Not Your Baby ║ Billy Hargrove

Chapter Six

Billy, the one and only, proudly led the keg to the middle of the circle. The chants of the surrounding jocks only seemed to make his ego bigger. My adrenaline spiked once more as my fighting sober brain took control over my thoughts, pushing me to get out of that circle so he wouldn't see me. I nearly tripped over myself as I threw myself upright and pushed through the surrounding sea of drunk partygoers to move myself farther and farther away from the crowd. But here's the thing about semi-drunk physical movements: they don't always work the way you want them to. 

Here I was, head down with my cigarette still in hand, trying to move myself away... when in fact, I was moving myself more and more towards the crowd. My head bumped into something cold and smooth, instantly shooting my face upward to see what it was. "Nel?" Relief.. It was the sound of Thomas Smalls, Tommy for short, football linebacker and childhood friend of mine. I looked up to see I had stumbled into his back, hitting hit varsity jacket with my head. I shot up, acted as non-suspicious as I could, and shot him a large smile.

"Hey!" I over-dramatically shouted due to the high amount of alcohol in my system. Trying to seem as normal as possible, I awkwardly shot my arms around him, giving him a huge hug.

"Can I?" Tommy saw my somehow still lit cigarette from my hand and beckoned it over with his own. I handed it over, watching him take a few drags before handing it back. "Were you," he adjusted his jacket, "hiding?" his soft blonde hair revealed his glossy green eyes.

"WHAT!" I exclaimed, my brows furrowing as I tried to figure out a reason for literally crouching behind a crowd of people. Suddenly, the chanting faded as I realized I yelled a little too loud. A hiccup emerged from my mouth as I pierced my lips shut. I watched in front of me as Tommy, still confused, looked behind him and moved to the side. A silhouette of a man emerged from the middle of the crowd, his curls glowing from the lights inside. My face began to grow red with embarrassment as I realized I made myself the center of attention and the king himself wanted to regain his place as the star of the show.

"Penelope!" Billy shouted, letting out a large laugh to the crowd of drunken teenagers. "Is that for me? You shouldn't have!" Billy's large hand folded over mine, making sure to caress my skin before gingerly picking up the cigarette from my fingers. His head was inches from mine, letting off aromas of sweat and that same cologne from before. He wore that same biker jacket with a red button down (not surprisingly with half of the buttons undone). His exposed chest glistened with a mixture of spilled beer and sweat as he cocked his head to the side. His eyes never broke contact with mine as he took a few puffs of the cigarette and tossed nearly three quarters of it to the ground. He exhaled as the smoke blew into my face, causing my eyes to squint from the harshness of the smoke.

"Really? That was mine." I tried to talk to him in a serious tone as I hiccuped once again.

"Not anymore, huh?" he winked at me as he turned back around to face the crowd. "Who wants to see the king take charge here!" he roared as he held his hands high in the air, prompting for cheers and whistles.

"Keg stand, keg stand!" roared from the crowd as Billy motioned for more .

I wanted to leave so bad. I wanted to find Nancy and head out the door. But something made me stay and watch. I dug my hand into Tommy's shoulder of his leather jacket as I popped up to watched Billy hop on the keg with minimal effort, chugging for more than 30 seconds. The applause and smell of cheap beer got so inaudible to where I began to feel nauseous. Billy hopped off the keg and the teenagers spasmed with excitement and euphoria. I, on the other hand, was ready to puke.

I'm a little unsure of what happened next, honestly. I remember feeling a bubbling sensation in my throat, accompanied by watching Billy hop off of the keg with one  minute of pure drinking. Suddenly, I remember being picked up and someone whispering "not here you idiot" into my ear as my head slouched on their wet chest. I was then placed on what felt like grass, to which I then puked my heart out. I felt someone behind my pull up my hair to ensure it didn't land in my face. I threw up around four times before my body began to feel back to normal. I watched as my hair fell to the sides of my face before getting pulled back. I took a deep breath and wiped the remaining remnants of punch off of my mouth and wiped it on Jess' very expensive green grass. Reality hit me like a freight train as I realized that someone was holding my hair up- and I didn't know who it was. Still woozy and bit incoherent, I slowly began turning myself around.

"If you were to have puked in front of everyone you would have embarrassed yourself to the fullest." I recognized that voice.