Chapter 16
As the night became morning, I began to ease up. I knew that soon I would be able to go back to Lulu’s and take a hot shower. I could cry and tell Lulu about everything. I looked over at her, happy at the thought. Lulu was eyeing me up, too. I saw the look in her eyes and I could tell she wanted desperately to know what happened. I smiled demurely at her, knowing that it would infuriate her. I spun around, making the fringe at the edge of my skirt flow outwards, getting a laugh from one of the guests. I looked up, smiling and saw it was Holland. I walked over to him. As much as this disgusted me, it wasn’t the worst I had seen someone do for this job. I kept thinking to myself, Juilliard, Juilliard, Juilliard, Juilliard, Juilliard, Juilliard. He got my drift. He smiled and reached for my back, just as he did. I moved closer to him, and kissed his cheek. Slowly, feeling his shock, and then, as he pulled me onto his lap, his excitement. I slowly stopped, smiled, and pulled away. He tried to tug me back but I grabbed the pole next to Lulu and wrapped myself around it, laughing gently. I was getting that sick feeling in my stomach, this job reminded me of Ed and I had to blank out what I was doing. Don’t think, just go to my happy place. I drowned out the rest of the night in a haze.
The sky began to lighten, the men prepared to leave, all assuring us that they had a great time and couldn’t wait for tomorrow. Along with all of our tips, they left Rachel a substantial tip as they left. Just as Lulu and I were picking up the empty beer bottles and throwing them out, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Emmett’s concerned face.
“Hey Emmett, what’s up?” I asked, abandoning my ‘dumb blonde’ voice.
“Look,” he said slowly, “I just wanted to make sure you really are okay. You know, if you’re not I can call your dad or something, he’ll probably send you some money or something.” I shook my head.
“Emmett, you probably won’t understand this, but I would rather die that go home. I’m doing great, my friends are taking really good care of me, and I actually get paid really well here.” He nodded.
“Just, here’s my number just in case of an emergency, okay?” he handed me a piece of paper. “And, some money, just in case.” I refused the cash.
“I don’t need your money, Emmett, I’m doing just fine.” He smiled at me.
“As a tip then?” His grin widened.
“Thanks Emmett.” I said. He nodded. And after a seconds hesitation, wrinkled his forehead. “Do we hug? I don’t really know the protocol for saying goodnight to my little sister’s runaway best friend that now works as a stripper for my best friend’s bachelor party.” I grinned and stepped into his partly opened arms.
“Good night, Emmett.” I whispered, wrapping my arms around him. He hugged me back.
“Good night, Sophie. And by the way, I like the hair.” I smiled, and before I could thank him I heard a slight clearing of someone’s throat. We looked up. The bouncer stood there, his arms crossed.
“He bothering you Glimmer?” His deep voice boomed all around us.
“No Justin, he’s a friend from home.” Justin raised his eyebrows.
“He need to be shut up?” he asked. I laughed at him.
“No, I got it. I kind of ran away from home too,” Emmett said.
“But he made a mistake,” I added, turning to look at Emmett. “He went back.” Emmett looked at me.
“It’s not that bad Sophie.” I scowled.
“You have no idea how bad it is for girls there.” I growled at him.
“I feel like it’s not that much worse for girls than guys.” He said lightly.
“Umm-hmm,” I said sarcastically. “Like I said, you have no idea how hellish it is.” I stalked off. I heard him call out my name and Justin telling him that he’d better leave. I quickly changed my clothes. I was hurrying, wanting desperately to go back to the apartment. As I thrashed around the green room, I noticed Rachel standing silently in the corner. I slowly stood up and looked at her realizing that I was about to cry.
“I’m so sorry,” she said urgently. “I didn’t know.” Wordlessly, I rushed over and we hugged each other.
“Its okay, Rach,” I patted her back. “Really, I think he’s going to be fine, I don’t think he’s going to tell anyone.” She nodded.
“I know, he’s a good guy.” As parted with Rachel and I made my way home with Lulu I kept silent. She made a few attempts at conversation but I answered very casually, with only a few words. I didn’t know how to feel. My biggest fear, someone knowing me, had finally happened, with one of my least favorite people in the world, and yet I think he was probably the only one who understood and who wouldn’t turn me in. I fell asleep, still thinking about Emmett. He was a complete enigma to me. I couldn’t figure him out. But maybe, I thought, just before I slipped into the darkness, that’s why I was so fascinated by him.
The sky began to lighten, the men prepared to leave, all assuring us that they had a great time and couldn’t wait for tomorrow. Along with all of our tips, they left Rachel a substantial tip as they left. Just as Lulu and I were picking up the empty beer bottles and throwing them out, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Emmett’s concerned face.
“Hey Emmett, what’s up?” I asked, abandoning my ‘dumb blonde’ voice.
“Look,” he said slowly, “I just wanted to make sure you really are okay. You know, if you’re not I can call your dad or something, he’ll probably send you some money or something.” I shook my head.
“Emmett, you probably won’t understand this, but I would rather die that go home. I’m doing great, my friends are taking really good care of me, and I actually get paid really well here.” He nodded.
“Just, here’s my number just in case of an emergency, okay?” he handed me a piece of paper. “And, some money, just in case.” I refused the cash.
“I don’t need your money, Emmett, I’m doing just fine.” He smiled at me.
“As a tip then?” His grin widened.
“Thanks Emmett.” I said. He nodded. And after a seconds hesitation, wrinkled his forehead. “Do we hug? I don’t really know the protocol for saying goodnight to my little sister’s runaway best friend that now works as a stripper for my best friend’s bachelor party.” I grinned and stepped into his partly opened arms.
“Good night, Emmett.” I whispered, wrapping my arms around him. He hugged me back.
“Good night, Sophie. And by the way, I like the hair.” I smiled, and before I could thank him I heard a slight clearing of someone’s throat. We looked up. The bouncer stood there, his arms crossed.
“He bothering you Glimmer?” His deep voice boomed all around us.
“No Justin, he’s a friend from home.” Justin raised his eyebrows.
“He need to be shut up?” he asked. I laughed at him.
“No, I got it. I kind of ran away from home too,” Emmett said.
“But he made a mistake,” I added, turning to look at Emmett. “He went back.” Emmett looked at me.
“It’s not that bad Sophie.” I scowled.
“You have no idea how bad it is for girls there.” I growled at him.
“I feel like it’s not that much worse for girls than guys.” He said lightly.
“Umm-hmm,” I said sarcastically. “Like I said, you have no idea how hellish it is.” I stalked off. I heard him call out my name and Justin telling him that he’d better leave. I quickly changed my clothes. I was hurrying, wanting desperately to go back to the apartment. As I thrashed around the green room, I noticed Rachel standing silently in the corner. I slowly stood up and looked at her realizing that I was about to cry.
