Mess of a Party

Saturday, 10:12 PM

Ty was almost caught up to Stephanie, but as far as he could tell, the guy was gone. It'd be impossible to find him in this dark and he knew it was a bad idea to split up. But he was the fastest and was, admittedly, a little drunk so he decided to follow her.

"Hey, Steph stop!" He caught up to her and grabbed her arm so she wouldn't run off again.

"Who was that guy?" She asked him, trying to catch her breath. All Ty did was shake his head.

"We need to go back, though. We shouldn't be apart from everyone." Steph laughed at that.

"Why? You don't think Sky can survive without you there?" She asked, quite harshly.

"What?" Ty was taken aback by her question. She didn't mean it literally, but she meant it.

"Come on, I know you like her." Steph said playfully while turning around and walking back. She didn't seem to be able to handle her alcohol as well as Ty.

"Well, yeah I do like her." He replied. "She's my best friend." Steph stopped and looked him in the eye.

"You know what I mean. You like-like her." She grabbed Ty's jacket by the collar and pulled him close. He could smell the alcohol on her breath. "And it's too bad too. I totally would've gone for you if you weren't totally crushing on her."

Ty held Steph's wrists and pulled them off her. Everything about being this close to Stephanie was just...wrong. It's not that he doesn't like her, half the guys he knows would've killed for a chance to be this close to her. And she was hot, he knew that much. But he didn't feel anything for her aside physical attraction.

"We need to get back. We don't have time for this." Then he turned and started walking. They walked back in silence and when they got there, Skylar was pacing and Payton was gazing outside the door.

"Ty!" He exclaimed and stood up. "Steph! You guys are back!" Skylar stopped pacing and looked at them.

"Oh my god, you guys!" She practically yelled at them. "Where the hell did you go? Do you know how stupid that was?"

"Yes, we know we're in trouble, mom." Steph stumbled over to her chair and sat back down, reaching for another drink. "We just wanted to chase down the jackass that was messing with your ride."

Ty walked over and took the drink from her hands.

"I don't think you need anymore to drink." He went to put it back when Stephanie stood up and tried to take the drink back.

"What the hell? What are you guys all of a sudden, my parents?" She tried wrestling the drink out of his hands, but Ty was definitely stronger than she was. "Give it to me!"

Steph pulled on the bottle as hard as she could and it slipped out of Ty's hand. She fell to the ground and landed on the top of an empty bottle. Everyone heard a crack and Steph let out a shout.

"Jesus, Stephanie!" Skylar ran over to her and helped her sit up. The bottle she landed on was broken at the top and the pieces weren't on the ground. They were embedded in Stephanie's shoulder.

"Dammit!" Stephanie murmured, setting the bottle she had down. She grabbed her shoulder and held it, but the blood was running out beneath her fingers.

"Steph, oh my god! Are you okay?" Claire asked her, her voice louder than just a mutter for once.

"Okay, now we definitely need to leave!" Skylar pulled out her keys and started walking towards the Jeep.

"Yeah, definitely." Ty picked up the drinks and Payton grabbed the empty ones. It was extremely dark and the only light they had was Stephanie's phone, but they all stayed close together and made it to the Jeep without losing anyone. It was incredibly intense. Knowing that there was some creepy dude hanging around somewhere and that Stephanie was bleeding. It didn't help that everyone was feeling like they were being watched from the darkness. 

They got to the Jeep and they all got in, this time Stephanie was in the back and Ty was in charge of taking the glass piece out of her shoulder. Payton sat in the front with Skylar.

"Okay, let's get the hell out of here." She put in the keys and started the vehicle. Or she tried to. The Jeep wouldn't start.

"What the hell?" Sky tried again and again, but it wasn't working. "We're out of gas!" She exclaimed, frustrated. "I had a full damn tank and now it's gone! That guy must've taken the gas!"

"You mean...we're stuck here?" Claire asked quietly, but she sounded close to panicking.

"We need to leave!" Stephanie sounded pretty freaked out too. "We can't stay here! This was a terrible idea!"

"Couldn't we just walk to Stephanie's house from here?" Claire asked. Ty shook his head.

"It would take at least an hour and we would be walking in the dark, through the woods where it's very easy to get lost. Plus, I think Steph is too drunk to walk all the way home." He said.

"I'm not drunk!" Stephanie yelled, proving Ty's point.

"Why don't we just call for help?" Ty asked, pulling out his phone. "Damn, there's no service here."

"So that idea's out, I guess." Claire said with a sigh.

"Then what do we do?" Payton asked, trying to hide how freaked out he was. Skylar thought for a moment, then she sighed.

"We need to get that gas back." As soon as she'd said that, everyone started shouting at her.

"How would we even do that?" Claire asked.

"That's a very dangerous idea!" Ty said.

"Are you crazy?" Payton asked, letting his panic show.

"Everyone quiet down!" Skylar turned around to look at everyone. "Does anyone have a better idea?" 

Everyone was silent. 

"That's what I thought. Now, clearly Stephanie can't go walking around. She's staying here. And Payton, you stay with her. We need someone to watch her and make sure she's fine. Plus, it's safest in the car."

"What? You want me to stay here?" Payton voiced his disagreement.

"Payton, you're staying." Then Skylar turned to face Ty and Claire. "You guys are coming out there to search for that dude and the gas with me. We're not splitting up again, so we should be fine. Everyone cool?" Nobody said "no" so Skylar got out of the car and Ty and Claire followed her.