17: Friends That Weren't My Own

"Woah, I wasn't expecting to see this!" Freddy was already drunk, his long hair unruly and damp. His reputation was so immense, that even I remembered his name.

He was known as the guy whose parents were so incompetent and rich that they repeatedly went on trips that left him to throw parties in their absence. If that was even what they could be called. Everyone knew that anything went at his parties. All of the crazy shit that people talked about for weeks to follow could be traced back to Freddy's house. That was precisely why I never went there.

"None of us were." Dennis nodded. They were both referring to seeing Millie and me standing beside Sam & Co. The sight was so shocking, that I knew there were going to be endless confused glances sent our way throughout the night. I was not looking forward to it.

Freddy stepped aside to let us in, swaying slightly. "Well come on in. There's drinks in the kitchen, and music in the living room."

Millie and I were the last to enter. When I called her and asked if she wanted to go to a party tonight, she was a lot more enthusiastic than I ever could have been. She squealed like a little girl and thanked me profusely. As I said before, she loved to go to parties but there was never anyone willing to go with her. Also known as me — I was the one who was almost never willing to go with her.

It was very loud inside, both due to the booming music and the people trying to yell over it. And it was stuffy from everyone dancing so close to each other. I was already regretting my decision to come along, but I really only did it so that Sam would tell Jocelyn how he felt. As well as to help Millie get out of the house for a little while.

I just grabbed Millie's hand and we navigated through the growing crowd. The others seemed to know where they were going, so we just kept close behind. It didn't take long for the doorway leading into a kitchen to catch my attention. That seemed to be where we were all headed. Once inside, there were three familiar faces.

Sydney, Jocelyn, and her best friend who I was pretty sure was called Zoey. Or was it Chloe? Cleo? Millie was going to kill me if I asked her again.

"What the hell are they doing here?" Jocelyn so kindly asked once she noticed Millie and me.

Sam just waved the comment off with a, "It's a long story."

She furrowed her brow, but didn't ask. Then suddenly her whole body relaxed as she seemed to forget all about us. Her eyes honed in on Sam and she clasped her hands around his arm sweetly. "Oh well, who cares? How have you been, Sam?"

"Fine." He didn't do much of anything, just staying still beneath her touch while keeping his words short and simple. Even though I didn't want to watch her fawn over him like a snake oil salesman did a client, I was still a bit satisfied to witness Sam blatantly appearing uninterested. I was really just worried that she would try to kiss him or something.

As if she could read my thoughts, Jocelyn stood on her tippy toes and kissed Sam's cheek. He didn't even look at her. I struggled to tear my burning glare away from her.

"Hey, you." Dennis grinned at Sydney, who smiled gently back. She was beautiful, and after seeing her face again I was able to recall seeing her around before. Her hair was a deep strawberry blonde, and skin paper-pale. She was petite and her cheeks had a soft dusting of what seemed to be natural blush.

In fact, all of the girls in that room were beautiful in their own way. I always thought that Millie was pretty, but I was also biased. Jocelyn was so breathtaking that she would probably use it to literally take someone's breath away. Maybe I was just being dramatic, but I really did think that she had some internalized murderous tendencies. One day her face was probably going to be on the news for killing her much older husband for all of his money. And she would be known as one of the world's most gorgeous murderers. Probably resulting in a fan base of murder-apologists.

Zoey/Chloe/Cleo wasn't far off from Jocelyn, but she didn't seem to be as sly with her evilness. Her wavy blonde hair was cut into a bob, and her sharp brown eyes were always accentuated by a long cat wing. She didn't strike me as anything more than a mythic bitch. But who knew. Maybe they would both be on the news for murdering someone together. How sweet.

"Let's start drinking!" Dennis announced, walking to where a giant cooler filled with half-melted ice and beer cans sat against the wall. He started pulling out the cans and tossing them to those of us just standing there.

When he got to me, I made sure to quickly shake my head. "I don't want one."

"You are such a buzzkill." He frowned disapprovingly. Then he tossed one to Sam.

"I'm not drinking tonight, either. Someone has to drive." He reminded him.

"God, you're both buzzkills. It's like you're perfect for each other." That comment definitely didn't mean what it sounded like it meant, but I still couldn't help but glance over at Sam, who was biting back a smile. Then I had to work on suppressing my own.

"There you all are!" A warm voice called from the doorway. We turned to see that it was only Caden. "They're over here, Bri!" He called into the hallway.

Sam, Dennis, Millie and I all drove in Sam's car while Caden and Brian went on a small detour because Brian had to stop at his house for something. With that, Caden came waltzing in as his ceaseless energy flooded the room and lifted spirits. Brian wasn't too far behind, but with none of the pomp and circumstance.

"Hello everyone!" Caden greeted us all at once, which seemed to be rare for him. He was usually acknowledging us all individually. However, he did go out of his way to hug Sydney.

