Twelve
Javier
I was trying my best to have fun at the party, but Diane was being a bit of a nuisance.
It wasn't like she was drunk, she refused to ever have a sip of alcohol because she believed the police would start banging on her front door the moment a drop touched her lips.
She was starting to annoy me because she kept bugging me about other things, when all I cared to do was look for Elias.
I had seen him earlier when he and his friends arrived at the party, and for some reason I felt inclined to go up to him.
I decided against it and kept my distance because I was supposed to be having fun with my girlfriend, not chasing down a guy who hated me.
So, I tried to enjoy my time with my girlfriend and forget about my rival.
Unfortunately for me, he was currently living rent free in my mind and I could not evict him no matter how much I tried.
"Javier!" Diane shouted as she tugged on my arm with force. When she finally grabbed my attention, she sighed. "Where is your head out? We are supposed to be having fun."
Because you aren't my priority right now.
"I'm sorry, baby," I yelled over the music. It was the only way to communicate with the way the music was blaring in our ears.
Tonight was supposed to be a night where I could get my mind off of Elias Richardson.
He wasn’t supposed to be at this party. That would have made it easy for me to get lost in the drunken chaos that was the party.
I realized my plan would not go the way I thought it would when Elias strolled through the front door.
Naturally, I wondered where he was for the majority of the night.
So, when I noticed Benji leading him somewhere, it piqued my interest. When they moved too far away to where I couldn't see them, I subtly moved myself and Diane closer. It was easy, all I had to do was scoot to the side in my dancing. Diane followed along, just happy to be dancing with me.
I was simply looking out for a friend even though I wasn’t sure that Benji had ill intentions.
He presented a really chill guy to everyone, a ‘go with the flow’ type of person.
I believed it too, but the way he was acting with Eli did not sit right with me.
I just wanted to see where they were going, then I would leave Eli alone.
I watched as Benji shooed off one kid who was resting on the couch. The guy didn't look happy, but seeing as this was Benji's party he got up without any arguing.
All of a sudden a red solo appeared in Benji’s hand.
I had been watching him the entire time and I did not see him pick it up, which raised a ton of questions and concerns for me.
He was nowhere near where the liquor was being served, so he had to have had that cup stashed somewhere.
Right? If that was the case, what special drink was he serving Eli?
The more I watched, the more it seemed like Benji was going to offer it to Elias.
That was when I knew that I needed to step in, no more waiting on the sidelines watching scenes unfold.
Anybody with sight could see how wasted Elias was, so who in their right mind would think that it was okay to give him more ?
The only thing that should have been in that cup was water, but I would bet money that was not what it was.
I made a move toward him, but I was stopped by a tight grip on my wrist.
"Where are you going?" she asked, a slight pout on her face. She had stopped dancing altogether and stood in front of me idly.
I resisted a heavy sigh. The clock was ticking and my time was being wasted by Diane. I knew she just wanted to spend time with me, but there was something potentially dangerous about to happen and I needed to intervene.
I pointed to Benji and Elias. "Over there. I'll be right back."
She folded her arms angrily. "To Elias? Why?"
"I need to do something, let me go."
She stared at me, dumbfounded. I was not giving her much information, so she had every right to be upset with me for walking off.
Had I thought I had the time, I would lay it out for her.
Unfortunately for her, I was in a time crunch and if that meant angering her in the process, so be it. I would only be gone a second.
"If you walk away right now, I'll get a ride home from Poppy," she gritted through her teeth. Poppy was a friend of hers that was at the party too. We were with her and a couple of Diane’s other friends at first, but we got split apart a while ago.
If this were anyone else I was trying to get to then I could guarantee Diane wouldn’t have a huge problem.
For example, if I was trying to move through the sea of people to get to my friend Paxton, Diane wouldn’t complain about it.
She would follow me over there without a word and have issues at all.
This was just because it was Eli sitting there and not someone else.
She recently started having a problem any time I mentioned Eli.
