Summer with the Bertram Brothers

f i f t e e n - p l a y

My best friend calls.

"Let's go clubbing!" Winnie shouts through my phone. I frown.

"Um, we're not legal age, first of all—"

"So-o?" she sings, "This guy I know says he can let us in. Come on! It'll be so much fun! It's summer for crying out loud."

"I just got home..."

"Good! Get dressed and I'll pick you up!" Winnie orders and hangs up the phone. 

I sigh and stare into my closet. I don't have anything to wear, I think. I text Winnie back, telling her to bring something for me. In the meantime, I curl my hair with Eva's curling iron. She's not home so she can't hurt me when I use her stuff. All I can think about is Trim. He fills every inch of my mind. I bite my lip just thinking about what happened between us. I hate that it ended. 

We just hung out by the beach holding hands the whole morning. Although I wanted to stay with him, he brought me back home.

Finally, Winnie comes inside. She drops a bag on my bed. She wears a black sequence dress.

"I hope you can dance in 5 inches," she winks. 

My mouth drops taking out the high heels she's brought.

"Winnie, that's too high for me," I pout. 

She shrugs coolly and goes in front of my mirror, prepping herself.

"Your hair's great curly!" she twists and tugs my curls.

After applying tonnes of red lipstick, we grab a taxi to Lakeshore. Then, she leads me to the back of a building. I look around at the creepy area and stick to Winnie closely. There're concrete stairs going down in the lot leading to a big metallic door, resonating booming music. Winnie gives a couple of hard hits on the door. It opens, revealing colourful lights and smoky air. A big guy lets us in without checking anything. We walk down some more metallic stairs, as the party goes off.

"Where are the drinks?!" Winnie shouts over the music. 

I don't think I've seen her this excited. She grabs my hand and we land in the middle of the dance floor. People dance around, grinding and whatnot. 

Later, Winnie is pulled aside by some stranger, completely ditching me. Before I know it, she's dancing sandwiched between two older guys. 

I walk over the dance area and into the lounge, that's more exclusive. The place is still buzzing with people and the bar is packed. I manage to weave my way through the crowd to the front of the queue to get a drink. I hope the bartender won't ask me anything. I feel somebody breathing on my bare shoulder.

"Hey doll," I hear. I ignore the greet, waiting for the bartender busily. I feel a hand land on my butt, "What are you doing here, all sexed up?"

I jerk up and smack what is Rico's hand. Surprised, I push him further away from me.

"What the hell?" I blurt.

I watch him grin.

"Aren't you underage?" he asks, with a silly face.

"I'll be eighteen in a few months," I shrug, as details down here are unimportant.

"Who'd you come here with?" he scans the crowded dance floor.

I twist back around and lean on the counter. I prefer keeping a safe distance with this guy. But his warm cologne keeps my attention a little too long. I stare at him, despite myself and my life decisions. The way his neck stretches and his Adam'a apple stick out.