Chapter 6

"Ava are you sure about this?" I ask as we're about to exit her car and go to Jordan's house.

"Ari you've asked me a million times already, you look amazing, stop being so self-conscious and enjoy yourself."

Getting ready was a nightmare. Ava was adamant on me wearing a revealing dress but that's just not my thing. I've always been body conscious, even though I've been told by several people that my body's fine I can't help it. Everyone has insecurities so, naturally, I do as well.

In the end, she won but I managed to get her to dial it down a bit. I'm wearing a tight, royal blue dress, with a low but not too low neckline, that goes to my mid-thigh. If Ava had it her way I'd be wearing an even tighter dress with a lower neckline and the bottom would barely cover my privates.

I think she just wants me to meet a new guy to get my mind off of James and have fun for one night but that's just not me. Yes, I'm trying new things but I'm only willing to go so far. I'm not going to change who I am.

As we get out of the car the stench of alcohol immediately hits my nose; it's extremely pungent and can be smelt from a mile away. In the garden some people have passed out on the grass, others are climbing trees half naked and one person has stripped to their birthday suit and is running around singing 'Hakuna Matata'. People do stupid things whilst drunk.

We step over the bodies — classy I know — and make our way to the already open door. We could hear the music from down the street so now that we're outside the open door it's deafeningly loud.

"You ready?" I hear Ava ask over all the noise.

I gulp. "As ready as I'll ever be." With that we both step over the threshold. Here I go, pray for me.

~*~*~

The night was kind of hazy. When we got inside Ava immediately got us some drinks. I don't really know how it happened because I'm usually responsible but one drink led to another and another and now here I am, drunk off my arse in a stuffy room full of horny teenagers. Smart I know but what can I say, I'm not perfect.

I know I'm drunk but to be honest I don't give a damn because it's making me feel better and easing the pain. What people say is true, you can drink away the pain, so that's what I did, all night long.

I gulp down another beer and I've never felt more alive, I should come to these things more often. With each sip, I feel myself slipping away from reality and all my troubles, it's almost like they don't matter anymore — let me tell you that's a great feeling.

Right now, I don't care about tomorrow, all I care about is the now and I'm going to make the most of it. Drinking really does make you feel like a whole new person, I feel like doing things I'd never do while sober.

With a red solo cup in my hand, I make my way to the middle of the dance floor and start to dance with everyone else. I can feel a few guys getting a little too close but I pay them no attention and just carry on doing my thing, letting the alcohol control my movements. No one — I repeat, no one — is going to ruin my night.

As the night presses on, my body is still buzzing from the alcohol and I don't intend to stop drinking any time soon. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Oliver and his girlfriend, Rebekah, motioning me to join them so I start to walk over to them.

"He-ey gu-yys," I slur.

They both give me a weird look. "Ari, how much have you had to drink?" Oliver asks, concern evident in his tone. Oliver has always been a very caring person; he always puts others before himself and I admire that about him. Rebekah is extremely lucky to have him but if I'm honest they're not a good couple. Don't get me wrong she's a lovely person but they just seem to clash horribly.

She's the only person who can ever piss Oliver off and he's usually in a bad mood after hanging out with her. They've been dating for two and a half years but I've no idea how they've lasted. Their relationship is toxic if you ask me. They're always arguing and shouting at one another and it seems as though they hate each other. I guess love and hate is a fine line that these two cross constantly.

They're great people on their own but when they're together all hell breaks loose, that's the best way I can describe it. I bet you they'll have had at least four different fights by the end of tonight, who knows how they're still together. Actually, I'm putting fifty on it right now, they're going to have at least four fights before the party is over.

"Not m- mu- much," I lie.

He gives me a stern look. It's like the look that your mum gives you — you know, that one look that makes you want to shit your pants and do whatever they say.

As well as 'the look', he also crosses his arms across his chest and says "Aurora Jasmine Kelly don't you dare lie to me," in a stern tone. He can be so scary when he wants to be and if you didn't know him you wouldn't suspect a thing because he seems so sweet and innocent. Sweet and innocent my arse.

"A lot," I give in.

He sighs in frustration. "Ari why? You're never one to be irresponsible, what happened?" The disappointment in his voice is impossible to ignore.

Great, just what I want, an expectation. It's like I can't do anything without people expecting more from me. Maybe I don't want to be responsible, maybe I just want to have fun. Why do I have to act a certain way? I feel so restricted all the time. That stops right now. I'm going to do what I want and right now what I want to to have fun at a party while being crazy drunk.

"None of your business," I snap a bit too harshly and storm off. I know he's just looking out for me but at the moment I don't want that. I just want to experience new things. I'll make mistakes and deal with the consequences accordingly. I'm living right now, so I'm going to enjoy it, I won't be seventeen forever.

As I'm storming through the house, I see some people beginning to form a circle, so, because I'm drunk off my arse, I join in.

