As much as they tried to deny it by the time Friday night rolled around they were a little bit excited about Cook's party. It would be the first time in a long time that they would all be together and at a party with everyone on speaking terms. There were no more secrets or lies and no more competition so this party had the potential to be the start of something amazing; their final year at college.
"Are you nearly ready?" Katie asked her sister impatiently. She stood in the mirror reapplying her lip gloss while Emily was still getting changed.
"Yes." Emily huffed and rolled her eyes. She smoothed her dress over her tights and turned to face her sister. "Happy now?"
"Extremely now come on, Naomi will be here soon and you don't want her to have to come in and talk to mum and dad now, do you?" Katie smiled falsely. Emily nodded. Her sister had a point, while Rob and Jenna had accepted the fact that she was gay and Naomi was her partner they weren't exactly thrilled about it which led to strained conversations and awkward silences.
"Where are you two off to all dressed up?" Their dad asked when they ran down the stairs.
"Just a party, you know a back to school thing." Katie smiled sweetly.
"A party?" He smiled, but his forehead tightened with worry. He didn't like the idea of his daughters going to parties, he knew what they were like, he used to go to parties when he was younger. He did not like the idea of them growing up one bit.
"Yes dad a party." Katie rolled her eyes.
"There won't be any alcohol or boys or anything else unsavoury going on at this party will there?"
"Of course not." They answered in unison, putting on their most innocent faces. The doorbell rang and they hurried towards it.
"Don't be staying out too late." He called after them.
"We won't!" Emily shouted back, as if their parents would ever know what time they got home at.
Naomi was waiting on the door step for them; she breathed a sigh of relief when Katie opened the door and not Rob or Jenna.
"Ready to go?" She asked with a smile. She had been making a conscious effort to make a better effort with Katie and it turned out it wasn't that hard, she wasn't so bad when she wasn't being a complete bitch.
"Oh yeah." Katie answered with a mischievous grin.
-
When they arrived they discovered what Cook had spent all afternoon doing, removing all the furniture from his house with the exception of a few couches and chairs and of course beds. He had set up speakers in every room and even went as far as to set up little strobe lights in the living room and fairy lights in the kitchen. There were coolers filled with ice scattered everywhere and tables full of plastic cups. After he finished all that he had spent almost an hour mixing up some Cook punch; a potion loaded with so much alcohol and a combination of drugs that one glass was guaranteed to free your mind, body and spirit.
Katie was relieved to find Freddie, JJ and a few others were there already. She didn't mind arriving and spending some time with Emily and Naomi but the thought of spending an entire evening with the sickly sweet couple made her want to gag.
"Welcome ladies to the party of the year." Cook greeted them with open arms and a boyish grin. "Even if I do say so myself. Please come in and let's get fucking smashed, help yourselves to anything I want everyone to have a proper good time." He winked.
The girls shrugged and headed off to get themselves a beverage; none of them were brave enough to risk the punch just yet. Freddie and a few other skater looking people were passing around a spliff; Katie took a seat in their company.
"Alright JJ?" Emily smiled at the curly haired boy who had just finished doing one of his magic tricks to a small audience.
"Hi Emily." He smiled at her.
"Cook's set this up quite well hasn't he?" Naomi sounded impressed.
"Yes, I was quite surprised. Personally I didn't think he had these kinds of planning and organisation skills in him but when faced with the prospect of a party he has performed well." He gave a small chuckle.
"You're right." Emily chuckled too. Apparently when a party or sex was at stake Cook could be quite the mastermind.
The drinks flowed and the music blared and all sorts of drugs were consumed then the party really was in full swing. In every room people were dancing and swaying while others gathered in groups talking and laughing. Most of the year had actually turned up for the party which thrilled Cook to no end. He wandered around chatting up the females and joking with the males and smiled with glee as all of them congratulated him on his amazing party.
-
It was close to 12 when Effy spotted Jesse coming though the door and looking a little lost in the living room. She moved past the dancing bodies in the middle of the floor to meet her.
"I take it your plans fell through." She said wisely. Jay gave a pissed off laugh.
"Something like that." She said, her lips pulled taught against her teeth. She really didn't want to talk about it; especially with someone she just met. Effy picked up on that instantly.
"Come on then, let's not waste the evening, let's get wasted." She raised an eyebrow at the redhead who nodded and smiled at her.
"That sounds like a plan."
Effy took her by the hand and led her across the room to a table filled with plastic cups and a bowlful of liquid of indeterminable colour.
"Cook has brewed this punch and it comes with a good time guarantee."
"What's in it?" Jay looked at it dubiously.
"It's maybe best we don't know." She chuckled and filled them a glass each.
"Is it safe?" She asked with a laugh as she accepted the cup.
"Probably." Effy answered after an uncertain pause. JJ shrugged.
"Cheers." She put the cup to her lips and swallowed a few large gulps. Her stomach wretched; her body was telling her it wanted nothing to do with this concoction.
"Ugh...This tastes like..." There were no words to describe it. Jesse grimaced.
"I know." Effy shuddered. Still they both brought the cup to their lips for a second time, hoping it would soon kick in and they'd feel suitably inebriated.