That made me wonder what the hell I was even doing there. They all seemed to know everything about each other, and yet I never even spoke to Sydney and Chloe before. I wasn't sure that the few insults spent between Jocelyn and me even counted. Millie and I were always so isolated, so it was difficult to surround ourselves with friends that weren't our own.

My thoughts wandered back to my weird trial period, and I pondered if it would mean anything at all. Would it die before anyone else even knew that it began? If they all learned about it one day, what would they say? I was not friends with any of them, nor were they friends with Millie.

Time carried onward, and all of us eventually dispersed. Caden asked if someone would dance with him, and it was Millie who actually said yes. Sam was stuck talking with Jocelyn, and Dennis went off to flirt with Sydney somewhere. That was how I ended up on the sofa, trying to ignore the drunk people who sometimes nearly tripped and fell onto me, or how disturbingly loud the music was. Freddy was lucky that there weren't any neighbors directly next door.

The amount of times I questioned why I was even sitting there was unmatched. But every once in a while the crowd would break just enough for me to see Millie and Caden having the time of their lives. And it made me feel a lot better.

I didn't normally sit around thinking about how different my lifestyle was from Sam's, so having that much extra time to contemplate it was frustrating. Most people I vaguely recognized as acquaintances of Sam & Co. cast me looks of confusion. Everyone knew I didn't party, just like everyone knew that Sam and I fought every time we were in the same building as each other. The fact that we showed up at a party together was going to be great gossip at school tomorrow.

During my internal strife, the couch once more dipped beside me. There were a lot of people who would briefly sit down, but no one really stayed for long. When my eyes flitted to see who it could have been, I was not expecting to find Zoey/Chloe/Cleo.

If she found out that I didn't even know her name, she was probably going to be livid. I should have taken my chances and asked Millie before it was too late. All I could do was hope that she didn't notice that I was there. Things would be even better if she never tried to talk to me at all.

As per usual, luck was not on my side.

Her eyes landed on me, and her maroon painted lips stretched into a smile. "Hey."

We never once talked before. It was possible that she also insulted me once or twice, but if she did, it didn't stick out to me. Sort of like how I could tell that a part of me knew who Sydney was, but I wasn't able to put a face to her name nor a name to her face. Most people just didn't stick with me. "Hi."

She scooted the subtlest amount towards me, probably to better hear what I said. "How come you're here? I thought that you never came to these."

Small talk was my enemy. Especially with someone I predicted to be an awful person. My thoughts landed on those peculiar arguments we saw between her and Jocelyn. "I don't normally. Millie likes parties."

"Oh." Her eyes wandered towards the crowd where she must have been searching for Millie. Or maybe not. I really had no idea. "Are you guys dating?"

"No. Just childhood best friends." At those words, Zoey/Chloe/Cleo seemed to get a lot more confident. Her posture was less rigid, and her lips were pulled less taunt. Something about her in that moment was incredibly familiar, and I prodded my brain for what it was.

"Joss and I are also childhood best friends. It's cool when you know someone your whole life." Either she was grasping at straws to keep the conversation going, or she was genuinely interested in talking to me. I couldn't tell. I was starting to hope that someone would sweep in and divert her attention.

"Yeah, I guess so." Oh no, I was cringing at my own awkward self.

"Anyway, enough talk about her." Something about the way she said that left a bad taste in my mouth. Wasn't Jocelyn her best friend? "I want to know more about you."

I was starting to panic. "Like what?"

As if she still couldn't hear me, she scooted even closer. Her shoulder touched my own. I went to move away, but the armrest was already pressing into my side. "I don't know. There's something I've always wanted to tell you, though."

Maybe I was reading into things wrong, but I was pretty sure that Zoey/Chloe/Cleo was flirting with me. Either that, or she had no idea what personal space was. My other guess was that she just loved to mess with people. That one felt the most accurate, but I also couldn't tell. Perhaps I underestimated her evilness.

That was when she leaned into my ear as if to tell me a secret. Her warm breath on my neck made me shudder. It felt wrong. I didn't even want Sam to do that, let alone someone I barely knew. I wanted to push her away, but I just froze. "I've always thought that you were cute." She told me. Then she slowly kissed my cheek, scarily close to my neck.

She was obviously proud of herself, thinking that she did something extremely attractive. Someone else might have liked it, but I was definitely not the target audience. She didn't even bother to get to know me enough to find that out. My face was red, both because I was upset and embarrassed.

I quickly stood up, turning to her despite how much I just wanted to walk away. "Thanks and all, but I'm really not interested."

Then I turned to leave. I didn't know where I was even planning on going, but I wanted to put plenty of space between the two of us before she decided that she should come up with new methods to try and win me over.

However, that was when I nearly walked right into Sam.

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