The Stars Around Us

Chapter 25 ×EMMIE×

I'm not gonna lie. I was drunk. I realized that I should stop when my tongue started to feel heavier, so since then, I've been drinking bottled water. Mason and his sister, Alexis were there, and it turns out, Alexis is pretty cool. She's nice and she's not snobby like most of the other girls I had met. Even Jess was there. We were all dancing and I was swaying my hips to the beat. I had pulled my wild hair into a ponytail earlier, when it started getting hot.

       We were all laughing, dancing, and grinding on each other, having a good time. My legs were giving up and started to feel like jelly so I went and sat down on a couch, leaving my new friends to dance. 

       Mason noticed that I was gone and came to sit with me, throwing an arm around my shoulder, but I was still a little too tipsy to care at the moment. We hung out and talked for a while, watching our friends as they danced. I was slowly sobering up, but I think that I'd still have a headache in the morning. 

       When it was time to go home, none of them were sober enough to drive, and honestly I still wasn't either. Everything was all a little blurry and I felt like I would fall at any minute. I pulled out my phone to scroll through and found the number I was looking for. He picked up on the second ring.

       "Hello," Ethan said. I smiled at his voice. "Hey, Ethan. Will you come pick me up? I don't feel safe riding with any of these drunk bastards," I slurred. "Uh… yeah sure. I can be there in about fifteen minutes. Can you wait that long?" I laughed for no reason and answered. "Sure. Just hurry, please. I'm sleepy." He said okay and he'd be here soon while I hung up.

       My friends were still inside, so I went outside and sat at the curb while I waited for Ethan to come get me. A few minutes passed by and I was sitting with my head on my knees, dozing off. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, I was being picked up. I opened my eyes slowly to see Ethan helping me to his SUV. He sat me in the passenger seat and I turned and smiled at him.

       "You could have just woken me up, ya know." He gave me a lopsided smile and said "I tried that. You wouldn't move." I laughed and attempted to put my seatbelt on. "What time is it," I asked. He got in the driver's side and answered. "It's almost midnight." I groaned and threw him another lazy smile. "My mom is gonna kill me. Can I sleep on your couch?" He laughed at this and shook his head. "I'm pretty sure your family is sleeping. You'll be okay." I nodded then rolled my head to lean on the window, closing my eyes.

       The car came to a stop much too soon. I slowly opened my eyes once again. I unbuckled my seatbelt and slid out. Ethan was there, helping me down. I stood on my feet, still gripping my water bottle in my hand. Ethan looked down at me.

       "I should probably wait until you're sober to ask you this, but would you be willing to go with me somewhere tomorrow?" Is he asking me out now? Even if he was, I have plans with Dad. "I can't I'm eating dinner with my dad tomorrow night," I told him. 

       "I know that, but I was talking about in the daytime say elevenish?" I laughed and nodded. "Okay. I'll be home and you can come get me or whatever." He smiled even wider. I bid him a good night then stumbled to my house next door. All the lights were off, so I was guessing that my family was asleep, like Ethan said. 

        I silently crept up to my room and opened the door to complete darkness. I was looking for the light switch when someone grabbed my hand and pulled me further into the dark room, shutting the door behind me. It crossed my mind that maybe I should scream for help, but by then I was squinting my eyes to the sudden bright light in my room. When my eyes adjusted, I was faced with Chloe's face.

       "Where the hell have you been, Em? I was worried," she said. I gave her a stern look for cursing but she just rolled her eyes, not giving a damn about my lectures in cursing, though I wasn't exactly strict about it.

       "I was at a party, Chloe, calm down. You're not my mother," I slurred. She gave me a look. "Have you been drinking Emmorie? Seriously. I thought you were more responsible than that." I glared at her. "And I thought you were fifteen, so you can stop trying to lecture an eighteen year old. I started drinking water after I knew I had too much. You have nothing to worry about." She said nothing as she pushed past me and out of the bedroom, leaving the door open.

       I walked over and flopped down on my bed, throwing my shoes off. A minute later, the door closed again and Chloe rolled me over. She handed me two Ibuprofen and a cold glass of water. I took the pills and swallowed the water. 

       "Thanks, sis. I'm sorry for snapping at you," I apologized. She shrugged. "It's okay. You need to rest. Good night Emmie." She leaned over and kissed my forehead, turned my lamp on, and walked out the door, flicking off the overhead light. 

        I crawled up to my pillows, pulled my hair out of the ponytail and slid under the covers. I repeatedly reminded myself to wake up early enough so that I could get ready to leave with Ethan tomorrow, then closed my eyes, falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.