The Party

Angel

They'd won their game and were all in good spirits as they waited outside of the party. Eric still sat behind the wheel. Angel, who stood outside of the car, leaned in the driver side window. "Pass me a water."

Eric grabbed one from the ice chest and took one for himself.

"C'mon, let's go in." Romero stood in the middle of the street.

Angel made a face. As good as he felt about the way the game had gone tonight, he was tired and not really in the mood for partying. He'd never admit it to anyone, but the only reason he was there at all was for the possibility of seeing Sarah. He'd been thinking about her ever since the day they had talked. Hell, he'd thought about her during the game. He kept glancing up at the stands every chance he got, prompting several disgusted hollers from his coach of, "Get in the game! What the hell's the matter with you, Moreno?"

He hadn't seen her at the game, but then she did say she had to work. There was still a chance she'd make the party. Looking across the street at the lights coming from the DJ in the backyard, anxiousness crept up his spine. "Hold on, give me a sec." He downed some of his water.

"Just take it in with you," Romero said. "I'm ready to get my groove on."

Angel turned to Eric who shrugged. He took another long swig. "All right, I'm ready."

Romero did his famous violent pelvic thrust a couple of times. "Let's do this."

Angel and Eric laughed. Angel grabbed what was left of the twelve pack of beer in the backseat. "You're a moron," he chuckled.

They went down the long driveway and turned the corner. There were a lot more people than they'd expected. They started making their way through the crowd. Angel was just beginning to scope the place when he saw her. He had to do a double take, because he almost didn't recognize her. The second he turned away though, it hit him. His body was suddenly overheating.

Angel gulped hard. Her long hair flowed more than halfway down her back. It was darker than he remembered, and it curled at the bottom. Her jeans hugged her body, and she wore a pair of strappy heels. Her black blouse tied around her neck and was backless, except for the bottom part that draped delicately around the small of her back.

He reached for a beer and could feel how clammy his hand had become. For fuck's sake, she's just a girl. He cursed under his breath. He intentionally placed himself facing Sarah's direction. He took a short swig of his beer but was careful not to drink too much. Romero was a perfect example of how he might act if he drank too much, and that was the last impression he wanted to make on her.

Romero had walked away for a while to talk to some of the regular girls. He came back to announce they had after-party dates. Usually Romero got high fives all around, but tonight both Angel and Eric seemed out of it.

Angel just nodded his head and half smiled. Eric hadn't even heard. He was staring out into the crowd but at no one in particular.

Romero frowned and tapped Eric. "Hey, man. Did you hear what I just said?"

Eric quickly came back to earth. "Sorry, man. No, what was that?"

"I said Stacey and her friends are down for later tonight. We get dessert, and hey." He winked. "Asia's over there."

Eric and Asia had hooked up regularly last year, though not nearly as often as Angel and Dana.

Eric shook his head. "I'm gonna have to pass. I gotta get up early tomorrow."

Romero's eyes grew wider. "You're gonna pass up a piece of ass 'cause you have to get up early?" He was obnoxiously loud.

"Easy." Eric looked around. "I'm right here. Lower your voice."

Romero shook his head and turned toward Angel. "What about you? Are you in?"

"Well, yeah," Angel lied. "But Eric's my ride. How's that gonna work?"

Romero kept shaking his head. "Un-fucking-believable, hold on-let me see what I can do."

Romero shot Eric a disgusted look and grabbed another beer. He walked toward the girls, stumbling a little. "Dude, he's getting wasted." Eric turned to Angel.

"Yeah, he is." Angel shook his head.Romero put his arms sloppily around two of the girls."Who's he kidding?" Eric chuckled. "He's gonna be passed out in my back seat in an hour. How'd he get drunk so fast?"

"He drank the whole way here, and you know he's a lightweight," Angel said.

They'd all only started drinking about a year ago. Then when a senior last year had almost killed himself driving drunk, it scared them so much they'd all cut back. Even when they did drink, like tonight, it was just a few beers, and they designated a driver. Tonight it was Eric.

Angel took his attention away from Romero for a second to look in Sarah's direction. She had a cup in her hand. He wondered what she was drinking. He could hear Romero calling for Eric.

"Aw shit, dude, he's calling me." Eric looked in the other direction, pretending not to hear."You might as well go. Before his drunk-ass comes over here and drags you over."

"Me? What about you?"

"He ain't calling me," Angel laughed.

