Chapter 8

The crunch of gravel crackled callously.

The headlights flared up my bedroom walls, through my blinds, and my stomach knotted into an endless pit. Butterflies flickered in my gut, brushing gently against my stomach and climbing toward my hammering heart. Taking a deep breath, I let a shuttering sigh slip through my teeth before heading downstairs.

As soon as I shut the passenger door  and buckled in Nick was racing his fancy "mommy bought me a new sports car" down the road.

"Slow down." I snap at him, lifting my arm up to the dashboard in front of me: threatening any oncoming cars with a face-full of wind. Today was not the day I wanted to get in a car crash. Maybe another day, perhaps the day I get married to someone I didn't love.

He decreases his speed by ten miles and I relax only slightly.

"You know, I don't even know you. You could kill me in a blink of an eye if you wished it."

"I'm a safe driver." He states, and continues down the road in silence. "Do you want ice-cream before we go?" Way to lift the awkward silence and change the subject.

You want to kill me and make it up to me with ice cream? What kind of dip-

"Make your decision." He snaps, slowing the car to a complete stop in the center of the road. When I don't answer he continues to the next intersection, "Is that a no?"

"Yes."

"So you do want ice cream?"

"No."

"Why didn't you say so?" he continues forward, and I let my arm drop, he was driving at the required speed limit. The stores stand idle side by side, like spectators of a disaster. My eyes watched them back, waiting for something to happen to them at the same time. When nothing was happening- or nothing interesting- I sat in the car and waited. I waited for approximately another fifteen minutes before we reached a large gateway to a mansion. The large black-lacy gates swung open, the swirls extending in webs and curving around the top of the gate. They looked newly polished and in the center of the gateway were the initials: LB.

"We are renting this place for tonight, you should feel special." Nick rolls his window back up, after pressing a red button and speaking with someone. We continue along the pathway up the mountain. Solid concrete, like pavement, gripped to the little cars wheels. When the roundabout came into view it was prominent that a lot of people would be at this thing Nick had planned. It was like prom without the teenagers. Most of the people coming out of the cars were either really old or in their fifties.

"Are we the only people who actually have non-wrinkled skin?" I try to lighten the mood, wanting my date to lighten up but I find that he is just as idle as the stores we passed by.

He says nothing.

Well then.

We park along the side of the road and continue up the pathway to the large mansion. It has a large square front and a wide porch that has stairs stretching up along its front. We race up the steps, and I almost manage to fall at the last possible moment- but I catch myself- and continue on my way.

Nick, with his fitted suit, stops for a moment to talk to two elderly people, a woman and a man- most likely a married couple. They both had dark hair that curled around their ears and down to the shoulders. The elderly man's hair was slicked back while the woman's was curled toward her cheeks. The man had a red tie, to match the woman's red slim-fit dress. As I watched form the front entrance of the building- letting a couple people pass me by with diligence. They both look up from Nick's form, and smile at me. The smiles are forced, the corners of the lips rising but the eyes dead and judging. I know, by a small movement of the woman's index finger, that they want me to come greet them.

They must be important.

"Eris." Nick wraps his left arm around my waist and I was surprised that he would make such a bold move. "These are my parents."

Of course they are, you want to make a good impression? I could ruin that real easily, my friend.

I extend my left arm to the father and then to the mother, each of them taking my hand and introducing them to me as: Gregory Renford and Sara Renford.

"Nice to meet you." My lips could only manage a whisper. I wished that my mouth would form words and stop its nervous babbling: I was supposed to be loud and obnoxious.

"Right, well, Eris- you look beautiful- and Nick, my son, go have some fun!" The mother's green eyes stare coldly at her son and trying to be warm-hearted to me. The only message I got from those eyes was: You are no-good for my son, he does not deserve a slimly little dirtbag like you.

Yay me: confidence builder.

"Come on." Nick takes my elbow and drags me inside. I could tell he felt bad about something- or at the very least: something was on his mind- but I could not quite put my finger on what.

When we reached the center of the large front room of the mansion I was astonished by how many people were there. Most ad large goofy masks on, and others had half-on-half-off makeup. I had no such thing, and my first reaction was that I was way out of place in the crowd. Large speakers were set up in all four corners of the room, and the music was not teenage-twerk music, but not ancient bingo-music. It was early 21st century mix and everyone seemed to be enjoyed the environment that was displayed. A large chandelier was hanging in crystal fragments above our heads, and large tiled centerpiece displayed the initials: LB.

