have to get back quick."

I end the call and grab my bag since Brad wanted me to stay over at his house for the night, considering it was New Years and we'd end up staying late anyway. My dad didn't even know since he's not coming back until New Year's Day.

I climb into Brad's passenger seat and he reserves off of my driveway with ease. "You alright?"

"Fine," I say, looking out the window as we make our way down my road towards his house. "Is everything set up at your house?"

"Yeah, the boys finished it off," Brad assures me. "Which means we have half an hour for pre-drinks before everyone arrives."

"I'm not drinking too much tonight," I inform him. I'm not really a drinker when it comes to parties anyway, but I'll usually have a couple cups to keep myself buzzed and awake.

When we arrive at Brad's he parks his car in the garage so it was safe from any drunken people vandalising it. We walk into his house to see the kitchen counter filled with different types of alcohol and a couple of soft drinks, too.

"Do you wanna take your stuff into my room?" Brad asks. That's where I'm staying tonight since he felt bad if he just left me in one of the guest rooms.

I told him it as fine and that he didn't need to worry but he was pretty adamant that I stay with him. Probably because there's going to be people passed out around the house until tomorrow when they'd get kicked out.

I'd never properly seen Brad's room, since we mostly hang out at my house. I had seen it once or twice, briefly, but we usually hang out in his lounge when I'm here since we usually watch tv together.

"Put your stuff by my bed, if you'd like," Brad suggests as he opens the door. We step inside and I take in his room before placing my bag on his bed.

His walls were white like his bedsheets and he had minimal photos standing on the drawers in his room. There was barely any decoration and it was quite a clean and simple room.

I tilt my head to the side as a photo catches my eye. I lift it up in my hands. "Is this me?" He shuts the door and walks over to me, looking at the photo frame before smiling slightly.

"Yeah," he says. It's a picture of us when we were laying on the sofa. We were asleep and I assume one of the boys took it without telling me. "I thought it was cute so I printed it off. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course I don't," I say, putting down his photo frame and turning to him since he was standing behind me.

"Do you want something to eat?" He asks curiously and I shrug. He takes my hand softly and guides me downstairs into the kitchen where the other boys stood, already drinking.

"Jamie!" James cheers as I walk through the door. He pulls me in for a hug and I let out a small laugh before greeting all three of them. "The party starts in ten minutes, people are waiting outside. Are you excited?"

I think I'm more excited to go to sleep than for this party, but I promised Brad I'd come. "I'm really excited. I'll see you at the beer pong table?"

"I practically live there," James scoffs and Tristan agrees with him. I look over to Brad who had made a cup of tea for me. I take it with a smile, sipping on the hot drink.

After ten minutes, there's knocks on the door and people begin to crowd the house. It doesn't take long before I'm being pushed around by people scurrying to get to the dance floor or consume the free alcohol. This is probably the busiest party I've ever been to.

Brad has disappeared in the crowd and I felt like an old lady walking around with a cup of tea so I end up watching James' first game of beer pong against some random guy that's in uni with him.

I lean against the wall, occasionally cheering on James' opponent to wind James up. My eyes would flicker across the crowd in hope to see Brad and each time he'd have a different girl pressed against the wall with him. I don't mind that he's left me to find a hookup, as long as he uses protection.

"He shoots and," James throws his ball and waits patiently for the ball to go into the final up. He cheers when it does. "He scores!"

The opponent groans and takes the cup before downing it. Another game begins and this time Tristan plays.

"I'm gonna make myself a drink," I say to James who was keeping me company. He smiles and tells me he'll still be here when I'm finished.

I walk into the kitchen, not surprised to see pretty much all of the alcohol that the boys had bought, completely vanished. I put my empty mug on the side and wait for the kettle to boil.

I hear footsteps behind me and Brad walks in with a sour face. I smile over at him. "Hey, Brad. You enjoying yourself?"

"I guess," he mumbles, grabbing a clean red cup and filling it up with water. He clearly isn't happy, I could tell. "Are you?"

"I'm fine," I say, the kettle clicking and I pick it up to pour the boiling water into the mug. He hovers by my side until I've finished my tea and I turn to him with a small smile. "Where've you been, anyway? I've seen you a few times with some different girls."

"Yeah, none of them were my type so," he shrugs absentmindedly. "It's whatever, I'll find the right girl eventually."

"Maybe you're into guys," I tease him and he rolls his eyes at me.

"I'm not into guys," he assures me and we fall into a comfortable silence, watching a couple of girls stumble past the door and wave at Brad flirtatiously. He rolls his eyes at them.

"Does it annoy you that loads of girls want to get with you?" I ask curiously.

"Sometimes," he mumbles. "I guess I'm so used to it by now."

I nod slowly, resting my head on his shoulder. We had another couple of hours until we countdown for midnight and I was growing tired quickly since I'm bored.

"I'm gonna go," Brad says after a few moments. He spots a girl with dark hair and tanned skin walk by and pushes himself off of the counter. "I'll see you in a bit?"

I nod, "see you later."

edited.