“I’m so sorry,” she said urgently. “I didn’t know.” Wordlessly, I rushed over and we hugged each other.
“Its okay, Rach,” I patted her back. “Really, I think he’s going to be fine, I don’t think he’s going to tell anyone.” She nodded.
“I know, he’s a good guy.” As parted with Rachel and I made my way home with Lulu I kept silent. She made a few attempts at conversation but I answered very casually, with only a few words. I didn’t know how to feel. My biggest fear, someone knowing me, had finally happened, with one of my least favorite people in the world, and yet I think he was probably the only one who understood and who wouldn’t turn me in. I fell asleep, still thinking about Emmett. He was a complete enigma to me. I couldn’t figure him out. But maybe, I thought, just before I slipped into the darkness, that’s why I was so fascinated by him.
Chapter 17
My new cell buzzed in my pocket and I grabbed it as quickly as I could. Lulu had just admitted that she had given Emmett my new cell number and I was oddly nervous. I inwardly scolded myself. Why was I so excited? I barely knew Emmett. We had gotten into an argument every time we had spoken, and yet I was as giddy as a pageant girl on crowning day. It was Rachel. I sighed and answered.
“Hey Rach! What’s up?”
“Hey Sophie, it’s really dead today. I don’t think I need you to come in until the party tonight. So like, nine o’clock?”
“Yeah, Rach, that should be fine. I will see you then!” I responded.
“Yeah! See you tonight.” Click.
“Hey Rach! What’s up?”
“Hey Sophie, it’s really dead today. I don’t think I need you to come in until the party tonight. So like, nine o’clock?”
“Yeah, Rach, that should be fine. I will see you then!” I responded.
“Yeah! See you tonight.” Click.
Chapter 18
I rushed about grabbing clothes. I had to get downtown for supper with Lulu, Rissa and Rachel. Lulu had been dressed for almost half an hour but I had slept in, exhausted from the crazy shift last night. Lulu had off yesterday so she was well rested, but I had bags under my eyes and was still in some boxer shorts and a tank. I threw on some makeup, fixing one disaster and turned to the other. I looked at my clothing drawer. I didn’t have a lot, I had brought three outfits with me from LA, the dress I had been wearing and some jeans, an off the shoulder tee and a sweatshirt, and the dress that had been in my duffle, ready to be returned to Crystal. I had bought a few other outfits, but all in all, I was mostly living in Lulu’s clothes. I grabbed my jeans and searched for a clean shirt. They were all in the hamper, under a wet towel. I grabbed a few and took a whiff but they smelled a little ripe. Lulu came rushing in and ripped off her jeans and shirt. She rummaged through her closet for a few minutes until she came up with one of my old dresses I had sent to her when my mom decided I was ‘redoing my wardrobe’. It was a cocktail dress, blue green, and my favorite designer, Oscar de la Renta. It was fitted and strapless on top with a tiered, ruffled and embroidered skirt and black tulle underskirt that just brushed the knees. I had sent Lulu almost fifty designer dresses and my mother hadn’t even noticed that they were missing.
“I just got a text from Rissa. We’re going to Brand! Apparently one of the owners came into the club and had a great time so he offered her a HUGE discount. Rachel’s treating but we have to dress up.” I nodded. Perfect, I thought, I could wear Crystal’s dress. I pulled out the lacy red dress and stared at it. It wasn’t even mine and yet so much had happened to me in this dress. I should have given it back to Crystal. I should send it to her, but I felt some sort of connection, I felt like now that all of those things had happened, it sort of belonged to me. I slipped it on, threw on a pair of Lulu’s black pumps. She smiled, “You look great dearie!” I smiled but I ran out into the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle as Lulu grabbed out bags and pulled me out the door.
She hailed a cab, smiling. “Dad left us some cab money!” She sung. As I walked around in the dress I began to feel more and more uncomfortable. Maybe this dress held a little more of its past than I had realized. This was the dress Emmett saw me in for the first time. This was the dress I got compliments on from several celebrities, always with Crystal immediately chirping in that it was hers, of course. It was the dress I wore the night I realized I should be truly scared of Ed. I stopped that thought. I couldn’t think about that now. I would never speak about it again. I made Lulu promise she wouldn’t ever make me talk about it or even think about it again. I started fidgeting, readjusting the skirt, pulling at the lace.
“Stop fidgeting Soph!” Lulu smiled, oblivious to my comfort levels. “They love you! This is going to be a blast!” As the sky darkened, across the California planes, we got closer and closer to our destination. The cab pulled to a stop and Lulu threw a few twenties across the barrier, “keep the change!” she yelled out at the man. He nodded and thanked us. We got out and stared at the beautiful building in front of us. “NICE!” Lulu called out. “This place is so classy.” I laughed.
“Lu, I think you’re supposed to be a little more relaxed in a place like this.” I forced myself to sound cherry, knowing that I couldn’t talk to even Lulu about the pain I was in. As sweet and understanding as Lulu was, as much as she tried to sympathize, she couldn’t understand the kind of people I had been friends with before The Incident. I needed to talk to someone who knew, but not Crystal or any of my other friends back home. I couldn’t think of who would understand. Just then I was distracted from my thoughts by Rachel’s voice cutting through the crisp night air.
“Wow ladies, you clean up well! Those are really good imitations. Lu, your dress looks legitimately designer!” She gushed. I smiled as I looked at Lulu’s glowing face.
“It is!!” she sung. “Oscar de la Renta!” Rachel and Rissa’s mouths dropped open. Lulu laughed. “Back when our dear Sophie here was living in riches, her mother decided to donate half her outfit to the poor and update it. Soph stole most of them back and gave them to me! So now I have like fifty designer dresses and shoes and stuff! Isn’t she the best? But now after her riches to rags story has been complete, she is living out of my closet! Ironic, right?” Rachel laughed, but Rissa just stared at it openmouthed. She looked jealous.
“Sorry Rissa, I’m not going back to get the rest of my closet for you. But when I’m a famous musician I will totally buy you a few Versace’s, okay?” Rissa smiled and nodded appreciatively.
I’m going to hold you to that.” She replied, happily. We walked inside and to the hostess stand. A woman in all black greeted us with a fake smile.
“Good evening, welcome to Brand, do you have a reservation this evening?” her hand was posed over a large guestbook already searching for a party of 4.
“Yes,” Rachel replied, “it’s under Miller.” She suddenly coughed, making it hard to understand her.
“Moore for five, did you say?” the girl replied.
“No, Miller for four.” Rissa put in quickly. “Could we get some water right away?” Rachel, still coughing, smiled at her appreciatively. The girl nodded, and laughed a little. She led us to our table and motioned a water boy forward. He filled our glasses and tried to dazzle us with a smile.
