Inside the apartment, the music was even louder than outside; the song must have been some sort of pop hit, because I didn't recognize it. Juan clearly had a different definition of 'a few friends' than I did, because the apartment was jam-packed full of people. Some were talking, others were dancing, and there was even some smoking going on in one corner. 

Before I could get a chance to look around for Juan, Maria pulled me further into the apartment, towards the dining room. Most of the people there were drinking, either out of plastic red cups or directly out of the bottle.

Maria finally let go of my hand to dig around in a dark blue cooler, pulling out a bud light. She glanced at me. "Want something to drink?"

Almost everyone I'd seen so far at the party had a drink of some sort, and I wanted to blend in, despite my dislike of alcohol. "Sure, I guess."

Maria poured the bud light into two red cups, dividing it rather evenly. She handed me one, and lifted her cup upwards in a toast. "Cheers."

"Cheers." I tapped my cups against hers, and took a sip. The beer was cold, and bitter.

"So, you're Juan's neighbor?" she asked, leaning lightly against the table and looking me up and down for a moment.

"That's me." I pretended to take another sip of my beer, having silently decided not to actually drink any more of it than I already had. "And you're his sister?"

"Younger by about a year." She took a real drink from her cup. "You want to dance?"

I wanted to say now. I'd come to this party on the invitation of Juan, hoping to hang around with him a little, eat some party snacks, and try to forget about my money problems. Instead, I'd gotten a drink, and now I was being invited to dance by a girl that wasn't my boyfriend.

"I'm not a great dancer," I said, which was true.

"I'm sure you're a fine dancer. It'll be fun," she coaxed.

Not wanting to hurt her feelings, and not knowing how to say no to her, I accepted, and she led me into the living room, where most of the dancing was going on.

Most of the people in the living room seemed to be either blatantly drunk, or just having a good time. I was neither.

Maria and I both danced near each other for a while. She kept looking at me, either directly or out of the corner of her eye, and if she caught me looking, she would grin at me. I was pretty sure she was interested in me, and I couldn't understand why.

After about fifteen or twenty minutes, she started gradually moving closer to me, and I started feeling panicky. Maria was pretty, sure, but I was in a relationship with someone I really liked, and I definitely wasn't feeling comfortable with this whole situation.

Maria suddenly leaned closer to me, and a wave of panic came over me. She looked like she was about to kiss me, and I had absolutely no idea what to do.

art by happyaggro