Surprisingly Perfect

The Party

I deserved this. I worked my butt off for the past two years at this mansion just to help my mom make ends meet. How could I pass up on one night of fun? Especially now, when it was being offered to me?

"I...I can't, Chase. I'm supposed to be here cleaning up and serving guests! That's what your parents are paying me to do. I can't start drinking and running off!" I said, yelling over the booming music.

Chase, the superstar who paid for the big mansion my dipshit boss and his parents lived in. He held out a shot glass.

"I'm sure you worked hard all day getting ready for this big party. I'll call the hangover cleaning service like I did for the Halloween party. Don't worry about it, Chrys," Chase said, giving me the smile that won over millions of teenage girls, including my little sister. "Everything will be fine."

"Huh? You actually know my name?" I said.

"Of course! Chris but with a Y! Short for Chrysanthemum: our maid with the long name!" he said, still trying to yell over all the loud music. "Cur-san-the-mum! Such a cool name!"

I blushed. "Thanks. Your brother always just calls me 'maid.'"

"He likes to tease people. Just ignore it. Are you ready to kick back these shots?"

"Well...uh...I've actually never had alcohol before."

"Oh, shots are easy! You just knock it back," he said. He handed me one of the two shot glasses in his hands. "Cheers!"

"And happy birthday, Chase," I said, clinking my tiny cup with his.

I took the cup and drank the shot in one gulp. One awful, burning gulp. I rushed through the crowd and went over to a nearby table with a big bowl of punch. I poured myself a cup and quickly started chugging it to get the awful alcohol taste out of my mouth. Only this stuff wasn't regular fruit punch.

It was boozy punch.

"Eww! Gross!" I said, practically choking on it.

Time for a plan B. I ran up the stairs and into one of the bathrooms. I ran the water from the fancy faucet into the shell shaped sink. I cupped my hands and started drinking some. But by this point, I was already feeling a little woozy. This was super embarrassing. Not only was I an alcohol noob, but I was a lightweight too.

I turned off the water and went down the hall. By the time I got all the way back downstairs, I was very woozy.

I started looking around for Chase's friendly face, but there was a sea of people all over the place, and on top of that, my vision was pretty blurry. The loud music and flashing strobe lights definitely weren't helping, either. To make things even worse, it felt like I was getting a contact high. The entire downstairs was a fog of cigs, vapes, and weed.

Someone caught me as I nearly tripped down the last step of the spiral staircase. I looked up. It was Chase's arrogant, evil twin, also known as my boss.

"Jace...no! I'm looking for your brother," I said.

Why was it so hard to make the words come out of my mouth? Was this what being drunk actually was like? How could anybody enjoy this?

"Hey, come on, maid. You know that's no way to talk to me," Jace said. He let go, and I stumbled backwards into a wall. Jace was laughing his ass off. "Look at you! You're drunk! How did that happen? You've always been such a goody two shoes."

"Chase...told me to have fun," I said.

"Do you want me to show you a good time?" He took his hand and wrapped it around my waist, pulling me towards him. "You work hard...you really do deserve it."