Touch of Innocence

26

"Do you think we should go to a party?"

"A party?" Hadley reiterated.

"Yeah, some frat boy invited me to their house tonight. Do you want to go?" Hazel asked.

Hadley considered her offer. She'd never been to a party before, she didn't think Hazel had either.

"Mmmh, I don't know." She wasn't sure if she wanted to. Most girls went to meet guys or to hook up, and she was not interested in any of that.

Hazel shrugged. "I don't know either, but it could be fun. We could meet some new friends. We need other people to hang out with."

Hazel made a good point. The two of them had yet to make friends since they arrived two weeks ago.

"But I wasn't invited. You were."

Hazel rolled her eyes as she finished typing the last sentence of her paper. "You're the vampire princess, Hadley, you'll be fine. Besides, Evan told me I could bring a friend."

Hadley considered the proposal again. "Okay, I'll go. But if I'm bored, I'm leaving."

"You don't have to tell me twice. I'll leave with you."

Later that night, Hadley pulled a pair of dark high-waisted jeans on and tucked a shirt into the waist of the jeans. She applied a light face of makeup and made sure her hair looked presentable before putting a pair of shoes on.

"Do I look okay?" She asked Hazel.

Hazel was dressed much more daringly than Hadley was. She wore a pair of skin-tight black leather jeans and a black tube top. She looked gorgeous. It took Hadley a bit by surprise considering she'd never seen Hazel wear something that revealing before.

"Yeah. Do I?"

"Much better than me," Hadley answered.

"You look good," Hazel said again. "I'm trying to find me a man babe, you already have one."

Hadley looked at herself in the mirror one more time. Perhaps she was wearing too many clothes for a college party, but she had no desire to wear crop tops or sheer shirts that showed her bra underneath. Showing herself like that to strangers was not something that interested her.

"Ready to go?" Hazel asked.

"Yup."

They walked out of their dorm building and walked up the street toward the frat houses. Hadley felt the anxiety building up in her stomach with each step she took toward the house.

"I'm nervous," she admitted.

"You'll be okay. It's just a party. We can leave whenever we want."

When they walked up the front steps of the house, Hazel smiled at the boy standing in front of the door. "Hazel, what's up?" He asked.

"Thought I'd take you up on your offer. This is my friend, Hadley." So this was Evan, the guy that invited her to the party.

Hadley waved at the kid and he lifted his chin in acknowledgment.

"You two can go ahead in. I'll be looking for you when I come in," he said, his eyes trailing down to Hazel's chest.

"Sounds good."

He opened the door and they both walked through. Immediately, Hadley was hit with the smell of alcohol. The party was already in full swing by the time they'd arrived. The house looked trashed with spilled red solo cups everywhere and miscellaneous items thrown across the floor.

"This looks fun," Hadley said sarcastically.

"I'm excited," Hazel exclaimed. Her eyes lit up when she saw the bar.