My phone buzzes as I'm brushing my hair, it light up showing a message from Josh saying that he will be here in 10 minutes. I quicken the pace and make way down stairs to let him in when he gets here.
"Ready?" he says with a smirk after I open the door. I haven't seen Josh in this light before so it feels quite odd but I'm excited as I've never gone out with a group of friends before, strangers in this circumstance. I nod and push him out after a grab my jacket.
We enter his car and just before leavibg he says, "I might have over simplified my get-together, there's going to be quite a few people, they are all nice though, I promise", he holds his hands up in defence and he's tone slowly rises as he speaks.
I can start panicking now. I trick my brain calm with a soft smile as I lean back on the passenger's seat and feel the cold leather on my skin. Cold is good. We drive for a short while until we reach a medium sized cream-coloured house and we drive in to park. There's a lot of cars already and as I piece things together it feels more like a party than the simple get-together I was picturing. I am starting to wish Alis was here, she is good at socialising and I'm sure at some point Josh will get caught up with his friends and have to leave me to my own devices. I can picture myself holding on to Josh like a koala, glued to him so I won't be left alone but quickly realise it's a dumb idea and shake it off. I don't even know where we are to try and send the address to Alis, and I also realise that she probably has a lot on her plate already.
"So are we going in?", asks Josh and then I realise that he's standing outside and I'm still in the car. I jump on my sit and follow him suit until we are inside.
"This house is really pretty." A beam makes its way on my face as I gaze at the ivory walls and beautiful pantings by the staircase. There's quite a few people inside but nothing like the disgusting teenage parties portrayed in the movies, where everything seems to smell of weed and alcohol. The air defenitely reeks of sweat but that's a given given the amount of people in this enclosed space dancing along to loud pop music.
I follow Josh to the kitchen where he greets a few people. One is not much taller than me with light brown skin and freckles and the other one is much taller with his brown hair tied up into a man bun. I wave politely and Josh introduces me to them.
"This is Dion, it's his house...", he says pointing to the light brown guy, "well his parents' house really..." he cracks as a joke and continues pointing to the other guy saying he's named Callum.
I try to make conversation by asking them what school they go to as I don't think I have seen them before and Callum laughs off saying:"Yeah, we are in the same year as Josh but he ditched us to go to another school apparently", he raises his head to seem bothered by it but then returns to it with an amusing smile, "hopefully they have been treating you well in the new school..."
I give Josh a confused look and he winks at me.
"I moved high-schools last year because it was easier to get to this one. Saves me a lot of time..."
After that the conversation takes a turn and they start talking about the time they spent together on high-school before Josh changed schools. It was just a year now that I think of it but it sounds as though it was packed with stuff. I wonder where Josh gets his British accent from then.
A few minutes later there's a cheer coming from the living room and we make way to follow it to a crown of people doing a dance off. It's all so loud I feel quite disoriented and I really need to step outside. I glance at Josh and go out to take some fresh air.
So far stuff has been good.
I'm so deep in my thoughts that I lose track of time and by the I go back in it looks like people are sat in a circle playing a game.
No, not never have I ever.
Josh waves my way, with a not-so-amused expression. Perhaps he doesn't like it either. I sit beside him and then a girl with deep charcoal hair and a fringe speaks: "Never have I ever broke something in this house and blamed it on someone else." She spits it out bitterly and fixes her a gaze to one individual in particular, who starts sweating on comando as he shakily takes the cup to his lips.
"Hey want a cup?" whispers Josh and I shake my head, "I don't drink."
He smiles, "Me neither this is juice".
I nod.
Then the next person is up and it goes on for some time more. It's all fun and games until somone says, "Never have I ever stolen a car" jokingly and looks out for Josh to see if he drinks, which of course he doesn't.
"Ahh true you're the whip that backed out" he says with a smirk chugging his drink and leaving the room.
Who is he?
The room goes silent for something that feels like hours. And I don't realise that someone went after him until I hear shouting from down the corridor. Josh rubs his temple and follows the noise. I don't stand up, last time I was in the middle of a feund I was pushed to the ground. Instead I wait for Josh to come back.
About ten minutes later he's back besides me and gestures me to follow him. And impassive look is painted on him. We get in the car and he slowly shuts the door.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know he was going to be here... Dion even warned him to not showing up and cause a scene but- well..."
"It's okay." I cut him off with a smile, "I had fun while it lasted, Dion and Callum seemed quite nice and the game was fun until that guy ruined it."
He starts the engine and we silently drive home listening to the radio until a good song comes up and we starting singing like idiots so loud, in the middle of the night, like absolutely nothing happened.
"We should do a karaoke night once, only classics of course." I say leaving the car.
"For sure! Night".
Tiredly I reach my bed and lay down unchanged. I'm too tired to move an inch, let alone get changed. I make a mental note to call Alis tomorrow and drift away in a deep sleep.