It was packed. There was hardly any space to breathe. Music blazed from huge light up speakers, blasting throughout the house. With people dancing and the rhythm thumping the ground with every beat, it felt as if the house could collapse at any given moment.
There were so many familiar faces mingling in and out of the crowd like waves, sipping on red plastic cups of beer.
How do I know that? you ask.
Because the house REEKED of it. Not like I expected anything less from a strictly-teen filled party though, but this definitely wasn’t my cup of tea.
All of a sudden, I felt my stomach plummet as anxiety hit me like a heatwave. It was like I finally woke up and realized where I was. Standing alone in the centre of the room, getting slightly shoved back and forth as the crowd continued to move around me.
To the left of me was the black and white checkered dance floor. A glittery disco ball hung above it. It was spinning in a clockwise motion, reflecting millions of little twinkling multi-coloured stars on the floor. I assumed the majority of the party would be there but instead they where scattered all over the place. The foyer ended with two large glass door that lead out to the garden and the pool. To the right, I could see the sixth form boys were currently in the living room behind the open kitchen, playing an intense game of foosball. I recognised two boys named Chris and Oliver from my form, around the table, yelling competitively at the opposing team. Just loud enough that I could understand a little of what they were saying, over the raging music. A few of the girls were sat on the stairs chatting. The walls above them covered from the bottom to the top of the staircase with Lisa's framed paintings.
I thought to myself ‘if I could quickly duck right out of the front entrance, no one would even notice I’m gone.’
I spun around and beelined for the exit, only managing a few steps before two arms linked into mine. Damn it!
“Oh no you don’t. You did NOT drag me out of my bed to come to this party, just to bail on me.”
“Yeah, Keign’s right. You can’t leave now, the party’s just started.”
“Fine”
“Wait, where’s Eli?”
“Oh, he’s over there playing pool with that guy, what’s his name again?”
A large group of new arrivals added to the crowd. Closing us in. That made it almost impossible for me to see anything, since most things happened to be above my height range.
“What does he look like, Eijai? I can’t see, I’m too short.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot.”
“and that’s ANOTHER reason why I’m glad we’re not identical.”
“Shut up, Keign!”
“Just saying.”
“Um so… the guy has: brown straight hair, he’s white, is about as tall as Keign and is wearing a blue varsity jacket. Ring any bells?”
That’s not much of a description, it could literally be anyone, but…. The blue varsity jacket kinda rings a bell.
I looked over at Eijai, he was staring at me waiting for my response. I shook my head.
“Not really.”
Eijai and Keign began to push their way through the crowd towards the pool table. I followed their lead, since I wasn’t feeling like mingling on my own.
As we neared the end of the crowd, it opened up and I was finally able to see. Opposite the living room, there was a hangout area under the spiral stairs. Lilah’s dad bought her older brother Jackson the ping pong table for Christmas and that’s where Eli was. We went in and I made immediate eye contact with his opponent.
Brown straight hair, light brown eyes, clear, (more olive than white) skin and a blue varsity jacket. OMG, that’s Louis Jayson! Intense butterflies instantly filled my stomach.
I fought the urge to run and crawl under the nearest table. Instead, I smiled nervously and partially hid behind Keign.
Eli noticed us and waved us over.
“Hey bro, have you smoked him yet?” Eijai said.
“Nah not yet, Louis is nearly as good as me.”
Eijai reached over to shake Louis’ hand.
“Oh, hey I’m Eijai. I don’t think we’ve met.”
“Hi, Eli has been telling me all about you.”
The sound of his voice brought back years and years of feelings that I tried so hard to bury. They all began to unravel one by one.
“Has he now?” Eijai said. “Well, you should know where he got his skills from.” “Mind if I join?”
“Be my guest, we were about to start a new round anyway.”
“You two can join too, if you want.”
“Sure, why not.” Keign shrugged.
“And what about you, Reign?
HE REMEMBERS ME?! Brain communicate to mouth. Speak. SAY SOMETHING!
“It’s Rye actually, and I’m okay thanks, I don’t know how to play anyway.”
“Oh yeah! I remember, sorry about that. Well Rye, I’m about to get a drink from the kitchen, care to join me?”
“O... okay.”
“Great. Anyone else want one?”
The boys all said ‘no thanks’ in unison. Then we swerved our way threw the crowd over to the kitchen.
Louis snatched two cokes from the highest shelf in the fridge and slid one across the counter top towards me.
“Heads up!”
It took me a second too long to realise he was talking to me and by the time I noticed the coke, it was so close to falling but I managed to swoop in and catch it just in time.
“Nice save!”
“Thanks.” I said, modestly.
Louis chugged the whole can of coke effortlessly then sauntered towards me. Resting his arm on the kitchen counter beside mine.
“So Rye, how have you been?”
Come on brain don’t fail me now, all I need to do is make small talk and not blurt out anything embarrassing.
“Alright I guess. It’s been a while since I’ve been out like this, because you know….”
“Yeah. That CRAZY prank you pulled on Mrs Hepworth.”
“It was pretty impressive.”
(Not exactly what I was going to say but...)
“You know about that?”
“Rye, the whole ENTIRE school knows.”
“You, Eric, James and Lilah were the hype of school gossip for six full months after you left. You’re basically a celebrity.”
“I wouldn’t say THAT, but thanks.” I said, sipping on my coke.
