lemonade | ethan

twenty five

"and that's why i was so iffy about you, because i grew up hating north siders." raymond tells me as he sipped his alcoholic drink every couple seconds.

i nod, understandingly. "oh, i see."

"hey, what's going on over here." sonny comes up to us, pouring himself a drink.

"oh, raymond was just telling me about his dad." i explain.

raymond nods. "pretty depressing story, not gonna lie."

sonny nods. "oh, you mean the story about how your dad left you guys for a north sider?"

"that's the one." raymond chuckles. his eyes squinted from drinking too much. he runs his hand through his long, silky black hair before turning away and excusing himself.

sonny hands me a red solo cup, filled with a mystery liquid. "what is it?" i ask.

he shrugged. "it's a special recipe. try it."

i furrowed my eyebrows, sipping the drink. it tasted like a mixture of something non alcoholic with something strong.

"hm. i like it." i say.

he nods, looking around at the dancing teenagers. "where's ethan?" he asks, looking back over to me.

"beats me." i shrugged. "he went to the bathroom like, thirty minutes ago. i've been talking to raymond since then."

sonny nods. "well, maybe he's just sick."

"hey, you two!" maya comes up to us, stumbling. she holds my arm and sonny's bicep. "we're playing seven minutes in heaven upstairs. and we need candidates! come on!"

maya dragged us upstairs. i was unfortunately forced to leave my beverage down by the bar.

she wasn't herself, to say the least. it had been a couple hours into the halloween party and half the class was already stoned or drunk.

"can i?" i gulped, motioning to the drink in sonny's hand.

he nods. "go for it."

i take it from his hands, sipping the rest of it in one gulp before maya brings us into a living room area upstairs.

it wasn't crowded up here. in fact, there were only a couple north siders and south. clayton sits on the couch and maya sits right next to him.

"i found you some players." maya says, curling up next to clayton all cozy.

clayton rubs his chin. "where's your boyfriend?" he asks. he was pretty out of it too. for if he was sober, he'd never have the balls to say that.

i shrugged. "i'll go look for him." i say, quickly turning around.

"hold up now." nicole, one of the north siders say, hand on my chest to stop me from going. "i just saw him two seconds ago. i'll get him."

maya claps her hands. "yes! now he can play too!"

sonny leans in closer to me. "i am super uncomfortable right now."

i turn around to face him. "if you end up going in that closet with a north sider, compliment her to distract her from actually doing anything to you."

ethan walls in, nicole pushing him from behind. "found him!"

he has a confused face written all over. "seven minutes in heaven." i simply tell him.

"oh." he replied.

maya abruptly stands up. "seven minutes in heaven. north side style. rules are simple: you spin until you land on the opposite gender. seven minutes, no more, no less. do whatever you desire." she explains. "got it, south siders?"