Chapter 15: Dousing the fire

"Are you sure she hadn't left already?" Monique asked as she followed her friend around. "Maybe she decided to come home early, you know. And one of the guys gave her a lift." She craned her neck and looked around.

Ruby was doing the same thing. "No, she wouldn't do that. She would have told me that if she did. Besides, she sneaked out just to attend this party. She wouldn't risk coming home with a guy." She gave out a frustrated sigh. "I'm getting worried."

"Relax Ruby; I'm sure she's in here somewhere. We'll find her." She looked around the house. "Of course it might take us days to find her here. This place is incredibly huge!"

She took a deep breath. "Okay, Ruby, calm down and focus," she told herself. "Where's the only place we haven't searched yet?" Her eyebrows furrowed and she turned to Monique. "She's definitely not out there in the dance floor, as well as by the pool. We didn't see her by the bar too, although I highly doubted her being there."

"Uh-huh," Monique said with a nod. "We've check by the kitchen and she's also not there. The game room was also full of people, but she wasn't there either." She thought for a moment. "Oh hey, you know we haven't checked upstairs yet." She added hesitantly, lowering her voice.

"Okay, why would we look there?!" she asked incredulously. "No, Ren would definitely not be upstairs." She stated firmly.

"Well, I was just saying." Monique retorted.

 Ruby thought for a moment. "You know what, I just remembered. We still haven't checked that hall near the front. You know, by the stairs. I thought I saw a couple of people there when we came in."

"Then let's get going." Monique eagerly grabbed her hand and dragged her. "Excuse me, sorry, coming through," she said as they tried to weave in and out of the people. When they reached the hall, it was almost empty, except for some people walking around.

"Well, that's it then. She's also not here," Monique said, sounding dejected.

"No Monique, we're not giving up until we find her." Ruby told her friend. "Maybe we should ask around for Will. She was with her when I left her."

"Would you look at that?!" her friend exclaimed, pointing to a corner.

Ruby mumbled to herself. "How hard can it be to find him? I mean, he owns this house and this is his party." She was absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't hear her friend's comment. "Huh? What is it?"

"That!" she pointed again. "Those two by the couch," Monique said. "Ughh, please!  Could someone tell those two to get a room?!" She said in disdain. "I'm sure there's plenty upstairs."

Ruby gazed to where Monique was pointing. Indeed, in the couch by the corner, some couple was doing their thing, with blatant disregard for everybody present on the hall. She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to speak, but no words made it out. Something about that guy's shirt was familiar. She stared again, hard.

"Ruby, it's not really nice to stare," Monique hissed, tugging her arm.

A familiar skirt caught her eyes. In an instant her mind registered recognition. Her eyes went wide open, her mouth agape. "Ren!!!" She exclaimed in surprise and disbelief. It was her friend who was furiously making out with a guy on the couch.

"Huh? What? Where?" Monique jumped back, startled. She turned to see Ruby stomping off toward the couple on the corner. She quickly followed her friend.

"Ren, what the hell are you doing?" Ruby asked as soon as she got there. She stared at them in utter disbelief.

Upon hearing her voice, Will, who was about to lift Ren, immediately broke their kiss and let go. He turned breathlessly at the two women standing beside them. "Hi ladies," he greeted them with uncertainty. He cursed to himself. Damn that Kyle! He couldn't even do one lousy favor for him.

"Would you please get off my friend?!" Ruby asked, looking at him pointedly. She noticed that he was still on top of her.

He willingly obliged, backing up a few feet from Ren. Will quickly wiped some lipstick on his face with his hands.

"Hey Ruby, I didn't see you there," Ren greeted her in drunken stupor.

"Oh my god, oh my god," Monique exclaimed, shaking her head. She stared her friend, eyes as big as saucers. "Oh my GOD!" she repeated once more with emphasis.       

Ren shifted her gaze from Ruby to Monique. "Monique, I didn't know you were with Ruby." She smiled at her. "That's a pretty nice dress, by the way."

Incredulity registered in her friends' faces. Ren's face was bright red, no doubt indicating her drunken state.