“Nice try,” Lulu began.
“But we work with dazzling people,” Rissa added.
“We could help your little act here out a bit if you wanted.” Rachel put in. I smiled. We played this game a few times at the club. When we talked like this it made us seem like one, which apparently was a really big ‘dazzler’ for some guys.
“But the smile was really cute, don’t you guys think so?” I flipped my hair. They all nodded adamantly, leaning over, showing off their bodies to the best affect. He looked a little startled, and looked at all of us hurriedly, and his eyes stopped on me, “really, really cute.” I assured him with a wink. He slowly stumbled away after shaking hands set down a basket of chips with some spicy salsa.
“You know it’s really not fair when you do that to people.” A voice cut in behind us. The other girls turned around and shrieked, but I already knew who it was. They all gushed their hellos and I slowly turned around.
“Hey, Emmett.” I said softly.
“Hey Soph,” He smiled at me. “Or are we still being anonymous?” the girls all looked at me strangely.
“Sophie is fine.” I replied shortly. “Or Soph, or Phia, or well, you know, all that good old Laguna Beach stuff.” He laughed.
“Trust me Soph; you don’t want to them know all the Beach stuff.” I smiled.
“No, I suppose I don’t.” I laughed, too.
“What?” Rachel asked, “You can’t just say things like that and then not tell us!” Everyone else nodded furiously.
“I think Emmett should get back to his friends.” I said shortly. Emmett’s smile faded.
“Yeah, I guess I should.”
“No!” Rachel practically yelled. “You should all join us! Come on Emmett, I haven’t seen you in forever!” she hurriedly looked at me. “I mean, if that’s okay with you guys.” Her eyes begged us. Lu and Rissa looked at me, I knew they would back me up if I said no, but I just looked into Rachel’s pleading eyes. I turned toward Emmett and he was looking at me, as well. I started shaking my head.
“Yeah, of course you should all join us. You can tell us the story of how you two met.” I said, diverting attention from myself. Rissa and Lulu both shrieked with laughter and Rachel groaned. Emmett laughed and motioned his friends over. They all walked over and the water boy pulled the tables together. They sat down and Rachel cleared a place for Emmett next to her. Unfortunately it put him directly across from me. He tipped his head to the side and scrunches up his forehead.
“No offence,” he said, “but isn’t that Crystal’s? I remember that she was freaking out when I gave it to her and was going crazy because it wasn’t designer. But she said she would never wear it. Did she re-gift it to you?” I looked at him, shocked.
“You gave this to Crystal?” he nodded. “No she lent it to me ages ago, and when I told her how much I liked it, she said I could keep it for a while. I was wearing it when I came here.” I hesitated before adding, “I also was wearing it at a party of Crystal’s, at the house. I think it was about a month ago, at the beginning of the school year.” He looked confused at first and then smirked.
“You mean that party where I met…” he broke off, a laugh on the edge of his eyes, “your boyfriend?” There were no mirrors for me to observe this, but just based off my feelings, I had murder in my eyes. Emmett laughed. “Come on Soph-I’m kidding!” I glared at him.
“What does he mean your boyfriend?” Lulu asked, mouth agape, “You didn’t have a boyfriend back then!” I tried very hard to suppress a smile, but looking at Lulu’s expression and the others eyes darting back and forth between us all, I took one final look at Emmett and we burst out laughing.
“I didn’t!” I protested, “You remember when I wrote you about Luke!”
“You mean that troglodyte who wanted to take you to prom?” I laughed even harder.
“Troglodyte, Lu?” A couple a few tables over glared as our noise interrupted their private moments. “You are so dramatic! I think that jerk or slightly creepy, maybe even snob would have been a bit more accurate.” Rachel and Marissa laughed, causing all of Emmett’s friends to laugh. I realized I hadn’t actually looked at them. It was Michal, Holland, Andy and Collin. I smiled shyly at them all, realizing just how awkward this situation really was.
“No troglodyte seems pretty accurate to me.” Emmett added. “But I have to say if I could use any adjectives I’d have to go with, cynical, psychotic, word twisting asshole. Or better yet, self centered, self pitying, bitch without even the sense to see that he’s just as snobby as everyone from else Laguna Beach.” Everyone just stared at him as he smiled at me mildly.
“Wow, harsh much, Em-” Rachel and Lulu started. I cut them off.
“First of all, cynical, psychotic, word-twisting asshole is way better than self centered, self pitying, bitch without even the sense to see that he’s just as snobby as everyone else from Laguna Beach, second of all I cannot believe that you remember that verbatim.” He laughed. “Third of all, he’s not that bad. It’s just how we were taught growing up there.”
“And yet look at the two of us.” My heart gave an unexpected leap when he said us. I frowned. No, it must have been from eating all these spicy chips. A waiter interrupted our thoughts and asked if we were ready to order. I looked down and realized that I had not even looked at the menu. I hurriedly read through it while everyone else was ordering. After ordering a filet mignon (the first steak my eyes focused on) I turned back to Emmett.
“So, as I said before,” I smiled innocently. “How did you and Rachel meet?” A collective groan ran around the table. I glanced around shocked having expected the girls at least to back me up on this.
“No, no, no,” Rachel complained, “you two need to finish this story first!” everyone else nodded furiously. “Again, you can’t begin something like that and then not finish it!” I sighed.
“There’s nothing to tell!” I said. “Really, nothing happened.” After nearly a minute of everyone shouting why they knew something had happened and why they were so hooked on this story, Emmett raised his hand. Suddenly silent, they all stared intently at him.
“Fine, I will tell you ‘the story.’” he added air quotes, making everyone smile. “First off, this only came up because Sophie was wearing the same dress that night. So here is how it happened.” I looked around the table and noticed that they were all staring intently at him, completely transfixed. I had come home a few nights before and hadn’t seen much of my family. My parents promised me that the particular night in question we were going out as a family. Now if any of you knew my sister you would know that spending time with her family is a complete waste of life in her opinion.” I laughed and nodded, appreciatively. He smiled back at me and continued. “So of course for Crystal simply saying she was doing something that night was out of the question. She had to throw a full blown party with nearly everyone from LA there.” Rachel laughed.
“Like all your high school friends?” She asked me. “Is that a big deal?” Emmett and I shock our heads.
“Wow, she really doesn’t know Crystal.” Emmett said. I smiled.
“I mean, yeah, all the rich high schoolers, and of course Nikki Six and the Motley Crew .” I said as I watched their mouths drop open.
“Or the Kardashians and half of Disney channels leading ladies.” Emmett cut in.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s great and all.” Lulu interjected. “Tell the story!”
