"Sweetheart ... I heard you're going to the party at campus tonight?" her dad greeted her in the dining room. She managed to avoid real conversations with him for the past week, but it seemed like that wasn't the case that morning.
"What party?" her tone was flat.
Landon was sitting across from her father, eating a pancake with a knife and fork, "I was just telling your dad about the pre-summer party in campus, since everyone is going home for summer on Monday, it's a tradition we have at UOG ... it's gonna be fun," he explained.
Charlene took a seat beside Landon and put a napkin on her lap. "Since you're also leaving on Monday, I thought it'd be nice to enjoy a party before you leave ... get a taste of the campus life," he elbowed her lightly.
"Sounds like a party for 18 years and older," she commented coldly.
"Well, since this is a special occasion, I will give you the permission to enjoy this party with Landon, I'm sure Landon will be able to chaperone my precious girl here, won't you Landon?" Bill looked at Landon for his confirmation.
"Of course, it'll be my pleasure, Sir," he knew if he had asked Charlene directly to go to the party, she might have rejected him.
Charlene gave a sharp glance at Landon, and then to her dad, "Is the DEAN going to be at the party?" she felt Landon's foot tapping on hers.
"Of course not, these kinds of parties are for kids only, I used to have my share of those parties too, just remember to know your limit when you're having so much fun," Bill chuckled.
She responded with a cold shoulder and started eating her pancake, "I don't really have anything else to do, I guess I'll go."
"Now that's the spirit! You're gonna love campus life, honey, next year, you'll get a full experience of it!" her dad said enthusiastically.
Don't bet on it. She really believed that campus life was going to be an exciting experience, if only she get into the major that she chooses for herself, at a University of her liking and apparently a city that is not Gastonburry. She didn't respond her usual 'yes, daddy' anymore, those days were finally over for her.
"Oh, sweetie, I've been meaning to tell you that I won't be going back with you on Monday, I still have tons of work here to take care of ... so you go on ahead home with Travis and I'll let your mom know when I'll be able to go back." She stared at her dad with a deep cold stare, hoping he caught her repulsiveness towards him. But he kept on eating while she couldn't even swallow what's in her mouth.
She excused herself after that, she couldn't bare sitting across from him, knowing that everything that came out of his mouth was probably a lie. She had to protect the lie so her mom wouldn't get hurt, to save his career, to save her parents' marriage. The burden felt too great. Fine, I'll go to the damn party.
Landon cleared his throat, excused himself and followed her to her bedroom. "Hey ... you okay?" he stopped her from closing the door.
"I'm fine ... I'll see you tonight, okay?" she couldn't wait to get rid of him.
"Don't think about it too much, okay? We'll have fun tonight," he tried to cheer her up.
"Of course, it's fine, I just don't like to be lied to," she said with a long face.
"Everybody lies, Charlene ... maybe you just need to get used to it." She closed the door on him.
She wondered how much of what Landon had said was true, everybody lies, including her. She practically lied to Tommy for not telling him about Landon. What about Tommy? Is he lying too? Like her dad is lying about everything to everyone? A lot of what Landon said has started to take on an effect on her.
**********
She put on a tight jeans and a black off the shoulder top, she wore her black heels that she bought at one of the stores at the avenue, it looked perfect for her look that night. She let her hair down, a little messy, she put on some make-up and a blood red lipstick. She didn't look like a 17 year old girl.
He tried to hold his jaw from opening and put on a cool façade, deep down, his insides were turning upside down to the sight of her. "You look gorgeous," that much he can blurt out of his mouth.
"Thanks ... shall we?" she looped her arm around his as he escorted her to the car, then off they went to her first campus party ever.
It was a whole different scene than when she was there at daytime. The halls were filled with students but they looked like party goers, dressed to impress. The lights were changed into party lights all over the corridor and all the way to the main assembly hall. Dance music blared across campus through the speaker phones, a DJ was administering the party with his vinyl collection and sound manager. Everyone was either drinking, dancing, kissing or drunk, and it was only 9 o'clock. For most, the party hadn't even started yet.
Sets of sofas were placed all over the hall, a long table by the sides of the room were filled with booze and snacks. The supply kept coming with ice being dumped on a huge bowl on each end of the tables. Landon said that there's a truck loaded with liquors and ice parked at the back of the building, supplying the booze with every purchase made by the students. And they were all buying throughout the night. She was taken aback with the whole scene, she was entering a new kind of experience.
They settled down on one of the sofas where Landon's hang out buddies were sitting on. There were three pairs of couples and three other guys without girlfriends. They all looked like they already had quite a few drinks.
"Everyone ... this is Charlene, she's going to be a student here next year, let's give her a nice warm pre-university welcome, shall we?" Landon introduced her to everyone.
By 'welcome' they meant a lot of drinks to celebrate, so they pass around the drinks and toasted on anything and everything. She didn't quite catch everyone's name, the music was really loud, but then again, everyone was already half drunk and didn't really care who she was. She noticed that when people were drunk, they tend to get more friendly and happy, just the kind of state she wanted to be in.
She chugged in every drink that was pass on to her. They were loud and not making a lot of sense, some conversations she could still engage in at the beginning, as the night progressed, it was just drinks after drinks, dancing, screaming, on the dance floor, on the sofa, up on the stage and then on the tables. She barely even know their names, but they were all her best friends that night. She was hugging everyone, singing and dancing, for a moment she had forgotten what a rotten trip she had for the past two weeks because of her dad. She got carried away in the situation and kept emptying out her glass. It was a side no one ever seen from her, not even herself.
