Young Lust

14 - Beer, Bathroom Breaks and Blurting Out Stuff

Steven and I exchanged glances that said "phew".

"Party's right here," Steven muttered and went to the stereo. He put in a CD, hit play and turned the volume way up. The house instantly filled with my favourite kind of music. I recognised Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" and saw Steven scribble something on a sheet of paper. He reached to the top of the fridge and pulled down a roll of tape. He taped the paper to the fridge door. "FREE BEER" it read. Apparently Steven didn't own fridge magnets.

Immediately like seagulls to chips, the guys who had just arrived flocked to the refrigerator for the beer.
"I'll go and get Brad, Joey and Joe." I said, heading for Steven's basement bedroom.

As I got to the bottom of the stairs, I caught Joe reaching for the bong I noticed the last time I visited.

"Oi," I called, frowning at Joe, "people are here."

Joe sighed quite loudly, stopped reaching and stood up.

"'Bout time!" Brad cheered, and the guys traipsed upstairs.

---

Steven's house was packed with people; only a few I recognised from school. The music blared, and I had no idea where Steven, Tom, or anyone else I knew were, so I just hung out in the lounge room for a bit.

"Turquoise, you loner!" Johnny jumped the back of the couch and landed next to me, arm around my shoulders.

"Yeah, well, dunno where Steven is." I grumbled.
Johnny smirked at me and raised a brow.

"Or anyone else," I quickly added. I removed Johnny's arm from my shoulders.

"Aw," his bottom lip dropped.

"What?" I frowned and I got up from the couch and headed for the kitchen. Maybe someone I knew would be in there.

"Jade!" a voice called out to me. I turned to see Johnny pursuing me.

"Whaaat?" I repeated.

"You just look so bored. Can I get you a beer?" Johnny winked at me.

"No. Go pick up some other poor girl," I turned to leave him for the second time.

Johnny spun me around by the shoulder. "Why don't you like me?" he asked outright.

"You actually have to ask that? Mate, you're in a bet to see how many girls you can screw by the end of the year. Where I come from, that's totally frowned upon. Where I come from, that's enough reason to not like someone."

"Well where you come from sounds lame as shit," Johnny grunted and finally left me alone.

"Frickin' hell," I sighed and continued on my journey - my short, boring journey - to the kitchen.

When I got there I was bombarded by Steven, Tom and Brad.

"What the hell have you been doing this whole time?" Brad shouted over the music.

"Well, I sat on the couch, frowned a bit, then got annoyed by Johnny, frowned some more... You know the deal," I shifted my weight to one side.

"You could've come to us," Steven said.

"Yeah, I'm surprised you didn't." Tom added.

"Eh, I was couch-sitting. Hah," I laughed at my unintended pun.

"Right. Anyway," Steven began, "can I get you a beer?"

"N- ugh, sure." I accepted.

Steven opened the fridge. It was less than half full so he grabbed four beers, one for each of us.

"Cheers," I said as Steven opened mine for me. I took a swig and nearly spat it back out. "Nope, urgh," I screwed up my face at the taste.

"I called it," Brad raised his hands. "I told you she'd be one of those people."

"I thought Australians love beer," Steven giggled.

"Not all of them, man," I shook my head at his assumption and passed back the drink.

Steven hadn't opened his yet, so he put it back in the fridge and claimed mine.

"What else have you got?"

"I saw that some guys brought a heap of vodka cruisers. To me, they're drinks for pussies, but I don't think girls count for that." Steven answered.

"I'll grab you one, Jade." Tom said and went outside.

Without warning Steven took me by the hand and left the house too.

"Um," I coughed, "what are we doing?"

"I can tell that you're bored. So I'm taking you around." Steven answered without looking back at me.

"Around?"

"To talk to other humans. To be social. Unless you wanna sit on the couch all night,"

"I'm good with talking to other humans," I replied.

"Good. Look, there's Erin and Kirsten," Steven pointed to the girls I met at the last party.

"Happy birthday, Stevie!" Kirsten acknowledged us.

"Don't call me that, Kirsty!"

"Don't call me Kirsty," Kirsten laughed.

"Happy birthday," Erin said, barely audible.

"Thank you," Steven looked at her seriously, and she lowered her eyes.

"So," Kirsten broke the awkward silence, "did Jade get you a birthday gift?"

"Uh, yeah, she did." Steven lifted his arm to show off the wrist band.

"Nice," Kirsten said.

"I have to pee," Erin whispered and headed for inside.

"Now that you mention it," Steven clapped his hands together and followed her in.

"Is that, like, their thing to do, or...?" I questioned.

"Yeah, I don't even know." Kirsten rolled her eyes.
"Did they, uh, date at all?"

Kirsten exhaled. "Short answer - yes. Long answer - they were more like friends with benefits most of the time. They ended it about a week ago, so I don't know what they do during their totally discreet "bathroom breaks"." Kirsten shrugged.

"A week ago?" I frowned. "I moved here about a week ago..."

My thought processing was interrupted by Steven.

"That was quick," Kirsten commented.

"Turns out I didn't even need to pee," Steven laughed a fake laugh.

"Kirsten tells me you and Erin were involved," I looked at him. His face turned to an uneasy expression.

"We were. Why do you ask?" Steven narrowed his eyes slightly at Kirsten.

"No reas-"

"Did you ditch Erin for Jade?" Kirsten raised her eyebrows, then quickly shut her mouth when she realised what she'd blurted.

Steven gave her a "what the hell?" look and then turned his attention to me. He didn't seem to be able to find his words.

"Sorry," Kirsten mumbled and left our presence.

I stared at Steven. "You didn't... did you?"