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I could probably feel the party before I actually got in it.
Down the street from me, just a couple houses down the block, a home was hosting a party that had an open invite. My town, holding a college that I attend not 20 minutes away, was absolutely packed with college kids.
I can’t help but feel a little sympathy for the people that share the neighborhood with us, but it’s not uncommon for a party to be had—on a Friday no less.
I walk in a group of four, two girls chat ahead of me on the sidewalk, I’m not sure of their names, but I do know they are close to my friend—Vivian, who walked next to me.
Viv has always been the type of girl to jump at any opportunity to have fun. So, one spontaneous party invitation later, I’m being tugged along with her. I’m not against parties, in fact the majority of the time, I do end up having a good night. Whether that be attached to my friends hips or not.
This time however, I’ve decided to do my best to stay sober. Family was visiting me tomorrow, and genuinely, I’m not about to be hungover when trying to hold a conversation with a family member.
“Aren’t you excited?” Viv cheers, she’d already taken two pre shots before we left for the party. “I mean—yeah I think so” I say, taking notice in how it feels as if the ground beneath me is vibrating from the blasting music. The house, seemingly booming with flashing colors and people fully came into view.
“C’mon get pumped!” Viv throws her first in the air, a childish grin on her face.
“Oh, I’m just so excited!” I say, mocking her, with no true intention of being rude behind it. Her response is a playful shove to my shoulder. “Hey, you never know, I personally know your gonna have a great time” she laughs, placing emphasis on the ‘know’.
“Let’s find out,” I say, more so yell as the music almost bursts my eardrums.
The girls ahead of me and Vivian disappear from in front of us, seemingly swallowed by the party. Viv grabs the end of my sleeve tightly, before jumping into the house head first, pulling me into the crashing sea of college students, jumping and moving to the beat of the music.
If I thought I could feel the vibrations before, now it feels as if I’m being jostled by the home itself. I clutch my phone closer to my body, high hopes that I won’t lose it hang in the air.
“oh! I love this song!” Vivian yells, before screaming along to the lyrics dancing around us.
Together, we dance, we sing, we yell. It’s one of those nights where I’m having such a good time I can’t think of a single reason in my life to feel let down of any kind.
Of course, after a long time, when using so much energy, you crave something to drink.
Which is how I find myself in the kitchen, leaning back against their counters while watching Viv play a very—intense game of beer pong. Or at least— the very most intense you can get when two obviously drunk people play the most stressful game ever to them.
Knowing Vivian can’t handle that much beer, I wince every time she chugs back the liquid held in a red solo cup. That doesn’t deteriorate how loud I cheer for her anyway.
I take my eyes away from her, scanning the rest of the crowd gathered around the kitchens island counter as this game goes on. Stereotypical students surround them. Girls either wearing close to nothing or nothing close to party clothes, guys having no real care for fashion, the majority only wearing an acceptable T-shirt and jeans.
That is until I find myself staring at a particularly colorful character.
With died auburn hair and sporting a bright pink Hawaiian shirt, a boy looking not much older—if not the same age as me, cheers for his friend loudly. He smiles brightly, and I cannot tell if his smile is possibly the brightest thing I’ve ever seen—even brighter than his shirt— or not.
I realize a little to late, we are in fact holding eye contact, and he stares at me a little confused, his bright features he once held not completely gone, but definitely not as evident as before.
That is before he smiles at me wildly, a small wave following his gesture. I half heartedly return his waving, he only seems to look brighter, before he turns back to the game in front of him.
I shake the strange boy away from my vision, realizing the end of the beer pong game was fast approaching, and that I’d probably have to deal with the after effects of Vivian after. However, just because I’m not looking at him doesn’t mean he isn’t in the background of my mind.
How can someone look so happy to be in a college party?
Taking my phone out of the pocket of my Jean shorts, I lean against the hallways wall, standing guard outside of the bathroom. Not long ago I got some—non spiked soda, so I hold that in the opposite hand of my phone. Vivian decide her body has had her limits, and is suffering in the bathroom, throwing up till her hearts content.
As much as I offered to help her, she was very adamant of suffering by herself. She even took the liberty of shooing me outside of the bathroom.
I sigh a little at her stubbornness, but when this is all over we can head back to her apartment and maybe then it won’t be so bad.
I scroll through my instagram, friends boasting about how much fun they’re having at other parties, or simply enjoying the peace and quiet of their homes, as I occasionally taking a sip from my drink.
Shuffling next to me takes my attention, pulling my eyes away from my phone. There, standing—or leaning against the same wall as me— is the boy from earlier. The one with the nice smile.
Upstairs is much more quieter than downstairs. Although quieter doesn’t mean that it’s quiet—no, the music is still close to ear splitting, it just seems a little more muffled than before.
“Hi!” The boy says, his hand, which now that I’m so close, I realize he has rings adorned on his fingers, waves at me frantically. Once again, I return the gesture, except with the hand holding my phone, so I guess I’m just kinda waving my wrist.“Hello?”
At first, I think that’s it, that’s where the conversation ended, before he continues talking.
“Sooo..you gotta use the bathroom?” Silently, I cringe at his question. That he chose ‘that’ out of everything he could have asked. “No, I’m waiting for my friend to finish throwing up,” I state, holding my cup full of soda closer to me.
He stares at me, confused for a second, before yelling, “What!?” He leans a little closer, as if to hear me better.
“I’m waiting for a friend!” I yell back, smiling a little at his gesture. “Ohhh, okay” he says, nodding his head while standing awkwardly beside me.
I can’t help but suppress a small laugh at the childish nature of this boy.
“Hey, I like your shirt!” I say, maybe I’m going crazy but I’m pretty sure whoever is in charge of the music has turned it to eleven.