“Right, so anyway, she throws this giant party. There were news people there and they were calling it the party of the year.” Emmett continued. “So then, all of a sudden, this girl shows up,” Emmett points at me, and I smile. “And everyone starts freaking out. She is in like, jeans and a torn tee shirt and it is defiantly not label, right? So they are all freaking out and my crazy sister takes her upstairs to get her changed. Now mind you, I did not know this until I was filled in later. I just saw my sister walk into her room. So I walk in later and tell her to tone it down except,” he pauses and smiles at me.
“Oh my gosh no! You really don’t have to tell them this part!” I’m sure I was blushing furiously.
“Yes he does!” Rachel and Rissa yell loudly, gaining several stares from nearby tables.
“I walk into the room and start yelling at Crystal to chill out and Sophie here is in nothing but some underwear sitting on my sister’s bed.” There is a collective gasp around the table and Lulu starts laughing. I began blushing even more furiously.
“So I practically run out of the room,” he began,
“After you stared for like two minutes and we yelled at you to get out!” I broke in, everyone laughing. He nodded, sheepishly.
“So I leave and then all of a sudden all these girls are all over me and I am trying to get away. Just then I notice her walking down the stairs looking amazingly beautiful in that dress with my sister wearing this ridiculous feathered thing.”
“It was a Katarina Bocci!” I protested. Wait, did he just say amazingly beautiful? I suddenly blushed and hoped no one would notice.
“I thought she was going to jump off the staircase and fly away!” he retorted, I laughed along with everyone else. “SO, she walks down and this guy, whom I would like to point out had been openly flirting with half the girls their already,”
“Half the girls? Crystal told me that it was only two out of every ten.” I cut in, dryly.
“She was lying, it was at least half.” He smirked. “He asks her to dance and Crystal is beaming and practically shoves Sophie into him and he looks all proud and poor Sophie looks like she’s about to vomit.” Rachel, Marissa and the guys were laughing, but Lulu looks at me with pity in her eyes. “Now I need to get away from these people who are after me for my money and I see this poor girl who I kind of owe anyway so of course I excused myself and walked over and asked to cut in.”
“Just as Luke was about to kiss me mind you, so thank God you did!” I added.
“Your face was hilarious, I honestly thought about waiting for a minute and seeing if you threw up on him.” I wacked his shoulder.
“Are you kidding me? That would have been awful!” I exclaimed.
He laughed and nodded. “But of course I didn’t.” I smiled in relief. “So then we danced and talked for a while, and the whole time Luke was staring at me and let me tell you, if looks could kill, I would not be sitting here right now!” We all laughed, causing more dirty looks from the tables around us. The waiter came back and our story was interrupted once again for a prolonged period of time while we all moaned over how amazing the food was. “Well, there was a bit of a misunderstanding and we ended up fighting for the latter half of our conversation. That is of course where our colorful language came in.”
“I still can’t believe you remember that word for word.” I laughed.
“Hey, you really hurt my feelings!” we all laughed at his obvious sarcasm. We told them the story of how much we fought and how we ended up hating each other and how Emmett ended the party early. Everyone laughed and teased us as we went on and soon, the candles were burning low and the food was mostly gone.
“Come on now, Rachel, how did you and Emmett meet?” I begged. She sighed.
“No, please, it’s so embarrassing!” We all begged but she downright refused and even threatened cut pay. We laughed and the boys promised to give us big tips if we kept begging. Rachel and Marissa started drinking a little while ago and most of the boys were long since tipsy. Emmett and Holland were the only ones not near to drunk. The bill came and Michal insisted on paying.
“No, I know this meal must have cost a fortune and we were graced with your presence today.” When he opened the bill he gave us a strange look. “Would any of you know why this meal was free?” Holland, Emmett, Andy and Collin all looked over his shoulder incredulous. The four of us looked at each other and burst out laughing. The men looked at us. “What?” Michal asked.
“Let’s just say that the owner of this place frequents our own business.” Rachel said lightly. Michal held up a stack of cardstock type paper.
“Is that why we got tickets to wave the $20 fee at a nightclub tonight?” We all stared at him for a second. And then we started squealing.
“Rachel, you are the best!” Rissa cried out. Collin and Andy started cheering, too. We put down a large tip for our waiter, smiled at the water boy on our way out and headed to the bar. The line was down the block, but we skipped to the front. Despite yells and complaints, we were admitted right away and Rachel and Rachel got pink cups and headed straight to the bar with Holland and Andy. Michal and Emmett stayed near us.
“Are you guys going to get a drink?” I shouted to Emmett.
“Are you?” he asked with a smirk.
“I’m 18.” I said, “Same as your sister. You’re not. We don’t care if you drink.” He nodded.
“I know but it’s probably best our group has a designated driver anyway.” He said, nonchalant.
“Michal, are you going to get a drink?” I asked, pointedly. He had been talking to Lulu and not paying attention to Emmett and my sidebar.
“No, it’s my night to be designated driver.” He yelled back. I turned to Emmett.
“So, again, are you going to get a drink?” He shook his head. “Do you not drink?”
“Look, Sophie, I drink, but I don’t feel like getting a drink right now. I would rather be aware of my surroundings for a while. Maybe I will have a drink later. I’m not thirsty right now.” I rolled my eyes. Just then a man in jeans and a clearly designer shirt walked up to me.
“Hey, my name’s Kyle. If your boyfriend is bothering you, you could come and dance with me instead.” He grinned.
“He’s not my boyfriend.” I stated. “But I may have to take you up on that.” He stared, unable to believe this luck. He held out his hand and I took it. He spun me around and held me close to him. We hadn’t been dancing for a minute when Emmett came next to me, dancing with Rachel.
“Hey Kyle,” he looked up. “Mind trading partners?” Rachel was in full blown flirt and it was all Kyle could do to not trip over me on his way to Rachel.
“Seriously Emmett?” I asked, perturbed. He smiled happily and held out his hand. I brushed by it and grabbed Lulu. “Come on. Let’s go find some guys who can dance.” She laughed and we headed out to the floor. Dancing was second nature for the two of us; it came as easily as breathing. Pretty soon we had several offers for drinks and even more for dances. Refusing it all, the crowd began to get a little hectic.
Lulu leaned over and whispered, “Do you want to go find Andy and Collin?” I looked at her, confused. “I know you don’t want to go and talk to Emmett and Michal is hanging out with him so I figured Andy and Collin, drunk as they are, will get all of these guys away from us.” I nodded, appreciating my friend’s quick thinking. We struggled to get out of the mob, much to the complaint of those around us. We finally reached them and Lulu whispered something into Collin’s ear. He smiled and nodded and passed whatever it was onto Andy, who also appeared to acquiesce. He leaned over and wrapped an arm around me. He found my ear and whispered.