"We've been looking all over for you!" Ruby took a seat beside her. "Come on, we need to get going. We're going home already." She grabbed Ren's right shoulder and tried to sit her up. She motioned Monique to do the same thing on the other side. 

"But the party's not over yet." she reasoned. "How 'bout we stay for a little while?" She smiled goofily at her friends.

"Actually honey, it just wrapped up minutes ago." Monique told her. "Yup, everyone's on their way home now."

"Oh, okay."

They each put Ren's arms around them, supporting her as they stood up.

Ruby turned to glare Will, who was trying hard to fix himself up. She looked at him with disgust as she saw his unbuttoned shirt and unbuckled belt. "We're going," she told him icily. Without another word, they left.

Will took a seat on the couch as soon as they were gone. "Damn it!" He punched the seat beside him in anger and frustration. He was actually thisclose, if only her meddling friends hadn't arrived. He rubbed his fists together. If they think this is over, well they couldn't be more wrong.

********************

"What were you actually thinking, Ren?" Ruby asked as the three friends stumbled into the parking lot. "I mean, you barely even know the guy!"

"Ruby, would you please take a look at her. I don't think she can actually answer that question." Monique whispered. They headed for the car.

Ren laughed at her two friends. "What?" she asked innocently. "The two of us were just hanging out."

Ruby leaned her friend on the car as she dug her purse for the keys. "Hanging out? Hanging out?! You two were making out!" She furiously jammed the keys and opened the door.

"Ren, are you alright?" Monique suddenly asked.

Ruby quickly looked up to see Ren bent over in the side of the car, heaving. Concern etched on her face. She rushed over to her friend, couldn't help but feeling guilty.

"Ren?" Monique asked again.

"Sweetie, don't scare us. What's wrong?" she glanced at Monique. She too was looking anxiously at Ren.

"I don't feel too good," Ren said in a small voice. Without warning, she threw up on the sidewalk. Both of her friends reached out to support her. A few minutes passed by before she finished throwing up. She coughed hard a couple of times, breathing heavily.

Monique grabbed her own purse and dug out some tissues. "Here you go." She handed it out.   

"Can we go home now? I think I'm feeling a little lightheaded." Ren said weakly.

Ruby opened the door. Together with Monique, they gently propped her on the backseat. She took the driver seat as Monique hopped on the front seat. She turned on the ignition.

She adjusted her rearview mirror and saw Ren, passed out on the backseat. "This is not good. Nope, not good at all."

"How many glasses of that tequila had she taken, anyway?"

"I don't know. We weren't actually together at the party. Kyle had invited me to hang out. That was before I realized that he was such a total jerk." She banged her head a couple of times on the steering wheel. "I am so dead."

"What do you mean?" She held out her hand to stop Ruby from banging her head. "Wait, stop. You still need to drive this thing home." She reminded her. 

She sighed heavily as she started to drive the car. "What if her parents found out about this? They don't know Ren's been at a party. She told them she was going to be on my house, doing some project." They turn right on the highway.

Monique grimaced. "Oh, that's going to be tough." 

"Yeah," she exclaimed. "How am I going to explain this to them? I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, but Ren and I got bored doing the project so we decided to attend Will Coulson's party. Oh, by the way, Ren got drunk!" She rubbed her forehead. "Great, that'll get both of us in deep trouble."

"What about Louis?" Monique suggested, her face lighting up.

"So, what about him?"

"Well, he's got to know about this party, right? I mean, everybody at school knows about it. There's a pretty good chance Ren got him to cover for her."

"I don't know… Ren said she'd ask him to walk her to my place tonight, but I never got to see him, though."

"If that's the case, then he's definitely got her covered. He wouldn't rat out his sister, would he?"

Silence passed as Ruby thought for a moment. Under any circumstances, she would have said yes, but somehow, something was different in Louis now. She noticed that, not long ago. This could be their only chance. "You know, you may actually be right." She signaled right as they arrive on their neighborhood. "Assuming, of course, that her parents hadn't already found out about it."

**********************

Yay! Go Ruby and Monique! lol. By the way, don't forget to write a review. ^_^