by E. L. Davis
After that, he lightened up a bit and they all had a pretty good time. They played three rounds of pool and Roman bought everyone milkshakes except Demetri, who claimed he wasn’t thirsty. Alexia had been pretty sure that Roman was only offering to the girls anyway. The whole time they were there either Roman or Demetri was at her side. She enjoyed how much attention they were giving her, but she felt a little bad for her friends, even though they seemed to be enjoying themselves without the attention of the boys.
They all piled back into the car at around six o’clock. Ellie was insisting they had time for another game of pool, but Cheri was complaining about wanting to shower before the party. Demetri settled the argument by agreeing that he too wanted to shower before he headed over to Stacy’s party.
The drive to Cheri’s was much less awkward then the drive to Java’s had been. Roman and Ellie were laughing together as they discussed something that had happened in a class they shared earlier that day. Demetri, Alexia, and Cheri were trying to talk over their laughter about the party and when they would meet. In the end, it was decided that there was no way to tell how long it would take the girls to get ready and that they would just meet them whenever they got there. When Cheri told Demetri that her house was the brick one with the yellow door coming right up, Roman seemed to become upset once more. Before Alexia went inside the house, she turned to holler at the boys in the car, “See you soon!” They both waved and then Demetri sped off.
∞
Ellie was curling Alexia’s hair while Cheri did her makeup in the bathroom attached to her bedroom. The girls had decided that this time they would stay at Cheri’s after the party because her parents were out of town as well. Her bedroom walls were so covered in posters that you could not even see the hot pink walls. They were all in their new outfits and a bottle of vodka was sitting open on the dresser. Luckily, Cheri’s sister was in a good mood and had bought them a two-six to share.
“Alexia, stop moving or I’m going to burn you!” Ellie smiled at her in the mirror and gave her shoulder a pat. “No matter what happens, we’re going to have a great time and dance our asses off!”
“I’m just a little worried about how this is all going to turn out. I mean, they seemed to be okay with each other at Java’s, but honestly, if we’re all drinking that’s going to change things a bit.”
“Stop worrying and just go with the flow, Alexia. Okay, how do I look?” Cheri came back into her room and did a little spin. “Am I fabulous or what?”
“You look great, Cheri!” She really did. Her new outfit was gorgeous. A short black skirt that ruffled around her legs, with a hot pink top that hung off her left shoulder, and a pair of hot pink flats to match. It was similar to what Ellie was wearing – black leggings and a shiny pink shirt that showed off a lot of cleavage – but instead of a flat shoe, Ellie was wearing a black high heel that she was changing into at the party.
“Okay, Alexia, your hair is done! You look so hot!” It was true. Alexia felt like a rock star. She was wearing a black strapless dress covered in sequins with several silver and gold chains around her neck. Her shoes, which were black flats with sparkles all over, matched her dress perfectly.
“We all look so hot! Are you ladies ready to take some more shots?” Alexia held up the bottle and waved it in their faces.
“Why do you even ask?” They all laughed, and Alexia poured three shots into pink shot glasses.
“I want to make a toast. Here is to an amazing night, and to Alexia finally making up her mind about her men. CHEERS!” Cheri and Alexia laughed and they all clanked their glasses together.
By the time the girls got to Stacy’s house, the party was well underway. The furniture had been moved aside to make room for a beer pong table, and a group of girls was playing flip the cup against a group of guys. You could tell everybody was getting a little bit drunk and a few girls that Alexia didn’t mind too much, including Stacy, were dancing in the kitchen. “Have you spotted any of your men yet?” Ellie was looking around and so was Cheri.
“Nope, but you know what? I don’t want to look like I am expecting them so let’s go join Stacy and her friends dancing over there.”
“Sounds good to me.” The three girls headed over to the group of girls dancing in the kitchen. “Hey Stacy, this is a great party!”
“Aw, thank you guys so much. It’s so great you’re here!” Alexia could tell she was really drunk because she flung her arms around her neck and gave her a big kiss on the cheek. “Hey, everybody! Alexia and her girls are here! Let’s get this party started!” Everybody cheered and whoever had a drink in their hands held it up in the air as if toasting to their arrival. “So, you guys want some shots?”
