1
Ally pushed dark strand of hair behind her reddening ear, smoothing her frothy, sea colored dress. She scanned the green, dewy lawn at her party preparations. Soft white lights bobbed softly in the hot blue air, the orange sun hanging low in the sky. A table was filled with food and drinks (nothing alcoholic of course, she would never do that), sitting neatly, and there was a plastic bowl of sloshing red fruit punch. There was a bloated lump in her throat. She shouldn't have done this. It was all Austin's fault, really. He had been the one to convince her to have this party, when her dad was at a 5-day penny saving convention. It wasn't even her party after all. Austin was the one hosting it, not her. If anything bad happened, it wouldn't happen to her, and it wouldn't be her responsibility, she thought, tilting her chin up. How wrong she was.
It was later that night. Ally could see the night sky tilting slightly, and she felt a little dizzy. She held a cup of the red punch in her hand. She turned around, to look at Austin's grinning face again. He had been surrounded by girls all night. She had watched him touching their knees, giving them his leather jacket when they pretended to "shiver" in the humid night air. Right now, he had his arms loosely over two girls shoulders. He occasionally dropped his hand from one of the girls tanned skin to drink from a beer bottle. He had led about three different girls at a time toward her house. They would be gone for about half an hour or more. Austin would come back with a satisfied look on his face, almost as he was a predator content with his kill. She felt a stab of anger at Austin and the girls. She didn't care. She was only worried that… they would use her bedroom. Eww! She almost thought good excuse to herself but halted the whiny train of thought. She began to grin, his blonde hair was sticking up a little like a horn. He was like a unicorn! Austin the unicorn. She started to laugh hard, lying down in the wet grass, her thin torso shaking with laughter. She heard a familiar voice above her head. Trish.
"Ally, your drunk."
"No, I'm not. I would never drink. Drinking is stupid." Her voice came out sounding a little slurred.
"The punch was spiked."
"No, it wasn't."
"Yes, it was."
"Oh."
Dez's high voice pierced the air.
"PARTY GAME TIME!"
A series of shouts and happy screams erupted from the crowd.
"And the game is…. PIN THE THUMB ON THE KANGAROO!"
There was silence. Dez was grinning giddily. Austin left his place in the middle of the group of girls to a few whines and pleas to whisper in Dez's freckled ear.
"You mean thats not a silence of appreciation?"
More whispers.
"A Kangaroo does have a thumb. How else would it eat a jelly sandwich?"
Austin shook his head slightly, and then looked up, smiling.
"Ignore that. Were gonna play spin the bottle." The crowd cheered. He winked at the girls as he said this, their glossy lips stretching into flirtatious smiles and suggestive giggles. Does he never get enough? Ugh. Everyone spread into a circle, Austin, Trish, Dez and Ally sitting next to each other. A few of the girls looked like they were praying. She focused on one of the girls pink lips, trying to tell what she was whispering "Please God…I promise…I just want one kiss…Austin"
Someone put an empty beer bottle in the middle of the circle. Ally watched as the game progressed. She had to admit, its not like Austin wasn't physically attractive. He's hot. He's super-model hot. He's gorgeous. The amber of the beer glass was reflected in his soft brown eyes, and his hair was a dark blonde. He had soft pink lips, high cheekbones, a smile that always seemed sincere, and the kind of tan, completely unblemished skin that I wanted. His thin white shirt outlined his obvious six-pack. His scent drifted through the air into my nose. He smelled like fresh laundry. I couldn't help but notice his biceps as he reached to spin the bottle. He still managed to pull off being charming and sweet even after fooling around with all those girls. I was still watching him, so I didn't notice when the bottle landed on me.
"Ally!" Trish slapped me lightly on the cheek. I was brought back into the world of dark night air and mixture of voices and soft laughter. I stared at the bottle, then looked back at Austin, then looked at the bottle again.
"No." I said. My voice came out slurred. I had had a lot of punch.
"Its the game rules. I had to kiss a guy on the cheek. You can't back down." Dez said, rather seriously.
"But-"
"No."
"Is it really so bad to kiss me Ally?" Austin looked at me. He grinned, passing it off as a joke. But I could see the hurt in his eyes. Why would that be? He could have any girl that he wanted at this party. She must be reading him wrong. But she never read him wrong.
"No, but-"
And then Austin's lips came crashing into mine.
Everything seemed more clear and wonderful. The night sky looked like a great gods black cape littered with diamonds. Austin's lips were soft and electrifying. It was like every cell in my body was alive. It was the shocking, tingling feeling when he touched my knee, or hugged me, except much better. Everything had been building to this moment. I didn't worry. Mostly because i couldn't think that well when he was kissing me and the other part because I was drunk. Really, really, drunk, so drunk that-but I didn't have any more time to think how drunk I was because the kiss deepened. He pulled me closer, sitting in his lap. I ran my fingers along his rock hard abs on the inside of his t-shirt and he softly moaned, kissing me harder. He had a wild, undampened hunger in his eyes, and I wanted to be the one to satisfy it. Soon, he was picking me up, carrying me toward the house, our lips in a blind rage of fervor for each other.
I woke up to the sound of a phone ringing. I felt a warm arm wrapped around my body. I slowly opened my eyes, the world slightly smudged and cloudy at first. My head was pounding. I rubbed my eyes and saw what was holding me, or who. Blonde hair. A sleeping face that was more familiar to me then my Monica Moon. Oh my god. Oh my god. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. No. No. This isn't happening. This cannot be happening. I simply wont let it. No. This did not happen. It didn't. Im sorry world, but it didn't. And that is a fact.
I'm not very good at lying.
I picked up the phone.
"Hi, my sweet Ally-Gator" Dad.
"Uh. Um. Hi."
"I just wanted to let you know that I decided to leave the convention early. I couldn't bear to think of you there all alone at home." I'm most definitely not alone. I looked up at Austin, sprawled in my bed, the lower half of him covered in a blanket. I couldn't help but look at his toned six-pack. Like, this guy legitimately has a six-pack. That white shirt didn't do his six-pack justice at all, I mean-
"Ally?"
"Oh, uh. Yes, hello." Quickly turning my reddening face away from Austin.
"Are you alright?"
I gulped. "Fine..So, where exactly are you? The airport?" The airport traffic back from the airport in Miami was really bad, it would take him two to three hours. That would give me barely enough time, but I think I could do it. I looked out my glossy bedroom window at the lawn outside. It was littered with snoring people, beer bottles, cups, and was that, a bra? Yes, yes it was.
"No. I'm fifteen minutes away in a taxi."
I was very tempted to curse right then. And I had never cursed in my life. I just didn't see the point in putting negative energy in the environment around you, with such words. Someone once offered to pay me 400 dollars if I would curse. i declined. This is because if you look at the long term effects-
"Ally? Are you alright?" He repeated.
"Yeah. Fine. Bye Dad. Love you."
"Love you too, ally-gator"
I was one dead ally-gator.