Drowning

Have I Mentioned Parties Suck?

If anyone asked, she couldn't exactly remember how she had let Miguel convince her that going to another party was a fun idea, but she was pretty sure he had manipulated her somehow. So here she was, drunk high schoolers partying around her as she sat on her towel in the sand watching the waves crash against the beach. Somewhere behind her Miguel was partying with his friends... and so was Hawk. She knew he was there, partying with his own group of friends, she had seen them when they had walked down, but it didn't matter. As far as she could tell, every attempt she made to connect with the boy with the mohawk fell on ears that didn't care.

A deep breath left her lips as she stared out into the ocean that stretched endlessly in front of her. Part of her wanted to just be able to forget about the boy, but she knew there was a part of her that cared about him too much to ever give up on him. But, as time had passed, she was beginning to realize that although she very much still considered him her friend, she no longer had a crush on him. There were no butterflies when she saw him, no uncontrollable blushing at the mere mention of him, and no panic about anything when she saw him. It was nice.

A hand fell on her shoulder and she nearly jumped out of her skin as her head whipped around to see who it was.

"The whole idea of a party is to... well it's to party." Miguel said as he walked in front of her and held out a hand to pull her up. "So let's go. Get up."

Finley rolled her eyes, but nevertheless she let the boy pull her to her feet. They walked over to where Mitch and Bert were dancing in the midst of a bunch of other people that were also dancing along to the music coming from a stereo that someone had brought.

"You know, I really don't dance!" Finley spoke loud over the music.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Dancing's overrated. Just have fun and wave your hands in the air like you just don't care."

Finley could not stop the laugh that bubbled out of her mouth as she watched the boy wave his hands wildly above his head. "You are such a dork Spidey!"

"You love me!"

The boy grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to the people dancing and Finley rolled her eyes as he spun her in a circle. As she spun around, she couldn't stop the smile that spread on her face.

"Yeah, I do."

Miguel grinned at her and they began jumping around and having fun. Mitch and Bert soon joined them, also having a blast goofing off.

After about 6 songs, Finley needed a break and went over to get a drink. The hiss of the can echoed as she opened up a can of coke and dumped it into a red solo cup after using a marker to write her name on the plastic. She took a swig of it, feeling the slight burn as it went down her throat. Her eyes drifted across the beach taking in the kids around her. Some were making out, there was a decent group still dancing, almost everyone had a drink in their hand- most of which were at least some percent alcohol. The familiar urge rushed through her brain to look for the red mohawk, but she resisted and let her gaze drift back to the dance floor. Miguel saw her looking and pretended to cast a fishing line towards her and reel her in.

The eyeroll that was directed at him was cut off as someone bumped into her. The liquid in the cup mixed around, sloshing up towards the edge of the cup from the impact, but none spilled out. She stumbled slightly, not expecting it, but an arm reached out and quickly steadied her.

"Woah! I am so sorry Finley. I wasn't watching where I was going."

Finley looked at the boy in front of her, recognition sparking in the back of her brain. Evan. He was a year older than her and had played baseball with her brother for years. They knew each other, not super well, but he was a good guy.