It was another hour and a half later until everyone was satisfied enough with their hair, makeup, nails, accessories, and clothing. By the time everyone was ready to leave the apartment, we had already pre-gamed two drinks each. Rei and I were both 21, but Mina wouldn't be 21 for another month and a half. We didn't care, we shared our box-wine with her, she was our people.
Rei had decided to wear her hair up, a decision I wasn't sure I agreed with. She looked better, wilder, with her hair down, although I guess it wouldn't matter much since one way or another she'd be leaving with someone tonight regardless. She had practically sewn herself into a halter top dress, and wore overlarge jewelry on both wrists to accentuate her freshly painted maroon nails. Harlot-red lipstick and eye shadow made her hair seem more violet than the eggplant color she'd dyed it. Polishing off the look, she was in nearly knee-high stripper boots with skyscraper heels. Yeah, she was definitely going home with someone tonight.
Mina, lamentably conservative, was wearing a blouse with my mouse-nose pink skirt and flats. Her dirty blonde hair was halfway up with a bow, and she had on chunky drop earrings to draw attention to her face. It was a passable party look but to me she looked more like she was going to a job interview than to a party. I'd convinced her to wear a statement belt which helped the look only slightly. Mina wasn't really a party girl, and I knew she was only going because I'd coerced her, and that made me feel guilty. But then I reminded myself she needed a break and would have fun tonight, and let the guilt go.
I thought I looked the best out of all of us, but maybe that's my ego talking. With Mina's help, I'd gotten my crazy frizz under control and managed to make my hair look good, like shampoo-commercial good. I had on Mina's off-white skirt, a tradeoff for her getting to wear my pink one tonight, and a pair of matching lace-up stilettos. I didn't like wearing heels but I was still in a good mood tonight, so I figured why not. I'd gone with an open-shoulder top with a generous neckline, and a thick gold accent necklace.
Mina kept saying how she hoped she'd find a boyfriend at the party tonight, which I couldn't fault her for but also couldn't see happening with the way she was dressed at the moment. I kept my mouth shut though, why spoil her good mood?
Unlike the others, I didn't want to go to this party to hook up with someone tonight. I really just wanted a distraction. Enough people and alcohol to keep my mind busy so I wouldn't start to actually think too hard. I knew what I'd start thinking about if I stayed at home, or was alone too long, and I didn't want to think about it.
I plugged my phone in before we left, leaving it to charge since it was nearly dead from a full day of texting. With two people with me at this party, I wouldn't need it. We giggled our way out to an Uber, giving directions to Yaten's place in Golden.
Yaten's family were local natives to the area, and we all assumed had to be filthy stinking rich. Yaten had a house he called an apartment that was big enough to house at least eight people and still feel spacious. It was a new building too, not one of the older historical architectures. You could tell because it didn't have the ugly popcorn ceilings or yellowing walls most of the buildings around Denver did, and it was tricked out with fully automated appliances like blinds that would move on their own and a refrigerator that would auto-order delivery refills when food ran low. Yaten lived in it by himself while he went to school, I always assumed his parents lived nearby in Vale or Aspen or somewhere else where the rich tended to hide among their own kind, but maybe they just traveled a lot like my dad.
Mina thought the house was a mansion but I'd been to actual mansions, complete with separate wings, water-features, and other gratuitous features to flaunt excess wealth. Yaten's house was large, but it wasn't a mansion. I didn't say anything because unlike Rei and I, Mina came from humbler means and there was no reason to be cruel and rub her nose in it by correcting her. And it would be cruel to correct her on something like that. Maybe some of my manners from being raised like a proper lady had stuck after all. I hoped not.
Upon arrival, we all were pleasantly buzzed within a matter of minutes. I caught a few glimpses of Rei going upstairs as I got yet another refill I probably didn't need, and I saw Mina hugging a corner wall so I decided to see if I could convince her to mingle with me.
"Hey girl, having fun yet?" I knew I was. The room seemed vaguely golden-hemmed and fuzzy around the edges, and I knew the alcohol was working.
"Yeah!" Mina said, taking a sip of her drink as if to prove it, but it sounded like a weak lie to me.
"Come on, let's go do vodka shots with the Delta Upsilon guys." I grabbed Mina's hand before she could argue, pulling her with me towards the table where the shots were set up. Further evidence of Yaten's affluent lifestyle was the abundance of free alcohol at his 'apartment' during these parties. I didn't want to completely destroy my liver all in one night, but I also didn't want Mina to stay huddled up in that corner barely sipping her beer.
"Should we really? We both have class in the morning tomorrow," she hesitated in front of the table. Mina had caught the eye of one of the guys at the table, I could tell by the way he kept glancing her way, but he hadn't approached her yet. It was my solemn duty as her friend and roommate to make sure she drank enough alcohol so that he wouldn't be intimidated anymore and approach her.
"Let's just do two shots together, okay?" I glanced over at where two of the fraternity brothers were attempting to out drink one another until one passed out or vomited. "We don't need to go that far," I pointed out the guys to her.
"I've never had vodka before..." she hesitated again, picking up a shot glass and sniffing at it. She crinkled her nose up at the smell. "Ugh, it smells like its gone bad."
"Its going to burn like mucho caliente," I warned her, "So drink it fast okay?"
