The home of the lost

Party night

Now you have the background of our story, all of which has led to this point in our lives. It's been a long crazy journey but I wouldn't change any of it. I gained four amazing friends through the years who have helped me realise what matters as well as seeing my own self-worth.

It was nearly the end of our first semester and Christmas was right around the corner our little group hadn't done secret Santa for 2 years, we just got for each other and I brought for Josie as well. Every year Jayden makes me a new journal for the year and his skills have really grown I now have nearly 6 full journals packed with every detail from the last 6 years.
I have loved every minute with them and I don't think I could have survived those years without them.
The Christmas holidays were there before we knew it and one of the girls in the year above us was throwing a party for the college campus at her family's home just outside town I was really excited about going even if I wasn't going to be able to hang out with the boys. Josie had been more excited than I was, she had been talking to Rosie who I roomed with back at the other campus and decided between them they were going to drag me and Rosie's roommate to the party no matter what.
The four of us sat in mine and Josie's dorm room getting ready for the party. Josie and Rosie were both wearing dresses, Josie's was a knee-length halter neck dress with a black diamante top half which went ombre around her waist and turned red at the bottom with a pair of black sparkly heels. Rosie's outfit, however, was a light teal halter neck dress with a bedazzled waistband deciding to match it with silver heels. Meanwhile, Kim and I, Rosie's roommate, had picked out less flashy outfits. Kim was wearing high-waist skinny jeans with an off the shoulder black top pairing it with heeled ankle boots. Myself, on the other hand, was wearing a simple mid-thigh black skirt with a loose-fitting jumper tucked in and a pair of nude flats.
Josie insisted on doing everyone's makeup so it would match their outfits, I just agreed knowing we would be late if I argued with her. My makeup was mostly natural with some gold tones to match the beige tones in my jumper, I had to give her credit she really knew her fashion and her makeup skills were incredible, to say the least.

We soon headed down to the common room where a few students were meeting up to relax before going to the house as a larger group. One of the girls stopped Kim and me at the doors with a prissy smirk "you don't belong here, it's a party" she giggled twirling her curled hair.
I smiled back to her pushing her aside and heading in keeping Kim calm before she went back and bit the girls head off. "relax, have a bit of fun" I reassured her smiling softly to her, I looked around the room spotting the boys right away they were all in various styles of jeans and shirts having decided for the casual look as well. I soon looked away when I realised their friends and some other girls were with them I had learnt the boy's names from hearing some of the girls talking over the past few months. The two who were in the year above were Adrian Gallagher and Connor Thompson while the one I had seen with the guys over the years was Rowan Thompson and Connor's younger brother.
Kim rolled her eyes muttering under her breath turning away from the group which caused me to frown and look back over to the group of boys some more girls had gathered around them and I saw some pushing up on a clearly unimpressed Samson and Jayden, while Frankie looked like he was loving the attention. Soon after we all started to gather our things getting ready to leave finally, Josie pulled me aside looking at me tenderly "Are you sure you want to come? You seem really down" she asked worriedly.
I nodded "Yeah its nothing major, but there's a guy here I really care about Jo, I kind of want to get his attention tonight" I blushed finally admitting it to her, what I hadn't realised was four other people had heard me and wanted to find out more.

It was a 15-minute ride to the house the party was being hosted at and many of us had grouped our money together and hired a 16 seater taxi to get to and from the party, at least we knew we would all be getting home safely.
We got out and smiled brightly to each other Lyndsey was one of the few girls in the 3rd category at St Angela's but still had a good relationship with her family, which translated into parties like this every month since she had turned 18.
I laughed at Rosie's awe stuck face and grabbed her arm to get her to focus on me "remember the rules, always let one of us know where you're going, don't leave your drink unattended if you do, don't pick it back up" I looked at her to make sure she was understanding me before continuing "outside waiting for 11:30 so we can get the taxi back to campus" she nodded in confirmation making me smile "good, let's go get a drink then" I linked arms with her heading inside just behind Josie and Kim.
I headed to the kitchen which had been made into a makeshift bar for the night grabbing a clean cup I went straight to the spirits pouring a shot or two of vodka into the cup and topping it up with Coca-Cola, downing a just over a quarter of it as I allowed myself to relax, feeling the bass of the music thumping steadily under my feet. I watched in amusement off to the side as Josie and Rosie tried to make themselves fruity drinks, Kim had grabbed a can of cider and joined me "can you go help them? They look awkward and really lost" she whispered to me.
I nodded and handed her my cup walking over to the girls "hey, you want something fruity and not too strong right?" I asked them both of them humming a yes. I looked around and saw some bottles of cava wine "okay I'll make you a really easy cava cocktail." I grab the cups and half fill them with cava, adding two shots of orange juice, a shot of lemon juice and a shot of vodka adding some ice to dilute it for them over time.
They tried it and enjoyed it so I left them to go mingle with people from their classes as I went back to Kim taking my vodka coke from her. "you look like you fit in perfectly yet, you seem to want to be anywhere but here" I pointed out leaning against the wall.
She looked at me with a slight frown "Rosie begged me to come, honestly, I would rather be curled up in a blanket watching Criminal minds" I laughed shaking my head at her.
"That does sound really fun, maybe we can have a lazy weekend and properly get to know each other" I offered, I hadn't spent much time with Kim but I really liked her blunt personality.
She nodded with a grin "sure that would be great, but if I didn't know better I would say your hitting on me" she teased turning to me more.
I shook my head blushing "As beautiful as you are Kim, I'm not..." she cut me off laughing, a real belly laugh.
"I was kidding Hope, chill. I'm into girls but you're not really my type" she winked at me making me feel more relaxed and gave her a smile "I've just seen a few friends, but I'll be out back if need anyone" she smiled and nodded to her friend before following them out to the garden.

While the girls were off with other friends I relaxed in the living room on my 3rd drink in two hours, as I finished I got up and headed back to the kitchen making my 4th feeling someone hug me from behind making me jump slightly and turn my head to the side. "Shit Jo! Don't do that to me" I sighed putting my hand over my chest as I felt it pound heavily under my touch.
She giggled clearly already a bit buzzed from the alcohol "Lyndsey and some others are playing spin the bottle. Come join us!!" she begged pulling the standard puppy dog eyes at me.