Party
The noise was unbelievably annoying. One day the alarm clock would have to bite the dust. My hand felt for it on the bedside table. It touched something cold—last night’s glass of water. It slid further along the wooden surface of the bedside table until it found the source of the sound. My hand tried to turn it off, but it slipped on the metal. The clock crashed to the floor. The alarm went silent, so I let it lie where it was, pulled the quilt over my head and nestled back to the cozy warmth of my bed.
It was Saturday morning and I had forgotten to switch off the alarm last night. It had to be seven o’clock in the morning. Not the time to get up on weekends, I thought to myself and dozed off, back to my dreams about the guy from the graveyard.
When I woke up again the sun was shining in through the half open curtains, painting luminous patterns onto the creamy walls in my room. I sat in bed for a minute before I let my feet drop to the floor searching for my slippers. My left foot hit the alarm clock that had previously fallen to the floor. I bent down to pick it up and put it back into place on the bedside table.
I felt a kind of tender loving hatred for my alarm clock. My parents had given it to me for my first day at school years ago. It was a memory of my parents—that was what made me love it. It had woken me up every single day ever since—except for weekends and holidays. It did its job without the slightest bit of mercy—that was what made me hate it.
I found my slippers under the bed and put them on, then I searched for my robe. It lay crumpled on the chair.
Before I did anything else, I headed for the bathroom and had a shower. It took me half an hour until I stepped out of the shower, fresh and dripping wet. I dried my hair wondering how long it had been since I’d been to the beauty shop.
I rushed back to my room where I jumped into an old pair of jeans and my favorite blue sweatshirt.
When I entered the kitchen, Sophie was already sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in her left hand, and a book in her right hand. I headed straight over and read the title of her book.
“Principals of Internal Medicine,” I quoted. “It’s Saturday morning, Sophie.”
“Good morning,” she said, looking up. “There’s some coffee left if you want.” Her eyes wandered back to the page.
I looked at the counter. The coffee pot was half empty. I fetched a mug from the cabinet and poured the rest of the coffee into it. I opened the fridge and took out the milk and filled the mug to the rim, put the milk back into the fridge and finally sat down at the table.
“Thanks!” I took a sip. It needed sugar.
“The fridge’s nearly empty. We have to go shopping for tonight,” Sophie announced.
Damn! I had forgotten about the party.
“I invited Amber, Lyd and Greg for tonight. Is that okay with you?”
Sophie nodded absentmindedly, her eyes still on the book.
“Maybe they’ll bring some friends.” I looked at Sophie, hoping for a proper reaction. She nodded once more.
“Shall I write a shopping list?”
Sophie shoved a sheet of paper and a pencil towards me, still not looking up. I started writing down some things we needed for the household.
“We need chips and popcorn,” Sophie dictated. I wrote it down and added sweets, beer and soda to the list.
Then I searched the kitchen for the newspaper and drank my coffee while reading. We sat in silence for a while, the only noise coming from the pages as we turned them.
“Would you mind going shopping alone? I’ve got to finish this chapter by Monday and I’m not even half way through.” Sophie’s voice was stressed as always.
I gulped down the rest of the already cold coffee, grabbed the keys and hurried for the car.
The supermarket was only a few minutes away. I parked my car near the entrance and went inside. The supermarket was crowded, I steered my shopping cart around other people like in a slalom. It took ages until I had found everything. I was just kneeling on the floor in front of a shelf picking out some packages of potato chips when a pair of dirty brown sneakers stopped in front of me. They belonged to two long legs in faded blue jeans.
“Can I help you up, Miss?” I instantly recognized the voice. Adam. I looked up and saw his face gazing down at me. He held out his hand.
“Thanks.” I grabbed it and pulled myself up. I threw the chips into the shopping cart and started pushing it towards the check-out. He fell into step beside me.
“How are you?” He asked.
