Glass Heart

chapter 5

The party is already in total chaos when I arrive, and I'm not even late.

I walk into the living room and immediately spot Mei and her man, Noah, making out on the couch. They hooked up at that last party, and they've been talking ever since.

"Mei!" I wave to her. She stops kissing Noah and starts waving back at me.

"Hi, love!" She calls out to me and then goes back to making out with him. Great. I'm all alone. I guess I could go back to the library.

I wander around, trying to find people that I know - anyone from The Friend Group that I could say hi to.

Then I spot him. He looks amazing. He looks even more attractive than the last time I saw him, which is saying something because I was drunk when I last saw him.

He's in the kitchen, talking to some girl. The girl is beautiful. She has bright red lipstick applied, and long, dark brown hair. I walk over to where they are and stand a few feet away from them. I pour some mysterious liquid into a cup. 

I chug it down and throw the cup into the trash can. Either Dylan hasn't noticed I'm here yet, or he's really interested in the other girl.

But then he glances over at me and smiles. I hear him tell the girl he has to go and makes his way over to me. The girl gives me a nasty look and then waddles away. 

"Hey," he says, looking me up and down.

"Uh, hi," I reply, looking down at my feet. Why was he talking to that girl? For all I know, Dylan could be a player.

"Have you been here long?" He asks me. He's kind of close to me. Too close. I can feel his warm breath against my neck.

"No. Just got here."

"How are you feeling?"

"Huh?"

"You know, from the alcohol poisoning thing."

"Oh. I'm fine." I smile.

"That's good."

"Yeah," I mumble. This conversation is pretty dry and pretty boring.

"Want to come with me somewhere?" He asks, smirking.

"What? Where?"

"Anywhere."

I stare at him, dumbfoundedly.

"So, um, is that a yes?" He smirks.

"Yes," I say softly. I have nothing else to do anyways. He smiles and takes my hand. He leads me through the party, avoiding the drunk teenagers. He leads me out of the front door and into the front yard.

"There's a park a few blocks down. I go there every so often to clear my head," he shrugs.

"Cool," I reply, not knowing what else to say. This is so awkward. I rejected him a few weeks ago, yet we're wandering off somewhere by ourselves.

"So, you want to go?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, let's go," he leads the way and I follow. We make our way to the park in silence. It's a beautiful kind of silence. It's a clear night, and the moon is bright.

When we reach the park, he runs to the swings and plops himself down. I sit next to him and start swinging gently.

"It's so nice out," he murmurs, staring up at the stars.

"Yeah," I whisper back.

"The sky is so pretty," he adds.

"It is," I say, glancing at him. His eyes are shining, and he has a genuine smile on his face. "Why did you bring me here?" I ask plainly.