Skinny

Mason 's Birthday Party

Chapter Twenty:

"For the last time, Raven, you don't look slutty at all," Mia sighed, exasperated with my constant nagging about the outfit she chose.

It reminded me of that movie 'Easy A' where the main character, Olive, starts to dress kind of like a 'high class hooker' or I think that's what her mother tells her. It was lacking a scarlet 'A' though. I looked at the deep red top that shoved my boobs up to my ears and the skin clinging black pants that I had convinced Mia were a better option than the mini skirt she had picked out. I wasn't even sure how that ended up in my things. I'm not a big fan of skirts.

I was wearing black sling back stilettos and pretty much nothing else. I felt naked or at least skimpy. I knew I would be cold once I went outside. I hated dressing this way for a party. Mia handed me my knee length white coat and we headed out to Mason's surprise party. We were already late because Mia had insisted on curling my hair and I just went along with it because there really is no point in arguing with Mia.

We arrived at a house about the same size as Mia's and the party already seemed to be in full swing. Just as I thought, there were the typical drunk kids milling about in front as music was being blasted from inside. We walked up the driveway and went inside to find the birthday boy. When we found him, he was on a makeshift stage singing on a karaoke machine. We waited until he was finished with his song and wished him a happy birthday. I wasn't sure I wanted to stick around and wait for Mia to coax me into a duet. Luckily, or unluckily, she wasn't the one to do it. Well, she didn't start it anyway.

I went to leave, but Jaxon's hand on my arm was stopping me. I turned to see him holding out a mic for me to sing something. I wasn't sure what they wanted me to sing, but after many urgings, I ditched my coat and jumped on the stage and started singing a random Disney song. Some people stopped what they were doing because they weren't sure if I was kidding or not, but as I kept singing a personal childhood favorite, people started yelling. They wanted a better song choice. I shrugged as I finished my song. Who doesn't like the Little Mermaid, though?

I went to jump off the stage when Mason stopped me with a sad, puppy dog face. I knew I would end up staying on the stage for a while. Mia told me that she was going to look for Gabe and I nodded as I looked for another song to sing on Jaxon's laptop. I picked 'Magic' by B.O.B. and that got me in everyone's good graces again. I sang several shouted suggestions. Say that five times fast. But got tired and thirsty after a good thirty minutes or so. I jumped off stage to give some other people a turn and went to find the kitchen in this massive house.

I made my way through crowds of people into a dining room and then to the kitchen, both of which were nearly empty of people. I went straight for the fridge which was immediately in my sights and grabbed a bottle of water. I hurried opened it to relieve my parched mouth.

While I was savoring my glorious water, I looked around the enormous kitchen that I knew my father would just love. What he wouldn't love was the sight before me once I had made a 180 degree tour of the kitchen. I pulled the bottle from my mouth, unable to swallow the water still occupying it.

Caleb was standing with his back to me and I couldn't see the petite girl with her arms draped around his neck. She quickly turned him around to push him against the counter and I spit out the water as I noticed my best friend willfully attacking Caleb with her mouth. My sudden burst of fluids brought their attention away from each other and completely, although a little dazed, to me. It took them both about thirty seconds to register who I was, but I was already turned and walking right out before they could acknowledge or stop me.

I rushed out, even though, I heard their defeated shouts of my name.

As if my life couldn't get anymore complicated, I ran straight into Gabriel. He caught me before I could fall backwards and I thanked him without looking up at his innocent face. I looked around and pretended to be searching for Jaxon. I rushed off towards where I know he probably still was.