Love and Life

Parties and Pasties

Chapter 1

Finn's POV

Life was good. Heck, life was great.

Oh who was I kidding - I was having the worst time of my life.

I stared into the crowd of rowdy teenagers, moving their bodies to the steady pulse of the techno music.

Beads of sweat shone off tanned bare skin as the multicoloured lights turned their faces into unnatural shades of neon blues, greens and pinks.

Leather, metal and skin clashed as they pressed themselves against each other; laughing and throwing their arms into the air.

At the back of the crowd, the smokers and druggies stood, looking with boredom at the scene before them. Puffing small clouds of grey smoke into the stuffy room and giving the occasional depressed, nobody-understands-me sigh, I could never figure out why they even bothered to attend these parties.

The air smelled of alcohol, smoke and perspiration; forming a bitter taste in the back of my mouth.

I took another slug of beer as I glanced over at the pityingly deprived snack table, where all the food had been devoured in less than an hour. Chips had been strewn across the plastic surface and sticky patches on the table glistened where people had spilled their drinks.

School started again tomorrow and it was a Bridgewater High tradition to have a huge party before the first semester of your senior year started.

I watched with amusement as everyone attempted to dance to the fast paced and electric music in their drunken state.

Suddenly, somebody hardly wearing any clothes at all emerged from the crowd of partying teenagers. Nikki Huntington, I sighed in exasperation. Nikki was annoying when sober, (like most of the plastic Barbies at Bridgewater) so I braced myself for the worst as she approached me, clearly and heavily intoxicated.

She was wearing bright pink pasties (who wears pasties anymore?) plastered with rhinestones on her average sized breasts and a matching thong. Over the barely-there assemble, she had tossed on a sickly green fishnet dress. She had some newly dyed green streaks that looked like dried up seaweed stuck in her peroxide blond hair. Her eye makeup was completely smudged, creating the appearance of a startled raccoon and her bright pink lipstick was already fading.

She looked as if she were a slut-contestant on some island survival game show.

And she had lost. Badly.

What was probably the worst of her whole get-up was the fact that she had been aiming for this exact look.

"Hey Finny! What're ya doing?" She then giggled as she stumbled to get over to where I was.

"You should be doing me," she slurred after somehow making her way to me without hurting herself.

"Hey Nikki. How much have you had to drink?"

She ignored my question and then proceeded to drape her body in, what she must have thought, a seductive manner around the armchair I was sitting in.

The distinct smell of alcohol hit me like a driving force as she began to whisper in my ear.

"Baby, let's go somewhere. Let's like totally go somewhere... Go somewhere together... Together forever..." She drawled before nibbling on my earlobe.

I pushed her away in disgust and got up from my armchair.

Nikki promptly fell into the chair headfirst and began screaming. The scratchy dry sound was soon washed out by the music and chatter.

I held back laughter as I made my way to the bar to pour myself another drink.

What was wrong with me? This was my party. I should be enjoying it, not making fun of my easy-to-make-fun-of guests.

Leaning against the splintering wooden bar top, I scanned the room for anyone who looked sober enough to hold an understandable conversation.

My eyes passed over Nikki still in my armchair, looking at me with ridiculously huge eyes and poking her chest out - her pathetic attempt at being flirtatious.

My gaze moved along to the dancing crowd. Maybe I should join them... But I changed my mind as soon as I saw ten other Nikki look-a-likes waving at me from inside the masses of partying people.

Being stunningly handsome was hard.

Then, a head of raven black hair caught my eye.

And suddenly my world stopped.