•Chapter 18•
"Ryder! You made it!" I instantly hear the annoying, high pitched sound of Natalie's voice as soon as we step foot in her huge house.
I look around at the atmosphere of the party and realize the house is packed. The pounding beat of the music makes it feel like Natalie's hardwood floors are shaking right beneath my feet.
Natalie runs up to Ryder and gives him a tight hug. After a couple of seconds, she releases him and slowly turns towards me. As soon as she sees me, her wide smile drops and changes to a grimace. "What the hell are you doing here?" She snaps.
"Why don't you ask Ryder?" I say, putting a small smile on my face.
Natalie turns towards Ryder and raises her eyebrows. "Did you invite her here?"
"Uh, yeah..." Ryder mumbles, shoving his hands in his jean pockets.
"Why?!" Natalie yells in anger.
"I'm gonna go get a drink." Ryder changes the subject, patting Natalie on the shoulder before walking past her and into another area of the house.
Once Ryder is gone, Natalie growls and shoots me a glare before storming off into another part of the house.
Let's just face it. She was probably just mad because my dress was prettier than hers.
I walk off into another direction of the house. I barely even knew where I was going because the entire surface of the house was covered in dancing, intoxicated teenagers. I push my way through the people and sigh when I realize I have nothing to do.
"Riley!" I heard someone call from a few feet away.
I turn to my right to see a girl that went to my school and was in my grade. Her name was Ellie Watson. I've never actually had any problems with her as a person, but since I sometimes see her associating with Natalie, I come to the conclusion that I don't like her. Anyone that associates with Natalie is most likely someone I don't like.
I watch as Ellie walks over to me with a bright smile, holding two red cups which most likely have alcohol in them. "Hey!" She exclaims.
"Uh, hi." I mumble, giving Ellie a weird look.
"Isn't it your birthday too?" Ellie asks, pointing to me with an index finger.
"Uh, yeah. It is my birthday." She's probably like, only the third person out of the whole junior class other than Alec and Ryder who's realized that it's my birthday too, and not only Natalie's.
"Well, Happy Birthday!"
"Thanks," I say with a small smile.
"I never really see you at any of Natalie's parties. What brings you here?" She asks curiously.
"Oh, just... came here with someone." I state, slowly nodding my head.
"Ah," Ellie says with interest, nodding her head. "You wanna drink?" Ellie asks, but before I get the chance to say no, she thrusts the cup in my hands.
"Natalie's parties are a lot of fun! I'll see you around!" She ecstatically says before walking off into another direction of the house.
"Okay..." I trail even though she's already gone.
I peer inside the red cup that Ellie gave me, already knowing that it was some type of alcohol by the way it fizzed. I brought the cup up to my nose and sniffed it, the smell alone making me cringe.
I take a few hesitating seconds before bringing the cup to my lips and taking a small sip of the drink. I cringe as the immensely strong tasting drink travels down my throat.
I raise my eyebrows at the interesting taste and take a few more small sips before ultimately downing the whole cup.
That was my first official drink of alcohol, and it was quite interesting. I could already feel a relaxed change in my mood out of that one cup.
I shrug my shoulders and continue to push myself through the intoxicated teens, making my way to the kitchen. Once I'm finally in the kitchen, I notice there are some people communicating around the kitchen, and there are some people making around the kitchen. I wasn't surprised, it was teenage house party, what more could you expect? When my eyes land on a counter that holds a stack of red cups and various types of alcoholic drinks, I walk over to the counter and help myself to a cup of... whatever I was pouring.
I quickly down the whole cup and walk out of the kitchen.
•••
So... throughout the party, time was lost, and I don't know how or exactly when it happened, but one cup of alcohol soon turned into what it seemed to be about fourteen of fifteen cups...
Pretty shameful, I know. But that's just the power of alcohol. Once you first try one cup, you feel more relaxed, and then you're instantly hooked. And after that, the only thing you want to do is have drink after drink.
