Just One Drink (26 page)

Once we entered prom it was a lot of fun.  There was a lot of dancing, picture taking, and the food was great.  I nearly had a food disaster, though.  One of my meatballs thought it was a good idea to fly off my plate, but luckily it missed my dress.  Mason just chuckled through the whole ordeal. 

“You always were a messy eater, babe.  I can’t take you anywhere nice.”  The comment got him a glare and pout, but with a quick kiss on the nose, I knew I couldn’t stay mad at him.

After dinner, I couldn’t get Mason off the dance floor so we ended up dancing the whole night.  I had no idea he was such a party animal, but I sort of liked this new side of him.  It was exciting and a lot of fun.  I stood close to him as he wrapped his arms around me and we danced together.  I would have thought dancing would have been a lot harder, but it was actually pretty simple and fun.  I liked it.

Eventually, however, dancing became too much for me and I had to sit down.  I was tired. When I sat down, I noticed my sister, now dateless, walking toward Mason.  I didn’t think anything of it.  Was it that unusual for your twin sister to dance with your boyfriend?  At the time, I certainly didn’t think so.  I watched as they danced together but grimaced when Avery started to get
very
touchy-feely with Mason, who, to my regret, seemed to really like it.  Okay, I will admit that at that moment I felt like something was wrong, but it was prom night.  I didn’t want to be one of those girls to make a big scene, so I let it slide.  I looked away and tried to ignore it.

I tried not to look as they grinded on each other and Avery hiked up her dress.  I just looked into my glass of water.  Luckily, I didn’t have to sit alone for very long.  One of my close friends, Tiffany, came and sat with me.  She looked gorgeous and we chatted for a bit before she asked me, “Where’s Mason?”  I pointed to them and Tiffany gave me a shocked look. “Well, aren’t you going to do something, that’s kind of gross?”  Tiffany asked.

I just shrugged at her.  Like I said, it was prom night and I didn’t feel like making a big scene.  Avery was my sister.  There was no way she was trying to be malicious by dancing with Mason in such a crude manner.  Yet, I couldn’t help but think that something was wrong.  If Mason truly cared about me he wouldn’t dance with
any
girl like that, especially not with my
sister.
  Something inside my gut told me something was wrong, but I was an idiot and ignored it.

Before Tiffany could persuade me to intervene Avery was already pulling Mason off the dance floor.  They were heading toward the table.  They were both breathing heavily and Mason had a thin layer of sweat forming on his forehead.  I looked at them as Avery giggled.  Mason just gave me a sheepish look.  Had something happened between them?  I wish I had pressed the question sooner rather than later. 

They sat down.  Prom was dying out by now, a lot of the students had left by now, making their ways to the after parties.  At the time I thought Mason I would be going home after prom, since the drunk scene wasn’t something I liked, but when Avery came to my table with a naughty look on her face, the possibility flew out the window. 

“Hey, sis!  Guess what?”  Her voice was excited.  I knew something was up, she only ever called me ‘sis’ when she wanted something.  I had no idea what she wanted at the time.  I looked over at Mason, wondering if he knew what she wanted.  He just shrugged at me. 

“What is it?” 

“I got all three of us invited to Madison’s after party!  Her house is
huge
and her parents are like super rich, so it will be popping.  I promise!  You’ll love it!”  I looked at her warily.  I knew Madison.  She wasn’t the nicest of people in school and she had never been nice to me, so I was confused.  Why would Madison invite me, of all people, to go to her party?

“Uh… I don’t know Avery… you know I don’t really like parties…”  I stammered, hoping it would get me out of the party.  I really didn’t want to go.  All I wanted to do was go home, to get all the bobby pins out of my hair.  I swore they were sticking into my skull.  Suddenly I felt Mason’s hand squeezing my arm. 

“Come on babe, it’ll be fun, I promise.”  I looked into Mason’s eyes and I knew I wouldn’t be able to tell him no. 

“Fine.  I’ll go.”  Avery squealed before hugging me tightly. 

“You won’t regret it, sis!”  Avery hugged me tighter.  I wish that statement had been true. 

Chapter 3

The after party was like nothing I had ever experienced before.  Mason had parked down the street from Madison’s house, but yet we could already hear the music blaring.  I could only imagine how loud the music would be inside the house, my ear drums feared what they were about to experience. 

Avery was with us and I wondered what had happened to her date.  Why wasn’t he the one bringing her to this after party?  Why was she third-wheeling with Mason and me?

Either way, I was dragged to this after party, much to my disdain.  The house was indeed huge, it was practically a mansion.  There were people drinking outside, inside, in the backyard,
everywhere
. It was a sea of red solo cups and I already felt like I was drowning.  I looked over at Mason and Avery and wondered what they would act like drunk.  I had never seen either of them drunk. 

Avery quickly disappeared from sight when we entered the house.  Apparently she had spotted one of Madison’s older brothers, who was a senior in college.  I shrugged as she left, a little glad.  It was typical by now and I expected it from her. It was one of the reasons why I never went to the mall with her, she would go with me and would abandon me for some boy.

After Avery left Mason looked at me and smiled.  He was excited about the party.  Once again, it shocked me how much of a party animal he was.  He seemed to be in his element with everyone dancing and slurring around him.  He brought me into the kitchen before handing me a red solo cup. 

“What’s this?”  I asked as I looked down at the clear liquid in my cup.  Water?  I sniffed it slowly.  It definitely wasn’t just water.

“Holy water, baby.”  He giggled.

“No, seriously.”

“Grey Goose.”  He picked up the bottle looking at it.  I was helplessly confused.  I vowed, at that moment, to get out more before I went to college, where I would be exposed to this sort of thing on a regular basis. 

