The Music Project (boyxboy)

ten

There were only a few people I know in my whole existence: my family, my teachers, my classmates (whom I never got closed with), and the volleyball and skate boarding club members. They were people whom I was obliged to get closed with. People who were required to know a thing or two about me. People whom I was favored to know a thing or two about.

I would be a jerk if I tell anyone I didn't enjoy the company of those people. Because for some reason, they were fun to be with. I felt happy with them. And it would be shameful to lose any of them. For some reason, I felt that they were all a part of me. A part of who I am.

I had never been to a party before, much like this one. It was a wild night. Everyone was shouting, smiling and kissing somewhere everyone or no one could see them. They all looked happy. Although there were some unfortunate situations like being puked on, or being pushed into the pool without being able to remove your clothes. Or being involved in a brawl or beer-pong.

There was a table beside the pool. People were miling around. I was far behind the crowd but it was fine. I could still see what was happening. On the table were two groups of cups standing on the either end of the table: blue and red. Both groups of cups were arranged in a triangle. Linden Blisser stood behind the red ones and was smiling sheepishly. He was focused on the game. Like a normal teenager enjoying his night life.

In his hand was a ping pong ball, bright orange against the make-shift lighting. After a blond girl, the party host, announced the rules of the game, Linden Blisser threw his ball. And without looking, he took another ball from the rack beside him. His first ball sank deep into one of the blue cups.

The people around him cheered while the opposing crowd booed. It was fun. I didn't know I was laughing until Linden Blisser managed to shoot his third ball. It was, yet, another clean shot. I hadn't watched a beer pong before but I figured there was a limit of consecutive three shots, as long as you manage to shoot all the balls.

The guy from the blue team, drank all the cups with ping pong balls in them. Then he grabbed his first ball. It dropped right into the nearest red cup. People cheered and booed. It seemed weird. The music was low and the only noise came from the raging teenagers around the table. Laughing and cheering.

The blue guy's second ball missed. The game went on for about thirty minutes. I found myself cheering towards the end of the beer pong. Linden Blisser won. Well, at least technically, when his opponent dropped on his sixth cup of beer. Blisser then drank all his. Everyone cheered his name.

"Linden! Linden! Linden!"

It was outrageous and funny. Linden Blisser blended in with the crowd even though no one knew him personally. But did it matter? Go figure.

They took him by the arms and legs and lifted him up, the way people do to on-stage performers. They cheered and threw him in the pool. He still had his clothes on and he was laughing as he afloated. He pushed himself up out of the water and sat by the pool side.

He was removing his shirt when I came. "Still alive?"

Linden Blisser looked up, one side of his lips rose. "Yeah." He held out a hand. I took it and pulled him up.

"Let's grab some beer," he said.

"But you just finished fifteen cups."

"Come on, I can chug on a whole jug if it pleases anyone."

He pulled me towards the interior, ducking between two guys carrying a bench over our heads. I found it funny he was wet. We found ourselves in the kitchen. Beers in plastic cups were placed neatly over the kitchen island. A group of guys and girls were laughing at a joke one of them said.

A girl, who barely reached my chin, glanced up and looked over at us. At me. "I know you." She smiled.

I drew an expression of cluelessness. Linden Blisser's eyes bounced a few times between me and the girl. There was no way this girl would know me unless she goes to our school or--

"You played against our school last year."

"Right. Johanssen High?" I said. My eyes landed on Linden Blisser. I could see his eyes. Something sparked in there. I didn't know what.

"Yes." She smiled and glanced at Linden Blisser. "Oh, that's a mess," she said as she turned to me. "Come. Let's get your friend something to wear."

She walked toward the stairs, her blonde hair dangling behind her. It released a very nauseating smell that made me want to beg for oxygen. I followed her.

When we reached a room, she pushed the door open and said, "Inside."

It was dark so she flicked the lights on. It surprised me that the walls were pink. There was a white dresser with bulbs of lights along the frame of the mirror. The sheets of the bed were a pale shade of magenta. And there were posters of boy bands and Zac Efron on the walls. Why did it surprise me? Well... "This doesn't look like a boy's room."

"Of course, it doesn't." She laughed as she closed the door behind. She pushed me on the bed.

"I don't think this is appropri--"

"Shh."