"Just promise me you won't go over there." Liz says frantically, before looking behind her as if to check for someone watching us. Nobody is, of course.
"Why? What's going on?" I press.
"You don't want to know."
"But I do. You can't just tell me not to do something without giving me reason! Haven't you seen any movies? If you tell somebody not to do something, they're going to do it."
She lets out a long aggravated sigh, and then runs a hand through her hair.
"It's Lucas. I'm not sure you really want to see him like—"
"See me like what?" A voice cuts Liz off right in the middle of her sentence. I whirl around. Standing right in front of me, looking slightly more dazzled than usual, is Alix.
Liz shuts her mouth right away, pressing her lips into a thin, tight line, but I can tell she wants to say more.
Then it hits me. The crazed look in his eye, the tie hanging loosely around his neck and the top buttons of his shirt undone, the way his eyes keep darting random places at random times, the way he seems suddenly attentive to every noise in the room and every boom of the baseline.
No way.
Alix is drunk.
I don't notice I've stepped backward until a hard surface blocks my path from behind. A pillar. Liz shoots me an 'I told you so' look.
"Oh, it's nothing. Are you having fun?" I ask, attempting a weak smile. Alix doesn't seem angry at the fact that we're not telling him what we were talking about, because instead, he steps closer to me. I meet Liz's eyes over his shoulder. I will a message over to her, hoping she can read my expression. I've never dealt with a drunk person before. My parents don't get drunk, and I choose my friends wisely... until now. Help?
She shoots me a sympathetic glance, as if to say 'sorry dude, but you're on your own for this one.' Then, she walks off. I'll be having a talk with her about that later, for sure. In the meantime, Alix is watching me with hyperactive enthusiasm. Oh, yeah. I asked him a question.
"Sorry, what did you say? I'm kind of distracted." I ask.
"I said that I've never had so much fun in my life. I mean, excluding the time when I stole candy from a baby. That was pretty funny in itself..." He babbles, and I stop listening shortly after he begins talking. Eventually, when he starts talking about alligators, I cut in.
"Alix, why?"
He looks confused. "Why what?"
"Why did you do this to yourself? You're not even twenty-one yet!"
"Shhh.... No one knows that. Besides, I feel great and have no idea what you're talking about."
"You will when you throw up in the morning," I mutter under my breath.
"What was that?" He asks, raising an eyebrow at me.
"Nothing."
"It wasn't nothing. I'm not stupid."
"Yeah, you are. But so am I. I was stupid to bring you here, and you were stupid to get yourself drunk." I snap, throwing my hands up in the air exasperatedly. "You know what? Forget it. Go. Have fun. Don't let me slow you down." Giving up, my shoulders slump and I lean my head back against the pillar. The music is so loud that my head is throbbing, as constant as a heartbeat. Something about that bothers me.
"You're not stupid, Jess." Alix's voice is suddenly at my ear. He didn't call me Kassie.
I jump so bad I almost slam my head against the wall. Squeezing my eyes shut tighter, I don't move. Because if I do, I don't know what will happen. Something about the way he's leaning over me is strangely comforting, but that doesn't make it any less uncomfortable.
YOU ARE READING
Subject #013 | ✓
Teen Fiction"I'm only going to ask you one more time." I say firmly. "Who are you and what do you want with me?" He frowns, and I tense, waiting for a blow, but none comes. I really need to shut my big mouth. "Apparently, I'm not nearly as famous as I thou...
