Acumen: Riddling Life

33. Outcast

Day 30

Electric music plays in a volume I feel it reverberating in my skull. They have decorated the patio with light bulbs, hanging the strings to every tree and any object that can support its weight, leaving no dark areas.

Adrien, Jacob, Calvin, and Dylan are standing on the other end of the pool, near the entrance door, each exhaling a cloud of grey smoke.

Tina, Sophia, and Rebecca are deep conversing. Amanda and Olivia are what Arianna calls 'specific man-hunting', in this case, the man being Jeffry.

She returns to my side with a grin.

To my utmost surprise, her behavior towards me had not changed the slightest, considering she somewhat knew what had happened. Seeing that, previous night I had risked asking her about what Will had said nights ago. And she only shrugged, claiming everything we do has self-serving purposes -which I do quite agree with. But also added that I am the first official girl in their team of three and she's glad to have me. But nevertheless, she still wants to stick to the friendship because it makes her happy.

I believed her.

For once, I choose to allow myself to not consider every aspect and just accept her words.

She stands next to me, holding two cups in her hand.

"Hear me out, okay?" she starts, and I look away from Sophia who was glaring at me.

With a nod of my head she continues, "I've brought you a drink, it's a very light wine, I found it in their refrigerator, for you,"

I interject, "I don't drink,"

She rolls her eyes, "Weren't you last night saying you want to try everything that is out there to experience?" she looks at me quizzically. Her purple eye shadows on full display as she arches her eyebrows.

"I did, but-" I attempt to reason but she shakes her head.

"Listen, one sip, you'll not even get drunk, it'll loosen you up a tad. And I'm here, so are Adi and Dylan. We won't let you lose control or whatever. Not that I would mind if you throw a good fistfight with Soph," she shrugs, glancing at Sophia.

I giggle, and she turns back to me, her blue eyes shining. "But you need to know what alcohol tastes like, in the ripe age of twenty-one," she says in the most serious tone that she can muster, which is anything but. I beam at her, shaking my head.

"Oh come on! Just one sip, it won't hurt, I'm drinking too. Plus don't worry, if Adrien sees you're drinking he'll stay sober the entire night. Nothing will happen, trust me, he is basically a twenty-two-year-old grandpa," she adds and hands me the cup.

The situation regarding Adrien and I is; well, we haven't exactly spoken to each other after the whole, let's say drunk talk. We weren't avoiding each other, okay maybe he was, but I wasn't. We shared the bare minimum words in the past four days.

I can't tell what's going on inside his mind, and it's nerve-wracking, but now is not the time to fuss over it.

I stare at the wine, lifting the cup to my lips with hesitance, I glimpse at Arianna's encouraging beam, and I tilt it. The sweetness of the smooth liquid overwhelms my senses, as if I'm drinking a bunch of squished fruits along with the slightest burning sensation.

I furrow my brows; I was not expecting that.

"There you go! Finally taking advantage of being an adult," Arianna half squeals and burst into fits of giggle.

"Shouldn't alcohol taste..." my voice trails down as I attempt to come up with the right word.

"Like shit? Yeah, some of them," she shrugs. Then goes on, "This my friend," she brings up her cup and continues, "is hard liquor. If Adi wasn't around, I might have considered making you try it. But I'm not planning to die young, so I went with the alternative,"