“I don’t know if you need any more Stacy, but we are going to go take some and then we’re going to come back and dance with you guys.”
“Okay. You better come back, bitches!”
Ellie grabbed her friends’ wrists and dragged them to the counter where some shot glasses were. “Wow, she is so drunk!” They all laughed as they looked over and saw Stacy dancing very sloppily. “Okay, let’s take some shots. I am not drunk enough to deal with her yet.” She poured six shots and handed two to each of her friends. “Both of them down the hatch, now!” Cheri looked at Alexia who shrugged and took both the shots one after the other, her friends doing the same.
“This looks like a good party.” Alexia jumped a bit and turned around to see Roman staring down at her with his blue eyes sparkling in the light. She looked him up and down and liked what she saw. He was wearing dark blue jeans that were looser than the ones he had been wearing the first day she met him. He had on a tee-shirt that was tight and she could see the outline of a muscle shirt underneath. Secretly she wished he had only worn the muscle shirt. His hair was sticking up in a way that looked like he hadn’t even done anything to it, yet it still looked really good.
“Yeah, Stacy knows how to throw a good party. She always enjoys herself quite a bit.” Alexia pointed over to where Stacy was dancing just as she fell flat on her butt. They both turned their backs and laughed.
“Apparently, she is enjoying herself a bit too much,” Ellie said. “So, Roman, can I interest you in a shot?”
“I’m fine thanks.” He held up a six-pack of beer. “I came prepared. Beer is the only thing I like to drink. I’m a little scared to put them down somewhere; everyone seems to be snatching up any alcohol they see.” He looked around at their classmates and smiled a bit. “I always love watching how different people get when they’re drunk. It’s quite amusing.” He was talking to all three of the girls, but as he finished talking he turned his gaze to Alexia and they locked eyes. She felt like she could look into those eyes all day. They weren’t intoxicating like Demetri’s eyes were, but she still had to force herself to look away from him.
“We were actually just about to dance; do you want to join us?”
Roman laughed. “Um, I think I’m going to need to drink some of these before I’m ready to do that. Is there a bathroom or bedroom I can go pound these back in?”
“Yeah, just straight past Stacy and her friends and down that hall there.” Cheri smiled at him as he said thank you and tried to get past drunken Stacy, who grabbed him and tried to dance with him. He looked back to Alexia and her friends who were laughing; he laughed too and managed to shrug Stacy off.
“He is looking really good tonight. You know, it’s sort of creepy the way you guys look into each other’s eyes like that for so long,” Ellie said
“What are you talking about?” Alexia blushed because she knew exactly what they were talking about.
“Don’t even pull that on us! I know you know what I’m talking about.” She was pouring them all shots again. “Whatever, let’s just take these and go dance our asses off.”
“Sounds like a deal to me.” Cheri grabbed her shot and downed it like it was water. “I am ready to dance the night away!” She walked away to join Stacy and her friends.
; “You know, I think she is getting a bit drunk…” Alexia noted.
Ellie laughed a little and said, “What do you expect? It’s Cheri?” They both took their shots and cringed a bit at the taste, Alexia was getting used to it though. “Let’s dance.” They went to join Cheri, Stacy, and the other girls dancing in the middle of the kitchen just in time for Demetri to walk through the door, looking good as always.
“Don’t look now but hottie number two just walked in the door. Time to show him if you can ‘shake your ass or not’.” Ellie laughed and grabbed Cheri, so the three girls could dance together. At every party, if the girls had a guy they wanted to impress, they had a routine they would do to catch their eye. It was slightly promiscuous, and most girls would give them dirty looks when they did it, but nine times out of ten the guy they were trying to impress would be more than impressed.
