I stood around the outside of the house watching the action, hoping that someone I knew would happen upon me. It didn't happen for quite some time, though, and I stood there, sipping my drink. I was keeping to something nonalcoholic that night. I just wasn't in the partying mood, and I weighed whether sticking around was even worth it; there was nothing to really keep me there, but at the same time, no where to go if I left. Neither option had me jumping for joy.

Sooner or later, Sid and Stacy showed up; a two for one deal. Stacy was just dropping Sid off seeing as how his parents probably wouldn't have dumped him in a place that seedy looking.

"Hey," Sid said with a small wave. "Good party?"

Poor Sid; he was such a socially awkward guy. He was very well liked, though. He was one of the dorkier kids, so he made it adorably hard not to like him. He was just part of the background, but one of the parts you noticed when it wasn't around. He was our communal little brother.

"It's okay," I shrugged. "Jay and Tony are inside." Stacy caught why I'd mentioned Tony, too.

"Ah, cool," Sid said, wobbling a little. "Gonna go check it out." He headed inside, where I was stubbornly still refusing to go.

"So, uh, you saw Tony, I take it?" Stacy asked, taking a seat on the porch railing beside me. He was dressed strangely for the occasion; a mildly dressed button up and a pair of khakis. He puzzled me, wearing that kind of getup to a house party. It was somewhat of a feat that he wasn't regarded as nerdy. In reality, many of the neighborhood girls had a thing for Stacy, as they did for Jay and Tony, as well. Skating was an instant chick magnet, Jay had told me once.

"Saw, yes. Interacted with? No. Jay tipped me off that he was here and… well, here we sit," I motioned a small circle around myself. He laughed.

"Just going to sit here all night?" He asked this like it was a bad idea. I'd been rather keen on the idea of never leaving the safety of my spot. It wasn't loud, it didn't stink of pot and booze, it was clean… the pluses outweighed the minuses.

"Maybe," I shrugged, smiling a little.

"No point in being alone, you know?" He said, shoving his hands into his pockets as he jumped down. "Wanna hang out for a while?"

I considered it. It would be better than sitting there, alone, but at the same time, I'd never been much for one on one time with Stacy. Jay I hung out with all the time, in groups or alone, but never so much Stacy, for whatever reason. Jay's mother and mine had always been fairly good friends since we'd moved, so I suppose that at twelve, our interaction may have been forced at first.

"I dunno," I said, trying not to seem rude. "I was supposed to crash at Jay's tonight. My mom's out of town."

She traveled on business a lot and, regardless of the fact that I was seventeen, I didn't like to stay alone. I stayed at Jay's house quite often, and that night was one of the nights I was to do so. Stacy frowned slightly.

"Well, I can drop you off there after a while," he said, brightening up a little. "You know he'll be partying here for a while."

Logical enough.

"I'll go tell him I'll catch him later and then we'll go, okay?" I told him, turning to go inside. Once there, it took me a minute to find Jay. When I did, I almost wished I hadn't.

"Fuck you, man," Jay yelled, standing in a small circle that had cleared in the middle of the house. Standing with him was another guy, a good foot or two taller than him. It was obviously an aggressive situation. The music had stopped and people had gathered.

"You need to keep your hands to yourself and off my girl before you get your little punk ass whipped," the guy threatened him. He was muscular and obviously a little buzzed. Be that as it may, challenging Jay was the stupidest thing anyone could ever do. Granted, Jay might've gotten his ass kicked sometimes, but he never backed down from anything.

"I didn't touch your girl, man. She was all over me, but I didn't touch that," Jay said with a bitter laugh. As I later came to find out, the girl in question was, in fact, all over Jay, and he did, in fact, tell her that he wasn't interested. This was only due to the fact that he was pissed that she was in his personal space when he was talking Zephyr business with T.A. and some other guys.

"Bullshit! Why would she be all over you?" The guy demanded, angrily.

"Listen, bro," Jay said, getting visibly angry, too. "I said I didn't touch her. Ask my boys. I could do better than that, any given night."

"Fuck you," the guy said, pushing him. Jay pushed back and a small fight broke out. It didn't last long, though. Tony pulled Jay off with some good deal of effort and the guy had mainly given up trying after one punch and noticing that Jay wasn't going to stop pawing at him. Neither of them really wanted to fight, but it was more of a territorial issue.

"Fuck it," Jay said, spitting on the ground. "I'm going home."

I had to walk fast and push through a few people to get to him, but I grabbed his shoulder, prompting him to turn around and scream "what?!" in my face.

"It's me," I said, rubbing his arm. "Calm down."

"Sorry, Lil," he said, a little more calm. "Fucker got me all would up…"

"Let's go home, then, okay? I'll go too, we'll get some food or something," I told him, jerking a thumb towards the door. At the moment, I'd forgotten about Stacy waiting for me on the porch and our plans of eating.

"Nah, I don't wanna drag you home if you aren't done partying for the night," he said, somewhat apologetically. Little did he realize I'd been done partying since I waltzed in.

"No, 'sokay. I'll go," I reassured him. He nodded and we made our way to the porch, where Stacy stood, looking around awkwardly. It was then that I realized the double booking I'd done.

"I gotta take a leak and I'll be right back," Jay said, jumping down the three steps on the porch. Stacy watched him pass, curiously looking at his bloody lip.

"There was an incident," I explained vaguely. "I'm thinking I should probably get him home and taken care of…"

He threw me a disappointed look and took an annoyed tone; "Can't Jay take care of himself?"

It would be nice if I could've assumed Jay wouldn't do anything stupid if he went home alone, but he was wired. I'd bailed him out of many messed up situations, and it had become my niche over time.

"No, not really," I shook my head. "He needs me there." He rolled his eyes.

It took him a second to respond; he seemed to be biting his tongue about something.

"Okay, whatever," he sighed. "Maybe we can do something tomorrow or something." I felt bad, but I couldn't place why. Perhaps it was because I was told by quite a few people over the years that I'd picked Jay over them. When I was thirteen, I was a social pariah because I chose to skate over shopping, and chose Jay over befriending the popular group. See, Stacy was acceptable by their standards, even then. He was quite the pretty boy. They had said Jay never bathed.

"I'm sorry, Stace," I said, giving him a quick hug. "I'll call you tomorrow or come by the shop, okay?"

"That's if you don't have your hands full with keeping Jay in repair, yeah?" He said, a little too bitterly for my taste. Since when did he have claim to my time?

"Listen, I said I'm sorry. I want to hang out with you, but Jay needs me. I have to go," I said, noticing Jay standing at the bottom of the sidewalk, teetering from one foot to the other.

"Goodnight, Lily," Stacy said in a softer tone.

"Night."

I thought the party was going to mold it into a long night. I guess it's true what they say, "Ignorance is bliss." I truly was ignorant as to how long that night was going to turn out to be.