The Choice (a Painful Past)

12

    I scooted closer to Johnny to make room for him. "Yeah, but I didn't know that you would be here tonight," he replied, before shaking his wet head like a dog. 

Water sprayed my face, so I quickly turned my head. When I did, I saw a younger girl standing by the edge of the pool. Her face was illuminated by the fire, so I could see that she was giving me a death stare. 

"What the fuck is her problem?" I muttered, holding her gaze. "Who?" Johnny asked. I nodded my head towards the girl. She had her arms crossed over her pink bathing suit top, with her hip cocked out to one side. 

"Oh, that's Rheana. She's Dana's friend, or something. She used to date her brother. Not Logan, but Dustin," Will replied. "So, what does that have to do with me?" I asked. The girl refused to look away, so now it was personal. 

"Oh, that, um..." Will stammered out. "What did you do?" I asked. "Well, I just told her that I was coming over here to talk to you and that we were going out next weekend," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. I sighed heavily and moved my gaze from the girl to him. "Did you come here with her?" I asked. 

"Wait, wait, you two are going out next weekend?" Johnny asked. I felt my heart sink. "Yeah, we are. Who are you and why do you care?" Will retorted, almost angrily. "We're just hanging out," I said quietly, turning to Johnny. "He asked me earlier today and I thought why not, since no one else has asked me." 

Shit. I shouldn't have said it like that in front of Will. It might hurt his feelings. "Yeah, I won out because no one else can see how amazing she is," Will said, smugly. I guess it didn't hurt his feelings. 

Johnny didn't say anything for a while, but he held my gaze until it was almost uncomfortable. "Okay then. Hey, it's getting late, so I'm gonna head home. I'll see you at school, Monday," he said quietly, before he stood and starting walking back towards the Lot. "Bye," I said, as I watched him leave. I didn't know what to say, but I knew he was upset. If he didn't want me going out with someone else, then he should've asked me himself. While I knew this, I still felt really bad. 

"So, where are we gonna go this weekend?" WIll asked, as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I smiled, then shifted and turned towards him, so that his arm would fall. I hadn't spoken to Sherri yet, and the last thing I needed her to see was that. 

"Um, I don't know. We can talk about it later. I need to..." I was trying to think of an excuse to get away from him, when I saw a tall, freckle faced, brown haired guy walking towards me. 

"Hey Cal!" he exclaimed, throwing up his hand in greeting. "Dereck! Hey, I didn't know if you would be here tonight or not," I replied. I stood up and let his arms wrap around me in one of his comforting hugs. I heard Will scoff, but I ignored it. 

Derek was one of my best friends, and Kat's ex. I may have been in love with him at one point in time, but he was still my best friend. "Yeah, I decided why not?" he said, pulling away from me. "I can't just stay in my room moping all the time. She moved on. It's time for me to do the same."

 "Yeah...um...you know she's here, right? With Mitch," I said, hesitantly. "Dereeeekk," Sherri screamed, running drunkenly up to us. "Where the fuck did you come from?" I asked, bewilderedly, because I hadn't even seen her for at least an hour. 

Derek gave her a big hug, smiling from ear to ear. "Hey Sherri," he replied. "I see you're well on your way to tomorrow's hangover. She giggled and touched her finger to his nose. "Boop," she said, laughing again. "Maybe so, but right now, I feel amazing!" 

Surprisingly enough, Kat avoided us the rest of the night. Hell, for all I knew she was in one of those dark places next to the house, giving it up to Mitch. 

"Look, I'm gonna go see what Dustin is doing," Will said, standing up next to me. "Seems like you've got people to talk to anyway and I feel ignored. I'll see you later, Callie." He walked away, back towards the pool, without waiting for my reply. I shook my head, confused, but let it go.

 Derek, Sherri, and I sat down around the fire, and just started reminiscing on the year before. Before all of the bullshit happened, and life had seemed easy. Eventually, Chad joined us and sat down next to Sherri. She smiled stupidly, when he put his arm around her shoulders. We smoked, talked, laughed, and just had a great time, until a loud alarm sound scared the shit out of us. 

The music cut and everyone fell silent. "Ok, now that I have your attention," Dana laughed, from her position on top of the concrete picnic table over by the pool, with an air horn in hand. "Since most of my guests have left, I have an idea for the few of us that are left." 

I looked around, just then noticing that there were maybe only 10 people left, plus Sherri, Chad, Derek, and myself. "How about we take it back and play a little game of Spin the Bottle?," Dana yelled. Everyone erupted into cheers, except for me and Derek. I didn't really want to kiss anyone in front of everyone else. 

"Great! So, we can play inside, in the game room. Let's go!" Dana said, before she jumped down and headed towards the back door of her house. It had to be about 2 in the morning by now, but I knew her parents didn't give a shit what we did. Hell, there may have even been people in the bedrooms having sex, for all I knew, and they still wouldn't give a shit. They were the type of parents to supply the condoms, then watch their TV really loudly. 

"Come on guuuyss!" Sherri exclaimed, as she jumped to her feet. "Let's get our kiss on!" I smiled and shook my head at her. Derek stood then held out his hand to me. "I guess we're doing this, huh?" he replied, with a smile. I returned it and took his hand, then got to my feet. "I guess so," I sighed. 

I knew it wasn't a big deal, but it just felt awkward, since I knew that Mitch and Kat were somewhere, along with Will. Even Colby had to be here somewhere.