They always started by lining up together holding onto each other’s waists and just danced like normal. Ellie was always in the front, with Cheri in the middle and Alexia at the back. After about a minute, Ellie would turn to face Cheri and grind with her while Alexia did her favorite move, ‘dip it low and pick it up slow’, as she called it. Just as she was ‘picking it up slow’, she felt somebody grab onto her waist and start dancing with her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Demetri smiling at her. He looked absolutely stunning. He had a white dress shirt on with the collar sticking straight up and dark jeans that were just the right fit for him. A gold chain hung from his neck, which tied the whole look together.
“You know, I don’t think they were right about you liking to shake your ass a bit,” Demetri said. Alexia raised a brow at him. “You like to shake your ass a lot. You’re not into girls though, are you?”
“What? No, not at all. Why would you say that?”
“Well, the way you were dancing with your friends made me wonder a bit.” She had turned to face him by now and his hands were tight on her waist pulling her closer into him. She made the mistake of looking up into his eyes and then she was stuck there again. She couldn’t get over it; how did these two guys have such amazing eyes that you just got lost in?
With Demetri, it was worse. When she looked into his green eyes it was like she took a hit of a drug that made her want to impress him and flirt with him. The longer she gazed into them the worse it got. By now she didn’t want to just flirt with him, she wanted to be kissing him but knew it wasn’t a good idea, not here and now.
She forced herself to look away and surprised herself by saying, “You can’t say you didn’t like it.” She smiled at him and snatched the vodka away from Cheri who was still dancing with Ellie behind them. She grabbed Demetri’s hand and led him to the kitchen counter and poured them both two shots each.
“No, I did like it, but I wish it was me you were grinding on like that.” He flashed a smile and she almost got caught in his eyes again, but looked away quickly. Normally Alexia didn’t really like when guys were so forward with her, but there was something about him that made her not care, and made her want to be forward with him, too.
“Here, these are for you,” she handed him two shots and she took the other two. “Cheers.” They clanked the shots together and took them both consecutively.
“I like this side of you.” He was looking at her in a weird way that Alexia wasn’t sure if she liked or not.
“What do you mean? You don’t like the sober me?”
“No, no, no, that’s not what I meant at all. I like you no matter if you’re drunk or sober.” For a second it looked like he regretted what he said, like he felt he wasn’t playing it cool.
“So, how about that dance?” Alexia turned around and saw Roman behind her looking much less sober then he had when he first arrived.
“You finish all those beers already?” Alexia thought he looked like he was about to fall over. He couldn’t hold himself up very well and his words were slurring together.
“Yeah, I’m just waiting for them all to hit me, but I think…” he caught his balance on the counter, “I think I am tipsy enough to dance with you, though.” He flashed a goofy smile and made her laugh a little bit.
“Let me just take a shot and then you can have that dance. Can you last that long?”
He was really drunk. She could tell it wouldn’t be long before he either passed out or threw up. Apparently, he really isn’t much of a drinker, Alexia thought to herself as she poured her shot. She turned to say cheers to Roman but right as she turned around he had leaned into the kitchen sink and puked hard and loud. “Oh my gosh are you okay?” She went to pat his back.
“Don’t touch me… please just don’t touch me.”
“Okay, do you want water or something?” Everyone was looking over at him and Demetri was trying unsuccessfully to stifle his laughter.
Cheri and Ellie came over, clearly drunk, and whispered, “I think he needs the red wagon.” Ellie laughed hard and Cheri nudged her to stop when Alexia gave them both a dirty look.
“No, I’m fine.” He grabbed a paper towel and wiped his mouth. “Really, I’m fine. I think it was something I ate.”
“Or maybe something you drank.” Demetri laughed and reached for a nearby beer and cracked it open. “It’s okay man,” he took a big chug of beer, “not everybody knows their limits when their drinking. Maybe some of us just shouldn’t drink at all.”
“Maybe some of us should just not talk at all.” Roman gave him a dirty look and when Alexia looked into his eyes she saw nothing beautiful and blue about them. They were dark and angry and almost black. She was so shocked she could barely get her words out.
“Your eyes, their changing…” Alexia reached for his face, but he pushed her hand away and shook his head.
“What are you talking about, my eyes are fine.” And suddenly they were.
