party ; c.h

one

Carmen

"When your best friend's all strung out..."

Foster The People muffled in the background, along with the laughs of squealing girls and the yells of drunk guys. I stood up in the big bathroom, and looked at myself in the vanity mirror. My long thick hair was still in my infamous curls, my makeup still how it looked when I first put it on. Surprising, actually. I excepted to look like a mess.

I looked at my phone. 10:38. Not even close to the end of the party.

Even though I have only been here for an hour and a half, it felt like I had been at Lana Martin's party for the whole day. I'm basically just an uber for my friends. Every Friday Night, I get to watch my friends drink and hook up with guys, while I hide away in bathrooms. Fun.

I brace myself to walk out of the door, concerned someone might call me out for being in the bathroom for too long or something. I swing open the door and try to make a run for it, when someone bumps into me, making me groan. They grab my arm tightly, saving me from falling on my ass. I look  up to meet eyes with a tall boy with curly hair. He smirks.

"Watch where you're going, baby." he gently lets go of my arm, the cocky, drunken grin still on his face. I scoff and smile. "Thanks for the tip. I will." I look down and hurry downstairs to try and look for another bathroom to lock myself in, when I bump into one of my friends. I notice that she's behind my other one, too.

"Ok, Carmen. we can leave now," my blonde best friend, Courtney says. Her pearly whites are showing, making it evident she is very happy. I laugh and raise my eyebrows. "We usually leave like, four hours from now. Why are we leaving so soon?"

My other friend, Jade, giggles. "Her mission is complete. She got Calum Hood's number."

"Who's that?"

Courtney gasps defensively, as if I just said something offensive towards her. "He's like, the hottest guy ever. He graduated from Golden Oak a year before us." She begins to push through the crowd, yelling, "Feminine issues! Out of the way, please!" and everyone begins groaning and moving quickly out of our way. It works every time, everyone moves out of the way, as if we were contaminated. It was amusing.

We finally get through the door, and I sigh, hoping they would change the subject. They get boys every week; I've only had one boyfriend in my entire eighteen years of life. It made me left out, but I never told them that.

But Jade clears her throat. "Yeah, Court, you're one lucky girl.." She says, and playfully hits her on the shoulder. "You know, they say he's amazing in bed."

I pull out of the long driveway when Courtney giggles. "Oh shut up. I'm not going to-"

"Oh please," Jade says, running her fingers through her long brown hair. "No one get's Hood's number for no reason. You're so gonna screw him. And when you do, don't forget to tell us how he was."

I laugh nervously, not knowing what else to do. "So, we're crashing at your place, right, Court?" I felt her shuffle in her seat a little, and she sighs. "Duh. Friday Night tradition." She winks at me through the review mirror and smiles, but I could've swore I saw a hint of annoyance before she did. I smile back anyway.

Even though I had the AC on, the Arizona air still lingers in the air, giving me a light sweat. I get a little more hot about thinking about the boy who tightly grabbed my arm as if his life defended it, before he practically growled in my ear and walked away like it was nothing. For some reason I was partially mesmerized, but I didn't know why. I wasn't sure why he was still on my mind.

♡

"Oh my God," Jade said, propping a pillow up on her arm. "We should call Calum, Courtney. Please. I want to hear how hot his voice is over the phone."

Courtney rolled her eyes and twirled her hair. "Uh, yeah no. Not happening. I'm not calling him that fast. He's gonna think I'm desperate or something, you know?"

I sit up in Courtney's king sized bed, resting my chin on my knees. Ever since I broke up with Luke, I've had no desire to even talk about boys like they do. I even hated myself for thinking about the boy who grabbed my arm for too long. I don't know why, but I feel so sick when I do, as if I'm not mentally ready to focus on other boys. I sometimes feel like something is wrong with me, but I haven't told Jade or Courtney, of course.

It's just something I'll have to figure out by myself.

"I'm getting tired," I whisper, looking down. "It's almost three."

Jade slightly smiles, and nods in agreement. She leans in and kisses my cheek. "Don't worry, Carmen. You'll find someone soon enough."

Soon, we're all laying down, and they're mostly just talking about the next upcoming parties and the stories about the old ones. I just snuggle under the covers even more and just listen. I don't mind listening and being their taxi driver. Because I used to be like them, too. But as soon and Luke dumped me, I've been a different person. I feel like a different person. It was like he took my heart with them. So it's not their fault. It wasn't always like this.

helloo

okay so i deadass started this in late January, and it's basically summer and i just started !! i'm sorry for the postponement and i'll definitely start updating a lot faster.

i'm most likely going to start in later may, because i'm soo busy with final exams. and also my birthday is in three days.

but thank you guys so much for waiting and reading! it means a lot. it'll get way better, and i have a lot of twists to throw in lmao. so yay ♡