“Apparently I’m your boyfriend tonight.” I laughed as if he had said something funny and he squeezed me. “You want to dance?” He added louder. I nodded and Lulu shrieked and dragged Collin out after her. I put my arms around Andy and we were swept off in a salsa type song. He was a decent dancer. Not professional, and he probably never pursued it in any way, but he could move and it was easy to dance with him. Lulu and Collin were going like crazy and Andy yelled to me over the noise. “Collin took dance classes when he was younger, I’m really sorry I’m not any better.” I shook my head.
“Are you kidding me? You’re really good!” I lied. “I’m not any better at this type of dancing than you.”
“Yeah right?” he laughed. “I saw you over there. You are really, really good at this.” We talked small talk for a while, and I found that I could talk to him easily, not quite as well as Lulu, or any of my new friends here, but certainly better than Crystal or any of my friends in LA. “Do you want me to get you something to drink?” he asked a few songs later. I looked down. “What?” He asked, tipping my chin up towards him.
“I don’t know what Emmett, or Lulu, or Collin told you, but I’m 18.” I expected him to jump back, to say he assumed I was older, but he just laughed.
“I know.” He said. “That’s why I am buying it for you.” I smiled.
“No, thanks.” I replied. He smiled back coolly and we kept dancing and talking. A few minutes later, a slower song came on. Collin and Lulu left the dance floor and as I moved to follow them, Andy grabbed me and pulled me back.
“May I have this dance?” He asked, regally.
Laughing, I responded, “It would be my honor.” He bowed and we laughed. I curtsied and we took off, spinning in a waltz. After a minute of tripping around the floor laughing, running into other couples and apologizing, we slowed down and swayed on the spot. It reminded me of high school dances, where no one really knows how to dance. We talked some more and I noticed Andy getting closer and closer to me until we were pressed up against each other. I smiled and made the best of it. I had learned over the years that if you give someone a little leeway, they tend not to push it too far, and when they do, it is easier to say no. Thing got awkward when his hand started sinking lower and lower down my back. All of a sudden we halted for no apparent reason.
“Watch it Andy.” A cold voice came from behind me. Emmett’s hands lifted Andy’s and he deftly pulled us apart.
“Hey man,” Andy began, “We’re just dancing.”
“Yeah,” Emmett retorted, “And now you’ve just finished dancing.”
“Leave me alone Emmett.” I added. I didn’t know why I was so mad at him. I just knew that I didn’t want him trying to control my life like this. “I’m a big girl; I know what I’m doing.”
“I don’t think you do,” Emmett sounded patronizing, almost parental.
“And I don’t think you know everything about me.” I said firmly. “You know what Andy? I am going to take you up on that offer from before.” I saw confusion on Emmett’s face. Andy smiled.
“Absolutely.” he said smoothly, taking my hand and leading me away from Emmett.
“What offer? What are you doing?” Emmett said, panic evident in his voice.
“Don’t worry about it Emmett.” I said. “And stop following us.” We headed to the bar and Andy ordered us a few drinks. I was so distracted thinking about Emmett I didn’t know what he was even saying until he thrust a cocktail into my hands. I drank about half in one go.
“Yeah! Party girl!” Collin called out. I saw Lulu looking at me, but I ignored her. Emmett grabbed the drink out of my hands.
“Andy, she’s 18!” he yelled.
“Don’t worry man,” he called back, “I paid off the bartender.” I grabbed the drink back from Emmett and swallowed the rest before he could protest.
“You’re not my father, Emmett!” I yelled out at him. He shot back, like my words had scalded him. I grabbed a shot off the tray of a bar tender near me, and swallowed that, too. Placing the glass back on the tray, I grabbed Andy’s hand and we danced close together. It was like I danced at the club. Normally I was mad when people danced like that in public, but today, I had a purpose. Pretty soon another bar tender walked around with a tray of shots. Andy grabbed a few for us and those were soon followed by more. I was getting a little fuzzy on what happened next but I know that there was at least one more cocktail, a beer and probably more shots. Everything was blurry, and I realized, a little late, that I was really, really drunk. I must have made this realization out loud because someone with a loud voice answered me.
“No, shit, Soph? What has gotten in to you?” I mumbled for them to be quiet, the music giving me a headache as it was. I was so disoriented and the next thing in knew. Strong arms lifted me off the ground.
“Put me down.” I said, as forcefully as I could. “I need to go get a cab.”
“Yeah right.” Another loud voice broke in. “You would probably run out in the street and get run over.” The loud voice was angry.
“Put me down!” I tried to yell. I felt sick. I my head was pounding. I could barely see. I closed my eyes. I tried to tip myself out of the strong arms but they held tight.
“Oh, no you don’t.” Okay, they were really mad. I opened my eyes. Everything stayed black.
“I can’t see!” I yelled out. I heard a sigh.
“Open your eyes.” A calmer voice added, but I could barely hear. I felt a wave of sickness crashing in on me and a warm, acidic liquid pouring up into my mouth.
“I just got a text from Rissa. We’re going to Brand! Apparently one of the owners came into the club and had a great time so he offered her a HUGE discount. Rachel’s treating but we have to dress up.” I nodded. Perfect, I thought, I could wear Crystal’s dress. I pulled out the lacy red dress and stared at it. It wasn’t even mine and yet so much had happened to me in this dress. I should have given it back to Crystal. I should send it to her, but I felt some sort of connection, I felt like now that all of those things had happened, it sort of belonged to me. I slipped it on, threw on a pair of Lulu’s black pumps. She smiled, “You look great dearie!” I smiled but I ran out into the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle as Lulu grabbed out bags and pulled me out the door.
She hailed a cab, smiling. “Dad left us some cab money!” She sung. As I walked around in the dress I began to feel more and more uncomfortable. Maybe this dress held a little more of its past than I had realized. This was the dress Emmett saw me in for the first time. This was the dress I got compliments on from several celebrities, always with Crystal immediately chirping in that it was hers, of course. It was the dress I wore the night I realized I should be truly scared of Ed. I stopped that thought. I couldn’t think about that now. I would never speak about it again. I made Lulu promise she wouldn’t ever make me talk about it or even think about it again. I started fidgeting, readjusting the skirt, pulling at the lace.
“Stop fidgeting Soph!” Lulu smiled, oblivious to my comfort levels. “They love you! This is going to be a blast!” As the sky darkened, across the California planes, we got closer and closer to our destination. The cab pulled to a stop and Lulu threw a few twenties across the barrier, “keep the change!” she yelled out at the man. He nodded and thanked us. We got out and stared at the beautiful building in front of us. “NICE!” Lulu called out. “This place is so classy.” I laughed.