With my remark, I glance down at his very-floral shirt. Bright pink flowers spread all over it.
Almost like he forgot what he was wearing, the boy perks up at the compliment, before quickly dropping his head down to examine the clothes he was wearing.
“Thanks! I uhh—“ he pauses, looking over my face before speaking again, “woah, hey!! Your hairs really cool!” He says, smiling wide.
At first I’m confused, before remembering how I dyed the underside of my hair in some spontaneous act against my parents—it was a stupid decision, as I realized how I used semi-permanent dye.
“uhm..thanks! yours is cool too.” I stare, being so close, it’s a little more obvious to tell his real hair apart from the sudden blonde highlights that compliment his hair, but I do have to admit, he doesn’t look half bad.
He takes the second compliment with pride, running a hand through his hair with a genuine grin over his features. Once again, I’m confused to how someone could be in such a good mood. Even when I’m drunk I’m not this happy.
Silence falls between us, although it’s not very silent from the music blasting beneath us. The hallway isn’t empty, but it definitely isn’t as packed as downstairs, however the silence still feels just as awkward.
I take a sip of my drink, averting my eyes away from the strange boy next to me, silently wishing Vivian would stumble out of the bathroom and wish to be taken home.
“I’m Daisuke!” He yells, catching my attention. In his eyes, it’s obvious he is nervous, and I can’t help but think of how different this guy—Daisuke—is from the rest of the boys I’ve met before.
I tell him my name, a smile, similar to his spreads across my face.
He nods a little at me, before yelling over the music again, “it’s really nice to meet you!” I laugh a little bit, turning my head away from him slightly, before turning back again.
“Same here!” I say, feeling a little more confident in myself than when I did at the start of our conversation.
“You live around here? I ask, turning to fully face him, my shoulder leaning against the wall next to me. In response to this, he gives me his full attention. “I mean—I guess. I go to the college not far from here, and I’m friends with the host” I notice, daisuke likes to talk with his hands, just something small but I still pick up on it.
“And you?” He asks, folding his hands across his chest.
“I live right down the block,” I respond, nodding along to my own statement. He hums in reply, although I can barely hear it. I don’t mention how we go to the same college.
“You go to parties often, Daisuke?” I ask, his name sounding foreign on my tongue, but all the same time it sounds so right. He shrugs, his hand coming back out and teetering side to side.
“I go to them from time to time, but I definitely find them enjoyable” he continues to rant on about something I unconsciously tune out, as I observe more of his features.
Two prominent beauty marks on the opposite sides of his face, a sweatband on his left wrist, worn out jeans and converse, not to mention the shirt he is wearing beneath his Hawaiian one is a plain white tee.
The more I observe the more I realize—this guy is exactly my type. He just seems like a really interesting person to be around—like the perfect amount of dorkiness that makes me want to consider him as adorable.
Suddenly I feel more focused on what he is saying than before. Every response I make to him I make sure to provide prompts in order to try and keep the conversation going.
When silence eventually envelopes us again, he speaks up, tension to his voice.
“So do you uhm..you—ahh..got a boyfriend?” Daisuke asks, as he fiddles with the ring on his middle finger. I take a moment to consider what he said, part of me believes that the music had drowned him out, and I heard something different from what he really did say. But the look in his eye tells me otherwise, hope.
“Or girlfriend..?” He adds, a lot more quieter than before. I laugh at that, his awkwardness is making me feel particularly giddy.
“Nope, I’m as single as ever,” I say, leaning my head back against the wall slightly, never really breaking eye contact.
He sparks up, as if I’d just made one of his dreams come true.
“Would you uhm—be interested in going—“ Daisuke is cut off but the bathroom door slamming open. I pull my undivided attention to him, before looking over my shoulder.
Vivian holds onto the frame of the door with an iron grip, her dreary gaze searching the hallway intently before landing on me.
“Viv!” I grimace, silently wishing she stayed in the restroom for only a moment longer. She stumbles over to me, carefully watching her steps, before throwing herself under my arm.
I try my best not to spill my drink, offering an extremely apologizing glance to Daisuke.
“We should—can we go?” Vivian grumbles into my shoulder, her eyes closed, and her body leaning on me. “Yeah sure,” I say softly to her.
“Give me a second though,” I add before turning myself to Daisuke. He seems disappointed, but all at the same time understanding.
“You got a phone number Daisuke?” I say, smiling a little bit. I watch as his eyes widen, before he smiles childishly. “I might..” he says, his hands placed in his back pockets.
“Could I get that number?” I say, smiling wide, being more dramatic than I need to be has always been fun to me. However I’m still aware of Viv against me, so to rush this process I take out my phone and scroll to the iMessages icon.
“I wouldn’t have a problem with that” Daisuke says, taking my phone out of my hand to punch in his number.
While he’s occupied, I use that time to make sure my friend is okay, and that she’ll hopefully be up for the walk home.
When I’m finished, Daisuke hands over my phone to me. He wishes me a goodbye, and that he’d hopefully see me later.
I agree with him, and flash him a toothy grin, before finally descending down the steps, and out the door of the loud home.
“He was cute..” Vivian mumbled, well it was more of a sigh then a mumble. “Tell me about it,” I laugh a little to myself, before we finally begin the walk home.
We have already been at Vivian’s place for a couple of hours, however I’ve spent that time getting unready and taking a long bath, before actually checking my phone.
I remember, with a fond memory of the boy with the glowing smile, and check on the number he had given me.
My smile widens at the message I see he sent through my phone—most likely when he put his number in.
Me: Would you be up to going out sometime?
I re-read the text, over and over again, like it might disappear or something if I don’t pay close attention to it. Even though I already know my answer, it takes me a while to type it out. I gather all the courage I need, before replying to his own message.
Me: I’d like that a lot