I place myself between Chase and some girl from my year, I think her name is Kristie. Jordan has an empty beer bottle in his hands and proceeds to place it in the middle and spin it. It lands on Jessica — this should be interesting because as I've said she's a crazy party animal and has never turned down a dare. A sly smile forms on his face as he speaks. "You have one minute to turn someone on using just your lips."

Jess is immediately in action, she turns to the guy next to her, Brent I think, and proceeds to leave a trail of kisses and hickeys down his neck. She then carries on by bringing her mouth upwards, back up to his jaw before she smashes her lips to his in a fiery kiss. I try not to pay too much attention because I don't particularly want to see my friend making out with a guy she hardly knows.

Everyone starts the countdown, "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Fi–"

Jess pulls away, raising her hands in victory. She's good. She then sends Jordan a smirk and spins the bottle before grabbing Brent's wrist and leading him upstairs. I'm not even going to think about what they're going to do.

I notice Jordan frown but he quickly covers it by paying attention to the bottle which is slowing down. I'm not too sure about all the details but I do know something has been going on between those two for years. Jordan was probably expecting her to choose him but alas that didn't happen. They have this weird relationship, sometimes they're arguing and bickering, the next they're chatting like normal friends and then they're touching each other like there's no tomorrow. I think it's some sort of friends with benefits relationship but I don't know if it's anything more than that.

The bottle lands on Kristie — the girl next to me — and she's dared to strip to her underwear and lather her body in whipped cream. Yep, I'm not joking, glad I didn't get that one.

The game continues in this fashion and let me tell you, it was downright hilarious. Jordan ended up swapping clothes — including underwear — with this girl called Hannah, who's about a foot shorter than him, not to mention the fact that she was wearing an extremely tight and short hot pink dress.

Max had to hump the floor for five minutes straight, in his underwear, whilst making erotic noises. Chase got his chest waxed — I know, that one was just plain horrid. I girl I knew vaguely, Jenny, did a striptease for everyone before actually shedding all of her clothes — she's probably even more drunk than me — and dragging Max away, let's not imagine what happened there. A lot more has happened and the games not even over yet, luckily I haven't had a turn yet.

The bottle lands on me. Fuck. I jinxed it.

"Finally Ari," Jessica smirks — yes she's back, that's how long we've been playing for. I hope she goes easy on me because I'm new to all of this. "I won't make this too bad," thank heavens. "I dare you to make out with the next person who walks past for five minutes." FIVE FUCKING MINUTES?!?! I can't do that.

"Um, well-" I begin, trying to come up with an excuse.

"Come on Ari, don't tell us you're going to be boring and not do it," a random person from the game speaks out.

There it was again boring. I'm not boring. I'll do this. I'll show them, I'm the most fun and reckless person out there.

I stand up, dusting off the non-existent dust from my dress. "Let's make it ten," I smirk at Jess, before turning my head, waiting for someone to walk past. It doesn't take long before someone does.

I walk up to them, confidence oozing from my figure, strange I never usually have any confidence especially in a situation like this. Thank the lord for alcohol.

I tap the guy on the shoulder, he has dark hair and would be about a foot taller than me if it weren't for my heels. When he turns around I don't waste a second, I immediately smash my lips to his and kiss him with such force and passion. It takes him a few moments to realise what happening but when he does he returns my kiss with equal vigour.

His tongue slides inside my mouth, exploring every inch of it. His hands find themselves on my waist as he pulls me closer. He's clearly a fuck boy I mean why else would you kiss a random girl that you've never met before.

His hands drop down to my thighs and he hoists me up so my legs circle his waist. We move backwards until my back is pressed against a wall and when it is he deepens the kiss even more if that's possible.

I can't believe I'm saying this but he's a better kisser than James, like a lot better. I guess that's a good thing, it means that I'll find someone better than him. Wait, why am I thinking about him? The whole point of this was to let loose and have fun.

I push my thoughts to one side and focus all of my attention back into the kiss. I've been counting the minutes and I know it has been ten but I don't want to stop. I like this feeling of doing random and spontaneous things. I'm doing what I want and right now that's making out with this guy–even though I haven't a clue what he looks.

He starts to lead me to a closet, not once breaking our lips. A rush of excitement blasts through my body. I want this.

Ari, you can stop now, a voice in my head tells me gently but almost in alarm, snapping me out of my daze.

Wait. What am I doing? Why am I making out with a random guy? This is not me, I never do things like this. Alcohol can really mess with your senses, I know that's bad but I kind of like it — just acting on impulse without thought of consequence, it's exhilarating. However, I know this isn't right, I abruptly pull away from the guy and run away, refusing to look back or make eye contact.

I make my way back to the circle and everyone cheers my name. "Wow Ari, I never thought you'd have it in you, nice one," Jess says and a few others murmur in agreement. To be honest, I don't know what came over me. I wasn't thinking straight and the alcohol must really be affecting me.

We carry on with the game and some time later — I've no clue how long — we finally stop. I have to admit I had a lot of fun, I should come to parties more often.