Grown [n.m]

Four

Jensen

Tonight was a total mess. I was pretty sure that I had seen my middle school crush at this 'famous people' party and I was highly confused. Maybe I was seeing things.

After Adrienne got through peeing for what seemed the thousandth time tonight, we headed back out to the patio. I was cautiously walking through the patio doors making sure not to trip or fall on anything while maintaining eye contact with the crowd searching for the boy who looked like Nick. To my surprise, I didn't see him anywhere. I was almost sure I had been dreaming earlier when I saw him until I made eye contact with Becks and her mystery dance partner.

I drug Adrienne with me as we made our way over to Becks. "Hey girl!" I yelled her direction.

"Hey Jen!" she smiled back at me.

"Who is this?" Adrienne slurred out looking at Becks friend who was gripping her by the waist swaying to the beat.

"This is Edwin. Isn't he just the cutest thing," she turned around and to my surprise, started making out with the kid.

Edwin, was it? Well Edwin was loving every second of it. She deepened her kiss by knitting her hands through his thick curls. I mean, they were actually really cute together.

Once they finally came up for air, Becks turned back to me and smiled with swollen lips. I reached my hand out for Edwin to shake and introduced myself and Adrienne to this short but very tan boy. He smiled at us but managed to keep his movement on beat with the music. I could tell he was a dancer. "So, are you here with anyone?" I managed to crack out. I was curious to know if the boy I had seen earlier was a figment of my imagination or not.

"Yeah, my friends are around here somewhere. B tells me you guys are in a band?" he crinkled his eyebrows to his own question.

"Umm, yeah. We're in a girl band called ABJ," I replied.

"That's pretty fucking lit. My friends are in a band with me too! But not a girl band, that would be awkward. We're in an all boy band called PRETTYMUCH," he slurred out. How coincidental that he is in a boy band. That was so weird.

"Where are your band mates? We would love to meet them," Adrienne looked up from her phone to reply to Edwin.

"Well, Nick was just here. Jensen I think he looked like your type," Becks winked at me.

My world seemed to stop in the instant. I literally heard my own record scratch. Nick. That was his name.

Holy shit, Nick. My Nick from middle school was in a boy band, and at the same party I was at? I had to admit to myself that I knew I wasn't the same person that I was in middle school. I have changed. I've spent time perfecting myself. I don't act crazy like that anymore, but I needed to come to terms with the fact that that was still me.

As I blankly stared back at Becks after she made her comment about Nick, Cam's voice broke my thoughts, "There they are! Hey guys, I want you to meet my new friends! You'll never guess how much we all have in common." I didn't even have to turn around to know who he was talking about. I was sure, somewhere in his 'group of friends' was my old middle school crush.

I turned around to face him and surprisingly to see a few more familiar faces. The boys that Adrienne had bumped into earlier were standing alongside my best friend and cousin, Cam and Nick. I tried to keep a presentable yet gullible look on my face as I was introduced to these boys. The alcohol helped my 'acting skills' you could say.

"Oh yeah! I remember you, we ran into you earlier, or better yet, you ran into us!" the one with dreads called out to Adrienne. His name was Zion. The two other boys who were standing alongside him were named Austin and Brandon. Of course I was right all along about Nick. What was weird was that he was staring at me the exact same way I would've been staring at him if I wouldn't have known better than to fix my face first. I didn't want him to know that I knew who he was. Is that stupid? No. I just don't want any more drama tonight, and I definitely don't want him to know that I know who he is. Okay, yes that is pretty stupid.

I was also wondering why Cam of all people hadn't recognized Nick. I mean Cam was there. Also, Cam was extremely drunk as well as Adrienne and Becks. Maybe I just needed more drinks. "You know, why don't we all get more drinks. That's what we need!" I scurried off to the table I had almost knocked over earlier and poured a bunch of drinks.

After I had emptied out the bottle of vodka into the separate cups, I grabbed a bottle of sprite off of the table and topped the cups off. The group of people that my friends had suddenly made friends with slowly made their way over to me and grabbed a cup. I gulped mine down and went for another. I was not drunk enough for this shit. Soon enough my vision was blurred to the max and I was doing a phenomenal job at keeping my distance from Nick. It was inching closer to two in the morning and I was getting a little tired.

Let me be honest, I was getting tired of seeing Becks all over Edwin and Adrienne had seemed to have taken a liking to Zion. I was chilling with Cam just sipping on the rest of my watered down sprite and vodka when Brandon and Nick jumped into our conversation.

As the awkwardness grew, our conversations died down. I was so tense. "So, what kind of music do you guys produce?" Brandon asked Cam and I.

"Well, I help the girls with the choreography, beats and a few other things, but they like to write their own lyrics," Cam smiled at Brandon.

"That's super dope bro. It is pretty weird that we have never heard of your group though. How long have y'all been together?" Nick looked over at me. He was acting totally normal. I didn't understand it. By the look of his face earlier, I could've swore he knew who I was.

"Just a year or two," I tried to sound professional. I leaned on Cam to finish the conversation. My brain was getting a little too fuzzy. I let out a yawn and made eye contact with Cam. He nodded back at me and ended the conversation.

"I'm glad we got to meet you guys! I think we are going to head out in a few, we should totally link up in the future."

Both of the boys nodded and I stole one last glance at Nick. I took the time to actually look at him. He didn't look that different from middle school, but he did look older. He was more attractive. He sported an orange shirt which highlighted his skin tone. His hair was styled a bit differently than he used to wear it in his younger years. Why was I still fawning over him? I definitely did not want to catch feelings for this boy again. Once he figured out who I was, he probably would never want to see me again anyway.

As we left the party, Cam called us an Uber while Adrienne and Becks stole their man candy's numbers. In a perfect world, Nick would be my man candy, and I would steal his number. I was better than that. I have learned over the years that I don't need a boy to make me happy. I do that for myself. Ever since those embarrassing years of my life, I wouldn't risk doing that to myself again. I stared out the window on the ride home trying to remember every perfect detail of tonight. Yes it was a disaster, but to me it was a perfect disaster.

Happy Update!!!

Do you ship Nick and Jensen?

How about Adrienne and Zion/Becks and Edwin?

More drama to come, stay tuned.

Don't forget to vote and comment.

-Tay