Chapter Three: Party on a Monday, Anyone?

Craig

Emma sat on my bed with textbooks around her. She agreed to help me with my homework, and since my parents weren't home from work yet, I brought her up into my room. She looked so comfortable, and I wanted to join her, but I held back. I sat on my computer chair by the bed, my leg bouncing up and down hastily.

I wanted to take things slow with her. In the past, I always rushed with girls and felt lost. I pretended to know what I was doing but I never really did. Kissing was fine, but sex had always been awkward for me. Even after about ten different girls, I wasn't sure what to do; which was why I wanted to be just friends with Emma for awhile. I could wait for sex. I wanted to finally do something right for a change.

"Earth to Craig?!?" I heard her say. I was pulled from my thoughts and brought my eyes up to meet hers.

"Huh?" I asked, smiling.

"I was saying that we should go to a party tonight," she said.

"Tonight? But what about homework and my parents?"

"We'll finish homework now, you can have dinner at my house, and then we'll sneak out. You can tell your parents that we're doing homework after dinner. They won't know you're at a party," she explained.

"Sounds like a plan," I agreed. I hadn't ever been much of a partier, but I figured I'd give it a try. "Should we ask Alex to go?"

"If you want…" she trailed off. I could tell she didn't really want me to, but I wasn't going to leave my sister out just because of her. Alex and I had been best friends since before we were born.

After our homework was finished, I headed to Alex's room while Emma got her stuff together. I knocked on the door before walking in and found her sitting by the window, taking pictures of the backyard.

"What's up?" she asked, snapping a picture of me before lowering her camera.

"Emma and I were wondering if you wanted to go for dinner at her house and then come to a party with us," I said.

"On a Monday night? No thanks. I have homework. And Spinner's coming over after dinner anyway, especially if I want to pass Chemistry," she said.

"I met him today in homeroom. He's pretty cool," I told her.

"Yep," she agreed.

"Well, I'll see you later then," I said, turning around and walking to the door.

"Hey Craig?" I spun around to face her. "Be careful, okay?"

"Of course," I nodded. We smiled at each other and I left, finding Emma waiting for me in the hallway.

I wrote a note for my parents and we walked across the street to her house. She'd already called her parents and asked if I could come over. Dinner wasn't ready yet when we got there, so I helped Emma set the table.

"You know, my dad said we knew each other when we were babies," she told me as she put the napkins down and I followed her, putting the silverware in the right places.

"Really? Oh my God! You're the little blonde girl in the picture of Alex and I in our old backyard! I can't believe that's you! We both have a copy of that picture," I exclaimed. "I never even connected that Emma with you."

"I have a copy of it too," she said. "I didn't realize it was you guys until my mom told me last night. She's the one that told your parents about the house. They were all friends in high school."

"Well, I'm glad she told them," I grinned.

"Me too." She was close to me, looking right into my eyes. So much for taking it slow. She got even closer, and I'd just closed my eyes when I heard someone walk into the room.

"You two catching up on old times?" Emma's mom asked. I stepped away from Emma and stared at the floor.

"Yeah Mom," Emma said with an annoyed tone. I looked up to see her rolling her eyes at her mother's back.

"Thanks for letting me stay for dinner Mrs. Simpson," I said, relieving a little tension in the room.

"Call me Spike," she said. "And you're welcome over anytime."

Emma's parents were very nice, and didn't ask too many questions. But as soon as dinner was over, Emma dragged me up to her room. She yelled over her shoulder that we were going to do homework and not to disturb us. I couldn't believe her parents were so trusting of her. The sad thing was, they probably shouldn't have been. But what did I care? I was going to a party.

Emma locked her door behind us and turned her stereo on. I looked at the pictures on her walls while she scanned the closet for something to wear. I found the photo we'd been talking about earlier. It was in the middle of a family collage. All of the other pictures were of her with a girl with long, brown hair.

"Who's that?" I asked, pointing to the picture.

"My best friend, Ashley," she answered. I turned around to look at her and saw that she was standing there in her bra.

"Sorry!" I squealed, shielding my eyes and spinning around. I could feel my cheeks turning red.

"Don't worry about it," she said from behind me. "We've known each other since we were born, so I'm sure you've seen them before…" she trailed off. I could only imagine the look on her face.

"Yeah but uh…that was before they were so…" I bit the knuckle of my index finder to stop from saying anything else.

"Big?" She finished my sentence anyway. I felt her hand on my shoulder. "It's okay, you can look." She slowly turned me around. I felt her breath on my neck and stared at her lips. "How do I look?"

I swallowed hard, and she reached her hand up to touch my cheek. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers before slowly sliding my tongue past them.

Then I started to get that same feeling, the one where I thought I was doing something wrong. I wasn't sure if Emma liked me kissing her or not, but she didn't pull away. I did.

"You look amazing. Ready to go?" I asked. She looked somewhat disappointed, but smiled. I followed her over to her window and watched her open it. She bent over to grab her purse off the floor, giving me a complete view of her thong. I swallowed another lump in my throat and climbed out behind her. I knew I was about to have one hell of a night.