It wasn’t that I mentioned him often, but sometimes he would come up in conversation.
When he did, her eyebrows would knit and her eyes would roll.
She would go quiet and brush off anything I had to say that he was a part of.
I couldn’t figure out why and my girlfriend refused to tell me.
Fed up with her unnecessary hostility toward my rival, I pulled my arm from her grasp. I looked her dead in the eye. "Don't let Poppy leave without you."
I couldn't be bothered to care about Diane at that moment, she was irrelevant.
It was terrible of me to say that about my girlfriend, but it was truly how I felt.
I loved her, but she tended to get upset over little things and accept no solution to the problem.
Nothing ticked me off more than miscommunications and refusal to attempt to work it out.
Diane and I had an off and on relationship, as much as I hated to admit it.
Things would get so tense and stressful that the best solution was to take a break.
After some time apart, we would get together again.
I would tell myself that I was not going to keep repeating the cycle, but I had yet to stand ground on my word.
Our breakups were always private because we did not believe anyone else should know what troubles we were having with each other.
It was a bit difficult to keep our arguments on the down low with us being well-liked at school, and Diane made it no better by visibly having a problem with me at school.
Still, we did our best to keep others away.
No one knew just how often we would break up and get back together.
I couldn’t make it across the room fast enough.
Once I did, I took a seat in the empty space next to Eli.
Benji’s head whipped to the side and his eyes narrowed at me, but I made no effort to move.
In fact, I sat up straight and crossed my leg to make myself extra comfortable.
I was not going to let him scare me off.
"I don't think he needs that," I said calmly. "He's already pretty drunk."
"It’s water," Benji said with clear irritation. He turned to Eli and put on a kind smile. “Just a couple of sips, Eli.”
Elias’ upper body swayed back and forth as he hummed happily. If we were in any other situation, I probably would have laughed at how funny it was. However, now was not the time to be laughing.
I put a hand on Elias' arm and carefully pulled him closer to me. He didn't seem to notice. "Why don't you drink it, Benji?"
Benji’s jaw clenched and I began to see a crease form in his forehead. "What are you implying?"
"Nothing," I said coolly. "I just want to know why you won't drink it. You said it yourself, it’s only water.”
Benji huffed just as hard as the Big Bad Wolf trying to blow down the little pigs’ house. It took him a minute to figure out how he wanted to proceed. With a forceful grunt, he stood up and left. Benji disappeared into the crowd without another word or glance.
I didn't know Benji personally in the slightest, but what I had heard about him did not make me think that he would be capable of attempting something so sick and twisted on anyone. I did not know anything for sure, but the situation did not look good on Benji's part.
Though, there were other possible explanations.
I knew that Benji was friends with Eli’s brother, so he most likely spent a lot of time with him.
Maybe that was why he was trying to give Elias more to drink, because he and Easton thought that it would be funny to watch.
It was simply a weird and potentially harmful older sibling prank.
His and Elias’ relationship seemed a bit tense from an outsider perspective, so I could definitely see Easton orchestrating that.
So maybe it was Easton and Benji being a little too immature. Or maybe Benji really had only water.
"I really want Waffle House," Elias slurred before letting out an obnoxious giggle. I couldn't help but laugh with him as I felt butterflies in my stomach. He was cute when he was drunk.
He was cute all of the time, actually.
"Where's your friends?" I asked. He shrugged loosely, and I wasn't even sure if he heard and understood my question.
I knew that I couldn't leave him alone, he was not in the right state of mind to be by himself. And on the off chance that he was not as inebriated as he presented, the thought of him being alone with his guard down made my jaw tighten and fists clench.
I stood him up as best I could and we weaved through the crowd of sweaty drunk people.
He was able to walk with assistance, but his steps were very shaky and clumsy.
We stumbled together as I actively searched for any one of the people that I normally saw Eli hanging around at school.
I was also keeping an eye out for his brother, but I figured Eli would rather me bring to his friends than Easton.