“Aren’t most people? Drunk driving is for assholes.” I scanned the room in search of another target. So far, nothing. “You ruined everything. Now I have nothing to do, except maybe beer pong. But I hate that game. I suck at it. My aim is the worst.”
“Oh, I know.” He laughed shamelessly. “And you can’t catch for shit. I’ve already noticed you drop everything. You might be the clumsiest person I’ve ever met.”
I faked a laugh and rolled my eyes. “Where’s Mateo?” I asked. He’d come up with the plan to come and now he was nowhere to be seen.
“Not here. I’ve never been to a frat party. This is… interesting.” Dennis snickered as someone slipped over a puddle of beer.
“Did you not go to college?”
“I did. I graduated last year but I was busy taking classes, not doing… this.” He made a face as another person stumbled over the mess of beer.
I laughed and took his hand. “Let’s go upstairs. Not to hook up. I’m not doing that with you. But there might be less mess and more entertainment up there.” I climbed the stairs and tugged him along. I was stuck with him, anyway. May as well make the best of it.
When we reached the top, at least one pair of people were having sex in the first bedroom; that much was obvious from the noise. I pulled Dennis along to the next room, which had a small group of people inside. They were deep in a rambunctious conversation.
“Hi,” a girl greeted us enthusiastically. “Okay. Settle a debate for us. Is a hot dog a sandwich?” She giggled uncontrollably as one person groaned and another started chugging two drinks at once, spilling down his shirt.
“Duh,” I said. “What else would it be?”
“See!” She shoved a finger in the face of the guy beside her. “What else would it be? Nothing. Nothing else because it’s clearly a sandwich.”
I tuned out the guy’s response and wandered back into the hall. “Let’s see what else we have up here,” I said, bringing Dennis along. My favorite thing to do while sober at a party, aside from hooking up with strangers, was to watch drunk people be absurd. “How long do you think ’til we find another couple having sex?”
“Right now.” Dennis nodded toward the cracked door beside me.
It only took a second to realize he was correct. I laughed and dragged him past several more drunk people toward a populated balcony.
“See? This is fun. What do you think they’re doing out here?”
“Probably smoking,” he guessed.
Sure enough, the familiar scents of weed and cigarettes filled the air the moment we stepped outside. I almost gagged as a cloud of smoke blew in my face. Maybe the balcony wasn’t the best idea, after all. I’d never been a fan of smoke.
“Let’s go back inside. The people in the non-sex room seemed fun.” I did a pivot and led him back inside. “If it’s boring we’ll go play drinking games with Ari and Sean.”
“Sure. Maybe if you aim at a wall, you’ll miss so horribly it’ll land in a cup.”
“You know what,” I started, fully prepared to go on a tirade, but froze the moment we reached the doorway.
“Go in.” Dennis nudged me from behind. I numbly stepped inside. My eyes were trained on the small table, where several people were prepping lines of white powder. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I forced a smile. “Let’s go downstairs. I wanna play beer pong.”
“Babe! You’re back.” The same girl beamed at us. “Do you guys want any? There’s plenty.” She gestured toward the table as a guy snorted the first line of cocaine.
“No, thanks.” I kept the smile up. “I’m good.”
“Okay, love.” She rolled up a paper before moving in to take the next line. She sniffed and passed it to the next person, who was setting up another.
I could feel it coming—my entire mood had changed. I pushed past Dennis out of the room, back into the hall, past the couples having sex.
“You don’t do drugs?” Dennis sounded even more surprised than he’d been about the lack of drunk driving.
“No.” I angrily pushed past someone else and headed downstairs.“Where’s Ari? I wanna leave.” I made my way to the beer pong table, but she wasn’t there. I maneuvered around the new game that was happening, searching for my cousin.
“Vixen, what’s wrong?”
I slid my way between two more people. The party was already more crowded than before. I searched room to room for nearly fifteen minutes before eventually spotting her wavy hair from behind. She was at a table in the garage, still beside Sean and apparently playing a game of King’s Cup. I tapped her on the shoulder. It was clear she was wasted before she even turned around.
