After the Crash ✓

5| Stuffy Rooms

The once pristine front-lawn is littered with beer bottles and cups. I freeze at the sight of them.

"You've gone a bit pale." Shauna says.

It's just alcohol. It's nothing to worry about. I breathe heavily.

"Let's get him inside." Murphy calls from behind us.

He walks ahead, his curls are unruly as ever and he wears a shirt and jeans. I follow his lead.

Shauna squeezes my hand.

"You'll be fine, Bradley." She's right, I'll be just fine.

When we approach the door, music is blaring, couples are kissing and there is a heated table tennis match going on. An Asian boy waddles up to us (obviously drunk.)

"Murphy," He slurs, slapping his hand on Murphy's face. Murphy stares at him blankly.

"Bradley this is Xie. He's a complete moron, like I said." Xie stands in front of us, smiling a little too hard.

"He's right there." I whisper to Murphy.

"Yes, and he's got more alcohol in his body than water, currently." Murphy and Shauna chortle with laughter.

We walk into the depths of the party. I follow Shauna, squeezing through the crevices of sweaty bodies. Her frizzy hair is tied into a high ponytail and it bobs into my face when it moves.

We finally make it to a keg, spurting alcohol onto the white carpet. Shauna lifts a red cup and begins filling it right to the brim. Murphy does the same. They stare at me when I don't lift a cup from the precarious-looking pile.

"I don't drink." I yell over the music.

"This party isn't the same sober." Shauna lifts her eyebrows, highlighting her thick mascara.

I shake my head, as a polite but firm no.

"Oh well." Murphy and Shauna lift their cups and begin gulping down the alcohol, as if it's a race. Knowing them (for a few hours), it probably is.

I walk away towards the corner of the large room. People sway to the music. I can smell the blanket of sweat that has fallen onto the room. A good 100 people are crammed into the space.

A girl comes towards me. She is dancing, holding a beer bottle in her hand.

"Hey, pretty boy." She comes way too close for comfort and I can smell the beer on her breath. She leans in to kiss me, but I quickly duck. No, thanks.

I have to get out of here. I feel sick. I try to find the kitchen sink, so I can empty out my stomach, but a girl is sitting on the edge, a boy vacuuming her lips and neck.

I decide to try and find a bathroom, to dump out. I see Xie pinning a girl against the wall.

"Xie!" I call, in a despairing tone. "Where are the bathrooms?"

He immediately pulls away.

"Mur-phy?" He says slowly, squinting. "Bath-room next to bed-room." Xie leans in and kisses my cheek. The girl scowls and flashes a middle finger at Xie- he rushes after her. He reeks of alcohol at this point and the scent lingers on my cheek.

I rush away, as fast as humanely possible, to the nearest bathroom. I can feel the puke in my throat. I gulp down the bile. I climb the stairs with my crutches, gagging.

There are five doors upstairs. I pick the smallest, knock first and then burst in.

A girl is against the wall and a shirtless boy kisses her with vigour.

Then, my mind puts it together.

Ponytail. Porcelain skin. 6 inch stilettos.

Nicole.

The ajar door streams light into the room. My mind is screaming into my ears to run away, but my legs stay fixed to the floor. My eyes stare into Nicole's and she walks towards me.

Run, Bradley. Just run.

Her stilettos echo onto the floor. The bile in my throat has vanished and replaced with a feeling of utter confusion.

Nicole's with Jared, yet here she is kissing a random stranger.

"Bradley?" She asks.

"Nicole." Says the boy, buttoning up his shirt. "Who's this perv?" He looks at me full of scorn.

Nicole ignores him.

"Bradley, you can't tell Jared about this." Nicole says.

Silence. I'm speechless.

"Nicole?" The boy asks. "Tell me what's going on, baby." He says it softly, but I can sense the malice in his voice.

"Shut up, Max." Nicole snaps back. "Bradley?" She asks.

"He doesn't deserve this." I whisper.

"No, he doesn't." Nicole swivels her head towards the boy, who has been identified as Max. "Which is why I'm ending this."

Max looks hurt and scowls at me.

"This is all your fault! You pervert!" He yells.

A few people have appeared at the doorway, watching the drama unfold.

"It's not his fault!" Nicole yells back, with equal vigour.

At last, I do the only thing I know how to do: I walk away from the situation, leaving it in a mess that wouldn't have happened if I never got involved.

I rush down the stairs and almost bump head-first into Shauna.

"I need, I need to get out of here." My voice comes out shaky and high.

"Getaway ride, gotcha." She says, somehow she seems completely sombre, even though she's been drinking non-stop.

Shauna nods to Murphy, who is caught up with a boy. He throws the car keys to her and we half-jog, half-walk out.

Shauna ignites the car and we speed off down the road, leaving Nicole at the door sighing.

"So, Bradley, what happened?" Shauna asks from the front seat. Murphy looks back.

"You alright mate?"

I shake my head. I keep replaying the moment in my head and what will happen when I have to tell Jared. Should I tell him? Can I bring myself to tell him? Will he listen? My head is like a sea of thoughts and confusion.

"You can crash on my couch, Bradley." Murphy says, handing me a piece of gum. "Concentrate on chewing."

I do. And it helps. But, I can't unsee what I saw.