"Hey. Let's get out of here." I nervously look around and feel so out of place.

It's a little after midnight and there are so many people here. Everyone dresses like they're at a club including Liz, except me. I look down at my outfit--long cardigan over a simple dress--and I feel extremely overdressed. 

I don't belong here. I want to crawl back into my warm comfy bed and finish the book I was reading.

This kind of setting usually makes me anxious: loud, crowded, messy and fill with mostly drunken people. What makes me feel the most uneasy is intoxicated people--they're not clear minded and can't be reasoned with in case they get out of control.

My cautiousness kicks in even though nothing bad has happened yet. Typical.

"Are you crazy?! We just got here. It took me almost an hour to persuade you to go to this house party with me. No. We are staying." Liz is frustrated with me. "Look. How about you try to give it half an hour or so before you decide on hating it."

Shaking her head and sighing, she continues, "I still can't believe this is your first party. Come on, let's have some fun! You do know how to have fun don't you?"

Liz, short for Elizabeth, is my roommate. We've known each other since middle school and even decided to go to the same university.

"Of course, I do! Maybe just not the kind of fun you're thinking of..." I try to defend myself.

What's wrong with reading books and watching movies for fun?

Even though Liz and I are best friends, we can be total opposites; she loves experiencing new things and wants to make her college experience as worthwhile as she can while I would be content simply going to class and getting good grades. I have never cared for alcohol, parties, drugs, or anything people my age are usually curious about and want to experiment with. I try to stay away from things that could lead to unwanted results. For instance, drinking too much alcohol leads to vomiting and a splitting headache the next day. No, thank you.

As I follow Liz deeper into the crowd, weaving around people is quite a challenge in itself. Liz looks back at me and asks, "What do you want to drink?"

"Water. Thanks."

"Are you serious?" She gives me an incredulous look. "We. Are. At. A. Party. And you want a water? How are we even best friends? No. I'm getting you a drink. A real drink. You're 19 now, you definitely need to try at least one drink."

"I don't think age has anything to do with it since you're 18 and you've been drinking since you were 16."

She ignores me and goes to grab us drinks. She comes back a few minutes later handing me a plastic red cup while she holds a similar one in her other hand. I look inside the cup skeptically. "Do I have to? It smells gross." I make a face.

"Stop being a baby and try it! It's just Gatorade and vodka."

I sigh. Feeling resigned, I take a sip and choke. "Ugh. That's disgusting! Sorry, but I don't know how you drink this stuff."

Liz rolls her eyes. "You're probably the only one who thinks that. Everyone around you is chugging it down like water."

"Okay. So I have special taste-buds that can't stand the taste of alcohol. Sue me." I laugh. At that moment, someone bumps into me, again, for what seems like the tenth time and makes me realize that it is getting more cramped. "Let's go to another spot. I can barely move around here and it sucks screaming at you every time I want to say something." I recognize some old classic remixes being played in the background.

"We can go outside for a bit then."

"Didn't you say you were meeting someone here tonight?" I ask once we make it out into the fresh, yet slightly chilly October air.

"Oh yeah. I'm meeting Nick here, the guy from Psych class that I've been telling you about. I think he's bringing a friend." Her voice holds a tone of implication when she says the word friend. Suddenly, she waves to someone behind me. "Speak of the devil. Hey! Over here!" She yells.

I turn to see two guys coming toward us. It is a good thing that we are not inside or else they would have a hard time finding us--me being 5 feet and Liz being 5 feet 2.

"Have you guys been here long?" Nick asks with a smile.

"Not really. Maybe 45 minutes." Liz gestures to me and says, "This is my best friend, Anna-Mae. Anna-Mae, this is Nick."

"Hi." I smile.

"Hi." He smiles back and gestures to the guy standing next to him. "And this is my friend, Jason. Jason, meet Elizabeth and Anna-Mae.

Liz and I lift our hands as a way of greeting him and he smiles and nods in acknowledgment. Nick and Jason look to be a couple inches under 6 feet. Both have brown hair but Jason's is slightly darker. Nick seems easy going while Jason is somewhat tense. Maybe he doesn't like party scenes like me.

"I'm gonna go and get a beer." Nick is about to turn to leave when Liz asks him to get her a jungle juice. "Sure thing."

After Nick leaves, Jason decides to follow. He looks at me. "I'm gonna get a beer as well. Do you also want another drink?"

I look at the cup in my hand that is still full and laugh. "No. Thank you. I have yet to finish this one."

Liz interjects, "Yes! Please get her a jungle juice. She might like this one since it has more stuff mix into it."

I give her a doubtful look.

"So...what do you think?" Liz nudges my shoulder after Jason leaves.

"About what?"

"Jason." She gives me the duh look.

"He seems nice."

"And?"

"And what?" I laugh, unclear as to what she wants me to say.

"What do you mean and what? Aren't you a little bit interested? He's cute."

I laugh again. "Liz! I just met him. I won't know if I'm interested until I get to know him better."

"Well then, are you interested in getting to know him better?" She asks slowly.

"Hmmm. I really don't know Liz. We just started our first year of college and..." I stop mid-sentence since Nick and Jason are coming toward us with our drinks.

And...I'm just not ready.