I opened my eyes and found myself staring at the ceiling of some kind of vehicle. My back was stiff and the floor under me was hard but warm. My head felt like someone was repeatedly throwing rocks at it.

It wasn't until then that I realized I was not alone. Movement on my left caught my attention. I closed my eyes and reached out. Silky hair ran through my fingertips. I smiled and rolled over, breathing in her scent. Emma smelled so good in the morning.

I opened my eyes and…oh no. Definitely not Emma! My vision was full of brown hair, not blonde. But who? I didn't think I should stick around to find out. I noticed when I sat up that I was naked. I rushed to find my clothes but I didn't see my boxers or pants anywhere.

"Sean?" the girl called out sleepily. Nope, definitely not Sean. There is no Sean here, I thought to myself.

She started to roll over. There was no way in hell that I was leaving the van with myself exposed, so I covered myself up with my shirt and braced myself for the impact. There was about to be a freak out.

"Who the fuck are you?" she yelled as soon as she opened her eyes. She had no idea who I was, but I knew who she was.

"Ashley, right? Emma's best friend? I'm Craig," I rambled.

"It doesn't matter who you are! You're not my boyfriend!" She sat up and gave me a dirty look when I glanced at her chest. It wasn't my fault she had nothing on. Well, maybe it was. I couldn't really remember.

"I take it you're talking about Sean," I said, remembering the name she'd called out a few minutes before. She glared at me and started picking her clothes up.

"I can't believe this is happening again!" she said, frustrated.

"Again? Great," I sighed. I finally spotted my boxers under the front seat and pulled them on. Ashley turned her back to me and started getting dressed too.

I knew I'd already missed school by the sight of the sunlight pouring in through the van's windows. Those thoughts were confirmed when Ashley looked at her watch and told me it was noon. While she pulled her skirt on, she actually apologized to me about what happened.

"Just don't tell my boyfriend, okay?" she asked as she dropped me off outside my house—yes, she gave me a ride.

I rolled my eyes and nodded. I quietly dragged myself into the house, and luckily my parents were at work. I found an angry note from my dad on my pillow. I'd left my cell phone next to my bed, and saw that I had eight missed calls.

My head was still pounding, so I flopped onto my bed and drifted off to sleep.

"What is wrong with you?!?" The yell woke me right up. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the clock next to my bed. It was three-thirty in the afternoon. My head still hurt, but luckily it was down to a dull throb.

"Dad, can we talk about this later?" I groaned, putting my head back on the pillow.

"No, we can't," he said angrily, flipping the light on. "Your mother and I were worried sick about you! You said you were going to Emma's, that's fine. But you snuck out her window and went to a party?" he yelled.

"I just wanted to have some fun! And I'm home now, right? Isn't that what's important?" I asked.

"What's important is that you're grounded for a month! First, you left your new friend to make excuses for you when you wanted to go to a party. Then, you lied to us about it, and you never came home! What were you thinking? Were you even thinking?" he asked.

"Yes, I was. I can make my own decisions you know. And what do you mean; I left my new friend to make excuses for me?" I yelled right back.

"Don't even think about raising your voice with me Craig. Do you want another month added onto the grounding? You're fifteen years old, so you won't be making decisions like this for another three years. And you bribed Emma by telling her you'd do her homework for her if she covered for you while you went to that party!"

I opened my mouth to say something, but then I closed it again. Why did Emma lie to my parents? She was at that party too. I sighed and sat up.

"You're to come straight home from school every day for a month. No going out with friends, and definitely no cell phone," he finished. "And get dressed, because I'm bringing you to school to get the work you missed right now," he said.

"A month? Is that really necessary?" I asked Alex, plopping down on her bed.

"Um, yeah. Maybe if you weren't such a dick and you actually came home at a decent time it wouldn't be so bad. I told you to be careful, not be an idiot," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I honestly don't remember what happened at all. I climbed out of Emma's window, with her, might I add, and then I woke up with this other girl in a van…"

"So you got drunk," Alex stated, sighing. "Great job. They already don't trust you in your own bedroom, and now they'll probably never trust you anywhere."

"Shit," I muttered. I remembered Emma shoving a cup in my hands the night before; even after I told her I didn't drink. And she just kept refilling it.

"Well what am I supposed to do now?" I asked her. She was always good at giving advice, and I knew that I should probably listen to what she told me to do.

"My advice would be to actually listen to our parents for once. The month won't be that long. You can see Emma at school. And, if you're really desperate, join a club or something. That way, you can stay at school longer. But you'll have to come home with me once Equality club is done," she said.

"Maybe I'll just join that club. How many times a week does it meet?" I asked.

"Twice; on Mondays and Wednesdays. But you could join Art Club too. That meets on Thursdays. So you would only have to go straight home on Tuesdays and Fridays. It beats actually doing homework all night," she shrugged.

"Sounds like a plan. This Equality club better be good," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

I went back to my room and lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Even with the clubs, I was in for a very boring month. Why did I go to that stupid party with Emma? She hadn't even stayed all night, and she left me to deal with the consequences. What was I even thinking?

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