Page 208 of Something Rad
“What do you mean?” Billy asks.
And, somehow, before Brad even says it, I already know the answer.
“Party at Jesse Lamonte’s.”
“Really?” all three of us ask at the same time. But, the difference is, Billy and Michael’s ‘Really?’ is out of excitement. It’s an ‘Are you serious? Woohoo!’ kind of ‘Really?’, while mine is a hesitant ‘Are you sure you really want to do that?’ kind of ‘Really?’.
“Yes, really,” Brad confirms, not seeming to distinguish between our different forms of the question. “Robbie, can you drive?”
I blow out a breath, looking between the three guys around me.
It’s Saturday night. Are we really gonna sit here on Brad’s couch when we could be at a party with half of our senior class? This wouldn’t even be a question that the old me would have asked. I wouldn’t even have given it a second thought. Whatever weird feeling is in my gut that’s trying to caution me about this party is just gonna have to take a hike. Because my brain’s telling me I belong at this party tonight. In fact, now that I’ve allowed the idea to simmer, Ineedto be at this party.
I pull my car keys from my pocket, holding them up and twirling them by the ring.
“Why the hell not?”
forty-five
SARA
“Alice, what in the hell?”
“You’re going to look amazing,” she says back to me from the other side of the bathroom door.
“I thought you were going to my house?”
“I did,” she confirms.
“But…where did you get this?” I ask her, looking at the red dress with black lace overlay in my hands. “This isn’t mine.”
“Oh, your mom’s closet,” she says casually.
“My mom–” I choke out, holding up the red dress to examine again. Ithoughtit looked somewhat familiar.. “Alice, you went into my mom’s closet?”
“Nothing in yours was doing it for me.”
I bark out a laugh. “Was this really even necessary? I mean, it’s just a house party. And besides, don’t you think I’m going to freeze in this? That cold front came through this evening–”
“Oh, trust me,” Alice cuts me off. “You’ll be plentyhotin that.”
“Okay, but you’re wearing multiple layers and a jacket, and you still look hot–”
“Oh, Sara, would you just shut up and put it on already?” Alice whines. “The party’s waiting, and I can’t wait to see all the heads you turn in that little number.”
I let out a groan, but comply, shimmying the red dress over my head and securing the spaghetti straps on my shoulders. I swap out my Keds for black loafers, then step out of the bathroom. I shoot Alice a look, doing a half-hearted twirl and throwing my arms in the air in a way of saying,Are you happy now?
“That’s more like it,” she nods, her lips pulling into a grin.
I lock the front door of Groovy Movie, then toss my other set of clothes into the back seat of the car Alice is borrowing from her mom, climbing into the passenger seat.
Within ten minutes, and before I have any time to change my mind about going, Alice is parked around the corner from Jesse Lamonte’s house and is pulling me in tow behind her as she storms for the front door.
As we make our way, my arms crossed over my already shivering body, I begin to realize how many cars we are passing and just how far down the street they are parked, and it occurs to me that I was probably a fool for thinking this was some little house party. Nobody in Jesse's circle does anythinglittle.
I gulp hard as Alice finally brings our feet to a halt on the front porch, her fist rapping against the door. Nobody answers, but, judging by the blaring music coming from the backyard and the muffled sound of tons of people on the other side of the door, Alice takes that as a sign that we can just let ourselves in.
There’s lots of people mingling around in the house, but it’s clear the majority of the party is happening in the backyard, so Alice grabs my hand, taking off, the handful of people that are in the foyer parting like the Red Sea for us. We don’t stop until we pass over the threshold of the back door, Eddie Money’sTake Me Home Tonighthitting us at full blast as we join the scene out back.
