a cigarette for cade | ongoing

07 | cancer's wands

"I won't glorify or romanticize heartbreak, for it was a kind of death and I was forced to keep living."
- Warsan Shire -

[ S E V E N ]
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WHO EVER THOUGHT THAT parties could be so boring? Eli made me a salty dog - an absolutely horrendous combination of salt, vodka, tears and regret - which almost made me throw up. After that, we just sat next to each other on the couch. The way I figured, from all the cheesy movies I've watched, high school parties were a place to forget about the world for one night.

Turns out its just a sad pit repleted with regrets and underlining intoxication.

I drummed my fingers against my thigh, watching people raise their drinks and grind against one another to the beat of the song.

Then, Eli tapped my shoulder and asked me something, but I couldn't hear him.

"What?" I yelled over the music. He repeated it, but I still couldn't hear him.

"What are you saying?" I shouted, beckoning to my ear.

"Is this your first party?" he said, cupping his hands around his mouth and yelling.

I nodded my head, and I was about to tell him that I needed to go home soon, but stupid Jared fell right into my lap at that exact moment. My poor legs were immediately crushed beneath his weight.

"Why did you do that?" he yelled at me, while his stomach heaved up and down with laughter.

"My femurs!" I screamed back.

Jared snorted, and then starting choking, most likely on his own spit. I rolled my eyes in disgust - Jesus Christ, is this how most people act when they're drunk? Squirming, I squeezed myself out of there, and he rolled onto the floor. He didn't budge when I prodded him with the tip of my shoe.

"Looks like the tables have turned," whispered a voice. I whirled around, only to see Hussain. "What's up, Willow? Didn't think you were the partying type. By the way, that shirt looks great on you."

"What happened, Hussain?" said Eli, with a smug smile plastered over his face. This gave me a chance to glance down at my shirt. "Was Debate Club cancelled today?"

Hussain reached over, and gave Eli a hard punch on the shoulder that made me wince just from being a bystander. "This House believes that Eli Van Zandt is an egoistical prick," he responded.

"This house believes that Hussain is an embarrassing asshat."

A what?

"That's not even how the debate format goes," he said. "Stop pretending like you know stuff."

"Why don't you go explain the proper debate format to her then? I'm sure she's dying to hear it."

I didn't miss the slight jerk of his chin, and my eyes dithered over to the pretty Asian girl Eli was implying. She was leaned up against the wall, dark hair falling over her face as her fingers moved quickly across the screen of her phone.

"Dude, you know I can't," Hussain sighed.

"She's the dime you've been looking for. There's no way you can pass up on that."

"You're relentless," he rolled his eyes, and shot an apprehensive glance towards her. Then, he head off in her direction. I turned to face Eli, who was watching them with a complacent aura radiating off of him, as if he had just gotten 100% on an English essay.