Page 39 of Life of the Party

I couldn’t remember what topics we covered or the funny things he’d said; I could just picture the two of us together on the ratty old couch, my mouth spread into a permanent grin as we laughed and talked and just…were.

The guys had left earlier that afternoon to get ready for their show. They were playing at the Aurora again, like the night I first met Grey…that fateful night not two months ago that changed my entire life. It felt like ages and ages ago…like a totally different time. Back then, Riley and I were friends, best friends. Before Grey and I were…were what? Having fun?

“Wow, Charlie, you’re amazing. Seriously. You have a beauty career ahead of you.” I smiled thankfully at my friend. Charlie bowed. She looked gorgeous as usual—her shiny blonde hair was pulled into a loose pompadour, her dazzling blue top brought out the striking blue of her eyes. It didn’t seem to matter how good I looked.

Next to Charlie, I would always come second.

I didn’t want to mind, though. I didn’t want to be so pettily jealous, not when Charlie was so amazingly nice to me and lent me all her clothes and took care of me the way she did. Not when, for some reason, she liked hanging out with me, a high school kid who couldn’t even (legally) get into bars.

“You look gorgeous.” I forced myself to compliment her. “Seriously.”

She grinned at me, taking some pills from her bedside drawer. “Want to try this tonight? You’ll like it, I promise.”

“I like them all.” I laughed. I was still pretty drunk and high from our non-stop day of partying, but I was up for anything. We took turns sipping from a glass of water on her nightstand. The pill slid down my throat with ease, and I smiled excitedly.

Now all we had to do was wait for the fun to begin.

We did one last mirror check and headed out, bounding down her old squeaky steps, young and eager. The engine of her car roared to life; Slipknot blared over the speakers. We rolled the windows down and lit a smoke. The warm summer wind blew over us as Charlie gunned her little car down the streets, the headlights bouncing over the road. She looked at me and laughed; I smiled at her and threw my head back.

“Whooooo!” I yelled, my eyes shut. There was truly nothing better than the freedom I felt, the absolute release. Life was perfect. Charlie’s smile told me she agreed.

The pill was taking hold by the time we made it to the club. We stumbled from Charlie’s car into the parking lot, giggling and smoking. She fixed a few stray curls for me; I adjusted her top a little.

“We’re perfect. Let’s go. Those boys will eat their hearts out.”

I smiled at the thought and fell into step beside her. I felt shaky good, like a surge of adrenaline, only the adrenaline was pure excitement and joy. I grinned the entire way to the door, let in past the rope without any hassle at all.

These new friends of mine had some good connections.

“I told Zack to save us a table.” Charlie grasped my hand, squeezing and elbowing her way inside. There was barely room to move.

I noticed as we walked that men were nearly snapping their necks to look at Charlie when she passed by them. I tried not to pay attention to it, but then one of them caught my eye. He was looking at me, not at Charlie, and nodding, like he liked what he saw. To my surprise, I realized men were actually looking at me. Well, at least some of them were. I was amazed. I’d never had that happen before, I’d never had that reaction before, not so obviously anyway. I felt great when we finally made it to our table, like a million bucks.

“Did you see all those guys checking you out?” I asked Charlie as we slid onto the tall black stools, in perfect view of the empty, dark stage.

“Me? Nice try. They were looking at you, and you know it.” She lit a smoke, looking out over the crowd. It was so loud we had to yell to be heard, but that was okay with me. I liked the atmosphere, the rowdy partying around us. Music pumped from the dance floor, some Britney Spears number.

“I can’t wait!” I almost squealed.

Charlie smiled at me, fondly. “I know. They’re so good.”

“Do you go to all their shows?”

“More now that I’m with Zack. It helps keep the girls away.” She smiled bitterly. “That’s the shitty thing about the band, you know. All the girls.”

I blinked in thought. “Do you think that’s Grey’s problem?” I worried suddenly. It hadn’t occurred to me before, but it made total sense. “Has he ever had…anyone?”

Charlie shook her head. “I don’t know, Mackenzie. I’m trying to figure it out myself. I’ve only been around for a year or so, like I said, but in that entire time, I’ve never seen Grey with anyone. I mean, he’s the lead singer of a band, so of course he’s with girls, you know, but he’s never beenwithanybody. He’s never had a girlfriend that I know of…I just, I don’t get it.”

“What don’t you get?” I leaned forward to hear her better.

“Grey seems so into you. I don’t know. I wouldn’t believe his whole ‘just for fun’ thing. I’ve seen how he acts with girls that are ‘just for fun’.”

“And?”

“And,” she shrugged. “It’s obvious. He doesn’t sit on the couch with those girls for hours, hanging on their every word…”

“Like he did with me?”

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