Shaking my head, I take a step back. “I’m alright for now. Let me know when Declan shows up.”
“At least take a shot first,” Kaleb says, grabbing a bottle of vodka from his side that’s almost half empty. The cap is already off, and he slides off the countertop and accusingly points the bottle at me. “Why aren’t you drunk?”
“Maybe because I only had my first drink five minutes ago,” I fire back at him, then snatch the bottle out of his hand. He has a point. I can’t be seen at a party sober. That’s not me, so I tilt the bottle against my lips and drink for as long as I can possibly bear the burn of the vodka at the back of my throat, then I pass the bottle back. “I’m gonna go and see who’s all here.”
“Alright,” Kaleb says as he pushes himself back up onto the countertop. He takes a swig too, then lets the bottle hang in his fingertips. “If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
I decide to turn around and walk away from him before I really do change my mind. I could seriously do with a hit right now, but I figure I’ll crave it even more as soon as Tiffani turns up. That’s when I’ll really need it the most, so for now I’ll wait. I can hold off for another hour, but I need to keep myself distracted, so I head off on a tour of the house to see who exactly is here. So far, Kaleb is the only person I know, give or take a few people I’ve spoken to only briefly before.
In the kitchen, people are pouring drinks. In the living room, people are spilling them. Outside in the backyard, there’s a game of beer pong kicking off among half a dozen guys who are too drunk to stand, let alone aim, so I don’t even bother to join in. Instead, I come back inside to toss my empty bottle of beer into the trash and to open a new one, and I notice that Kaleb has already disappeared from his reserved spot up on the countertop. So much for knowing where to find him. The guy couldn’t even last fifteen minutes waiting there.
With a fresh beer in hand, I head off again, this time upstairs. Thehouse isn’t huge, and neither is the guest list. I’m so bored that I’ve resorted to counting how many people are actually here, and so far, I’ve counted twenty-seven. No one appears to even be upstairs except the girl throwing up in the bathroom.
“Are you alright?” I ask her, sticking my head around the doorframe. She doesn’t lift her head from the bowl, only raises her hand and gives me a thumbs-up, so I close the door and leave her alone.
“Tyler? I thought that was you,” a voice says from behind me. When I spin around, there’s a girl quickly making her way up the stairs toward me, a drunken smile on her face. I know her, but it takes me a minute to remember her name.
“Hey, Naomi,” I say. I can’t bring myself to smile at her, probably because I’m still stuck in this weird mood, so I sip at my beer instead. I don’t know what to say to her. She sits in front of me in English lit, and the only time I ever speak to her is when I need her to translate Shakespeare for me.
“What are you doing up here?” she asks, stopping a mere foot away from me. She leans out to press her hand against the wall, steadying herself to prevent her from swaying. She drunkenly giggles while adjusting her skirt, then pouts up at me. “Shouldn’t you be downstairs? You know, where the alcohol is?”
I shake my head and take the final swig of my beer, leaning down to abandon it on the floor. I can’t remember if it’s my third or my fourth, but either way, I’m still nowhere near drunk, and I’m starting to get frustrated. Naomi’s way ahead of me, but I do notice that her hands are empty. “Good point,” I say. “How about a drink?”
“Shouldn’t you be hanging out with Tiffani?”
“She’s not here yet.” I glance at the watch on my wrist. It’s just after ten thirty, so she should be here in around half an hour. I’m dreadingthe idea of having to face her, which means that I only have thirty minutes to consume as much alcohol as I can in order to blur out the argument that’ll most likely break out between us.
“Oh,” Naomi says, but she’s smiling as she nods. “A drink sounds nice.”
“What do you like?”
“Hmm.” She tilts her head to one side and pretends to deeply consider her answer, right before she grins and leans back against the wall entirely. “Surprise me.”
“Alright. Stay right here.”
Brushing past her, I make my way back downstairs as the music engulfs me all over again. Someone has definitely increased the volume, because it’s now at the point where people have to yell in order to hear one another, and I shove a guy out of my way so that I can get into the kitchen. I may not be drunk, but I’m not exactly sober either. I’m starting to feel slightly more relaxed, a little more at ease here without Tiffani on one side of me and Dean on the other like I’m so accustomed to.
Kaleb is back up on the countertop again, exploding into laughter with some guy he’s talking to, but when he spots me, he winks and mouths, “Pot?” I shake my head no.
Half my beer has been stolen by the time I find the packs, and there’s only four bottles left. It’s to be expected at house parties, so I steal a random bottle of Bud from someone else and crack it open, then find a cup and scour the center island. I spot a box of Red Bull, so I grab a can and then mix it into the cup with what I’m pretty certain is more than a double measure of vodka. I shrug, crush the can in my hand, then toss it onto the countertop.
“Tyler,” Kaleb says, just as I’m turning to head back upstairs. I glanceover my shoulder, and he motions for me to come over with his index finger, so I deeply inhale and then make my way back over to him. “You know the rules,” he says, his words a little slurred. “Every time you come into the kitchen, you gotta take a shot.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. This rule has never existed until right now, but who am I to argue with him? Only idiots turn down free shots. “C’mon then.” With both my hands full, I step closer to him and tilt my head back, parting my lips.
Kaleb grabs the bottle and raises it to my mouth. The vodka hits my throat as he tips the bottle up even higher, but he doesn’t stop, only grins in satisfaction as I continue to swallow and swallow and swallow until my stomach physically burns. I can’t keep going, so I clamp my lips shut, only for Kaleb to spill the vodka down my neck and onto my shirt.
“That’s how you do it,” he comments, taking a shot himself with a nod of appreciation. I don’t know how much I just drank, but I’m glad he’s enjoying how queasy I suddenly am. I focus on my breathing for a moment or two until I’m convinced I won’t throw up on the floor.
“You’re an asshole,” I mutter once I’ve recovered. I set Naomi’s cup down so that I can pull my shirt up to dry my neck, then I run a hand through my hair and pick the drink back up. I’m not sure if the house has been this hot the entire time, but heat seems to hit me out of nowhere, and I need to get away from this pounding noise and the bodies pressing all around me. Quickly, I manage to snatch the almost-empty bottle of vodka out of Kaleb’s grip, balancing both it and my bottle of beer between my fingers. He narrows his eyes at me, but all I can do is wink back at him. “You know the rules,” I mimic, backing away. “Every time you leave the kitchen, the bottle goes with you.”
Kaleb rolls his eyes and says, “Touché.” It’s not like there’s much leftanyway. A couple shots worth, max, and he’s already both drunk and high, so he doesn’t need it. At least not as much as I do.
Someone touches my shoulder and saysheyas I make my way back through the living room, but I don’t bother to turn around because I have three drinks in my hands and my focus is on the cup I’ve thrown together for Naomi. It’s filled to the brim and when someone else accidentally knocks against me, I spill a little on the carpet, so I quickly keep moving before anyone notices. Given how drunk half the people around me already are, I’m surprised no one’s thrown up on the carpet yet.
It’s a relief to get back upstairs again. The hallway lights are still off and everything is so still up here with no one around, not even Naomi. I peer around the bathroom door, but even the girl from earlier is gone, so I take a step back out into the hall and call Naomi’s name, though it sounds more like a question. She’s probably not even here anymore.
“In here!” she replies almost immediately, and I don’t know why, but I feel myself exhale in relief at the thought of her still being up here. Who else am I supposed to talk to when there’s no one else here I know besides Kaleb, who’s too fucked up to do anything but smirk?
