When I Die [Wattys 2016]

Chapter 16: Whiskey

Authors note: I hope you all are still enjoying! Please vote, it only takes a second and it feels great! I love you all for continuing to read and support. Much love.
Lex

We walked up to Alan's house, in the richer part of the neighborhood. It was huge. Giant, brick, three stories. There were columns in the front supporting the porch, with brick steps, decorated for Thanksgiving. There was music coming from inside. There were cars parked all over the street.
Reid held his hands up against my chest, stopping me from walking.

"Here, I'll get us in, wait here."

Am I lame? I stood there, shivering and waiting. Alan opened the door to greet him, and I heard them murmuring. I think Reid flashed the bottle of whiskey at him, because then Alan nodded, enthusiastically. Reid jogged back over to me, I was rubbing my hands together, fidgeting awkwardly trying to warm myself up.

"Alright, come on, you ready?" He breathed out. There was a nervous excitement in the air. Neither one of us were big on parties, I remembered. This was new for Reid, too. I nodded, and followed him inside.

Inside, there was a giant grand staircase which seemed to be a little bit much. It had decor wrapped around the banister and rails. Alan was in the living room, which had hard wood floors all throughout. It contained a giant flatscreen TV which was blaring music, the Ramones, by the way, a baby grand piano, and white couches and chairs which made me extremely nervous. The wall surrounding the TV was ceiling-to-floor bookshelves, stuffed with books. Near the fire place, there was a record player which was surrounded by shelves of records. Old records, new records, all kinds of records. And aside from the stuff... there were kids. About twenty in this room. They were drinking out of a giant shared cup, and laughing. I recognized a few of them.

Ryan Oswald was there, he had messed up hair which girls found cute. He was wearing an old Joy Division t-shirt, because of course he was. He had on shorts, despite it being winter, and he had decorative socks on, halfway up his leg. He was a nice enough guy, I guess. He and I worked together on a science project when we were in the fourth grade, and he took it home to put final touches on it. The next day, he left it at home and we both had to miss recess. He invited me to his birthday parties every year until we were too old for it to be cool to have a birthday party. Then there was Lily An, she was hot and Asian. She was really nice, probably would be valedictorian of our class. She was into really good music and, in my brain, seemed very out of place here, but in reality, was getting along just fine, swaying with drink in hand. There was Eli Schmitz, who was a self-proclaimed hipster. He listened to "underground" music. He wore the tightest skinny jeans you ever saw. There were a lot more people that I knew vaguely. A few I'd sat with at lunch before.
There was a couple on the couch, hands intertwined, mouths together. He kissed her mouth, then her neck, and moved down gradually. There was a group of kids taking shots in the corner. Alan waved us in,

"Shots, bros?" He smiled, shooting thumbs up. Reid and I glanced at each other.

I was apprehensive. Liquor? Was that even safe for me?

A quick google search told me, like, it's not the best thing, probably.
It wouldn't hurt, but it might effect me differently if I had tumors on my liver, which, as far as I knew, I didn't. They recommended "not often". I never drink, and probably never would again...

"Ok, sure!" I said.

Reid clapped, "Hell yeah!"

We walked over to a small table in the kitchen, it sat beside a party bar, full of liquor. There were a bunch of kids surrounding it, leaning against it, a couple were grabbing each other's butts. Alan stood behind the bar and began rummaging.