I was nice enough to let Emily take a shower first, so by the time I finally got out Emily was already sitting on my bed, dressed and dry. I eyed her outfit as I towel dried my hair. She was wearing a red tube top and tight jeans.
“Please don’t tell me you got dressed up to hit on my dad again. That was awkward enough the first time.” I gave her a pointed look, and she sighed.
“Okay first, I was not hitting on your dad. I was just admiring his looks. And B, we are going to a party.”
“One and B? Is that really what you’re going with?” I shook my head. I really loved my best friend. “What party?”
“Well, Abby found out you were back in town and decided to throw you a little welcome home party.”
“We’re leaving tomorrow.”
“Don’t ruin it.” She said and I sighed. Oh Abby. She completed our trio of best friends. Knowing Abby this would be a crazy party. She was the wild one, she loved to party and have fun. I groaned internally, there would be no way to avoid going to this. Not only was she wild, she was stubborn.
“Fine.” I sighed. “The boys are going to love this.”
“They are also going to love you once I’m done with you.” With that she winked and walked into my closet.
~
“What do you think?” Emily was excited, but I was just scared. I turned around to survey myself in the full-length mirror, and was pleasantly surprised. She had picked out a shiny silver halter top and black skinny jeans to wear, which accented my curves nicely. The heels she forced me to wear were hers, and they were a little too tall for my liking. She had done my make up simply, only adding eyeliner and a little bit of silver eye shadow. My hair hung loose over my shoulders, and had a slight wave to it. Overall I looked… good.
“Not too bad, Em.”
“Don’t ‘Not too bad’ me, you look hot and you know it. Now come on, let’s go find your boys.” I rolled my eyes and followed her out of my room. We found the boys in the living room, sprawled on the couches and looking bored out of their minds.
“You know,” Ryan started, “we have been home for two hours. Did it really take two hours to-“ Ryan stopped talking as soon as he saw what we were wearing, and I found myself wishing that this halter top covered more.
“You guys look amazing.” Danny said, but his eyes were only on Emily.
“Thank you.” She smiled, and Danny turned bright red. I think someone has a crush.
“What’s the occasion?” Aaron asked, smiling at me. Oh God, the things that smile did to me.
“We’re going to a party.” I said.
“I’m in!” Ryan said, jumping up from the couch. Of course he would be excited for it.
“Me too.” Danny said, smiling at Emily.
~
“Oh my God! Haven!” I was practically tackled as soon as we walked into Abby’s house.
“Abby!” I said, regaining my balance and throwing my arms around her. She had not changed at all since I had left. She had model-good looks and flaming red hair, which complimented her personality nicely.
“You look great! Come in and get something to drink!” She pulled us through the door, saying hi briefly to Emily and introducing herself to the boys. Ryan definitely seemed impressed by her.
I pretended to drink the glass of beer in my hand as I talked to all of my former friends and school mates. There were so many people that the faces eventually all started to blur and I decided to go sit down somewhere. I spotted Aaron sitting on the couch and made my way over to him, plopping down by his side.
“Having fun?” I asked.
“Mmm, I suppose. I’m not really one for parties.” I nodded, I knew exactly how that felt, I hated big crowds.
“Same with me. And I have a killer headache.” My head had started to hurt after we got here, and it was getting worse by the second. “I’m going to go find some Advil, I will be right back.”
“I’ll wait here.” Aaron said, smiling. I tried to hide my blush by turning away from him and heading towards the kitchen. Sure enough I found Abby there, playing beer pong with a bunch of guys that lived on the college campus.
“Haven!” She exclaimed when she saw me. “Come join us! You were always good at this game!”
“I’m sorry Abby, I’ve retired. Do you have any painkillers?”
“Are we talking morphine?” She grinned and I rolled my eyes.
“No, we are talking like Tylenol.”
“Oh, well in that case, you should try my dresser in my room.” I thanked her and walked up the stairs, hoping that I would be able to find my way to her bedroom. Her house was bigger than mine, and was practically a maze with how the rooms were set up.
Finally, after trying two other rooms, I found Abby’s. I walked in and shut the door behind me, going straight for the dresser. Before I could look for the drugs, a picture caught my eye. In it stood Abby, Emily and I, all in our junior prom dresses. I smiled, remembering how special that night had seemed then. It seems so long ago, when my only problems were worrying about my relationship with Matt and finding the right shade of purple for my dress.
My head throbbed, and I resumed my search for Advil. I found the bottle lodged between a history textbook and a makeup bag, and gratefully swallowed down three pills. I checked my hair in the makeup and made my way to the door, excited to go find Aaron again. I turned the knob, and then turned it again. It was locked.
