Young Writers Society

It was loud. Way too loud for me to think and surely I was way too drunk to walk straight. But all I knew was I had to pee. I had to freaking pee. The door was a few feet away, but it felt like it was too far. My friend was sitting next to me, looking at her phone every other minute, and I knew I needed her to lead me to the toilet.

"Penny, I gotta pee and I can't walk." I said a little too loudly.

A guy sat at our table and ogled both Penny and I. Jesus, my bladder was gonna explode. I recognized him after a moment, it was Harry. He had on a pair of glasses and a tie with Frank Sinatra on it. He told us Sinatra was his God.

"Hey girls..." he started, looking from me to Penny. "wanna dance?" he licked his lips.

I gotta pee. I gotta pee. I gotta pee.

"Uh...." I paused. "Thanks but no thanks."

Penny turned her head toward me and smiled, standing up. She pulled me up with her and I wobbled along side, following her to the door. People crowded around us since the door was by the bar. And my stomach dropped once my eyes landed on a smug looking guy, due to his drunkenness. We've known each other for so long, but it still felt like I just met him. He had the smile, the eyes, and definitely the body. It wasn't one of those super athletic ones, which I liked. I hated muscles that show off. He was a dancer, so he had the body. This was his birthday party so, well, everyone was just drooling over him.

At the last minute, Penny pulled me into the hallway and led me down it where the restrooms were. I already forgot about him and I ran into a stall, almost tripping over myself.

"You okay?" Penny asked.

"Peachy..." I replied.

I relieved myself and stumbled out, holding onto the stall door. This bathroom was pretty cramped, but it was doable. I washed my hands, barely able to focus my eyes as I looked up at the mirror and saw my face.

For a drunk, I looked fantastic! Maybe that was the alcohol talking. Honestly, I though I didn't look that bad at all. My hair, which was dyed so many times now I had brown hair from my roots to the middle then red from then down. Penny walked out of her stall, standing next to me and washing her hands. She had on this beautiful burgundy colored dress that hit her mid-thighs. It was a lace pattern and a skater dress style. I loved it.

"I feel for you, Lena." she sighed, fixing her hair.

"What do you mean?" I smiled.

She faced me, fixating her eyes on mine. I never noticed this before, but she had really pretty eyes, a hazel color wrapped in gold.

"You really like him... that's just crazy. I never knew! How could you hide it? Like, seriously, he's a flirt... it's no wonder you fell for him." she said all enthusiastic and then quiet again, as if a swerve of emotions pushed through her small mouth.

I walked toward the exit with her in tow and stepped down the single step, getting back into the hallway. Some girls scurried behind us as we walked out. I felt as if the world was wobbly at the moment, but I went on, forcing myself to try to walk straight. Penny caught my arm and stopped me from walking any further.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Something made my heart jump against my chest once she said this. I looked over at her and tried to say something. Anything.

"I didn't want to fall for him because I knew him. I knew he was a flirt. I am not stupid, I told myself this. Penny, I really did not want to." I explained, feeling my head get heavy.

She smiled, pulling me back into the party. I avoided looking at the bar or the dance floor and just focused on our table. Get to the table and sit. I had my eyes on the prize, as one would say. Our friend, Skylar was sitting with her boyfriend, Penn. They were on a really long smoke break if you ask me. We sat down next to them, in our original spots.

"Hey girls!" Skylar greeted us.

The music pounded around us, some sort of techno I despised. My luck of the spot at this table was I had the best view of both the dance floor and the bar. Just like I wanted!

"SKYLAR!" I said.

"LENA!" she said back with as much enthusiasm as I had.

Fuck, we were all drunk here. Penn was looking at something on his phone as Skylar started to talk with Penny about something I really didn't listen to. One, they were talking to each other. Two, this happened a lot. So, as I am used to thing, I ignored it by doing something I didn't want to, I looked at the dance floor. My vision was a bit hazy, but I recognized that people were in fact people, not blobs on top of blobs.