“I thought they were going black… I swear.”
“I think you’re getting a bit drunk, Alexia,” Demetri said.” Nothing happened to his eyes. I think it’s time for you to go, Roman. You’re looking really sick.” Demetri looked like he was trying not to get mad and so did Roman. “Do me a favor,” he placed so much emphasis on the word ‘favor’ and smirked. “Go home and get some rest.”
Suddenly, Roman looked like he had just been hit in the stomach. Through gritted teeth, Roman said, “You’re right, I should go. I guess I’ll have to get that dance from you another time, Alexia.” She looked up at him and into his eyes. They looked sad and frustrated like he was holding something back.
“I hope you feel better. Maybe next time just don’t drink too much.”
“Like I said, I’m not much of a drinker.” He looked back at Demetri with hate in his eyes before turning to leave.
“I’ll walk you out,” Demetri said with a smile on his face. Roman forced a smile at him and they both went out the door.
“Okay, that was super weird,” Cheri said to both her friends.
“I know, right? I mean, why would he listen to Demetri and leave when he doesn’t even like the guy, and why did he walk him out? They hate each other…” Ellie was drunk and confused, which she hated. “Screw it, we are going to talk about this tomorrow, but for now, let’s forget it and keep on partying! Let’s take a shot.” Ellie had a big smile on her face and grabbed the bottle and poured three shots for all of them.
“Mind if I join?” Demetri was back now, and he looked happier than ever. Ellie nodded and poured a fourth shot for him. “Cheers, to the prettiest girls in the school.” He gave Alexia a wink and they all took their shots.
“I think I am ready to dance.” Alexia grabbed her friends and pulled them onto the dance floor to put on a show for Demetri. He stood and watched them dance while drinking his beer.
“On the bright side, you never even had to juggle them both,” Cheri whispered to Alexia. “Also, now you know who can keep up with you. So, have you made a choice?”
“No, I really wish I got to hang out with Roman a bit more. He is so nice… I mean, I’m definitely
having a good time with Demetri, but I want to give Roman a second chance. You can’t help if you’re sick right?”
“Girl you’re going to have to decide soon. They aren’t going to put up with it forever, you know,” Cheri replied while Ellie nodded in agreement.
“It’s only been a week. Stop pushing me just because you want to snatch up whoever I don’t want.” Alexia regretted snapping at her friends right away. “I’m sorry, I’m just not sure about what I want yet, and I feel rushed. I don’t know anything about either of them yet. Maybe I won’t end up liking either of them. Please just give me time, okay?”
“We’re sorry. We never meant to push you or anything. I guess everyone just wants to know how it’s going to work out, you know?” Cheri hugged Alexia and apologized again.
“Thank you. Just so you know, I am having a really good time with Demetri.” She smiled at her friends and walked back over to him.
“Can I interest you in a beer?” He had his beer in one hand and a freshly opened one in the other. She took it from him and smiled.
“You’re not trying to get me drunk, are you?” She laughed to let him know she was kidding and took a gulp of beer.
“Nope, you’re doing that on your own. You know you guys have almost drunk that whole bottle?” He gestured to it and Alexia was surprised to see that there were maybe two shots left.
“I never even noticed. Want to finish it off with me?” Alexia slurred on the last part of her sentence. She didn’t want to get too drunk but thought she could for sure handle one more shot.
“Sure.” He reached for the bottle and split the contents into two shot glasses. “What should we toast to?” He handed her the shot and waited for her answer. He was looking dead straight into her eyes and she was trying hard not to look right into his. Let’s toast to you and those gorgeous eyes of yours. Or maybe let’s toast to how you’re making me feel right now, she thought to herself. Of course, she would never actually toast to any of these things.
“Fuck it, let’s just drink.” She took the shot fast before he could say anything. He laughed and took his, too. Then he grabbed her waist and pulled her close like he had done before, but this time he pulled her right against his body and tilted her head up to his, forcing her to gaze into his eyes. They looked like the different shades of green were churning together. “I’m really drunk, and I think I need to go before I do something stupid.”