"You're gonna stay here by yourself?" Eric raised an eyebrow.

"No, there's someone I wanna go say hi to."

Romero was getting louder. Eric finally acknowledged him. He checked the box with the beer. "There's four more in here. You want one?"

"Nah, I'm good." Angel held up his bottle to show he still had plenty. Eric picked up the box and walked away toward Romero, muttering under his breath.

Strolling in Sarah's direction, Angel recognized the short blond girl holding a beer bottle with her as the ex-girlfriend of his teammate, Reggie Luna.

As he approached Sarah, he could feel his heart pick up speed and his stomach clench up. Despite his attempts to calm down, he felt completely unnerved. It annoyed the hell out of him.

He walked around behind her and moved in closer. She smelled heavenly: a soft delicate fragrance. Not overpowering, like some of the girls he'd hugged earlier.He wanted to put his arm around her waist and pull her up against him. Instead, he leaned over and talked in her ear. "Hey, you made it."

She spun around, nearly losing her drink. Her expression went immediately from startled to pleased. "Yeah, they cancelled."

Angel couldn't get over how amazing she looked. If he gazed at her all night, it wouldn't be long enough. "I almost didn't recognize you with your hair down." His eyes took it all in.

She nodded. "Yeah, it's too long, especially when I'm running. It gets all over my face."

Angel wanted it all over his face. "It's beautiful though. You should wear it like that at school."

She hesitated for a second. "Thank you." She avoided eye contact again.

He didn't want to, but he decided it would be better to change the subject before she got uncomfortable and made an exit. He had no intention of letting her run away again, not this time. He glanced at her cup. "What are you drinking?"

She smiled timidly. "Wine."

"Wine?"

She laughed. "Why does everybody say it like that?"

Her smile somehow had a calming effect on him. "Out of a cup though? You can't drink it straight out of the bottle?"

"It's not a cooler." Her expression challenged him. "It's the good stuff."

She turned to her friend and then glanced into her cup. It was almost empty. "As a matter of fact," she said, "I need more." She bent over to a medium-sized ice chest and pulled out a small jug of wine.

"Nooo!" Angel put his hand over his mouth in disbelief. "Oh, you're sick. You come to a party with a jug of wine in an ice chest?"

She laughed even more now. Her friend laughed with her. Sarah caressed the jug lovingly. "How else am I supposed to keep my little Precious cold?"

Her demeanor was refreshing, especially since she had seemed so apprehensive at school. Maybe it was the wine. Whatever it was, he loved it. He watched as she poured the wine in her cup, noticing how little she poured in before stopping. She put the jug back in the ice chest and pointed at her friend. "She brings one too."

Her friend opened her mouth wide, as if Sarah had just snitched on her. Angel raised his eyebrows in exaggerated disbelief. "You too? But you're drinking beer. You don't need an ice chest."

Her friend smiled and tapped her bottle. "I can't drink beer unless it's ice cold."

"By the way, Angel, this is my cousin, Valerie," Sarah said.Angel nodded. "Yeah, I know Valerie."

Valerie's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"Sure," he acknowledged her surprise, glad that Sarah had said her name. That, he would've never remembered. "So, why don't you just put your drinks in the same ice chest?"

Valerie rolled her eyes at Sarah. "Sarah doesn't like her Precious to be disturbed."

"She's very fragile." Sarah held her cup close to her.

Angel nodded, and then put his hand up. "It's a she? Okay, well, now that makes sense."

Sarah smiled, as she took another quick sip of her wine. Valerie got pulled away by another girl.Angel took his last swig of beer and threw the empty bottle in a trashcan nearby.

"Are you out?" Sarah asked. "Yeah, that was my last one."

"Well, here." Sarah bent over to Valerie's ice chest. She giggled, pretending to be sneaky. "Let's steal one of Valerie's."

Angel turned to see if Valerie was watching. "No, it's cool. I don't wanna take her beer."

Sarah shook her head. "She's not gonna finish all this. She never does, and then we're gonna end up throwing it out later tonight."

"Throw out beer? Are you nuts?"

"Well, we can't take it home. My aunt would kill us."

"Oh, well, in that case, let me help the cause." He held out his hand.

Her finger brushed his hand as she passed him the bottle. That's all it took to ignite him. His hand trembled as he took a swig of his beer. He watched her the whole time. Her eyes were so big, her lashes so dark and heavy-everything seemed to slow down when she blinked. His insides smoldered, and he gulped his beer hard.