Underdawgs

Chapter 11

Samantha's place is massive. The front door is wide open and people are spilling out onto the street. Blackjack and I walk through the front gate, past a guy leaning on the front fence and munting onto the footpath. A group of Hipsters are sitting in Samantha's front yard smoking bongs and a couple are making out on the porch.

          Inside there are people everywhere, in every room of the house and packed into the backyard. There are more couples making out, people dancing to DnB in Samantha's bedroom, and some dude has passed out naked next to the toilet.

       We go around shaking hands, hugging people, trying to say hi to as many peeps as we can. Most people I know but there are still a heap I don't. I get introduced to so many people I lose track of who's who and how we all know each other. I keep an eye out for Lily the whole time, but I can't see her anywhere. Feeling a little overwhelmed and defeated, Blackjack and I head into the kitchen to put our shit down on the bench.

      The kitchen table is covered in bottles of spirits, shot glasses and empty bottles of beer. There's a joint going around a circle of people in the backyard, so Blackjack heads out to get on it and I wander off to locate Lily.

      From afar, I watch Samantha drunkenly stagger into the living room and fall over the arm of her sofa, sprawling onto a group of her friends. Snorting and giggling, she extracts herself from the tangle of bodies and staggers to her feet. I drift over to say hi.

      'Hey Samantha, nice party,' I yell over the music

      'Jason,' she squeaks, her face lighting up. She throws her arms around my shoulders.

      'Thank God you're here.'

      'Why's that?'

      'Why's that?' Samantha repeats, keeping hold of my elbow as if trying to steady herself. 'You should go...hic... find Lily. She wants to converse ... to have a conservation ... to talk with you.'

      I laugh. 'Do you know where she is?'

      'Not a clue,' Samantha shrugs. 'Lost her about half an hour ago ... I think she might have...hic...gone somewhere. Anyway, they're rolling up a blunt in the backyard. Gotta go.'

      Samantha kisses me on the cheek and staggers off in the direction of the backyard.

       I decide to take a tour of the house in the hope of finding Lily. I start with Samantha's bedroom, which is at the front of the house and has been decked out like a dance floor. Samantha's bed is gone and everything else had been packed into cupboards or hidden away. A sound system is up against the back wall and there's a strobe in the top right corner of the room.

      There are only a few people in there and Lily isn't one of them so I continue searching the rest of the house. She's not in the study or the master bedroom, or even in the living room with the rest of the party goers. After a while I realise there's a second floor, so I climb the stairs, hoping to find her up there.

      The upstairs area isn't huge, at least not compared to the rest of the house. Just two bedrooms and a toilet. The first bedroom has about five people in it, all of whom I know, so I chill with them for a bit. The bathroom is empty and the second bedroom is locked.

      I head downstairs, disappointed. Lily must have left early because I can't find her anywhere and everyone I ask doesn't know where she is either. I can't understand why she went to an effort to make me come but has already left. I decide to make the most of the night and drown my sorrows. I grab some goon and half a bottle of vodka from the bench and head out to the backyard.