“Lu, I think you’re supposed to be a little more relaxed in a place like this.” I forced myself to sound cherry, knowing that I couldn’t talk to even Lulu about the pain I was in. As sweet and understanding as Lulu was, as much as she tried to sympathize, she couldn’t understand the kind of people I had been friends with before The Incident. I needed to talk to someone who knew, but not Crystal or any of my other friends back home. I couldn’t think of who would understand. Just then I was distracted from my thoughts by Rachel’s voice cutting through the crisp night air.
“Wow ladies, you clean up well! Those are really good imitations. Lu, your dress looks legitimately designer!” She gushed. I smiled as I looked at Lulu’s glowing face.
“It is!!” she sung. “Oscar de la Renta!” Rachel and Rissa’s mouths dropped open. Lulu laughed. “Back when our dear Sophie here was living in riches, her mother decided to donate half her outfit to the poor and update it. Soph stole most of them back and gave them to me! So now I have like fifty designer dresses and shoes and stuff! Isn’t she the best? But now after her riches to rags story has been complete, she is living out of my closet! Ironic, right?” Rachel laughed, but Rissa just stared at it openmouthed. She looked jealous.
“Sorry Rissa, I’m not going back to get the rest of my closet for you. But when I’m a famous musician I will totally buy you a few Versace’s, okay?” Rissa smiled and nodded appreciatively.
I’m going to hold you to that.” She replied, happily. We walked inside and to the hostess stand. A woman in all black greeted us with a fake smile.
“Good evening, welcome to Brand, do you have a reservation this evening?” her hand was posed over a large guestbook already searching for a party of 4.
“Yes,” Rachel replied, “it’s under Miller.” She suddenly coughed, making it hard to understand her.
“Moore for five, did you say?” the girl replied.
“No, Miller for four.” Rissa put in quickly. “Could we get some water right away?” Rachel, still coughing, smiled at her appreciatively. The girl nodded, and laughed a little. She led us to our table and motioned a water boy forward. He filled our glasses and tried to dazzle us with a smile.
“Nice try,” Lulu began.
“But we work with dazzling people,” Rissa added.
“We could help your little act here out a bit if you wanted.” Rachel put in. I smiled. We played this game a few times at the club. When we talked like this it made us seem like one, which apparently was a really big ‘dazzler’ for some guys.
“But the smile was really cute, don’t you guys think so?” I flipped my hair. They all nodded adamantly, leaning over, showing off their bodies to the best affect. He looked a little startled, and looked at all of us hurriedly, and his eyes stopped on me, “really, really cute.” I assured him with a wink. He slowly stumbled away after shaking hands set down a basket of chips with some spicy salsa.
“You know it’s really not fair when you do that to people.” A voice cut in behind us. The other girls turned around and shrieked, but I already knew who it was. They all gushed their hellos and I slowly turned around.
“Hey, Emmett.” I said softly.
“Hey Soph,” He smiled at me. “Or are we still being anonymous?” the girls all looked at me strangely.
“Sophie is fine.” I replied shortly. “Or Soph, or Phia, or well, you know, all that good old Laguna Beach stuff.” He laughed.
“Trust me Soph; you don’t want to them know all the Beach stuff.” I smiled.
“No, I suppose I don’t.” I laughed, too.
“What?” Rachel asked, “You can’t just say things like that and then not tell us!” Everyone else nodded furiously.
“I think Emmett should get back to his friends.” I said shortly. Emmett’s smile faded.
“Yeah, I guess I should.”
“No!” Rachel practically yelled. “You should all join us! Come on Emmett, I haven’t seen you in forever!” she hurriedly looked at me. “I mean, if that’s okay with you guys.” Her eyes begged us. Lu and Rissa looked at me, I knew they would back me up if I said no, but I just looked into Rachel’s pleading eyes. I turned toward Emmett and he was looking at me, as well. I started shaking my head.
“Yeah, of course you should all join us. You can tell us the story of how you two met.” I said, diverting attention from myself. Rissa and Lulu both shrieked with laughter and Rachel groaned. Emmett laughed and motioned his friends over. They all walked over and the water boy pulled the tables together. They sat down and Rachel cleared a place for Emmett next to her. Unfortunately it put him directly across from me. He tipped his head to the side and scrunches up his forehead.
“No offence,” he said, “but isn’t that Crystal’s? I remember that she was freaking out when I gave it to her and was going crazy because it wasn’t designer. But she said she would never wear it. Did she re-gift it to you?” I looked at him, shocked.
“You gave this to Crystal?” he nodded. “No she lent it to me ages ago, and when I told her how much I liked it, she said I could keep it for a while. I was wearing it when I came here.” I hesitated before adding, “I also was wearing it at a party of Crystal’s, at the house. I think it was about a month ago, at the beginning of the school year.” He looked confused at first and then smirked.
“You mean that party where I met…” he broke off, a laugh on the edge of his eyes, “your boyfriend?” There were no mirrors for me to observe this, but just based off my feelings, I had murder in my eyes. Emmett laughed. “Come on Soph-I’m kidding!” I glared at him.
“What does he mean your boyfriend?” Lulu asked, mouth agape, “You didn’t have a boyfriend back then!” I tried very hard to suppress a smile, but looking at Lulu’s expression and the others eyes darting back and forth between us all, I took one final look at Emmett and we burst out laughing.
“I didn’t!” I protested, “You remember when I wrote you about Luke!”
“You mean that troglodyte who wanted to take you to prom?” I laughed even harder.
“Troglodyte, Lu?” A couple a few tables over glared as our noise interrupted their private moments. “You are so dramatic! I think that jerk or slightly creepy, maybe even snob would have been a bit more accurate.” Rachel and Marissa laughed, causing all of Emmett’s friends to laugh. I realized I hadn’t actually looked at them. It was Michal, Holland, Andy and Collin. I smiled shyly at them all, realizing just how awkward this situation really was.
“No troglodyte seems pretty accurate to me.” Emmett added. “But I have to say if I could use any adjectives I’d have to go with, cynical, psychotic, word twisting asshole. Or better yet, self centered, self pitying, bitch without even the sense to see that he’s just as snobby as everyone from else Laguna Beach.” Everyone just stared at him as he smiled at me mildly.
“Wow, harsh much, Em-” Rachel and Lulu started. I cut them off.
“First of all, cynical, psychotic, word-twisting asshole is way better than self centered, self pitying, bitch without even the sense to see that he’s just as snobby as everyone else from Laguna Beach, second of all I cannot believe that you remember that verbatim.” He laughed. “Third of all, he’s not that bad. It’s just how we were taught growing up there.”
“And yet look at the two of us.” My heart gave an unexpected leap when he said us. I frowned. No, it must have been from eating all these spicy chips. A waiter interrupted our thoughts and asked if we were ready to order. I looked down and realized that I had not even looked at the menu. I hurriedly read through it while everyone else was ordering. After ordering a filet mignon (the first steak my eyes focused on) I turned back to Emmett.