Although I hated Natalie, after so many cups of drinks, the party actually started to get fun. I was starting to loosen up, and feel the actual joy of the party.
Ellie even asks me to dance with her. So after a couple minutes of oblivious dancing with Ellie amongst the tightly packed room of people, I decided to sit down and take a break.
I stumble over to one of the couches in the living room and collapse down into it. I take one more large gulp of what seems to be my sixteenth cup of alcohol before putting the cup down on the hardwood floor.
Although being drunk felt like you were more relaxed, it actually made you feel pretty sick too. I honestly feel like I'm going to puke in a matter of seconds. My vision is kind of blurry, and my brain is fuzzy in some kind of way. I pull my hand up to my forehead as the room begins to spin. I blink a few times to steady my blurry vision, and in a matter of a couple seconds, the room stops spinning and I'm able to control my vision again.
I let out a small sigh before looking around the room. I scan my eyes along all the dancing teens before my eyes land on Ryder, who is just sitting on top of the kitchen counter, calmly watching everyone at the party.
After hazily looking at Ryder for a couple of seconds, a small smirk pulls at my lips before I get up from the couch and walk in the direction of the kitchen.
Once I'm in the kitchen, Ryder looks at me and his eyes slowly widen. "You're drunk, aren't you?" He asks in a calm, yet unbelievable tone.
"Yup," I say, popping the 'p' before adding a giggle.
"Riley—"
"Come on!" I exclaim before grabbing Ryder by the wrist and forcibly removed him from the kitchen counter.
I drag Ryder out of the kitchen and navigate my way to the stairs. I pull Ryder with me up the stairs and down the long hallway of the second floor.
"Where are we—"
"Shh," I interject, bringing my index finger up to my lips.
Ryder furrows his eyebrows before I open a random door. I look inside to see the door I opened was to a really huge room with a king sized bed. It wasn't decorated with any stupid sparkles or glitter, or I assume it's not Natalie's room. I pull Ryder inside the room and slam the door behind me.
"Um, Riley—" I interrupt Ryder by suddenly draping my arms over Ryder's shoulders and crashing my lips onto his.
Ryder responds by kissing me back, but after like, two seconds, Ryder reaches back to grab my wrists so he can remove them from his shoulders. Once my arms are removed from his shoulders, he pulls away from me. "Riley what are you doing?" Ryder asks.
I giggle in amusement and step closer to Ryder. Ryder backs away, but I continue to walk towards him, and he continues to back away until his legs hit the bed and he stumbles onto it.
"Come on, Ryder. You know deep down inside that you want this," I challenge, my words coming out in slurs as I slip my hands underneath Ryder's white t-shirt and graze them along his abs.
"Riley, this is the alcohol talking. You need to stop." He says, removing my hands from underneath his t-shirt.
I let out a small groan and stomp my foot on the hardwood floor. "You're no fun," I say in an annoyed tone before I start giggling again.
Ryder gives me a weird look before slowly lifting himself off the bed and standing to his feet. I look at Ryder for a few more seconds before I realize my stomach starts to bubble in a weird way. My face scrunched up and I hold my stomach, knowing for a fact that I was about to puke.
"Riley?" Ryder asks, giving me a concerned look. "Are you okay?"
I slowly shake my head before running towards the door. I sling the door open and run down the long hallway, trying to find the nearest bathroom. I look in each other the rooms before my eyes finally land on a toilet. I storm into the bathroom and sit down on the tiled floor, straddling the toilet just in time to... you know... puke.
After my stomach is done emptying itself, I don't feel any less sick that I was before. I sit there for a few more seconds before placing my hands on the floor to lift myself to my feet.
I walk into the hallway to see Ryder standing outside the bathroom. He looks at me with concern as I walk out. "Are you okay?" He asks.
"Uh..." I trail, lifting my hand to my forehead as I feel the room spin once again. My vision then becomes blurry, and blurrier, and blurrier, until I slowly close my eyes, everything goes black, and I collapse onto the floor.
_