Far

three

Cole was right. The party was already packed. There were even people outside of the house in the lawn with red solo cups and beer pong tables.

I sucked in a deep breath as we made our way up the stairs to the front door.

After finding our way through the crowd of people in the front room, Lili, Cole and I finally make it to the kitchen.

It was the brightest room in the house with alcohol bottles littering the counters.

"Is there any non-alcoholic drinks?" I ask him.

The idea of getting drunk would be appealing, if I had ever drank before.

He presses his lips together before answering, "Someone always brings sprite for some reason. I think it's to help with the people that get sick, but no one drinks it."

He hands me a cup of it before getting Lili and himself a drink.

Cole leaves us so we walk around the frat house, stopping at the beer pong table to watch the game. We cheer along with everyone else after the blonde and red-head win the game.

"I'm out of whatever Cole made, do you want more to drink?" Lili asks.

I look at my empty cup of sprite and nod. We make our way back to the kitchen and I look around at everyone as Lili pours the drinks.

They are all so diverse yet they're all the same. They look so free and loose, compared to my stiff posture. The whole crowd scene makes me nervous, anything could go wrong at any given moment.

Lili takes a shot of something lime green before she hands me my cup back, and I take a drink. There's a burning sensation in my throat and I cough.

"What is this?" I ask her.

She looks at me confused, "Vodka?"

I feel my eyes go wide, "What?"

"That's what you were drinking, right?"

"Lili, I was drinking sprite!"

"Sorry, Ari!" She lets out a loud laugh.

"I have never drank before," I confess.

Her eyes go wide.

"One drink won't hurt, I promise. You'll get used to it. Just take tiny sips." She explains.

She takes another shot, "Okay, let's go find him."

I take her advice and drink tiny sips as we look for Cole, Lili downing her drinks in a few minutes. We move in between sweaty bodies and the people making out against the walls.
After we look all over the inside, we move to the back lawn, and find him talking with a tall boy, covered in tattoos.

"Cole!" Lili slurs slightly.

He looks over at me, "Is she drunk?"

"I think she drank it too fast," I say as I grab her arm to steady her.

We slowly make our way over to the two boys.

"Lili, Ari, this is Harry," he introduces us to the boy with tattoos.

I smile at him and then drop my drink trying to catch Lili before she falls. I'm too slow and we end up falling down together, she throws a laughing fit.

Is she this much of a light weight?

"Is it time to go? Is the party over?" I ask as Cole lifts her off of me.

"There is no set time to leave," Harry says, he looks down on me as I'm sat on the concrete.

"Oh,"

"You're very pretty," Lili says as she touches Coles face.

He looks at her confused, and then over to me.

"She likes you," I mouth, disregarding the promise I made to her earlier today.

It suddenly makes sense to him, and he blushes before composing himself.

"I think it's best if we let her sit out here for a second," he says and I agree.

We have only been here for a few hours but it feels like ages, my feet hurt and I am tired. I sit with her on the ground as she makes incoherent statements and picks at the grass.

I feel a tap on my should, and it's Harry, holding out a cup.

"I don't think more.." I start to say before he cuts me off.

"It's water," his says and I take notice of his thick british accent.

It's very pretty, I want to ask him what part of Britain he's from. But now isn't the time.

I take the cup and hand it over to Lili. She looks at it with joy, probably thinking it's more alcohol.

"Thank you," I say to Harry, but he has already left.

I look around for him or Cole, but the sound of Lili throwing up catches me off guard. It's going to be a long night.

We didn't get back to the dorm until a little past three, and Lili fell asleep right away. I decide to take a shower now, so that way I could avoid the awkwardness of being in a crowded shower room.

The water takes a few minutes to warm up, and I just stand there, letting it hit me and loosen up my tense body. My first college party was not what I anticipated it to be, but it could have gone much worse. I brush my teeth after I change, wanting to get the taste of alcohol out of my mouth.

When I get back to the room, it's four-thirty and I am ready to just collapse on the floor, my body is that exhausted. I pull my blanket off my bed and lay on the wooden floor of my dorm.

I wake up slightly by someone picking me up and placing me on something softer, my bed I assume, and then the noises disappear again.

The smell of Taco Bell wakes me up, and I squint my eyes open and look over at my clock and see that it is a little past eleven. I sit up and see Lili and Cole with a box of tacos and burritos.

"Hi," I say softly to the two.

"You were a sleepy head! I tried to wake you up but you didn't budge. I left a note in case I didn't come back before you woke, but you were still sound asleep," she says after eating her taco.

"I wonder why?" I say sarcastically.

She sends me a friendly glare and I sit up to write in the new planner I got yesterday. I write down all of the classes I have for the next two weeks, and I write in a space on Thursday to go job hunting because I only have two classes that day.

After a couple of hours of eating and watching movies, Cole leaves to go back to the frat house.

As soon as the door closes, she turns to me, "He has been a lot more flirty."

"How so?" I ask.

"I can't describe it, honestly. You don't think I said anything at the party, right?" she pulls her hair up into a ponytail.

I don't respond.

"You didn't," she gasps.

"You're very pretty," I mimic her voice.

"I said that?"

I nod my head, "You also touched his face, and I harmlessly mouthed that you liked him."

"Oh, my god," she puts her hands on her face.

"It's true love."

Lili rolls her eyes and pulls out her planner, and I grab my laptop and pull up Netflix.

I pull up Legally Blonde before popping my airpods in my ears and letting the movie play. I reach over and grab my journal and jot down everything it is that I'm feeling.

I spent the day watching Netflix and when the sun goes down Lili tells me she is going to go to the frat house and hang out with Cole. A few minutes after she leaves, I clean up the room a little and force myself to eat something.

I eat some crackers and I fall asleep watching an old episode of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.