“And what’s that?  I know for a fact there’s no actual bird in this cup.” 

“You know for someone who is so book smart, you don’t know much about the real world, do you?”  He teased me and I pouted. “I’m just kidding, love.  You are the smartest girl I know.”  He kissed the top of my head.  How was I supposed to stay mad?

“So what is it?” 

“Vodka, dear.” 

“Isn’t that strong?” 

“Mhm.”  Mason grinned before downing his shot. I was amazed.  I wondered if I was capable of doing the same thing.  I tried it, putting the cup to my lips and tilting my head back.  I felt the liquid touch my lips.  It tingled for a bit before hitting the back of my throat and then it started to
burn
.  I tried to spit it out quickly. 

“Eww… what the hell was that… it was awful!  Mason!” I yelled at him, hitting his chest.  How could he give me something like that?  How had he even downed the shot without incident?  I looked up at him and he chuckled. 

“Sorry babe, vodka isn’t for everyone.”  He grabbed another cup and I was honestly amazed.  I didn’t know how he was doing it.  He looked around and grabbed a colorful looking drink in a glass bottle.  He handed it to me.  “Here.  This is a wine cooler.  It’s not as strong and tastes a little better.”

I looked at the label and it said ‘pink lemonade.’  I thought it was worth a shot since I loved lemonade.  I took a sip and smiled.  “Yeah, this is much better.”  I kept sipping on the wine cooler, making it last as I watched Mason down yet another shot.  I had no idea what Mason’s tolerance was, but I had a feeling that Mason was about to get very drunk, very fast.  I had no idea what he was like when he was drunk and that scared me a bit. 

I looked at him and said, “Hey, don’t you think you’ve had enough?”  He shook his head and giggled before letting out a little hiccup.  He wrapped his arms around my waist before pulling me close to his body.  He suddenly leaned down and sloppily kissed me.

“You are so pretty, bebe!’  He giggled again, hiccupping once more.  His speech was a little slurred at this point and I knew he was starting to get drunk.  At that moment, I could feel his hand reaching for my breast, groping it, in the middle of the kitchen.  I didn’t like public displays of affection and he knew it.  He knew how much I hated inappropriate things like breast groping in public.  I got mad. 

“Stop that.”  I nearly growled and he chuckled at me. 

“C’mon loooosen up bebe!  We are at a party!”  He held his shot high in the air and then everyone around us started to cheer.  He took a round of shots with some of the guys in the kitchen and I got angry.  How could he act so crudely toward me?  Wasn’t I his girlfriend of four years?  Didn’t he know me better than that?  I couldn’t believe him.  If this was how he acted when he was drunk, I never wanted it to happen again.

At this point, I watched him move into the living room.  I stayed in the kitchen, the only place that was vaguely empty.  I just wanted to be alone at this point.  I wanted to go home, but I knew that Mason was in no condition to go home yet.  I would just have to wait things out.  I sat on one of the kitchen bar stools with my wine cooler in hand.  I could feel myself becoming a little tipsy, but I knew I was nowhere near Mason’s drunken state.

As I sat in the kitchen, by myself, I could hear a commotion coming from the living room.  The music was loud, but this was even louder.  It sounded like people were cheering.  All of a sudden I could hear the drunken chants of someone’s name. ‘Mason! Mason! Mason!’ I sighed loudly.  Prom night was supposed to be a magical night, but while I sat there alone in the kitchen all I could think about was how much of a lie that was. 

Eventually, my neighbor, Keith, found me in the kitchen.  He walked over to me.  To my surprise, I didn’t think he was drunk.  He just seemed like the same old Keith from across the street, always mellow, always calm. 

“Hey Addison, what are you doing here?  This is a scene I expect to see your sister, not you.”  Keith had always been able to tell my sister and me apart easily.  I had no idea how he did it, but he was even better than Mason at telling us apart. 

“Oh… well… Avery convinced me to come and Mason wanted to come too.”  I could tell my voice was low and hollow.  I sounded depressed, but I didn’t care.  I was miserable.  I just wanted to go home.

“Yeah… he’s quite the party animal, apparently.  At least, from what I’ve seen.  I didn’t know he had this side to him, but apparently he does.”  Keith sat next to me now.  He wasn’t the most handsome of guys, but he was sweet.  He was wise for his age, even though he was only a few years older than me.  He always seemed like an old man. 

“Yeah… me neither.  So, how come you aren’t drunk like every else, Keith?”  I asked, curiously.  It seemed like everyone besides myself was smashingly drunk. 

“Drinking isn’t really my thing.  I get horrible hangovers and it isn’t worth it to me.  I prefer to smoke.”  He said with a soft grin on his face.

“Cigarettes?”  I asked curiously. 

“Weed.”  He answered, plainly.  That explained a lot.  It explained why he was always so calm and mellow and that if he wasn’t, he had the munchies.  I nodded at him, in understanding, and he smiled. 

“You want some?  You seem a little tense.”  I shook my head.  I was the good girl, remember?  I couldn’t do
drugs
. 

“No thanks.  I think I should find Mason and head home.  It’s way past my bedtime.”  Keith chuckled at my statement. 

“What are you, eighteen?  Why do you still have a bedtime?”  He teased me lightly.

“Because sleep is good for you!  It keeps you healthy, you know.”  I smiled at him, hoping he would take my advice.  He nodded, watching me go. 

I decided to check the living room first since that was where I had heard the chanting.  I had no idea what I would find in there.  I tried to prepare myself for the worst but prayed for the best.  I walked in, and to my surprise, everyone was just dancing. It was like a mosh pit.  Everyone was grinding on each other.  Some people were two steps away from having sex on the couch.