Jason hands me the drink and I wiggle my small nose. "It doesn't look or smell any better than the first drink."

The guys laugh and Jason says, "It's actually not that bad. Give it a try. You might like it."

He is wrong. I do not like it. At least this time, I manage to keep it down instead of choking and making a fool of myself.

We are all having a good time and laughing at something that Nick says when Liz interrupts, "Hey. Let's go inside. My teeth are starting to chatter."

"I'm surprised you're finally feeling the cold. I've been cold and I have more layers on than you." I comment as I pour my first drink into the grass and put the empty cup under my second one.

"Why didn't you guys say anything?" Jason asks. "We would've gone in sooner had we known. Let's go then."

We manage to squeeze through the tight crowd and find a spot to dance since it would be too difficult trying to have a conversation with the music blasting. As we start dancing, the feeling of uneasiness comes back.

I look over at Liz and she's having a great time with Nick. Our eyes lock and she shouts, "Are you having fun?"

"Yes!" I yell back and give her a small smile. I can't bring myself to say no and have her eyes tell me that I'm being a debbie downer.

I try my best to ignore it but I just can't seem to enjoy myself. The tight group of people, the loud music, the smell of booze, the smell of sweats, the feeling of Jason grinding right behind me--the combination seems to suffocate me.

After enduring what appears to be the longest 15 minutes of my life, I slowly edge myself out toward the entrance to get some fresh air. As I'm making my way to the exit, I realize I'm still holding on to the drink I've barely touched and can't find any trash can around to properly throw it away. I figure I can just empty it into the yard later.

When I get to the doorframe, someone bumps forcefully into me, knocking my drink onto the person on the other side of me. The whole contents of my drink lands on the front of that person's jacket and the shirt underneath.

"Oh my gosh! I am so so sorry!" I yell over the loud music as my eyes widen in shock. I am so embarrassed that I don't even know what to do next. I quickly look around to see if there's something, anything at all, to help salvage the situation but none appears.

I'm in big trouble.

The guy in front of me is towering over me and making me feel even smaller. He is at least 6' with a lean build. I mentally prepare myself to get yelled at or even get beat up.

I stand there, slightly trembling. I knew going to this party was a bad idea.

Surprisingly, the person facing me looks as though he's only somewhat agitated. He examines the front of his clothes with one hand while the other one pinches the bridge of his perfectly straight nose. He looks at me with a lack of concern and indifferently walks out the door.

The guy next to him, with 2 earrings on one ear and 4 on the other, follows him out as I chase after the both of them. "Wait!"

Ahead of me, Mr. Earrings, calls out to his friend. "Mateo. Wait up, man. Aren't you gonna make her pay for that?"

So Mateo is his name.

"No, it's fine. I'm tired. I don't want to deal with anymore drama tonight." Mateo responds nonchalantly as he keeps walking without a backward glance.

"Wait. Please wait." My short legs couldn't keep up with their long ones. "Please let me pay for your clothes. It was all my fault."

"Just forget it. Erin, hurry up. I wanna get out of these clothes ASAP."

"Dude. Let her pay. That's your favorite jacket and it wasn't cheap." Erin insists.

"Yes. Please. I feel so bad for dumping my drink on you. It's the least I can do or I would feel terrible about it for days." I pathetically beg and hope he will let me pay or my guilt will eat me alive.

Mateo slows down and turns. "So you have a $1,000.00 on you? And that's just the jacket."

"A thou...What?" I am shocked.

Is he serious? No way!

He takes his jacket off and hands it to me. "Here. It's pretty much ruined anyway. See if you can get the stain out, if not, just throw it away."

My mind is still slowly processing everything while female voices call out Mateo and Erin's names far behind me.

I am about to turn back to see who they are when Erin laughs and jokingly says, "Here comes your crazy girlfriend."

"I think you mean your girlfriends!" Mateo says with emphasis on the "s" at the end of girlfriend, and with more annoyance than when I dropped my drink on him. "Let's get out of here."

I stand there holding his dirtied jacket while they get in their fancy car and drive away.

What really just happened? My mind is in a haze.

An interesting name with a captivating calm voice belonging to a beautifully handsome face. Am I drunk after having two sips of alcohol?

So so sorry to do this again…

But after re-reading the chapters, I didn’t like them. The flow wasn’t great, the characters weren’t great, the story was bland…

So I’ve decided to rewrite it again for the third time…this time, I can promise that when I DO post, the quality of the story will be the same as my other books.

Thank you for your patience :)

Okay guys…

This might be the last message until the issue is fixed…

But I’m not planning on updating anything on this site anymore. They don’t respond to my request about deleting certain chapters to be re-uploaded and this is a big problem for me. One of my books might publish soon and I will need to take some stuff down due to publishing legalities and if they’re don’t follow my request, then it’s gonna be an issue—one I’m not willing to waste my time on.

So if you want updates on this story, which is and will be updating regularly now, just go over to w-a-t-t-p-a-d or I-n-k-i-t-t and support me there. Everything will be under the same name, Haylie Bee, and same titles. I might put my stories on d-r-e-a-m-e at some point too. Hope to see you guys there!

Love you all for all the support for the past few years! Thank you! ❤️😘❤️😘