IT STARTED WITH A DREAM

Chapter 1

"Come on, we're playing spin the bottle", said an unfamiliar yet strangely familiar voice that came from behind me.

I whipped my head around fast about to retort that Spin the bottle was a kid's game when the words got stuck in my throat. The voice belonged to a girl who had long curly blonde hair, and the bluest eyes I had have ever seen. She was pretty and I was pretty sure I had never met this person before in my life.

She tugged at my hand, pulling me towards a house. She turned back and threw back a reassuring smile at me. Her smile was so warm and beguiling, that my feet followed her before my brain could intervene. My slops slapped loudly against the concrete sidewalk and I looked down and realized I was wearing jeans and an old shirt that belonged to Shahid (my oldest and best friend). I realized as we drew closer to the house that I didn't recognize this house, let alone the street. I had no recollection of how I even got here. Was I drunk? Did someone drug me? I didn't feel drowsy or even slightly tipsy, just very dazed. The last memory I had was of being mad at Shahid because he had ditched me and decided to spend his night with his girlfriend instead.

Shahid and I started college 3 years ago, and since our schedules kept us busy, we had developed a Friday night ritual, if we weren't going to the latest parties then we would be chilling in my darkened room and binge watching Chuck or Lord of the Rings. This enabled us to catch up on what had happened during the week. I know that's what phones are for but I preferred talking in person- I'm old school like that. This ritual has helped us stay close through the years, even when Shahid met Sonam last year and fell deeply in love. It had been hard enough to get my alone time with him when he didn't have a girlfriend, it became that much harder when she became a permanent fixture in his life. I had to be the understanding best friend and let him spend all his free time with her just as long as he gave me his Friday nights. I am nothing, if not fair. That arrangement had worked for us, I don't think Sonam was happy with her boyfriend spending his Friday nights with another girl, I could tell by the evil glares she would shoot me when Shahid wasn't looking, whenever Shahid and I discussed the latest Chuck episode around her. I had tried to tell Shahid that I suspected that his girlfriend didn't like me, but he tended to brush me off and say I was imagining things but I know that my suspicions are unfounded because there were too many times when Shahid would try to organize dinners for all of us to get to know each other, but she would always have an excuse every single time for why she couldn't make these dinners. I'm sure wherever her and Shahid were today, she was thinking that she won. Which I can't even be mad about- as the best friend, the most beloved non-blood relative in his family, I always told myself that girlfriends come and go, but I was here forever. You can imagine how I felt when Shahid called me earlier to cancel our Friday night plans so he could take care of Sonam who had the "worst menstrual cramps". I couldn't even let my outrage show over the phone, I just responded calmly and told him to tell her to get better and brushed away his apologies.

The blonde girl has stopped in front of the house. I could hear music from inside and people laughing and shouting. It sounded like there was a party going on inside. The blonde girl opened the door, and the noise magnified. We entered what I guess was a living room, but at the moment was filled with college students drinking beer, their sweating bodies dancing a song that was blaring from the speakers. The music was so loud that I could feel my teeth rattling from inside my mouth.

"Olivia! Over here!"

I whipped my head around, and my eyes found the person who had called my name. It was Anna, my roommate. She had her long dark hair in a messy bun, she was an art major, like me. We were both always covered in paint and it had become a running joke to our gang and a drinking game was created from it. I touched my hair, which was in a twisted knot on top of my head. My hair was also a dark chestnut colour with kinky curls. The same textures as Anna's. Thanks to our parents. My mom was black and my dad was white, so I was biracial with Mariah Carey skin and hazel eyes. I was no knock out, but I got asked out regularly and told I was very beautiful, but then again, guys will tell you anything to get into your pants.