“Fine, thank you.” Stupid answer. I’m tired like hell. I have been thinking about you every night all week. I forced a smile.
“I’ve been wondering—if you don’t have any plans for tonight, would you—”
“I already have plans, I’m sorry,” I interrupted. “I’m just doing the final shopping. My sister’s having a party tonight, and I have invited some friends, so I have to be there.”
He smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. They showed a hint of disappointment—or maybe I imagined that.
“You can come if you like, there are going to be lots of people, one more or less won’t matter.”
This time his smile reached his eyes.
“Maybe I’ll drop by later. Where is the party?”
I gave him directions to our house while paying. He helped me put the purchases into the trunk of my car. I watched his hair move in the sunlight. It was very dark, but small reddish brown shimmers flitted with every movement.
“Thanks for the help.”
He looked up at me, smiling.
“You are welcome, Claire. So my trip to the supermarket wasn’t in vain.” He opened the door for me, and I climbed into the seat.
“See you!” My right hand waved at him while my left hand started pulling the door shut. “Maybe tonight.” I added before the door fell shut.
The way home seemed even shorter than usual. I felt like somebody had poured tons of stimulant into my coffee this morning. There was a permanent urge to move so I bustled around the kitchen, putting everything where it belonged. Sophie was still sitting where she had when I had left for shopping.
“Thanks Claire,” she put the book down. “I’m nearly finished—only a few paragraphs, then I’ll help you with the preparations.”
“Never mind.” I hurried off to the living room. Every breakable thing had to be stored in a safe place for tonight. I knew Sophie’s friends. They were nice guys, but sometimes they had a few drinks too many and then it happened that something got broken. I collected the things that had to be locked away for the party, put them into a box and carried them upstairs, where I was going to stow them in the hall closet.
When I opened the closet the party decorations from Sophie’s last birthday party in June fell from the shelves inside. I pulled the rest of them out and stuffed the box into the cabinets instead.
I grabbed the colorful decorations and carried them downstairs.
“Mind if I hang them somewhere on the walls?”
Sophie was just squeezing the fat book away into her bag.
“No, they’re great. I had forgotten we have them.” She grabbed the bag and carried it to her room. “Need help?” She called from upstairs. I nodded, grinning.
“Sure!” I called back.
A few minutes later we were busy pulling red and blue paper ribbons through the handles of the cabinets. We put some indefinite mass of purple fluff on the wall where nobody could miss it. Something that ugly had to be celebrated.
“I met Adam today.” I said in a casual tone, trying to let it sound as if that was nothing extraordinary.
“Do I know him?” Sophie asked through a bunch of blue paper ribbons she was pinning to the shelf beside the television.
I shook my head. “I haven’t known him for long.”
“Is he cute?” Her eyes flashed. “You know I don’t have a boyfriend at the moment.”
I bit my lip.
“What does he do?”
“I don’t kn
ow exactly. I’m determined to get that out of him tonight.”
“How long have you known him?”
“Since Monday.”
I looked at the purple fluffy thing, not wanting Sophie to see my expression. I knew I was being stupid. I didn’t know anything about him, except that he had turned up in the graveyard. Not the most logic place to meet the man of your dreams. I was getting carried away again.
“Claire, you can’t invite strangers to our house. You don’t know if he’s a psycho or anything.” Sophie interrupted my thoughts.
“And you cannot dictate any rule you like. You’re not Mom!” I screamed at her, though I knew she was right. He may be nice, or he may be the total opposite of nice, or a maniac. But who cared, I wanted to see him again—not by accident like the first two times. He somehow seemed to know where to find me. Or had it just been by accident, too.
“What else should I have done? He asked for my plans for tonight—he wanted to ask me out.” I snapped at her. “Anyway, I’m not even sure he’ll come. He said maybe.” I concentrated on the next piece of purple fluff for a second. It wouldn’t stay put on the wall where I tried to fix it.