"Who lives here?" I leaned over to ask Nick, but he seems preoccupied with a girl wearing tight red shorts, stripped red crop top and sunglasses to hide her face while pulling her bleach-blonde hair out of her way. I was suddenly jealous, and again- out of place with my large princess dress the color of gold.

"Can you get me a martini?" Nick taps her shoulder and she turns around expectantly. Her lips pucker, and then her eyes glaze over, "Anything for you pumpkin."

After placing a large red-lipstick kiss on his cheek she twirls past him- not even noticing my presence or his left arm that was still intertwined with mine. I wanted to call her all types of nasty names- to turn her into a frog or a small non-venomous snake, but knew better than that.

"I'm sorry my parents have horrible taste in parties, I really wish I could have gone to the movies- but I had a feeling that would be looked down upon.

I lean in to Nick, so he can hear me when I shout. "I think it would have been worth it." I joke, but he turns his poker face back on when I see that he has made eye contact with a total stranger in the midst of a large crowd of dancing old people.

"I'll be right back." He says, "There is water at eth side tables over there." He points to the side of the mansion front rooms, next to each of the sides (left and right wings) are two foldable tables covered in a red plaid tablecloth. Nick, once I turn back to tell him I would go to the left one, was already gone. I leave without him, and decide this is my chance to take a break from craziness.

Lifting a red solo cup, I press down a button to pour some water from a water dispenser. It fills quickly, and just as soon as I filled it- I finished it.

"That poor solo cup. It is being used for other people's commerce- will it be tossed away later?"

A figure, just a few inches taller than me, steps in my view from the view of bodies against bodies. He lets his hand out and I note the bone structure and the veins that run up his tan skin till it reaches his suit coat. I stop my eye from roaming any farther because at the borderline of his coat was an inscription of the initials: LB, in gold thread.

"I wonder how many cups we use in a day, which we could have used for months on end. But the human race, and the generically off-species of the human race, continue to use and re-use different cups. Why do you think that is?" His hand reaches for my cup and I instinctively pull away.

"I guess that means I need to make the best out of this one cup." Keeping my gaze lowered I fill my cup up once more, and take another long exaggerated sip. My tongue retracts in the very next instant, and I end up burbling the substance out of my mouth in bellows of mist. It was red, and it tasted awful.

In fits of laughter the man starts to hunch over, when he does I was met with a face full of long shaggy, dark, hair. Form the top of his forehead and down I could see the sharp framing of his face and the wrinkles around his eyes grow deeper. His face starts to turn a light shade of pink and soon he was toppled even farther to his knees till he is gasping to breath. Each little breath was a wheeze and another laughing fit. I wanted to help him back up- mostly because people were staring and I probably had wine all over my dress- but I was afraid if I touched this man I would have to pay a fine.

When he finishes his laughter and manages to stand, I gather the looks from the crowd of elderly people. Women fawned and men  snarled at our behavior- or at least LB's behavior.

He gave himself a check-over and a long huff of an exhausted sigh then he patted me on the left shoulder, his black eyes penetrating my every move with curiosity. "You are very silly." He states, as he takes the cup from my hands and takes a sip of the wine.

I mistook water, for wine.

"Oh, Eris Meyer, you are a silly girl. I have heard much about you- mostly all of the 'evil' and 'horrible' things you have done, and when I heard you would be at my party so I couldn't resist myself. Forgive me, but you are a very kind young lady aren't you?"

I swallowed my spit and stood as tall as I could, trying to pretend I could not see the little specks of wines droplets I had made on his tanned face. "I'm sorry." I gesture to his face, but look down at my red solo cup he has in his hands.

"Why are you sorry?" he whispers to me, and for some reason I could hear him over the music, which was playing James Bay's "Let it Go".

When I look up into his face, he leans in closer: as if he was about to tell me a secret of some kind. I was really interested in the secret for a second, and I lean in as well. "I...I got wine on your face."

"No, no you didn't." he says, winking at me- and pulling away. When he turns he gestures to Nick's oncoming figure. Nick still wears his poker face on, and he does not acknowledge that LB is standing next to me. He just makes eye contact with me, and asks me, "Where have you been?"

"Getting a drink, like you said I should." My eyebrows furrow together, and understanding dawns on his features, "Right, drinks...I never even got my martini!"

I sigh, and shake my head. When I look up again I see that LB has disappeared- and a small part of myself feels like I should have said goodbye.

Why do I feel so much regret? I have never even seen that man in my life. Plus, he was like five years older than I was.

I should have gotten his number...