Last new chapter before the new year! Here's chapter eight!

Mike's POV

"Come in," I mumbled in response to the knock on my bedroom door. I hoped that whoever it was, Holly or Nancy, needed something important. I was finally getting the hang of this physics homework and would prefer not to be bothered.

"Hey," Nancy said as she entered and approached my desk where I was working, its lamp being the only light source in the room. "So there's someone here to see you."

"Who is it?" I asked, my interest slightly piqued since I wasn't expecting visitors. I figured it wasn't any of the guys, since Nancy wouldn't be so mysterious about it and just let them in.

"She said she's a friend from school. Emily, Ethel-".

"El?" My head shot up at the same time I dropped my pencil. Was she serious? "She-she's here?"

"Yeah, she's at the front door. I told her I'd come get you. Do you really know her from school?"

"Yeah, I'm tutoring her," I spoke, hoping that it would be all the explanation needed. It was the truth after all. "Did she say what she wants?" My body was turned towards her now, giving her all my attention.

"No…. Do you want me to tell her you're not here?"

"No!" I stuck my hand out to stop her. I had a feeling El wouldn't believe her anyway. "I'll-I'll go see her." I followed Nancy out of the room and down the stairs, my curiosity growing with each second and step. We parted ways at the living room, where Nancy went back to watching TV. Once I reached the front door, cautiously, for some reason, I turned the knob and opened it.

"Ah, there you are," as casually as if she comes to my house at night all the time.

"Yeah." Closing the door behind me, I immediately started shaking at how cold I felt in my thin cotton long sleeve and Chewbacca print pajama pants. I took a quick look at her and wondered if she was cold in the dress and light jacket she was wearing. "So uh, what are you doing here? Uhh, I mean, what- what's up?"

"There's a party going on tonight at a friend of mine's house. If you want to come." She said that last part with a shrug, almost as casual as her invitation.

"Oh, uh." I struggled to find words. Even if I had them, I knew I wouldn't be able to put them together.

"I know it's super last minute so I get it if you can't. I didn't know if you had plans or anything." At this, she looked down and saw what I was wearing. I knew she answered her own question as to whether or not I had plans.

"Uh, sure. I'll go," I agreed without fully thinking it over. I did know, however, that the alternative would be staying home on a Saturday night like some friendless loser.

"Great!" El exclaimed a bit too enthusiastically. "But you should probably change." She advised with a nod in my direction. "It's casual, but it's not that casual."

"Yeah. Um, okay. Come in, you can wait inside while I get dressed," I spoke as I put my hand on the doorknob.

"Oh, it's fine. I can wait out here."

"Are you sure? It's kind of cold."

"It's okay. I need a smoke anyway." The thought of her staying out here to do that didn't really thrill me.

"Okay. I'll be done in a few minutes."

"I'll be here."

I don't think I've ever made it up to my bedroom from the porch faster. The good thing about El seeing me in my pajamas is that she can't see me in anything worse. Whatever I wear now would be an improvement.

Pulling open my drawer and opening up my closet, a surge of nervousness rushed over me. It wasn't so much at the fact that I had no idea what to wear but about where I was going. Not to mention, of course, who I was going with.

I never expected that El would be the person at my front door, just like I never could have predicted what she was here for. I barely knew how to react, because well, it's not every day I get invited to a party, especially by someone like El.

I pulled a clean pair of jeans out of my drawer and switched out of my pajama pants like they were on fire. As I was doing that, I racked my brain thinking about what else I should wear. Not wanting to keep El waiting, I knew I had to be quick.

Within a couple of minutes later, I found myself running down the stairs so fast, I nearly fell.

"Bye Nance," I turned my head to her as I was heading out the door.

"Whoa, whoa. Hold on. Where are you going?" I figured she would ask.

"Just going out. With a friend." I added as I adjusted my glasses. "I'll be back soon."

"Mike, are you sure? You know this girl?" I knew better than to sarcastically reply that I was in fact going out with a total stranger.

"Yes, it's fine. El's cool." I spoke fast so I could leave, since El probably thought I was taking too long.

"Whatever," Nancy put her hands up in surrender, even though I knew she was still concerned, and went back to the living room. I put my jacket on as I approached the front door.

She was blowing smoke out as I saw her.

"Alright, I'm ready," and by the look on her face, I could tell there was something wrong.

"I guess if it gets cold you can always zip up your jacket," she commented and I immediately knew it wasn't a good idea to wear my Dungeons and Dragons T-shirt. "Okay, let's go." She led me down the path and walked until we reached her car. I suppose she left it unlocked while she was at my house since the passenger door was already opened. As the chief's daughter, I guess car theft isn't something she really has to worry about.

She took a few seconds to stomp out her cigarette on the pavement before getting into the car and turning it on. I only noticed she didn't have her seatbelt in until after I clicked mine together.

We drove in silence for a couple of minutes until she spoke.

"So that was your sister?" Even though I never saw them interact, I knew she was talking about who originally opened the door for her.

