Happy Thursday, lovelies! I hope those of you that celebrate Christmas had a good one. Mine was pretty chill. My best friend tried to give me boots with like six-inch heels, but they hurt and I couldn't walk in them, so he took them back. My other friend gave me Pokemon rubber wristbands (she thought they were Digimon because she knows that I think they're the superior 'mon, but it's the thought that counts and I still like Pokemon, so it's no big deal) and I love them. And my brother got my household a SNES classic, so I've been reliving my childhood. And raging, because I don't understand how toddler me could beat those games so easily. Anyway, that's enough rambling. Onto the chapter! ~Shaymie
"I think you should wear the silver dress. It pushes your boobs up." I threw a handful of pretzels into my mouth and watched my sister pace around the room in her underwear, her face squinting in thought as she looked between two dresses. I couldn't help but look at her body and feel slightly envious. She went to the gym three times a week with John, and it clearly showed. I was going to start going to the gym with them after the new year, but I knew that I'd never look as good as her.
"What boobs?" Darcy laughed bitterly, reaching for the glimmery silver dress. She pulled it on quickly and cupped her breasts self-consciously. "Lori, my boobs are nonexistent compared to yours. Maybe I should drink more milk…"
"First of all Dar, your boobs are a solid B cup. They're not much smaller than mine. Second, you hate milk, and I don't think drinking milk makes your boobs grow. You'd be torturing yourself for nothing."
"Fine, fine…" Darcy sat down in front of her mirror and started to brush her hair. She hummed quietly and stared at her reflection. I looked down at the bag of pretzels and sighed. She wasn't coming with us to Thomas' new year's… gathering. He insisted that it was just a gathering, not a party. It took me almost an hour to convince everyone to come to it, but eventually they agreed. Darcy was going to come with us, but she had been invited to a party at work. She finished with her hair and turned to look at me. "Did… Did I ever tell you why I broke up with Heather?"
"You said she broke up with you."
"Does it really matter who broke up with who? I'd like to say that it was a mutual break-up. But I found out that she was fucking someone else. Some college guy. I came home after work and she was with him in our bed. God, I hope that bitch burns in hell. She keeps texting me because she wants me to come home. Fuck her… and not in the good way."
"You told me she was a lesbian," I frowned, watching as she started applying makeup. How much of her relationship had she not told me about? Then again, it wasn't like she had been able to talk to me much. After my suicide attempt, I pushed her away. I pushed everyone away. I didn't want them to get too close to me in case my next attempt ended up being a success. But there hadn't been another attempt. Everyone had been keeping a close eye on me.
"She thought she was, but then she had a bit of a… pansexual awakening. She just told everyone she was a lesbian because lord knows nobody in Texas would understand pansexuality. They think everything's black and white. Fucking conservative bigots," Darcy huffed, applying her eyeliner fiercely. If she wasn't careful, she'd take an eye out. I checked the time and stood up. It was about time for me to leave for Thomas' not-a-party. I walked over to Darcy and kissed her cheek. She turned to hug me and smiled. "Have fun, Lori. See you later. Maybe I'll find a way to sneak out of the party and hang out with you guys."
"See you later, Dar." I went downstairs and found Alex, Herc, and Gil playing Mario Kart in the living room. From the look on everyone else's faces, they'd been playing for awhile. They were insanely competitive, and I was honestly surprised that nothing had been broken yet. I sighed and sat on the floor in front of Alex, pulling my knees up to my chin. I let them finish their last race before telling them that we should start heading to Thomas'. My eyes narrowed as a groan went through the room.
"Lo, do we really have to go?" Alex asked as I stood up and grabbed my coat from near the door. I nodded firmly as I pulled the coat on, fumbling slightly with the buttons. I had told Thomas that we were going to his anything-but-a-party, so we were going. I didn't want to disappoint him. Everyone sighed, but followed me out the door after I said goodbye to Martha and gave Dumpling a kiss on the nose. I hope she'd be fine with the fireworks. I held on tightly to Alex's arm and raised an eyebrow when I saw Peggy carrying around the cat piano I had bought her for Christmas. I knew better than to say anything about it. Peggy Schuyler was an enigma to all.
A shiver went down my spine as we approached Thomas' neighborhood. An overwhelming sense of dread washed over me when I remembered that James lived the next neighborhood over. I refused to let myself look over there and kept my gaze locked ahead. If I didn't think about him, he wasn't there. I sighed as I walked up to Thomas' door and rang the doorbell. I could hear some clattering coming from the house and blinked up at Thomas when he finally answered the door. I could tell that he was already a little bit drunk from the way he was leaning into the doorframe.
"You actually came," he gasped, looking around at everyone. I nodded and grabbed his arm so I could lead him to the couch. He looked like he was going to fall over any second. Maddie and Aaron were sitting on the floor in front of a Monopoly board. There were wine bottles scattered around on the ground and glasses sat on the table. I sighed and helped Thomas sit down. It wasn't even eight yet and he was already drinking. Even if his parents were never here, surely they'd have to notice the missing wine bottles when they got home. Everyone quickly got settled in, and Peggy broke the ice by playing her cat piano, which I was starting to regret buying for her.
It was at thirty minutes to midnight that Thomas suggested that we play Truth or Dare. We had just finished a fifty turn game of Mario Party (we had split into teams and shared the controllers) and everyone,with the exception of me, Angelica, and Eliza, was at varying levels of drunkenness. Maddie had passed out an hour ago and was currently sleeping upstairs. Alex groaned and slung his arm around me. He was a touchy drunk.