“So, as I said before,” I smiled innocently. “How did you and Rachel meet?” A collective groan ran around the table. I glanced around shocked having expected the girls at least to back me up on this.
“No, no, no,” Rachel complained, “you two need to finish this story first!” everyone else nodded furiously. “Again, you can’t begin something like that and then not finish it!” I sighed.
“There’s nothing to tell!” I said. “Really, nothing happened.” After nearly a minute of everyone shouting why they knew something had happened and why they were so hooked on this story, Emmett raised his hand. Suddenly silent, they all stared intently at him.
“Fine, I will tell you ‘the story.’” he added air quotes, making everyone smile. “First off, this only came up because Sophie was wearing the same dress that night. So here is how it happened.” I looked around the table and noticed that they were all staring intently at him, completely transfixed. I had come home a few nights before and hadn’t seen much of my family. My parents promised me that the particular night in question we were going out as a family. Now if any of you knew my sister you would know that spending time with her family is a complete waste of life in her opinion.” I laughed and nodded, appreciatively. He smiled back at me and continued. “So of course for Crystal simply saying she was doing something that night was out of the question. She had to throw a full blown party with nearly everyone from LA there.” Rachel laughed.
“Like all your high school friends?” She asked me. “Is that a big deal?” Emmett and I shock our heads.
“Wow, she really doesn’t know Crystal.” Emmett said. I smiled.
“I mean, yeah, all the rich high schoolers, and of course Nikki Six and the Motley Crew .” I said as I watched their mouths drop open.
“Or the Kardashians and half of Disney channels leading ladies.” Emmett cut in.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s great and all.” Lulu interjected. “Tell the story!”
“Right, so anyway, she throws this giant party. There were news people there and they were calling it the party of the year.” Emmett continued. “So then, all of a sudden, this girl shows up,” Emmett points at me, and I smile. “And everyone starts freaking out. She is in like, jeans and a torn tee shirt and it is defiantly not label, right? So they are all freaking out and my crazy sister takes her upstairs to get her changed. Now mind you, I did not know this until I was filled in later. I just saw my sister walk into her room. So I walk in later and tell her to tone it down except,” he pauses and smiles at me.
“Oh my gosh no! You really don’t have to tell them this part!” I’m sure I was blushing furiously.
“Yes he does!” Rachel and Rissa yell loudly, gaining several stares from nearby tables.
“I walk into the room and start yelling at Crystal to chill out and Sophie here is in nothing but some underwear sitting on my sister’s bed.” There is a collective gasp around the table and Lulu starts laughing. I began blushing even more furiously.
“So I practically run out of the room,” he began,
“After you stared for like two minutes and we yelled at you to get out!” I broke in, everyone laughing. He nodded, sheepishly.
“So I leave and then all of a sudden all these girls are all over me and I am trying to get away. Just then I notice her walking down the stairs looking amazingly beautiful in that dress with my sister wearing this ridiculous feathered thing.”
“It was a Katarina Bocci!” I protested. Wait, did he just say amazingly beautiful? I suddenly blushed and hoped no one would notice.
“I thought she was going to jump off the staircase and fly away!” he retorted, I laughed along with everyone else. “SO, she walks down and this guy, whom I would like to point out had been openly flirting with half the girls their already,”
“Half the girls? Crystal told me that it was only two out of every ten.” I cut in, dryly.
“She was lying, it was at least half.” He smirked. “He asks her to dance and Crystal is beaming and practically shoves Sophie into him and he looks all proud and poor Sophie looks like she’s about to vomit.” Rachel, Marissa and the guys were laughing, but Lulu looks at me with pity in her eyes. “Now I need to get away from these people who are after me for my money and I see this poor girl who I kind of owe anyway so of course I excused myself and walked over and asked to cut in.”
“Just as Luke was about to kiss me mind you, so thank God you did!” I added.
“Your face was hilarious, I honestly thought about waiting for a minute and seeing if you threw up on him.” I wacked his shoulder.
“Are you kidding me? That would have been awful!” I exclaimed.
He laughed and nodded. “But of course I didn’t.” I smiled in relief. “So then we danced and talked for a while, and the whole time Luke was staring at me and let me tell you, if looks could kill, I would not be sitting here right now!” We all laughed, causing more dirty looks from the tables around us. The waiter came back and our story was interrupted once again for a prolonged period of time while we all moaned over how amazing the food was. “Well, there was a bit of a misunderstanding and we ended up fighting for the latter half of our conversation. That is of course where our colorful language came in.”
“I still can’t believe you remember that word for word.” I laughed.
“Hey, you really hurt my feelings!” we all laughed at his obvious sarcasm. We told them the story of how much we fought and how we ended up hating each other and how Emmett ended the party early. Everyone laughed and teased us as we went on and soon, the candles were burning low and the food was mostly gone.
“Come on now, Rachel, how did you and Emmett meet?” I begged. She sighed.
“No, please, it’s so embarrassing!” We all begged but she downright refused and even threatened cut pay. We laughed and the boys promised to give us big tips if we kept begging. Rachel and Marissa started drinking a little while ago and most of the boys were long since tipsy. Emmett and Holland were the only ones not near to drunk. The bill came and Michal insisted on paying.
“No, I know this meal must have cost a fortune and we were graced with your presence today.” When he opened the bill he gave us a strange look. “Would any of you know why this meal was free?” Holland, Emmett, Andy and Collin all looked over his shoulder incredulous. The four of us looked at each other and burst out laughing. The men looked at us. “What?” Michal asked.
“Let’s just say that the owner of this place frequents our own business.” Rachel said lightly. Michal held up a stack of cardstock type paper.
“Is that why we got tickets to wave the $20 fee at a nightclub tonight?” We all stared at him for a second. And then we started squealing.
“Rachel, you are the best!” Rissa cried out. Collin and Andy started cheering, too. We put down a large tip for our waiter, smiled at the water boy on our way out and headed to the bar. The line was down the block, but we skipped to the front. Despite yells and complaints, we were admitted right away and Rachel and Rachel got pink cups and headed straight to the bar with Holland and Andy. Michal and Emmett stayed near us.
“Are you guys going to get a drink?” I shouted to Emmett.
“Are you?” he asked with a smirk.
“I’m 18.” I said, “Same as your sister. You’re not. We don’t care if you drink.” He nodded.
“I know but it’s probably best our group has a designated driver anyway.” He said, nonchalant.
“Michal, are you going to get a drink?” I asked, pointedly. He had been talking to Lulu and not paying attention to Emmett and my sidebar.
“No, it’s my night to be designated driver.” He yelled back. I turned to Emmett.
