geed | clairo

sixteen

i left lara in the living room of the frat house where she held conversation with echo and joanne while i put on my tuxedo jacket in brady's room. brady and jesse were already dressed and pregaming while spencer was in the midst of tying his bowtie. when we were finished,  we went downstairs and paired off with our dates, excluding spencer who went outside to greet sam.

"hey paul, when spencer and sam come in, we gotta get a pic. just the boys," said brady. he looked somewhat wasted already but he handed his phone to echo so she could get ready to snap a pic of us. a few minutes after spencer and sam walked in, the five of us posed for a picture and echo took several.

we made it to the venue and lara followed me to the bar. she looked absolutely stunning, especially in the soft lighting. she wore a satin white dress with spaghetti straps that reached mid-calf and a pair of cheetah print heels. she was wearing light makeup and her hair looked nearly runway ready.

"i'll have a natty light," i said to the bartender.

"anything for you, ma'am?" asked the bartender while he pulled my drink from under the table.

"um, do you have like diet coke?" he nodded and handed her a can from the other side of the counter. we walked away and towards spencer and sam, our drinks now cracked open.

"cute heels, lara. i hope no animal had to die for those," joked spencer. lara rolled her eyes jokingly while spencer laughed at his own joke.

we conversed and spencer and i kept drinking beer until i couldn't fight the urge to go to the bathroom. i dismissed myself and went to the restroom on the other side of the venue, completely out of sight from lara, spencer and sam and after i finished, i washed my hands quickly. i walked out of the restroom and spotted georgie, holding a glass of wine, wearing an ankle length red dress and seemingly waiting for someone.

"hey paul," she greeted.

"hey, what's up?" i replied, trying to be cordial.

"uh, i'm at your formal, waiting for my date to get out of the bathroom and talk about something else other than his car mods," said georgie, making me cracking a grin.

"your date is?"

"john gordon. tall, has curly hair?"

"oh yeah, he's ice pube to everyone else. uh, zane stuck his balls into the ice maker at the house and uh, john gordon didn't know and he used some of the ice for his beer. and he pulled a pube out of his mouth," i explained. georgie snorted and i tried to stifle my laughter.

"oh my fucking god. my date is ice pube."

"tell me, are his dance moves untamed and out of control?" i joked while she sipped her wine. after the laughter died down between us, i could see that she seemed more serious.

"paul, i really wanted to go with you. you-you're different and i love being with you," said georgie, breaking the silence between us.

"georgie, you're really sweet and really nice. but i like lara, a lot," i explained.

"i wanna be with you. i-i can't stop thinking about you, paul." i took a small step away from her.

"i'm sorry. you're a great person and-and you're really amazing, but, i-," i began until i spotted john gordon walking out of the bathroom.

"georgie! paul! dude, what's up?" he greeted, going for a handshake. i obliged and tried to seem as natural as possible.

"not much. uh, georgie told me you have some car mods or something."

"dude, i totally pimped out my charger. like, even when my speedometer tells me i've maxed out, i can go faster! i should totally bring you for a ride sometime," said john gordon, his eyes excited at the possibility of speeding into oblivion. i nodded and dismissed myself, finding my way back to lara.