Too Short To Ride

0 4 : Shut up!

Bri looked nervously between her friends, "I don't know, I'm not really one for the party scene."

"Hey, if you don't want to go then you don't need to go! Do whatever will make you most comfortable. If you go, though, you can stick beside me the whole night!" Karter offered to her anxious friend. She never wanted to make anyone feel uncomfortable and usually made it her responsibility to be the anchor in any situation that made her friends, specifically Bri, nervous.

"I don't know, I don't want to be a bother for you and Caleb."

An inevitable scoff escaped Karter's lips, "it'll be totally fine."

-

After a car ride in which Jessica mercilessly grilled Caleb on his relationship with Karter, the four of them parked on the street and walked up towards Nick's house where the party was already in full swing.

Caleb and Karter lagged behind so he could talk to her about their 'relationship'.

"I don't think your one friend believes we're actually dating," he said quietly.

"Who? Jessica? Oh she definitely didn't before but honestly the way you answered the questions made it more believable. She'll totally believe once I tell my parents."

Caleb's heart palpated at the thought of meeting his fake girlfriend's parents. "I know I agreed to this thing and all but you'll owe me one if I actually have to meet your parents."

With a lighthearted laugh Karter just nodded her head.

When they entered the house, everything felt like it was dialed to eleven. The people, the music, the beer, everything was lit. The two gave a nod to each other and split up to find their respective friends. Karter caught up with Bri, who looked waaayyy out of place, and draped her arm over her shoulders.

"If you ever want to leave, just tell me and we're out of here. No questions asked, no complaints given, alright?"

Bri was incredibly thankful for Karter, "okay," she shouted over the blasting music.

Karter quickly scanned the room and then pointed to a table, "it looks like they're gonna start a game. Let's go!"

-

"Drink!" The people around the table shouted at Caleb. He took the shot and made a disgusted face at the strong alcohol that graced his lips. Because Caleb wasn't a bigger guy, he couldn't hold as much alcohol as some other guys, so he had become a very good judge of when he needed to stop.

After the game had ended he tapped out and grabbed a cup of beer, heading over to where Logan and a couple of the basketball guys sat.

"I'm telling you, Canton recruited some amazing player and they're planning on taking the title next year," Derek, a basketball player, said.

Logan scoffed, "wow. They couldn't beat us before so they're pulling out the big guns once we leave."

James saw Caleb walking towards them and made room on the couch, "what's up, shark bait?"

Before Caleb could even sit down, there was a commotion from across the room. The group of guys looked at each other in excitement and then got up to go watch the fight. As they got closer, Caleb slowly began to recognize one of the voices.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Karter yelled. Caleb pushed his way through the crowd and saw his fake girlfriend a hot minute away from smashing another girl's face into the floor.

"What? You can't take a little criticism?" The other intoxicated girl instigated, "your boyfriend's short and you're tall. Couples don't work like that! The guy has to be taller!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

The alcohol didn't make either of their arguments very sound.

Karter raised her arm and brought her hand down to gently slap the girl, but the alcohol made her a bit confused and instead, she punched her right in the jaw.

The crowd went silent for a second and then lost it.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Caleb busted out of the crowd and rushed to get Karter our from the middle of it. Stupid, stupid girl, he said over and over in his head. With one hand he dragged her away and with the other he pushed past anyone in their path until they were outside the house.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Caleb said while trying to catch his breath.

Karter look at him like she was going to say something and then bent over and threw up.

"Ew."

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2/6/18