"Uh, yeah. Nancy," and in that moment, for some reason, I feared Nancy might have said something to embarrass me.

"Yeah, I figured," she continued, not letting on that Nancy might have said anything out of line. "What's she doing in town? I thought you said she was away at college?"

After internally recovering from the fact that she remembered that, I answered.

"She won't be able to come for Thanksgiving weekend so she came for this one instead. It worked out with it being my birthday and all."

"That's nice," I could tell that a small smile was forming on her face. "Sounds like she really cares about you." Since we were on the topic, I wanted to ask if she had any brothers or sisters, even if I already knew the answer.

Instead, I changed subjects.

"So this party…." I trailed off, not having anything prepared besides that.

"Yeah, it's at a friend of mine's place," she repeated. "I don't know if you'll know anyone, but they said I could bring someone so it's cool."

"Oh," I let out, not really knowing what to make of that. "Ar-are we going to pick up your other friends? Or will they meet us there?"

"Kali and Max aren't coming," she spoke matter-of-factly. "They're both out of town." My mouth must have stayed open for longer than I thought. "That won't be a problem, right?" She asked when I wouldn't speak.

"No!" I shook my head as reinforcement. "Th- that's fine."


About ten minutes later, we must have arrived because El stopped the car. We were parked right on the corner, where anyone else wouldn't normally be allowed. Just another parking privilege, I guess.

"We're here," she confirmed as she shut off the engine. It was no question as to which house the party was in, based on the loud music and people out on the front porch. I was too busy looking to notice that she got out. Quickly, I did too and this time, she locked the car.

"So they're tattoo artists at a shop downtown," she began explaining as we walked towards the house. "And they like to practice their designs on themselves. So don't get… thrown off when you see them or anything. I'll point them out if I see 'em."

As we made our way into the house, El waved back and said hi to some people. I could tell that it wasn't just to be polite and that she really did know them, especially since it continued as we entered the house. Once we were inside, she stopped and looked around, probably searching for our host. When she started walking again, I assumed that she did.

"Axel, hey!"

We walked into another room where a skinny guy with hair spiked into a mohawk and dyed pink turned to face us once El got his attention. He was seated at a large table with a group of people appearing to finish up a card game. When he saw El, he got up and gave her a one-armed hug.

"You made it!"

"Told you I would," she said with a shrug. "Where's Dottie?"

"She's out on a beer run with Mick."

I saw El nod at his response and then turn around, probably to make sure I was still there. Even though I was standing close enough to hear what they were saying, she waved me over to get closer.

"Guys, this is my friend Mike," before she said my name, I would have sworn she was talking about somebody else.

She's never called me her friend before.

"Be nice to him okay? His birthday was yesterday." What followed was a series of cheers and hollers, which completely took me by surprise seeing as they just found out this information.

As it died down, the guy at the end of the table who was shuffling cards spoke out loud.

"What's your shirt say?"

"Um, it's D&D. Dungeons and Dragons!" I clarified quickly, thinking he may not know.

"What's that?" said a girl with a look on her face that said she didn't know what I was talking about.

"It's a game," I nervously answered.

"What, like a board game?" This time, it came from Axel. Since he appeared to be the leader, the party thrower, and El's friend, I felt like I needed to impress him.

"Kind of. Uh, it's a fantasy adventure game where everyone role-plays a different character. There's a person called the Dungeon Master who's in sort of in charge of everything. And he-." I couldn't be one hundred percent certain, but I thought I heard one or two people laugh. I took it as a sign that I should stop talking.

"Stuff's in the kitchen?" El, who didn't say anything about me talking about D&D, directed the question at Axel.

"Yeah, help yourself," he answered her but looked at me instead.

"Cool. Let's go," she spoke to me before turning around and leaving the room. A few steps later, we ended up in the kitchen.

Since we were the only other people in the room, besides someone raiding the fridge, I didn't understand what we were doing here when everything was clearly going on outside these doors.

That is until I saw the multiple bottles of alcohol on the table.

"Alright," she spoke with her back facing me. "I think you're going to have to loosen up a little bit." When she turned back around, she had a red plastic cup in each hand. "Just drink this. In one go." She extended her arm out to give me one. "I'll take one with you. But only one, since I'm driving and all."

"What is it?" I asked while looking into the cup since I didn't see which bottle she poured from.

"It's… vodka," I noticed the hesitation, almost as if she didn't want to tell me. I moved my cup and the liquid sloshed around. "Mike, it's okay. One drink is not going to kill you. And I'm driving you home anyway, remember?" It was hard to forget since she just mentioned it as the reason she's taking only one drink.

By anyone else, her words might have been taken to be pushy, but to me it felt more like an encouragement.

In response, I lifted up my cup towards her, slightly higher than she had before.

"Cheers."

She playfully rolled her eyes and smiled before indulging me in clinking our cups together.

Thank you all so much for reading! Please review if you can and I hope you have, or had, a great holiday season!