HIP #3: Forgetting The Old Us

Chapter 13

Fresh to my memory was the night I met him. I would lie if I will say that I hated it. Because that was the best night I had in my life. But the apple got rotten. It was... incredible. And I can't deny that until now, I smile when I remember that time. Though the rest of the storyline was harsh.

We arrived at the party as he parked the car beside the others. I opened the door and got out as I followed him around. Lights were wrapped around the poles and the door was wide open. The tall trees are also wrapped around by tissues and the roof has a few confetti on top of it. People we passed by greeted us and some of them are not familiar to me but because I didn't want to be rude, I said 'hi' back to everyone who did to me.

Everyone had a red cup around their hands and when we got in, a guy in a white polo and green polo handed us one for each other. But I threw mine away on the floor and no one noticed what I did. I scattered my eyes around. All I saw were people making out, girls dancing carelessly, and men having a good time drinking.

I was not aware of what it was like to drink. I never did before and I didn't want to. Because of feedback from Charlie and Britney, they told me that it tasted like crap. The way it burned their lungs out was terrible. And I didn't get why people were addicted to it.

The loud noise of a rock song was playing around the house and reached the innermost part of my ears. But I admit, it was so much better than my mom and dad's screams to each other. No one in the house was familiar to me. I came to think that I shouldn't have begged Kobie to bring me there in the first place. But the idea of cleaning broken dishes on the floor bothered me so there I was, waiting for a miracle.

I never thought I asked for too much. That I missed the bigger picture. When the masterpiece was already good enough, I wanted something more so I tried harder. But it ended up getting all torn down into pieces far away from its look before.

The blinding blue, red, and yellow lights ran around the people having a good time swaying their bodies to the song. I wanted to join them but I wasn't in the mood to. Perhaps if I was with my best friends then I did that. Especially with Peter who was into everything he could try though huge parties were never his thing. I gulped after seeing kids younger than me binge drinking all the bottles of alcohol on a long table.

It was funny how they tried to live their life to the fullest and broke the boundaries leading them to disappointment after temporary happiness. Like what happened to me just in a different way. And there went another girl who handed me another cup in the kitchen where all the ice and food were located.

I faked a smile at her. I wanted to throw it away but she was looking at me so I didn't. When a guy approached her and took her away, I finally had the courage to put it down on the table slowly. When Kobie got out of my sight, I realized how loud the music was I opened the door beside the stove after seeing it open. I ran to the nearest bench I found.

Far away from the loud noises and people laughing where the howling owl was the only thing I heard. I stayed there for a minute until a guy loomed to me with a red cup wrapped around his hands like the others. I looked up at him. It was the first time I saw a sun as bright as the sun, a hair as wavy as the ocean, a jaw as perfect as it can be, and a face as good as fiction.

It was the first night I saw his face.

"What is a hot girl doing out here and missing all the fun inside?" The time his cold voice hopped in, the time stopped as if all the clocks in the world has been broken.

"That might be what you call 'fun' but not for me." He smirked and then parked himself next to me, keeping the cup in his hands.

"You don't like it?" He pressed his lips together after asking.

"Just not my thing, I guess." He nodded with the wide eyes he got.

"Well, why did you even come here?" There was a bit of chuckling in his voice but I didn't mind it.

"Because loud music with loud people is better than loud dishes being broken on the floor and a loud cat to a dog fight."

"Why did you adopt that cat and dog if you can't deal with their noise?"

"Not everything should be taken too literally."

"Oh, yeah right. Sorry. Now, I get it."

"It's okay. I didn't expect you would anyway."

"Do you live nearby?" After a short moment of silence, he spoke and kept the wind away from prevailing the space between us.

"Ten minutes." I was kind of choking and unsure of my words.

"Haven't seen you around,"

"Never seen you either,"

He smiled. "Arthur," He offered his hand to me and my eyes met it.

When I heard his name, I was satisfied. Because it was a name I've heard and seen in movies where the boys playing the role of that character were all nice. And it suited how he looked to me. I took his hand by my own and replied, "Shane," he nodded, keeping the smile locked on his face.

I never smiled as bright as I did on that night.

Charlie clapped her hands loudly which startled me and froze all the memories in my head. "Y-yeah? Umm, what?" I acted as innocent as I could. I didn't want them to know that I was thinking of our professor, my ex-boyfriend in other words. Or was he ever mine?

"You are seriously zoned out." Britney took a bite of her fries and bit her lips then.

"Yeah, what's going on with you?"

"Nothing. Nothing's going on with me. I-I'm so fine."