“I can’t even uninvite him, I don’t have his telephone number.” When I said the word telephone, my cellphone rang. It was Amber. She asked if I would come over to Lydia’s to finish the homework for Monday. I was grateful for a reason to get out of the house.
“Sure, I’ll be there in a minute.” I hung up and hurried upstairs to my room to get my school things.
“I’m going to Lydia’s—homework. I’ll be back at seven.” I stormed out the front door, not bothering to put on a jacket.
* * *
The sun was setting when I walked back from Lydia’s. It had been a sunny day with few clouds, but it wasn’t too warm anymore. It was obvious that it was getting fall. I wasn’t far away from our house when I saw Sophie standing on the porch. She was a beautiful woman: Tall with shoulder length reddish brown hair and gray-green eyes. Her body was slender, and she had long legs. Her face was finely featured. She had a certain grace in her movement that wasn’t obvious when you were too close, but from a bit farther away her movements seemed like those of a queen, hiding her royalty—something impossible. I wondered which guy she’d keep tonight. But maybe she wouldn’t be the center of attention when Amber was around.
“Hey Sophie,” I called from where I was. She waved back. She was on the phone, talking animatedly. I walked past her into the house and up the stairs. It was a quarter to eight, I had less than an hour before the first guests would arrive. I decided to take a nap before getting ready for the party.
I curled up on the bed, trying to relax a little. The tension left me for just a moment, then I thought of him and my heart started jumping in circles. What if he didn’t come tonight? I pushed the thought aside. What if he did come tonight? This thought stressed me even more. What if he was some kind of psycho?
I stretched and opened my eyes. There was no way I would be able to relax now.
A book lay on the bedside table. A pencil stuck between the pages where I’d finished reading a few days ago. I opened the book, put the pencil aside, and started reading.
“They didn’t know why they loved each other, but the feelings they shared were so much stronger than anything the had felt before.”
I closed the book and threw it at the corner of the room. I couldn’t remember why I had read this stuff, and—even worse—how I had made it to page one-hundred-and-seven.
Finally, I got up from the bed and smoothed the blanket. I walked over to the closet and opened it. What are you going to wear tonight, I asked myself, but I couldn’t get a concrete answer out of me. I started pulling out a pile of shirts. Red, red, scarlet, pink, purple, lilac, yellow (Uggh, I had to throw away this one!), gray, light gray, dark gray …I wasn’t sure if I wanted attention tonight, so I decided on a purple short sleeved shirt. The rest of the shirts went back into the closet. I only had the pair of jeans I wore, the rest were in the laundry. I pulled a jean skirt out of the drawer, slipped out of the jeans I was wearing, and put it on. Purple tights and black boots, that was it.
A few minutes later I was standing in the bathroom fighting with my hair. It wanted to stay knotted at the back of my head where I had tied it earlier. It was a fair bit of work talking it into letting go and straightening down my back. Then I put on a bit of mascara—my lashes were so blond you wouldn’t see them otherwise.
Sophie stormed in without knocking on the door.
“Sorry, I need to get ready …no time…” She bustled around the mirror. It was like science, Sophie’s process of applying make-up. She needed things over things I wouldn’t have been able to use if my life had depended on it—I wasn’t even able to name them. The dress she wore was crimson and tight, reaching down to her knees. It looked good on her. I smiled.
She was just putting on lipstick when the bell rang. She threw her hair out of her face with a quick movement and headed downstairs. I followed more slowly. She had already opened the door when I reached the bottom of the stairs.
Ian was standing in the door, smiling at Sophie in astonishment.
“Hey Ian, I thought you had seen her naked already, so why does your mouth hang open because of that simple outfit,” I joked instead of greeting him.
“Hey Claire,” he said, not taking his eyes off Sophie.
Ian had been one of her boyfriends one or two years ago. I couldn’t remember exactly, there had been so many. I liked Ian, he was a good guy, always there for Sophie, and even for me when I needed something. He and Sophie were in the same year of college, but he took different courses than she did. He studied Media and Science and wanted to become a journalist some day.