“I bet Mrs Hepworth still hates me though, that’s why I was the only student to get permanently excluded.”
“I KNOW. Personally I thought it was BS that the headmistress said you were the cause of the whole prank. It’s not fair to only kick you out and not the others.”
“Well I’m glad you think so.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m happy you came tonight. We miss you at Kingston, you always used to make school interesting for the rest of us.”
Louis smoothly placed his hand upon my shoulder.
“It’s not the same without you.”
I didn’t have time to process the last few seconds, we both noticed Lilah heading in our direction with a huge grin on her face.
“Oh, looks like the birthday girl needs you.”
“See you around Rye.”
“See you.”
Dumbstruck, my eyes followed him as he zig-zagged back through the large mass of people. (What just happened?)
Lilah gripped my shoulders and shook me vigorously.
“RYE, YOU CAME!” screamed Lilah, excitedly.
“Yep, here I am.” I said, still sort of dazed.
“Oh and Happy birthday, you look so pretty!”
Lilah was dressed in typical birthday attire. She wore: a velvet, navy blue off-the-shoulders dress (Short and sexy) and Black High heeled boots (even though it was June) with a birthday crown laid perfectly in her wavy brown hair. All in all, she looked like she was ready for Victoria’s secret.
“OH I know; Thank you.”
“Ok, but can we not ignore the elephant in the room.” She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow at me.
“Come again?”
“YOU and Louis. He totally has the hots for you.”
“Pfff! He DOES not.” I argued.
“Ok, maybe that was a bit of a stretch.”
“You think?”
“BUT…. I could definitely tell, even from all the way on the dance floor, that he was flirting with you, Rye.”
“Maybe.” I admitted.
“Yeah and MAYBE, you should tell him that you like him.”
“Not in a MILLION YEARS.”
“Come ONNNN! Rye, you only live once.”
“I can’t.”
“it’s alright bestie, I got you.”
Lilah kicked off her heals, climbed up on the counter and waved to get everyone’s attention.
The music slowly faded out and someone passed her a microphone.
“LILAH! Lilah what are you doing?!” I whispered in panic.
“Listen up people’s.”
“I need everyone to safely make their way into the backyard for a POOL PARTY!!!”
Loud cheers erupted throughout the house as people charged towards the backdoor.
I caught a glimpse of Keign and the twins taking off their shirts and sizing up each other’s muscles before they disappeared in the crowd.
Lilah hopped off the counter.
“Ok what’s the catch?”
“So I thought you could loosen up a little, pool parties are good for that.”
“ANNNND……” I was not -in the slight bit- convinced that was all she had in mind.
“…. Maybe you could flirt with Louis a little in the process.”
“LILAH!”
“Seriously Rye, if you don’t at least flirt with him, I will not be able to keep my mouth shut any longer.”
“You’ve liked him forever. It’s physically painful having to watch you avoid him, when I KNOW you want to kiss him so badly.”
I opened my mouth to protest but Lilah shushed me.
“And don’t try to deny it, Rye.”
“Fine, you win.”
“Good, now go upstairs and grab a swimsuit from my wardrobe.”
“You’re so annoying; you know that right?”
She smiled and said, “I know you love me really.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I said, sarcastically.
When I got upstairs, I searched through her wardrobe for the least girly-est swimsuit, which was non-existent because Lilah was the literal definition of girly. I managed to find a plain navy blue two piece with a huge bow on the front. I figured that was as good as I was going to get and quickly got changed.
On my way out, I was hoping to get to the pool without catching myself in one of the many mirrors in the upstairs corridor. I speed walked down towards the stairs with my head hung low but as I was about to pass Jackson's bedroom, someone came out and there was a head on collision. Well not quite head on since whoever it was, was about 3 inches taller than me, making it more like a shoulder to head collision. This was the one time I was slightly grateful for being 5 foot 4. The impact wasn’t quite as painful as it could have been.
I looked up, with my hand pressed against my forehead and guess who it was.
Louis, wearing nothing but a faded pair of red swimming trunks. My cheeks heated up and I felt my heart beat quicken in my chest.
“Oh, geez sorry.” Louis apologised. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m alright. It was kinda my fault. I wasn’t really looking where I was going.”
“Its cool.” He said.
He looked me up and down.
Totally checking me out.
“You’re on your way to the pool too, huh?”
“Yeah, I thought everyone was outside already.”
“Well not me. I like to wait until everyone is in the pool, so I can show off my special move.” He began warming up. Jogging on the spot, followed by side stretches.
“Oh and what’s that?”
He stopped. Leaned in slightly, cupping one hand around his mouth.
“My cannonball.” He whispered.
“Oh, well I don’t think yours is as good as mine.”
“We’ll see about that, race you to the pool!!
Louis slid down the banister all the way down the spiral staircase, hopping off at the bottom and landing on his feet.
Show off.
He then ran towards the garden doors.
“That’s not fair! Your legs are longer than mine.” I yelled.
He halted in his sprint at the door, giving me a cheeky grin before continuing (bare footed) to the pool.
I called after him, but he was already halfway across the garden by the time I reached the door.
YOU ARE READING
A different feeling
RomanceRye is well known in Camdon town for being a bit of a trouble maker. Her highschool years were full of consistent detentions and phone calls home for bad behaviour. She had always been the one to cause trouble ever since she was a little kid but pra...
