The Woman In The Red Dress

3- Cold Celebration

Okay, maybe this isn't fine. I arrived at the party and I already regretted coming. Claire picked me up along with her boyfriend. I met her boyfriend a few times already and he seems like an alright guy.

The place was packed with bright, flashing colorful lights and with familiar faces from my job, yet I know nothing of them. I wanted to stick by Claire's side since she's the only person I know pretty well, yet I didn't want to follow her around like a puppy. Luckily I didn't have to follow her around since she decided to stick by me. Her boyfriend also stuck with us. It's just us three in the corner watching everyone party to the loud music that was blasting into my ears. I think the music that was playing was some sort of Electro House.

I watched everyone chug shots like it was nothing. Some were chanting "CHUG". It made me a little sick. My eyes quickly averted away from the scene. Of course there is alcohol here and people going wild over it. Is there any punch here that isn't spiked ?

My head turned over to my friend to ask her if there is any non-alcoholic drink here. She tells me there is some punch in the kitchen. I thanked her and told her that I'll be right back. Hopefully I will come back alive.

I made my way to the kitchen and I also should have asked for directions because I got lost in this house. Eventually I founded after a minute. There was in fact a large bowl of punch sitting on the counter and it looked untouched. That's great. I grabbed a cup and poured some in. While I did that, I noticed a certain fellow from across the room. He apparently noticed me standing there. I awkwardly waved at them. He had the audacity to ignore me and turned away. Nobody noticed this, but it felt like the whole room was staring at me as I stood in slight embarrassment.

So I kind of did something stupid. I walked over to him. I say loudly enough for him to hear me, "Hi."

The brunette turned his head my way with a cold stare. His stare was almost harsh enough to burn holes into my head. "Why are you here ?"

"Umm.. your sister invited me."

He rolled his eyes. "Of course."

It was awkward between us. Trying to push the painful awkwardness away, I then say to him, "Anyway, uh, c-cool party."

"Tch. Thanks. You're just with my sister at the moment ?"

I nodded, having a bad feeling about that question. "Well, she is also with her boyfriend."

"WHAT," he yells. "She brought that Steve also ? He's puny. She could have done way better."

My brow raised up a bit and mumbled under my breath, "And you look like you take steroids every breakfast..." Luckily he did not hear that or he would have murdered me. I told him a very painful goodbye then left back to my friend. My face was red. Why did I bother to strike up a conversation with that guy ? Once I was with my friend, she asked why I took so long. I told her that I kind of got lost which is true, but I didn't tell her about my awful conversation with her brother. I didn't want her to feel pity for me.

I chilled with them for a long time, hearing the music that was blasting into my ears. I wanted to leave already, yet I also didn't want to leave my friend. I sighed to myself. I stood up and said to my friend that I'm going to go outside to get a breath of fresh air. The air here is filled with alcohol and I wanted to get away from it. She told me it's fine and let me go.

It was cold- forgot about that. Thankfully not too cold and it's only soft blows of wind. I sat on the steps with my empty drink in hand. My eyes glanced at it then into the sky. It's dark already. Stars are already coming out. It looked nice.

The pavement that I was sitting on was pretty cold. Cold hard stone. Kind of felt weird.

I was sitting in silence with myself until I heard a feminine voice behind me that said, "Hey there, Mr. Kennedy."