“What did you bring?” I asked, taking a box from his hands. It was filled with more party decorations. “Wonderful.” I commented sarcastically.
Sophie put on the music, and I instantly had the party feeling, the feeling I always had when Sophie had her parties.
We hadn’t found the time to say much more or sit down when the bell rang again. Some of Sophie’s friends had arrived, each of them bringing something to eat or to drink. Amber and Lydia were standing behind them, looking slightly helpless.
“Hey girls, come in!”
They followed the others through the door. Slowly the house was filling.
“Wow, you look good,” Amber said, excited. I was sure I looked nothing but plain next to Sophie.
“Who else is coming tonight?” Lydia asked.
“Most of the people are friends of Sophie’s, and there are a lot more of them coming. They are mostly from college. Some of them are in the same courses she’s in,” I described the people, that were filling our little house.
“Cool—college guys!” Amber didn’t try to hide her excitement. I was glad the music was too loud for the others to hear us.
The bell rang again. I hurried to open the door, Amber and Lyd at my side. It was Gregory.
“Good evening, ladies. Am I correct that a party is taking place at this estate tonight?” His face was forced into a serious expression—it made him look more adult and quite handsome.
“Come in.” I grabbed his arm and pulled him over the threshold.
“Thanks again for the invitation.” He smiled at me. I had to admit he really looked like a young gentleman in his black trousers and deep blue shirt. His blue eyes stood out when he wore that color, and with the way he had his hair done—it looked freshly cut.
“Hey Greg!” Amber threw her arms around his neck for a greeting. He pulled free from her hug and held her at a distance by her shoulders, looking at her from head to foot and back up.
“Yes, you look good. Very good! New outfit?”
Amber seemed pleased with his reaction. “Thank you, Greg.”
Lydia had joined in a conversation with Sophie and Ian in the far corner of the living room. Others had arrived and the house was nearly filled with people.
I kn
ew how the party would end. Some would leave early. Some would leave and wouldn’t find their way home drunk as they would be. Some would wake up in wrong beds, and one of them would wake up in Sophie’s bed. I was trying to figure out who it was going to be tonight.
A new thing was that Amber, Lydia and Gregory were here. It was their first time to one of our parties. I wondered what was going to happen with the three of them. I was sure Gregory wouldn’t be the one to end up in Sophie’s bed—he was rather going to end up in Amber’s.
I went to the kitchen to get a drink from the fridge.
“Want one too?” I asked Greg who had followed me. He nodded. “Please.”
I opened two bottles, while he waited in silence. It was much quieter in here than in the living room and nobody was dancing yet.
“Who put the purple stuff on the wall?” he asked, pointing at the purple fluff. “It’s ugly.”
“That was me,” I answered half proud, half guilty. “It’s so ugly it’s got to be celebrated. There has to be a reason to party, and if there isn’t, I’ll create one.” I winked at him.
“We could celebrate that we finally have five days a week together again until graduation.” His tone was a little too serious for the meaning of his words. I gave him a half-smile.
“Amber looks great today. She always looks great, but today it’s really—wow.” I pointed out in hope of pointing his attention elsewhere.
“Yeah, she’s really something to look at.” His eyes were still serious, but his mouth pulled up at the corners.
“Then let’s not keep her waiting any longer.” I led the way back into the living room where Amber was dancing. We joined her. I was not exactly talented at dancing, but I liked it all the same, so I didn’t care.
“There is someone at the door for you, Claire,” Sophie shouted over Ian’s head.
Oh, no! I had completely forgotten about him. I had been so busy talking to Amber and Greg, that I had forgotten to worry about Adam.
Slowly, I crossed the room, trying not to collide with the dancing people around me. My heart was racing. I could see the half open door and nobody was standing there.
White (The Wings Trilogy Book 1) Page 4