What We Lost | Fillie

Chapter Seven: Just let Loose

A little after 10 p.m., a dressed up Sadie and Millie pull up out front of Caleb's house. The party is already in full swing when as they pull up to house, parking right out front behind a green Honda.

"Wow," Millie marvels, far from amused while she surveys the crowd, "There are a lot of people here." She turns to Sadie with an unsure expression on her face.

"Oh, come on." Sadie unbuckles her seatbelt, "Let's go!" The more ambitious friend cheers before leaving the car, completely ignoring Millie's obvious attempt to end their evening before it can start.

An unconvinced Millie sits for another second, trying to will herself to leave the car. She exhales hard, begrudgingly unbuckles, then opens the door and steps out into the uncertain night.

She immediately hears the rythmic thumping of loud music coming from inside the house, and as she looks around, she recognizes more and more people. She sees Maddie on the front porch heavily flirting with a boy she doesn't know the name of, but he has a familiar face. Past them she sees Romeo, a boy she almost dated once, making out with a girl she used to be friends with.

Millie rolls her eyes, "These parties," She scoffs while walking around the car, "they're just all the same, aren't they?" She adjusts her short, red, off the shoulder dress that had ridden up while they were in transit.

"C'mon, don't be so pessimistic" Sadie says, double checking her makeup with the camera on her phone, "Lets go inside, I'm thirsty."

Upon entering the house, which smells strongly of stale alcohol and fresh sweat, Millie sees a few people she knows and many she doesn't. Some people see her and begin to point, setting off her internal alarms but then they return to what they were doing without much of a fuss. Her shoulders relax until Sadie walks off somewhere, returning within seconds with two blue plastic cups that are presumably filled with a liquid intended for recreational purposes rather than hydration.

"Nope!" Millie wags a stern finger at her best friend, "No. I promised my mum I wouldn't drink!" she yells over the sounds of the party.

"Millie! It's just one, she won't even know! It's just to calm your nerves!" Sadie shouts back, trying to shove one of the cups into one of Millie's obstructing hands.

The miffed eighteen year old rolls her eyes, "Remember what happened the last time I drank?!"

"Oh please!" her friend begs, exasperated, "You and I both know that those were completely different circumstances and this is controlled! I'll make sure you only have this one!" Again, she shoves the cup at her.

"Ugh!" she grumbles, taking it, "Fine, but just one." She takes a long sip, silently relieved to have something to take the edge off.

"HEYYY!" Noah blares, running up to his two best friends, "When did you guys get here?!"

"Just now." Millie answers, "You?"

"About an hour ago. . . been checking out the place." He looks around, " I didn't know Caleb had this big of a house!"

"Yeah," Millie says, eyeing the foyer, It is quite nice." She takes another drag of her drink and turns around to get a better look at the rest of the house, or at least the parts she can see. It's big and has a very organic open-floor plan, so she can see over every head in the house. And there are a lot. She takes another drink then flinches when she thinks she hears someone say Finn But she knows it must just be in her head. There is no way Sadie would have invited her here if Finn were here too. And there's no way Finn is here. That would be too cruel a prank for the universe to pull.