Amanda finished up the finishing touches before stepping away to take a full look at you. 

   " Oh, my. . .I'm proud of myself. You look good." She said, emphasizing the 'good' in her sentence.

Amanda stood you up from the chair you were sitting on and brought you to her full-length mirror in her closet. Amanda wore a red velvet dress that barely touched her knees. The straps that went over her shoulders were a finger thick, but they showed a fair amount of cleavage. She had a golden necklace wrapped around her neck with another one dangling on her chest. Her hair was pulled to the side and sprayed with hairspray so it would stay there. Her makeup was light, but her deep red lipstick popped out. She had red heels on that matched the color of her dress, and gold earrings dangled from her earlobes. The dress complemented her figure and was sinched in all of the right places. Her fingers nails were also painted a deep red. She stood you in front of the mirror, and you looked at your figure standing beside her. Amanda had dressed you in a black dress that went a little above the knee, and it clung to your figure. The material to make the dress was thin, and the straps sat on your shoulder tightly, but the straps were two fingers thick, and it revealed your shoulder before turning into sleeves that went to your wrists. There were no sparkles on the dress, but when you turned, the light reflected off the thin material. You wore black heeled shoes on your feet with matching jewelry on your ears and around your neck. Your makeup was light, and your skin felt soft.

   " Look at us, we look good. "

You hit your best friend's bare shoulder, and she brought up her hand to rub the area. Amanda took a picture from her phone and sent it to you. Multiple knocks could be heard downstairs, and Amanda set her phone on her bed and walked to the door.

   " I'm going to start letting people in. Come down when ever you want. "

   " Go find yourself a man down there. Maybe then you can do what you did to me to him instead. "

   " Nah, you're more fun. I'll see you downstairs. "

Amanda shut the door and walked away from the room with a smile on her face. You sat down on her bed and pulled your phone off of Amanda's charger, and started to scroll through social media, wasting time. You never went to Amanda's parties, and you knew that if/when you go downstairs, the alcohol would most likely be half gone. 

   ' I'll find a way out of here, but for Amanda's sake, I'm going to stay until she gets drunk, and then I can leave. That way she won't remember me leaving. '

So, it was an hour, a long hour. You just stayed in Amanda's room, charging your phone and scrolling through games to play while you waited. When you looked at the time, you decided that it was finally time to go downstairs and try to get out of the house. When you said that you didn't go to parties, you meant it. You would rather be in your room in comfy clothes watching the next season of shows on your laptop. 

   ' Time to go. '

You stood up from the bed and took your phone off the charger. The music below you was pounding through the walls and vibrating the floor below your feet. You walked to the door and opened it, letting the loud music blow into the room and make your heart leap in your chest. You took in a deep breath before leaving the safety of the bedroom and walking through the hall to get to the stairs. From the top of the stairs, you could see the wave of people on the first floor. A lot of them had red solo cups filled with, what you could smell, alcohol. You walked down the stairs slowly and looked around the house to look for Amanda. It concerned you that there were so many people in her house, and you wanted to talk to her about your concerns. You walked through the sea of people and tried looking for Amanda. The body heat and smell were waving through the room, and you felt consumed.

   ' Where is Amanda? '

You continued to look around, and you were constantly getting pushed and shoved in different directions. You knew from some of them you would get bruises in the morning. You walked into the kitchen and saw Amanda dancing around. She was with a group of girls, and she was having fun, but you could see the red solo cup in her hand. You hoped that it was something nonalcoholic, but your hopes died when she lowered the cup as she approached you.

   " Y/n! There you are! Where have you been? " She asked, slurring her words.

