Leading You Home

Fifth

"Can you believe we're graduating next month?"

"Yes. It's great but please, no school talk," Carrie says while typing away on her cell phone in the passenger seat. A second later, her face lights up and she turns to me. "Tonight, I just wanna have fun."

"And you don't 'have fun' on a regular basis?" I ask with a pointed look while turning the car onto a new street.

It's Saturday night, the night of Kyle's- Carrie's current boyfriend- party. He's twenty-one, graduated two years before us, and smokes a lot of pot. This party is to celebrate him moving out of his parents' house and getting his own place. He's an alright guy I guess, except for the fact that he smells like marijuana most of the time and, according to Carrie, talks about himself a lot.

"Don't sound jealous! I always invite you."

"I'm not jealous. I was just saying, how can you keep wanting something that you always get?"

"I don't know," she answers, staring out the window at the dark neighborhood. "Can you just try to have fun, Georgie?"

"I suppose I can, for you," I say, laughing. A minute later, I see the party lights from down the road as we drive closer. Kyle is standing by the side walk, waiting for us (Carrie, mostly) as the party rages on behind him.

"Your prince charming awaits," I quip. Carrie sticks her tongue out at me and I barely get time to park along the curb before she flies out the door.

Carrie leaps into Kyle's arms and kisses his face like they haven't seen each other in years. I walk up to the curb and lock my Beetle. The house, I see, isn't huge but a good size for a party. Every light in the house is on, so I suspect Kyle isn't thinking too much of what the electricity bill is going to cost him.

"Hey, Georgia," Kyle greets, walking in my direction with Carrie on his back. She giggles.

After smiling as a reply, we join the party. I glance around once inside. The place is hardly even furnished, so most of the people are forced to stand. Knowing Kyle, he probably spent half of his savings on chip and dip. And weed, of course.

"Ladies! Looking sexy this evening." Recognizing the voice, I look around until I spot Lou. He's holding two red cups with liquid filled up to the rim in each. He grins at us.

"Ew," Carrie says, jumping off Kyle's back. "Who invited you?"

"No one," he grins. "But now that we're here, everyone will wish they did."

In the manner of striking an intimidating pose, Carrie's places her hands on her hips. "Right. Because everyone wants an obnoxious freshman crashing their party."

Carrie might've missed the "we're" part in Lou's sentence, but I didn't. I glance over his shoulder, half expecting Bradley to be there with a grin on his face and mischief in his eyes. When I look back at the two, Lou is taking a long gulp from one of the cups. I grimace, imagining what he might be drinking. Kyle is securing his arm around Carrie's waist as she continues to glare at Lou. And I'm standing there in the middle, voiceless, pointless, like usual.

"Forget him, babe," Kyle says to Carrie while keeping his eyes on Lou. I wonder if he knows about Carrie and Bradley's history. I wouldn't be surprised, by the way he's eyeing up his younger brother.

"Aw, come on Care Bear! We used to be such good friends!" Lou cries to Carrie as Kyle begins pulling her in the other direction. She squints her eyes at him in a mean girl way.

Lou laughs to himself before looking at me. "I've never understood what my brother saw in her."

I laugh at his bluntness. Right then, I think again of how much Lou looks like his older brother. His hair is a little longer but the same shade of blond. His eyes are much bigger then Bradley's but the same shade of brown. I try to remember what Bradley looked like our freshman year, if he had the same innocent look that Lou does but I can't. We probably had classes together and we probably bumped into each other in the hallways several times, but I can't remember him at all.