"Is she your girlfriend or something, man? She's hot!" said Toby who had been watching her getting drunk.
"She's off limits, man, don't even think about it," Landon said as he too was watching her turning into a wild party girl after a series of nasty concoctions that his friends had made and a few shots of tequila. She's so going to have a bad hangover tomorrow, he thought.
"Okay, man, just asking, it's just that you don't look like couples ... I thought she might need some company," Toby could barely open his eyes when he was talking.
"She's 17, dude, back off!" Landon spoke into his ear with a friendly gesture.
Toby waved a dismissive hand, "I didn't know she was illegal," he laughed.
"You're drunk, Toby, go home," Landon tapped him on the shoulder.
Landon, on the other hand, was not drunk. He wasn't much of a drinker, he doesn't like getting drunk and stupid and lost control of his composure. He always drink lightly and enjoy watching his friends get shitfaced all through the night.
He came over to Charlene and whispered in her ear, "I think you've had enough of those drinks," he noticed she was laughing uncontrollably, her speech was slurred, and her eyes were blinking very slowly.
"I thought you said to have a good time?" she replied.
"You might want to take it easy, Charlene, you'll have one hell of a hangover tomorrow, you won't enjoy that," he tried to take her glass off her hand.
"You are not the boss of me, Landon Friedman, I'm going to have another drink whether you like it or not," she stared at him up close and not budging until he backed down. Their faces was so close, their noses almost touched.
"Suit yourself," he let her have the glass back. She was on the verge of tipping over for being too drunk and she didn't even know it. She drank the rest of what's in her glass like her palette was numb.
"What's the story between you two, anyway?" Brian asked.
"Our dads are business partner," Charlene was still quick to answer.
"She's my future wife," Landon was being cheeky.
Charlene elbowed him and laughed, "No, I'm not ... don't listen to him." Brian looked puzzled but laughed in his confusion.
"We'll see about that," Landon said calmly while drinking his vodka. She gave a sharp look at him, he just smiled and gave her a deep dark stare.
She was completely shitfaced after that last glass, she didn't even realized she was leaning on Landon and couldn't barely see anything clearly. Her head was leaning on Landon's face, his arm was over her shoulder.
"I don't know what's happening to me," she slurred, he chuckled.
"Do you want to dance it off?"
"What does that even mean?" her eyes were closed, her voice muffled.
He tried to stand her up on her own two feet, but she felt heavy and let herself fell on him. "Alright, it's time to go home than," he wrapped his arms around her and said goodbye to his drunken friends.
"You had a successful night, it seems?" he teased her. He drove really slow to avoid any commotion, she grunted, one hand covering her eyes as her head leaned on the door frame.
"I think I'm drunk," she said.
Landon smiled amused, "I think so too ... I warned you about that last one, you wouldn't listen."
"You seemed to know all the answers, don't you, Landon? You always know what to do," she slapped his arm with her free hand.
"I'd like to think so ... yeah."
"Well what do you say if I tell my dad that I'm not going to UOG next year and he can make another excuse for fucking the Dean?" her eyes were still covered, her reality started to sink back in.
"I think that's the booze talking, you shouldn't decide anything when you're drunk," he replied.
"I'm so sick and tired of people always telling me what to do and what not to do," she complained.
"Getting a degree at UOG is a good plan, regardless if it was suggested by your parents or not ... unless you have a better plan?"
"Suggested? More like decided for me, and now I know why ... he doesn't care about my education, he just cares about fucking the Dean!"
Landon held her hand, "Let's not think about this now, okay, I personally vouch for UOG, it's a good place to build a future, don't throw it away just to get back at your dad."
She didn't respond, she couldn't even hear him clearly, her head was spinning, her bowels indicated that something was making it's way up to her throat. They arrived at the house just in time, the second she opened the car door, everything that tried to make it's way up, ejected through her mouth and her nostrils. He waited until she was done to the last drop. Her eyes was watery, snot was dripping from her nose, her face lost color, the vomit sounded painful, it was not a pretty sight. Landon calmly helped her climbed up the stairs and walked her to her room.
He held the door handle to stop her from opening the bedroom door and stood really close to her, almost pinning her against it. He tucked her hair behind her ear, "Don't I get a good night kiss?"
She laughed, "Really, Landon? After all that puking session?"
"Or we can get cleaned up in the shower before I tuck you into bed?" he spoke into her ear, their cheeks grazed with each other. "I won't tell if you won't," he was coming on to her strong.
She was too drunk to feel nervous, she pushed his chest gently because he was too close, "No, Landon, there's nothing to tell nor will there ever be ... I just want to go in my room and get some sleep," she said calmly.
"Can I come in with you, than?" his lips was on her neck and rubbing on her shoulder.
She didn't appreciate him trying to take advantage of her drunkenness, she nudged away from his kisses, "No, Landon! Stop it!" she pushed him a bit harder this time.
He laughed it off like it was nothing, he put his hands in his pocket, "I'm sorry ... you were so hot tonight, it kinda turned me on," he said casually.
"I can't believe you tried to take advantage of me?! I'm super drunk, I can't even feel my brain thinking," she frowned, her head was still spinning when she opened her eyes wider.
"I wasn't trying to take advantage of you, I just thought you might like a little drunken sex ... it's fun, you know?" he teased her.
"No! Go to your room, Landon, and I'm going to vomit in your very fancy toilet," she wasn't kidding about that, she immediately got into her room and locked the door behind her. She bolted into the bathroom and started to throw up again. Landon can hear the excruciating sound of her vomiting through the door, he took a long frustrated breath and went to his room, another failed conquest.