But it still felt like I was a loner. So, I looked at my cell phone, clicking the home button so the screen would flash on to life. It was a bit blurry, so I had to blink a few times to focus on the screen. I started to text my brother, the only thing I could do not to feel like I depended on them for contact for a while.

"Can I tell her?" Penny poked me. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Daniel?"

I nodded without really realizing what I was doing, so I looked back at the dance floor as the techno beat and the people bounced around. And I saw him again.

"Since you have this big crush on him, ask him what time this thing ends." She mocked me.

"Ha-ha," I made a fake laugh then realized my real laughter was following after it. Next thing I knew, we were all laughing. My stomach jumped as I tried to contain myself.

Now, all of us looked at the dance floor. People were shaking around, laughing and smiling and dancing with each other, sweat pouring down their backs. Some girls giggled with each other as most of the guys stood around the bar, chatting up. I dared myself to look over at Daniel and see that he had his arms wrapped around a girl slightly taller than him wearing a dress that was silver.

"I could see her crotch." Penny commented.

"Oh my God!" Like the idiot drunk I was. "I can see her crotch!" I pointed at her and yelled, not even thinking about it.

Penny landed her hand on my mouth and started laughing hysterically with Skylar. I started to laugh as well, pulling Penny's hand off of my mouth.

"You could be quieter!" Penny said through laughter. "I love her when she's drunk!" she told Skylar.

"I know! Me too!" Skylar laughed.

Maggie came up to our table with a breathless expression on her face and sat down in her seat. She had this great pixie cut hair that was to die for. I smiled at her and waved.

"Magggggie!" I yelled.

"Lena!" she smiled widely. "Stop drinking!" she added.

"I don't wanna drink anymore, do not worry about that." I said honestly.

"Yeah, she's done." Penny commented.

Again, we all turned to look at the dancers. He was there, smiling widely, talking and spinning Ms. Crotch around on the dance floor as if he was sober. Even drunk, he's got amazing dance talent. I bet he could go to a dance competition, horribly drunk, and still win. That's how good he was.

"He's a really good dancer." Maggie said, leaning her chin against her hand.

"Agreed." I said.

She turned to her plate of food and started eating. I looked in front of me and saw my friend Daniel (who ironically had the same name as, well, Daniel) sitting across from me, looking at the dancers. He hadn't shaved, obviously, for a week probably. But as I looked ta him, all I could remember is when I danced with him earlier, he had dry hands. Like the really dry like sandpaper hands. It was unpleasant.

I turned away and spotted Daniel standing at the bar with a guy I know, I think his name is Paul? Yeah, Paul. The Polak with the buzz cut.

"I'm gonna go talk to him." I said, my eyes on him.

Penny looked at me, I felt it. "I dare you to ask him to dance."

"Sure thing." I smiled.

Standing up from my chair, I was happy that I was getting less drunk since walking wasn't bad and standing straight wasn't a challenge. I left my heels at the table and I scurried over to him, getting between drunk people. Once I reached him, I pushed his waist with my fingers, as if tickling him. He turned around and saw me, plastering on a big, drunk smile.

"Heeeey," he said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

Score.

Paul looked over at me for a second, then went back to talking to Daniel. Daniel though looked at me.

"What's up?" he asked me.

"Eh, nothing. You seem to be enjoying yourself." I said feeling my heart race inside my chest.

"Yeah! How about you?" he was enthusiastic.

"Of course."

Just as I was going to suggest a nice dance, Daniel came up from behind us and started to speak with... Daniel. Putting this in print is super confusing. Okay, my Daniel was shaved, the other Daniel was not. Maybe I should call them by their last names.

Well, shaved-Daniel will from now on be called Dempsey. Un-shaved Daniel will from now on be called Nemenski.

"Hey, Daniel! Wanna take a shot?" Nemenski asked, all drunk already.

"Yeah man!" Dempsey replied.

I felt awkward so I did what I always did. I left. Back to the table, Lena.