"Hello ladies you're looking incredibly sexy tonight." He looked them both up and down. Effy was wearing skin tight grey jeans and an old band t-shirt that fell off her small frame. Her hair was wavy and her heavy eye makeup made her eyes look a haunting shade of grey. JJ was wearing a long a long off white vest with skulls and a macabre clown face on it over tights with a pair of 6 inch heels.
"Especially you girl JJ." He licked his lips and nodded. "I tell you if I was as far in you as I am from you I'd be happy." He smirked at his clever line.
"That's...never gonna happen." Jesse laughed and shook her head at the vulgar line he had just spun. "But you keep trying if you want." She took Effy's hand and walked away, leaving him giggling. He liked the new girl, even if she wouldn't sleep with him.
"He probably will keep trying." Effy mused when she stopped giggling.
"I'll survive, he's harmless really. I think his head just doesn't know when to tell his mouth to shut up." JJ mused. Without meaning to they had ended up in the middle of the dancing crowd. As the punch stated to take hold of their bodies the bass line pumped through them and they moved in fluid motion to the beat; separately at first but the music pulled them closer together. The room was spinning and the lights flashed such pretty colours. JJ was grinning and Effy was noticing how nice she looked when she smiled. Effy closed her eyes and swayed to the rhythm, her hips moved with Jesse's who felt startled by their proximity. She watched as the brunette released her inhibitions and just moved. She looked so free. The song changed and they both came back down to earth, creating a bit of space between them again.
"Well the punch certainly seems to work." JJ laughed. She felt like she was buzzing.
"Shall we have another?" Effy asked, it sounded like a challenge. Jesse shrugged and went along with Effy.
Katie watched the exchange from across the room wondering what the two were talking about. They seemed very close, at least they were dancing very close. She wanted more than ever to have a proper conversation with the girl so she could show her she was just as cool as Effy Stonem.
"Hey you made it." Emily cried excitedly when she saw Jesse at the punch bowl. She threw her arms around the red head and hugged her. Naomi felt an unnecessary twinge of jealousy.
"Yeah, turns out I didn't have anything better to do after all." She half laughed. Katie saw her chance to get into the conversation.
"Hey." She greeted them as she stood beside her sister and Naomi.
"Told you I wouldn't disappoint you." JJ winked at the girl and raised her glass to her with a smile. Katie felt oddly flustered. She was used to flirty banter from guys but it was different coming from a girl.
"You didn't." She replied with a smirk. "Oh my God are you actually drinking that punch?" She wrinkled her nose at the thought. JJ and Effy giggled and nodded.
"What is even in it?" Naomi looked at it questionably.
"Um...I'm not sure, from the taste I'd hazard a guess and say the main ingredient is vodka." Jesse shrugged.
"Along with God knows what else." Emily added.
"It's not that bad. We're not dead yet so..." JJ crossed her fingers and smiled. The other girls laughed.
"You should try some. It definitely does the trick." Effy suggested with a sidelong glance at JJ who smiled at her.
"Yeah it's certainly...effective."
The other three girls looked at the bowl considering whether or not they were brave enough to try it.
"Why not?" Katie shrugged and filled a cup. "You only live once."
"That's the spirit." Effy cheered encouragingly.
"Katie!" Emily sounded both shocked and pissed off.
"Lighten up Ems it's just a drink, I doubt there's anything in it that we haven't tried before." Katie sighed and swallowed a mouthful of the stuff. She immediately wished she hadn't; it was disgusting. Effy and Jesse couldn't help but giggle at her reaction.
"There's no harm in trying." Naomi shrugged and had a go herself. Emily glared at her girlfriend.
"Come on Ems." JJ said in a soothing voice as she held a cup out to her. "I promise not to let anything bad happen."
Emily hesitantly accepted the cup. She gulped it down trying not to think about what was in it or how bad it tasted.
"That's more like it." Effy smiled when Emily handed back the empty cup. She follow suit and downed the remaining content of her glass.
With so many chemicals pulsing through their bodies the girls made their way to the middle of the floor and danced. They felt positively giddy as they danced and swayed and spun to the sounds coming out of the speakers. The room seemed to move with the tempo of each track that played and everything seemed to shine. JJ felt the residual anger and hurt from the argument with her girlfriend melt away into relaxed vibes and giddy feeling. By the end of the night it was like it had never happened. She danced with Katie feeling the brunette twin move closer and press their hips together. Katie had no idea that she was doing it her body moved of its own accord and her brain just went with it. Effy snaked her arms around the new girls waist as Emily and Naomi were locked onto each other. Katie wandered off to dance with some random fit boy and JJ turned to face Effy. Effy looked up into her crystal blue eyes to find they were almost completely black; the girl was so out of it. But the smile on her face was so genuine she looked so cute. JJ felt those increasingly familiar grey eyes pull her in. The pain behind them and all the things they saw that no one else did overwhelmed her and held her down; like she was drowning in them but she didn't want to do anything to stop it happening.
The beat of the music started to slow down as the rooms started to empty out. Their fast paced grinding turned to slow swaying as more chilled out songs played. They eventually fell onto a sofa beside Pandora and Thomas. All of them lay up like a layer of kittens, arms and legs intertwined; none of them wanted the night to end.
"This is the start of something amazing!" Cook said as he sat down with the rest of the group after clearing out the last few hangers on. "I can feel it."
Everyone nodded; they could feel it too, this year was going to be something.