“So, again, are you going to get a drink?” He shook his head. “Do you not drink?”
“Look, Sophie, I drink, but I don’t feel like getting a drink right now. I would rather be aware of my surroundings for a while. Maybe I will have a drink later. I’m not thirsty right now.” I rolled my eyes. Just then a man in jeans and a clearly designer shirt walked up to me.
“Hey, my name’s Kyle. If your boyfriend is bothering you, you could come and dance with me instead.” He grinned.
“He’s not my boyfriend.” I stated. “But I may have to take you up on that.” He stared, unable to believe this luck. He held out his hand and I took it. He spun me around and held me close to him. We hadn’t been dancing for a minute when Emmett came next to me, dancing with Rachel.
“Hey Kyle,” he looked up. “Mind trading partners?” Rachel was in full blown flirt and it was all Kyle could do to not trip over me on his way to Rachel.
“Seriously Emmett?” I asked, perturbed. He smiled happily and held out his hand. I brushed by it and grabbed Lulu. “Come on. Let’s go find some guys who can dance.” She laughed and we headed out to the floor. Dancing was second nature for the two of us; it came as easily as breathing. Pretty soon we had several offers for drinks and even more for dances. Refusing it all, the crowd began to get a little hectic.
Lulu leaned over and whispered, “Do you want to go find Andy and Collin?” I looked at her, confused. “I know you don’t want to go and talk to Emmett and Michal is hanging out with him so I figured Andy and Collin, drunk as they are, will get all of these guys away from us.” I nodded, appreciating my friend’s quick thinking. We struggled to get out of the mob, much to the complaint of those around us. We finally reached them and Lulu whispered something into Collin’s ear. He smiled and nodded and passed whatever it was onto Andy, who also appeared to acquiesce. He leaned over and wrapped an arm around me. He found my ear and whispered.
“Apparently I’m your boyfriend tonight.” I laughed as if he had said something funny and he squeezed me. “You want to dance?” He added louder. I nodded and Lulu shrieked and dragged Collin out after her. I put my arms around Andy and we were swept off in a salsa type song. He was a decent dancer. Not professional, and he probably never pursued it in any way, but he could move and it was easy to dance with him. Lulu and Collin were going like crazy and Andy yelled to me over the noise. “Collin took dance classes when he was younger, I’m really sorry I’m not any better.” I shook my head.
“Are you kidding me? You’re really good!” I lied. “I’m not any better at this type of dancing than you.”
“Yeah right?” he laughed. “I saw you over there. You are really, really good at this.” We talked small talk for a while, and I found that I could talk to him easily, not quite as well as Lulu, or any of my new friends here, but certainly better than Crystal or any of my friends in LA. “Do you want me to get you something to drink?” he asked a few songs later. I looked down. “What?” He asked, tipping my chin up towards him.
“I don’t know what Emmett, or Lulu, or Collin told you, but I’m 18.” I expected him to jump back, to say he assumed I was older, but he just laughed.
“I know.” He said. “That’s why I am buying it for you.” I smiled.
“No, thanks.” I replied. He smiled back coolly and we kept dancing and talking. A few minutes later, a slower song came on. Collin and Lulu left the dance floor and as I moved to follow them, Andy grabbed me and pulled me back.
“May I have this dance?” He asked, regally.
Laughing, I responded, “It would be my honor.” He bowed and we laughed. I curtsied and we took off, spinning in a waltz. After a minute of tripping around the floor laughing, running into other couples and apologizing, we slowed down and swayed on the spot. It reminded me of high school dances, where no one really knows how to dance. We talked some more and I noticed Andy getting closer and closer to me until we were pressed up against each other. I smiled and made the best of it. I had learned over the years that if you give someone a little leeway, they tend not to push it too far, and when they do, it is easier to say no. Thing got awkward when his hand started sinking lower and lower down my back. All of a sudden we halted for no apparent reason.
“Watch it Andy.” A cold voice came from behind me. Emmett’s hands lifted Andy’s and he deftly pulled us apart.
“Hey man,” Andy began, “We’re just dancing.”
“Yeah,” Emmett retorted, “And now you’ve just finished dancing.”
“Leave me alone Emmett.” I added. I didn’t know why I was so mad at him. I just knew that I didn’t want him trying to control my life like this. “I’m a big girl; I know what I’m doing.”
“I don’t think you do,” Emmett sounded patronizing, almost parental.
“And I don’t think you know everything about me.” I said firmly. “You know what Andy? I am going to take you up on that offer from before.” I saw confusion on Emmett’s face. Andy smiled.
“Absolutely.” he said smoothly, taking my hand and leading me away from Emmett.
“What offer? What are you doing?” Emmett said, panic evident in his voice.
“Don’t worry about it Emmett.” I said. “And stop following us.” We headed to the bar and Andy ordered us a few drinks. I was so distracted thinking about Emmett I didn’t know what he was even saying until he thrust a cocktail into my hands. I drank about half in one go.
“Yeah! Party girl!” Collin called out. I saw Lulu looking at me, but I ignored her. Emmett grabbed the drink out of my hands.
“Andy, she’s 18!” he yelled.
“Don’t worry man,” he called back, “I paid off the bartender.” I grabbed the drink back from Emmett and swallowed the rest before he could protest.
“You’re not my father, Emmett!” I yelled out at him. He shot back, like my words had scalded him. I grabbed a shot off the tray of a bar tender near me, and swallowed that, too. Placing the glass back on the tray, I grabbed Andy’s hand and we danced close together. It was like I danced at the club. Normally I was mad when people danced like that in public, but today, I had a purpose. Pretty soon another bar tender walked around with a tray of shots. Andy grabbed a few for us and those were soon followed by more. I was getting a little fuzzy on what happened next but I know that there was at least one more cocktail, a beer and probably more shots. Everything was blurry, and I realized, a little late, that I was really, really drunk. I must have made this realization out loud because someone with a loud voice answered me.
“No, shit, Soph? What has gotten in to you?” I mumbled for them to be quiet, the music giving me a headache as it was. I was so disoriented and the next thing in knew. Strong arms lifted me off the ground.
“Put me down.” I said, as forcefully as I could. “I need to go get a cab.”
“Yeah right.” Another loud voice broke in. “You would probably run out in the street and get run over.” The loud voice was angry.
“Put me down!” I tried to yell. I felt sick. I my head was pounding. I could barely see. I closed my eyes. I tried to tip myself out of the strong arms but they held tight.
“Oh, no you don’t.” Okay, they were really mad. I opened my eyes. Everything stayed black.
“I can’t see!” I yelled out. I heard a sigh.
“Open your eyes.” A calmer voice added, but I could barely hear. I felt a wave of sickness crashing in on me and a warm, acidic liquid pouring up into my mouth.