“You guys are fucking ridiculous!” Went laughed dashing towards Sam and jingling the keys for all of us to see. “Let’s go! There’s a rager in the Valley.”

We didn’t give it a lot of thought, hopping into the back of Gus’s car, blazed and out of our minds.

If I had been thinking, I would’ve seen the beginning of change and the breaking of tradition as we raced down that California highway, Beach Boys thumping in our ears. I would’ve seen the first fatal crack in the story of us.
 ***
“Ari, I think I’m gay.”

I’ve always been a talkative drunk.

“Spence, you are gay.

“I’m so gay,” I sighed before plopping my head in her lap.

We had gotten to the party a half an hour ago and I was shit faced.

“You know, I’ve never kissed a girl.” I blurted out, my words muffled by the denim skirt of Ari’s lap.

“Seriously?!”

Sober, the aforementioned conversation never would have happened. If there was one thing my friends understood about me, it was my insecurity talking about anything sexual having to do with myself. I’d slept with guys, even Went, I just didn’t like to talk about it. There was something so dirty about sex to me, something so wrong and unforgivable about the whole thing, something my mind wouldn’t let me get past.

“Yeah, I got close once. I mean, I was right there. And I choked.”

Just as those words tumbled out of my mouth, spilling from my lips like verbal diarrhea, I saw her through the masses of bodies ahead of me, leaning against the kitchen counter, her lips nursing a mixed drink I couldn’t place from here. She was wearing a band t-shirt and another barely there denim skirt, her cowboy boots visible from even here.

We made eye contact.

Somehow, amist blaring techno music and sixty drunk teenagers gyrating in the valley between us, our eyes met, her hazels and my blues, the glint of annoyance in her eyes evident from where I was sitting, mouth agape, leaning heavily on Ari’s shoulder, not believing my shitty lucky.

“Oh, fuck…We need to get out of here” I muttered, grabbing Ari’s hand and pulling it towards the door.

Too late.

“Oops!”

The music stopped.

I knew what she was drinking then. Vodka Cranberry, maybe a hint of lime.

“Youbitch!” I slurred, taking in my soaked once white t-shirt and denim skirt.

“That’s for this afternoon.” She said coolly, a shit eating grin across her face.

“It was an accident!”

This was not happening to me. I was in a twilight zone. Fuck, I needed a smoke. Was she serious? And how’d she get across the room so quickly? Bitch…

As I stared her down, my eyes squinted in the most unadulterated anger and frustration, I almost didn’t notice the incredibly attracted red head who materialized behind her, sliding her thin freckled arms around Ashley’s waist before planting one chaste kiss on her shoulder, nibbling on her ear lobe, whispering god knows what in there.

I was about to turn away, get myself out of there, when her voice broke the silence again.

“Next time you crash a party, figure out who’s hosting it first.”

The last thing I saw before bolting out the front door was her hand flipping me the finger, her red head girlfriend laughing right in tow. I stumbled through the front door and onto the sidewalk, my friends close behind.

***

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