Empty Bargains ~Jason McCann~

~9.18...2~

    I didn’t come down until the sky had been black outside of Jason’s window and bass had been vibrating the floor for three hours.  The lights were off downstairs, but several colored lights and strobes that people had brought were lighting up a majority of the space.  People were crowding in the middle of the living room where they’d set up a makeshift dance floor and had kicked the beanbags to the wall.  Several empty cups had already been discarded to the side, and the room smelled like skunk.  My nose wrinkled, recognizing the pot smell.

    I stood at the top of the stairs, wearing another of Jason’s outfits.  A royal blue dress was slung over my left shoulder and wrapped snuggly around my middle before falling loosely to just above my knees.  Black suede wedges that laced up my foot were giving my about three inches — Jason had probably taken my size from my boots — and a leather bracelet brushed against the base of my thumb.  My hair fell down my back in waves, something I was thankful for having naturally.  Somehow I’d found makeup in my duffel, leftover from some trip I’d taken a long time ago, so my eyes were dark and my lips were a muted red.

    I only waited a few seconds before making my way down the stairs.  My eyes were searching for Jason, but I couldn’t find him in the living room.  He was probably at the table playing beer pong, knowing him.

    The people around me were dancing clumsily, but in the middle were just a notch short of screwing each other.  I almost laughed.  This was the stereotypical high school party, something I didn’t expect from Jason.  I honestly thought that there would’ve been an air like the parties I went to with Tyler, a little less teen dancing and a little more business.  But looking around at the people bumping into me, I noticed that all of them looking old enough to be graduating or have already graduated.  Maybe they were just the type of people Jason drew.

    I was about to step into the kitchen when I felt a hand on my waist.

    I spun around, ready to hit whoever it was, when I realized that I still had to play this dumb little game of Jason’s.  My temper had to calm, and I had to act like I enjoyed being here.  One of the parts of that was playing along at parties.

    “Hey,” the guy said, pulling my toward him.  He was about a head taller than me and had well-groomed chocolate hair that matched his eyes.  From his looks he seemed about twenty and looked like an accomplished track athlete.  “I haven’t seen you around here before.  All these faces, and the only one I haven’t seen is yours.”

    I gave him a quick smile.  “Not from around here.”

    “I figured,” he replied, leaning close to my ear.  I side-smile glanced across his features.  “I would’ve remembered you.”

    I cleared my throat loudly.  It wasn’t that I couldn’t hold my own around other guys, it was just that Tyler had always taken care of them for me.  When Tyler was around, no one ever approached me, and there wasn’t usually a time when I didn’t have him beside me.  I felt uncomfortable, and did a poor job of hiding it.

    “I need a drink,” I said, hoping to sound dismissive, but the guy squeezed my waist as his expression brightened.

    “Wait right here,” he told me.  He leaned in fast and whispered into my ear, “I’ll get us something.”