   " Around. Should there be this many people here? "

   " Oh, yeah don't worry about it. It's just a little more than usual. "

   " And you don't think the cops will be involved? "

   " Nope! They never have before. Why would they now? "

   " Because it's crazy in here. Look, I'm going to go home! Will you be okay here? "

   " Yeah! But you should totally meet this guy I know before you leave! He's hot and he's smart! "

   " Why does that matter, let me be. "

   " No, come on. "

Amanda pulled on your hand and took you to the backyard. There was nothing in the backyard, but many people were outside, dancing to the music. Amanda was stumbling a bit but kept her composure as she approached a group of guys. They all had different colored hair, and most of them seemed drunk. She pulled the wrist of a man who had blue hair. She pulled him away from his group and towards you. His hair was the color of a blueberry, but his eyes were ice blue. His skin was fair, and his cheeks were tinted a little red from the alcohol consumption. He had on a black t-shirt that was fit him loosely with black skinny jeans and tennis shoes. His hair was short on his head, and his bangs were centered around the middle of his forehead. His hair looked soft and smooth.

   " Y/n, this is Conner Lynch. Conner, this is my best friend, Y/n. You two. . .hit it off. I"m going to my group of girls. "

Amanda stumbled her way back inside, leaving you alone with the new stranger.

   " Hi, Y/n. I'm Conner. "

   " Hi. Sorry about her, she can get a little. . ."

   " Pushy? "

   " Determined. How much have you drank? "

   " Not too much. I've only drank half a cup and I don't plan on drinking anymore. It wouldn't work well with my body. "

   " Egocentric much? "

   " No, that's not why I said that. I'm a football player, and my coach would kill me if he knew the team was here. I like to be healthy and take care of myself. "

   "Uhuh. Well, it was nice meeting you. I'll be going. "

   " Why are you leaving so soon? "

   " I'm not a party person. We made a bet and I lost. That's why I'm here. I was waiting for Amanda to get a little tipsy so she wouldn't notice I was leaving. "

   " Stay for a little bit. You don't have to drink or anything, just enjoy the music and vibe with everyone. "

   " No, I'm good. I don't want to. I would rather be home in bed. "

   " Then let me walk you home at least. It's late and I would feel really bad if I didn't help you home. "

   " Egocentric? "

   " No, just a gentleman. Do you want to leave now or do you have anything here that you need to get before leaving? "

   " No, I'm ready to go. "

   " Alright. "

Conner said goodbye to the guys behind him, and he set down his red cup. He followed behind you, but when you got to the door leading inside, he grabbed your wrist so you both wouldn't get lost walking inside. Conner guided you through the house and to the front door. He opened the door and walked out into the cool air, where there were no people, and it was a quiet night. Conner let go of your wrist and walked beside you down the sidewalk.

   " I'm guessing you carpooled? " You asked him.

   " Yeah, the quarterback drove half of us here. "

   " You know, you keep saying you're on the football team, but I've never seen you in my school before. "

   " I guess Amanda didn't tell you. I may not look it, but I'm older than you both. I'm a sophomore in college. "

   " You're two years older than me. Why are you here? "

   " Amanda has connections with the quarterback apparently. He graduated from the same high school you both are going to now. And I guess he and Amanda still have connections so she called him yesterday and bad bang bada boom here we are. "

   " What college are you going to? "

   " Ridgeton University. It's two hours away from here. "

   " A two hour drive for a high school party. "

   " Well, yeah. Gabe, the quarterback, still thinks about his high school days and he still goes to some of the football games to cheer on his younger class players that he had played with that haven't graduated yet. "

   " Wow, it sounds like he has attachment issues. "

   " You would understand if you ha da team you worked with for years and then had to leave all of them behind. Especially when you helped them grow and build. I understand why he still comes to parties like the one Amanda had tonight, and the other players understand so they go and support him. "

   " I see. "

You two continued to talk and walk, and you found the conversations delightful. Usually, you thought of football players as egotistical or worried only about football, but Conner wasn't. Of course, you could tell he loved the sport, but he made sure that the conversation wasn't just him talking. He would ask you questions and talk about stories. He would make sure he wasn't talking too much and that he could make you smile with his corner jokes. When you reached home, you exchanged numbers with him and said goodbye. You walked inside to see your father asleep on the couch with eh TV on in front of him. You took off your shoes and turned the TV off. Your final act for your father was getting a blanket and pillow and making him comfortable.