"Who the fuck wants to play Truth or Dare?" he asked loudly, his accent coming out full-force. I wondered why he tried so hard to hide it. Maybe I was being a bit of a hypocrite, since I tried to hide my accent as much as possible. "Just put the ball on TV or something!"
Thomas grumbled as he flicked through the channels, landing on the live footage of Times Square. I felt anxious just looking at the gathering of people. Mama had tried to take me to see the ball drop once, in our first year living in New York, but I had an embarrassing panic attack and had to be taken to the hospital because she couldn't calm me down. It was my first time ever panicking in front of her. Before then, the only people to see me in such a state were my father (who would only yell at me to shut up) and Darcy (who was the only person who could calm me down). I'd felt bad, making Mama spend the new year in a hospital room, but she hadn't been angry.
"Rin, I dare you to play a song on Peggy's cat piano and sing!" Herc blurted out, stumbling over to where the piano sat abandoned on the ground from where Peggy had thrown it after losing a minigame in Mario Party. I glared at him as he put the piano in my lap and opened my mouth to protest, but suddenly half a dozen drunk teenagers were egging me on, telling me to sing. I sighed. Peer pressure was a bitch. I lightly ran my fingers over the keys and tried to think of a song that would annoy Herc the most.
"I was 24 years old when I met the woman I would call my own," I started, grinning as Herc groaned and put his hands over his ears. The meows from the piano were a bit distracting, and it took me a couple stumbles to get the melody right. Eliza supplied backup percussion, clapping her hands together on beat. My grin grew wider as Herc got more irritated. He wasn't a particularly big Ed Sheeran fan, but he hated the song Nancy Mulligan the most because I'd jokingly ask if he was related to Ed Sheeran. By the time I finished the song, Herc was lying facedown on the floor. Eliza gingerly stepped over him to refill the popcorn bowl, giving me a high five as she passed me. I stuck my tongue out, though Herc couldn't see me.
"I don't think that's how Truth or Dare works," Angelica said, nudging Herc with a socked foot. He sat up and huffed. "But that really was amazing, Lorin. I didn't think anyone could make that cat keyboard sound good."
"I just kind of winged it. It wasn't really anything special." I flushed. I hated getting compliments. They always embarrassed me. I hated drawing attention to myself. Darcy told me to have a bit more confidence, but it was a hard thing to do when I had been beaten down most of my life, both emotionally and physically. So pardon me if I had a shitty opinion of myself.
"That makes it even more amazing, Lo!" Alex grinned dopily and planted a sloppy kiss on my cheek. My face grew warmer. I flinched as fireworks went off outside. They sounded like they were getting closer. They had been going off all night, but it seemed like they were increasing in both volume and frequency. Eliza walked back in with a refilled popcorn bowl and set it down on the table. Peggy grabbed a handful and looked at John, who was sprawled out on the floor.
"Hey John, truth or dare?"
"Truth," he yawned, pushing himself up so he was leaning on his elbows. He had only drank enough to get a little bit tipsy, and he had been lethargic all night but refused to go to sleep. He didn't notice the wicked grin on Peggy's face as she munched on her popcorn.
"How'd you and Darcy start dating?"
"Never mind, I want a dare." John's face was bright red from more than just the alcohol. Peggy's grin grew wider as she sat up straighter. She got more confident when she was drunk, I noticed.
"I dare you to tell me how you and Darcy started dating!"
My phone started to ring as they started to bicker. Speak of the devil. I went to the kitchen to answer her call, leaning against the counter. Why was she calling now? If she was planning on coming over here, I would have thought she'd do it earlier. I didn't want her to walk around the city now, so close to midnight when there were drunken idiots everywhere. I bit my lip as I answered the phone.
"Hello-"
"Lorin, I need someone to pick me up." She sounded on the verge of tears, her voice trembling as she spoke. I could hear music blaring in the background. "I don't care who it is, I just… I can't stay here anymore."
"Darcy, what's wrong?"
"I just, um… I'm scared. Everyone was really drunk and some guy started touching me so I left. I'm standing outside of the building, but I'm really cold and I'm scared to walk there."
"Stay right there, Dar. I'm on the way." I hung up and walked back to the living room. I knelt next to Thomas, who was almost asleep on the floor. His eye cracked open when I poked him on the cheek. "Thomas, I need your car keys like right now."
"You don't even know how to drive," he mumbled, pressing his face into the carpet. "And it's almost midnight. What's so important that it can't wait until later?"
"Angie can drive. We need to pick Darcy up from her party." I grabbed my shoes and tugged them on, not even bothering to redo the laces. I was worried about Darcy. I had never heard her sound so scared before. She was the bravest person I knew.
Angelica managed to rip the keys from Thomas' grasp, and we quickly left to pick up Darcy. The party was being held at some fancy hotel downtown. There was a bunch of traffic, and I'm pretty sure we drove right through to the new year. I couldn't care less about that. I only wanted to make sure that my sister was okay.
She was pacing near the entrance of the hotel when we picked her up. Her eyes lit up when she saw us. I opened the door for her and smiled. She looked alright, if not a bit shaken up. She sighed as she closed the door and shut the door.
"I changed my mind. This beats that Halloween party as the shittiest party I've ever been to."