Me and the Gretchen Boys

Chapter 26: The Party

"Christian, my man!" A guy I've never seen before yells.

"Oh hey!" Christian says, giving him a bro hug.

The guy's eyes travel to me and he looks me up and down studying me. The way he is looking at me gives me the heebie-jeebies. "And who might this beautiful young lady be?" the mystery guy asks, putting my hand up to his lips.

Christian pushes the guy back, "She is Carmen. Nate, you better back off or I'll tell Julie."

Nate freezes and throws his hands up to show he surrenders. "I see she's all yours."

"Yeah." Christian nods, grinning at me.

"Actually, no," Justin interjects staring down Christian. There's an awkward silence between us.

   Should I say something?

   The awkward moment is cut when someone calls for Nate.

   "I'll catch you all later! Have fun at the party!" Nate gets close to my ear and whispers, "Make sure you don't drive those two mad."

   And with that, he left. What exactly did he mean 'make sure you don't drive those two mad'? How in the world would I drive those two mad? It just doesn't make sense.

   "So, Carmen, what would you like to drink?" Christian asks me while snaking his arm around my waist. Justin is quick to catch it and swats Christian's arm away.

   I stare at the alcoholic beverages on the table and it's almost as if they are staring me back. Like they are trying to intimidate me. "I'll take some juice," I answered distractedly.

   "Where in the world am I going to find juice? I'll get it somehow. I'll be back!" Christian leaves, but not before giving me a light peck on my cheek.

    That action is enough to snap me out of my trance. My hand automatically is drawn to the spot I was kissed at. I swear for a second that I can see a scowl on Justin's face but when I turn to him he wears a bright smile.

   The music booms louder than before. If there was any chance that I was going to have an actual conversation with anybody, that is out of the window now. There is absolutely no way anyone could converse with ease.

    "So what do we do now?" I ask keeping my eyes on Christian. A swarm of people surround him. "Looks like I won't be getting my juice any time soon."

   I highly doubt Justin heard a single word I said. I don't expect him to understand.

    "I don't know! I don't really do parties!" Justin yells loud enough for me to semi hear.
Did he just- no. No. He couldn't have possibly heard me. I talked in a normal tone so there is absolutely no way he could've understood. What kind of superpower does he have? "What's wrong, Carmen?"

   "N-nothing! Let's go find something to do!" I scream.

   Justin nods his head and gestures for me to go first.

And with that, we wander around. We walk and walk and walk, stopping at every item we spot. We find many things such as graffiti tags, tattered clothes, and wooden crates filled with different items.

   "We're officially out of the party zone," Justin announces, bending down low checking out something he found on the floor. He gets up, dusting himself off, and faces me.

   "Yeah, I can hardly hear the music and there's no more smoke."

   "Right, the music..." Justin trails. He has this weird glint in his eyes that I just can't put my finger on.