Drunk

"it's packed! I don't even recognize half of these people," I whined as Rachel and I parked my Corolla in the field behind Melissa James's house. Rachel pulled the visor down and touched up her lip gloss and fluffed her hair. "Awesome! I'm down with meeting some new people tonight," she said, pulling on her pink cardigan. I was less enthusiastic about getting out of the car. The thing I had always liked about Melissa's parties was that they were usually tame and relatively controlled, with no more than eighty or so people. I could relax and hang out without dealing with drunken idiots trying to cop a feel. If I was going to be groped, it would be on my terms only.

But this party was heaving. There were at least a hundred cars parked in the field and crowds of people dancing and drinking out of Solo cups around the humongous bonfire. "Get out of the car, Mags. Let's go mingle." I ran a brush through my limp hair and finally gave up and pulled it back in a ponytail.

"Uh-uh," Rachel said, pulling the tie out. She hated it when I wore my hair back, telling me I was so much prettier with it down. She threw the hair tie out the window. "Rachel!" I yelled. But she was already moving away, toward the huge fire leaping against the dark sky.

I looked around quickly, trying to spot Clay's BMW in the throng of cars. I couldn't find it, so I grudgingly followed my friend. "Hey, Maggie," a guy slurred as I approached the crowd. I squinted in the darkness and made out Raymond Lewis, a kid in my year who was friends with Daniel and often hung in our circle. I was also friends with his girlfriend, Clare, who had been in French Club with me our freshman year. It was obvious Ray had already had a lot to drink, as he hung on to me for support. Damn it, I had told Clay this wouldn't be that kind of party. I had just been made a liar, and that pissed me off.

"Get off, Ray." I shook my arm, trying to get loose. Raymond awkwardly slung his arm around my waist; more in an effort to stay upright, it seemed, than with any kind of friendly affection. "I think you need a drink, Maggie. Come on." I wiggled out of his grasp and didn't follow as he tottered off in the direction of Melissa's house. I found Rachel, red cup already in hand, who had been intercepted by Jeremiah Higgins and Lila Casteel. Rachel gave me a smile as I approached be- fore turning back to her conversation with Jeremiah and Lila. They were appar- ently trying to recruit her for the Humanitarian Club or something equally bor- ing. I stood there not really listening, tapping my foot, and scoping out the party.

People were really drunk. I could see a few girls throwing up in the bushes already. Couples were grinding against each other as they danced badly to the techno music blaring from the house, and people were sneaking off to do God knows what in the woods. Wow, this was seriously awful and I couldn't believe I had actually wanted to come. I just hoped Clayton had decided to bail, even though I had asked him not to.

No such luck. Just as the thought crossed my mind, there he was. He had just started toward the bonfire when Kylie (Daniel's now on-again girlfriend) and her bitch posse stopped him. I wasn't sure whether Clay had spoken with any of them since their awkward introduction at Bubbles. But there they were, chatting it up like BFFs.

Grrr, that crazy jealousy knifed through me again. Dana and McKenna laughed at something Clayton said. Dana in her bleached-blond glory, tossing her stupid, perfect curls back and laying her hand on my Clay's arm. Okay, I needed to check myself. He wasn't my Clay. He was only my friend, who I'd thought might kiss me earlier today. That didn't mean I had some sort of claim.

Despite my rationalizations, I was still beyond annoyed by the very obvious flirting happening on the other side of the bonfire. It was like watching a car wreck. My eyes were glued to the horror in front of me. After a few minutes, I was relieved that Kylie and the bimbettes moved back toward the house. Clayton stood there in the flickering shadow of the bonfire, looking like some sort of male model in his dark jeans and green Henley shirt. He was without his faded army jacket for once and he looked almost naked without it.

I nudged Rachel in the side and cocked my head in Clay's direction, letting her know I was heading over to him. "I'll be there in a sec," she told me.

I walked over to Clay and I knew the exact moment he saw me. It was like one of those supercheesy movie scenes when the boy and girl spot each other across a crowded room, and their eyes lock. Each moves slowly toward the other, as if pulled by an invisible force. Then they rush into each other's arms, kissing passionately and declaring their undying love. Well, my scene didn't quite go that way. Clay and I met halfway and he kept his hands firmly in his jeans pockets and nodded in my direction. But he did give me an awfully nice smile.

"Hey, Mags. Raging party. Not exactly what I was expecting," he said jokingly as a junior stumbled past us to puke his guts out in the dirt not even ten feet be- hind me.

I cringed. "Yeah, I'm sorry, Clay, it's not usually like this. Apparently Melis- sa's parents are out of town, thus the massive kegger." Clayton shrugged, trying to act as if the crazy debauchery around us wasn't bothering him. I lightly touched his arm and he looked down at my fingers and then up into my eyes. "If this is too much for you, we can leave. You know, go get something to eat, go see a movie. Anything, really," I said, hoping he'd say yes and we could get out of there.

Clay looked around, tossing his dark hair out of his eyes. "No, that's cool. I mean, I'm already here, right?" I dropped my hand from his sleeve and it hung limply at my side. We fell into our normal silence as we watched kids from our school and the next town over partying like it was 1999.

"Hey, guys! Clay, it's so cool that you made it!" Rachel gave Clay a big hug. Clayton looked over her shoulder at me, his surprise obvious, because he and Rachel were definitely not at the hugging stage of their acquaintance. I tried not to laugh. There was no way she'd had more than one drink, but here she was, acting like she had been mainlining vodka all night. She was such a lightweight. I gestured to Clay that Rachel had already been gulping up the happy sauce.

Clay smirked and mouthed sarcastically, "No kidding." Rachel pulled away and then gave me the same boisterous hug. I couldn't help but laugh at her. She definitely put the happy in happy drunk.