Intertwined

Chapter 23: Bad for me

Lucas's P.o.V.-

When the party starts there is no going back. The house fills like ants on a fallen piece of watermelon. I easily lose Anastasia within the first five minutes of her turning on a speaker and lights. I go to the kitchen and grab one of the beers that a couple of people had brung. I take it upstairs to Anastasia's room which is supposed to be off limits to everyone. I open the door and find two randoms making out on her bean bag.

"Off limits, fuckers." I say.

"So sorry bro." the guy says as he drags his girl out the door as she stumbles while giggling.

I take a wet washcloth and wipe the seat down for An. I stand up from the crouched position I am in and admire her room. The yellow contrasts with the white border so perfectly, causing the outline to "pop". I lean over her vanity and look at her polariod pictures of her and her friends. I see a few faces I have noticed around Silver Lake. My eyes take me to a group photo of what I assume is the weekend she told me about. An, is standing next to her car, which is in brand new condition unlike it is now. She is in the center of two guys, with Maye squatted in the very front. The smile plastered on her face is of a genuinely happy girl. I don't know which guy is Matt or which is Maye's deceased boyfriend, Shawn. But they all seem happy. How could it have been so wrong? I move on to sit in the glorious bay window. I glance out the window that overlooks the backyard and porch. After a couple minutes someone comes rushing out the patio doors. That person is Anastasia; not long after she is outside I notice something startling. There is a guy in the bushes slowly making his way towards her with a sinister grin. I dash out her room and down the hall. I forcely push my way threw the crowd murmering sorry's. Once I make it outside to the porch it is no longer occupied by either Anastasia or the strange fellow. So I make my way back inside puzzled by how fast they had left. I decide to start looking for Anastasia since she was no longer on the porch. I check all the empty halls and rooms first, and still am yet to find anything. After half an hour of looking when I am just about to lose hope I spot her long brown hair at the edge of her stairs. I walk up to her and tap her shoulder, saying her name with relief. When the girl turns around I am actually shocked to see it isn't her. Now that I can see her face and she has stepped into the light I am able to recognize who it actually is. It is the long blonde haired girl from all of Anastasia's pictures; Maye. The only thing that caused me to mistake her for Anastasia was the way her hair was disguised as brown in the pale light.

"Oh I am sorry, I thought you were Anastasia." I say bashfully.

"It's cool. I was about to ask if you knew where she is....but that answers that question." Maye shrugs.

"Yeah I haven't been able to find her all night." I say with a sigh.

"Oh well if you see her can you tell her I really need to talk to her." Maye says lightly.

"Sure thing!" I say a little too happy.

She grabs her drink from the top of the stair railing before walking off towards the main room. I need a drink. I manuever over to the kitchen and begin to fumble around for a drink. Sure enough I see that long brown hair again, except this time it actually is her. She is standing near her parents mini fridge with a small bottle in her hand. She doesnt notice me lingering in the doorway of her kitchen. I force what sounded like a cough and a grunt mixed together to raise her attention. When she looks up at me I notice her slip the bottle to her side in an effort to disguise it. Her face is bright red and tear-stained.

"Lucas I didn't see you there." Anastasia says between hiccups.

I then put together what I had seen, and it all makes sense. The bottle is a mini bottle of coconut rum, which I should've immediantly recognized. It hit me; she is drunk.

"How many of those have you had An?" I ask softly with concern.

She then gives me an oblivious look trying to make it seem as if she has no idea what I am referring to. When I don't let up my serious face, she eventually gives up and brings her face to a small pout, poking out her bottom lip as always.

"Seriously, Ana." I say still with the same concern just more stern.

"Do NOT call me Ana." she slightly slurs.

I obviously struck a nerve by calling her Ana. I have never even called her Ana before until in this moment.

"Okay....why's that?" I ask her slowly as if I am having a conversation with a five year old.

I feel as if I am a school therapist.

"Just dont. Okay?" she pleads.

"Okay. You dont need to drink anymore of those, I dont want you getting hurt." I say.

"Why do you even care?" she says.

As I look at her right now I can see the pain and frustration in her eyes. She stumbles away from the mini fridge and is now standing equidistant from me and the door. Based off of how she stumbles from the door I assume she has already drunk two of the small bottles of strong alcohol. Adding that to her body type she is most likely a light weight anyways. It's sad for a person my age to know so much about alcohol, but with situations like this it is probably a good thing I do. She tries to push past me to leave the kitchen but I block her way.

"I need to get out of here." she says.

"Well you cant." I say.

She pouts some more before vomiting on the floor, creating a scene for everyone around us. I lift her up bridal style and carry her threw the crowd and to her room. I close my eyes and undress her vomit covered clothes. I peek every now and then to admire her peacefulness. Once I manage to get her into a shirt and some shorts I pick her up and tuck her into bed. I head back downstairs to clean up the mess and begin ushering people out the house. Once everyone is out the house I start picking up all the half empty beer bottles that are scattered around the house. After about an hour of cleaning, I relax on the couch. I eventually decide to get up and check on Anastasia. When I open her door I am astonished to see she is no longer in her bed but sitting outside on her patio.

"An, you should rest." I say walking towards her.

"I can't." she says through tears.

"He's back." she says.