"Right. Okay, let's do this!" And before I could even pick up my own shot glass, she had chugged her first shot down. "Woah girl, wait for me!" I gulped down my own shot, wincing at the burning in my throat. Mina was gagging with her tongue out, she had definitely never had vodka before.
"One more," I declared, holding up another shot glass. Some of the frat boys behind us were chanting 'Shots shots shots' now while the two from earlier began to sway on their feet. If one of them didn't end up winning soon the other might end up going to the hospital for alcohol poisoning. "Ready?"
Mina nodded and we both knocked back the second shot of vodka. I blew out a breath, the room beginning to look a little rainbow colored while I braced myself against the table.
I honestly don't remember much else from the party after that. I think I saw the guy who was eyeing Mina come over and start talking to her, but it was mostly a blur from there. I woke up the next day with a fiendish hangover, swords of light impaling my eye sockets from my apartment window.
"Ow..." I moaned, rolling over to try and block the light with my pillow. My throat felt like it had been rubbed down with sandpaper and my voice frayed at the edges like old denim to prove that.
"About time you woke up," Rei was suddenly there, wrestling my pillow away from me and talking way too loud. I pressed a hand to my head, trying to stop the throbbing.
"5 more minutes..." I fumbled around on the nightstand for my phone, before remembering I'd plugged it in to charge in the other room. "What time is it?"
"Its nearly 2pm, so you missed both your classes today but Mina and I have been waiting for you to get up for hours so we could talk about the crazy shit that happened last night."
The pounding in my head wasn't getting any better but I found I could sit up without hurling. One victory point for me. "Crazy shit?" I repeated, still feeling like my head was underwater.
"Yeah, everyone at the party is talking about it. We don't know exactly what happened but somebody used some powerful magic." Rei's voice was so loud, but also so excited. For someone who had such a small reservoir of magic to call her own, she sure did love it.
"Magic, huh? I don't remember anyone using any magic." I saw that someone had left me a glass of water by the bedside and I took it, drinking slowly. Mina had probably left it for me, it was lucky I hadn't knocked it over earlier.
"Yeah. Magic like I've never seen before. All the windows on the first floor melted, but without any heat, and a couple of the mirrors and all the light bulbs exploded. A lot of people's phones melted too." She pulled hers out to demonstrate. Sure enough, the screen of her phone looked like it had liquefied and begun the process of separating from the internal circuits beneath it, which were now somewhat exposed under the melted glass.
I was suddenly very sober, and very awake. "Did anything else happen?"
"You mean more than the entire first floor of his house spontaneously melting and exploding?" Rei was raising her eyebrows at me. "No I think that about covers it. It was totally nuts!" my bed shifted a bit as Rei sat down on it with me, practically vibrating with her excitement. "Whoever did that spell had to have some crazy high level power."
I laid back in bed, relieved. "Yeah, that's totally batshit. I don't remember much after doing shots with Mina."
"How sloshed did you get?" She seemed to notice my hangover for the first time, pressing a hand to my forehead. "Damn girl, you're cracked like an egg. You look terrible."
"I feel terrible." I leaned my head back against the headboard.
Rei didn't say anything for a few seconds, before she lowered her voice and asked the question I was hoping nobody would ask me for at least another lifetime. "Were you trying to forget about him?"
I knew I was too messed up right now to lie and get away with it, but I could feel moisture gathering in my eyes. I didn't want to have this conversation, so I just stayed quiet.
"I know he was your boyfriend and all, and its horrible what happened to him, but you can't-"
"Shut up, Rei." I swatted her hand off my forehead. "Don't go there with me right now."
"Just for one second can we be honest?" She was staring me down and I knew that in my present condition I was not capable of fighting or running her off. I really didn't want to have this conversation, but I also didn't see any way out with her nearly physically pinning me onto the bed.
"Fine. What do you want me to be honest about?" I wiped at the edges of my eyes, refusing to cry. This whole mess was fixable, and I was going to fix it.
"I get that you loved him. But that spell the other night and now you getting blackout drunk last night, its not like you and I'm worried about you okay?"
"I'll be fine. You don't need to worry." I would be fine. As soon as Rei got enough energy back to attempt the spell again with me and we succeeded at it, everything would be aces again. And if we had to keep trying it for another month, year, so what? Eventually it would succeed. "Can you get me my phone? I think I left it in the living room."
Rei hesitated so long I wondered if she was going to ignore me and keep trying to poke at my wounds, but I felt the lift in the mattress when she got up even though I still had my eyes closed to avoid crying. She came back and dropped my phone onto my pillow and turned away from me. I picked it up and went straight to the calendar, happy to see that I didn't have an internship shift today but upset with myself when I saw the missed reminder alert.
"You know I'll be there for you, when you're ready to talk about it," Rei's voice was so soft, like she thought I might break. I wasn't going to break. I never broke.
"Thanks," I mumbled, crawling off the bed. I felt a little like a car had driven over me, but I also knew I had something more important to focus on than how I felt right now. I'd pick up some greasy disgusting fast food on my way and maybe feel marginally better.
Because I knew if I didn't take care of this particular missed reminder, melted glass and exploding mirrors would look like a painless butterfly kiss by comparison.