A Party to Remember

With a boyfriend, a ton of friends, and even more confidence, Ruby was the life of every party, but that was over a Summer ago. Her life changed before her eyes and she had no idea where it went wrong. Her boyfriend broke up with her, she lost almost every friend she had; her most trusted friends now being Jane and Michelle, and in a span of weeks she had lost all the confidence she took her whole life to build. Now, instead of going out and having fun, she had found a sense of comfort sitting at home in her PJs, watching Netflix, surrounded by whatever junk food she could find in her pantry. She barely left her room, she didn't see the need in doing that, she already had everything she needed. She hadn’t even been to a party in over a year, that is until her two friends came barging in through her front door demanding that she put on some nice clothes and makeup. 

“Ruby, you have to come with us to this party, there’s going to be a ton of boys, you can forget all about Todd.”

Hearing her ex-boyfriend's name made her cringe a bit. She was doing so good these past few months. Well, as good as she could do, she thought.

“Michelle, you know I hate going to parties, he’s always at parties and I really don’t wanna run into him, I think I’ve been embarrassed enough. I don’t wanna see him,” she replied, hoping that the conversation would end here.

Ruby really didn't wanna see Todd. You see Ruby wasn't just antisocial because of the break up, she hated parties because the break up took place at one. A year of falling in love with the most amazing guy and turns out he just wanted to fool around for a bit and wasn't looking for anything serious.

“Ruby, you need to come to this party, trust us, it's gonna be so much fun.” Jane exclaimed.

“Exactly, and you know no one’s seen Todd ever since, well ever since he broke up with you” Michelle followed, with hope in her eyes that by hearing this news Ruby’s mind would change.

Ruby frowned at the thought of that, the first thought that popped up in her mind was worry, she was worried about her boy-, ex boyfriend, was he okay? Was he suffering like her ever since the break up?

“He’s probably suffering because he broke up with an angel like you, that’s why he hasn't been seen in so long” Jane claimed, as if hearing what Ruby was thinking. 

“Anyways, he definitely isn't going to be at the party so stop wallowing in your own misery and let's have some fun please.” 

Hearing what Michelle said about having some fun sparked a curiosity in her mind. Is this what fun is? Do people not have fun staying home watching their comfort movie? Then again, she used to be this way, partying was her only source of fun back when she had everything. Well, if this is what fun was, she was going to take her friends’ advice and go have a good time, what could go wrong? Todd wouldn't be there anyways. Maybe she could give this party a chance.

Changing into a nice dress, she put on some makeup, of course with the help of her two trustee sidekicks, and got in the car. The girls drove off to a night they were never going to forget.

When they reached the party, Ruby suddenly felt a wave of terror, all the things the girls told her flew right out of her brain. What if Todd was at this party? No, he couldn’t be, she was sure of it after what the girls had told her. Ruby abandoned all her thoughts and she walked into a massive rager. Red cups thrown on the floor, blasting music, people dancing in one corner and playing spin the bottle in the other. She was overwhelmed, to say the least. She hadn't been out of her house in a year and here she was at what was supposed to be the best party of the summer. She looked at her sides to find comfort but instead found herself alone. Just like her thoughts, her friends had abandoned her too. She had had enough of this already! She was ready to leave when she suddenly heard a girl crying in the corner.

“Hey, are you okay whats wrong?” Ruby asked the girl, honestly wishing that she didn't care this much because now she had to have a conversation with a person and that was scary, even when the person she was conversing with looked so vulnerable.

“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s nothing, really, you should go enjoy the party, I don't wanna keep you.” The girl said, wiping her tears.

At that moment, Ruby wanted to walk away and not spend another moment talking to this girl, honestly she was terrified, not going out for a year will do that to you. However, something in Ruby told her to stay, to talk to this girl and to cheer her up a little. Maybe this girl reminded her of herself last year, sitting in the corner crying while everyone else was having an amazing time so Ruby decided that she was gonna stay and comfort this girl a little and then she could leave.

“Actually, my friends forced me to come to this party and then left me all alone, I haven't been to a party or anywhere for that matter, in a year. You see, my boyfriend broke up with me at the last party I went to- I’m sorry, I don't know why I’m rambling, you’re the one who’s upset and I’m here talking about my life, I guess I’m just nervous, I’m so used to being in the comfort of my own room, I haven't spoken to anyone other than my parents and two friends and maybe that one mailman- sorry, rambling again.” Ruby said, clearly very nervously.

The girl didn’t say anything, as if waiting for Ruby to continue and so she did.

“Anyways, what I actually wanted to say and would have said if I wasn't so nervous is that, I’ve been in your position, it’s okay to cry but it’s not okay to keep everything bottled up inside, if you do that it’s gonna destroy your brain. I know I’m just a stranger but it could help to talk to me,” she continued, hoping that the girl would tell her and this would all be over with. Ruby started thinking about how she could reach home in 15 minutes, freshen up in 10, which would take her 25 minutes altogether to be in bed watching her favourite movie. She was suddenly snapped out of her little bubble of comfort when the girl spoke.

“Alright, I guess it is good to share things with someone, even though it is a total stranger.” The girl chuckled.

“By the way, my name’s Sabrina. Thought you should know since I’m gonna be telling you personal things about me.”

“Ruby…” She wondered, as if lost in thought.

What could be so bad that this girl was here crying her eyes out while everyone else was just having fun. Once again, she was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Sabrina speak. She really had to stop getting lost in her thoughts so much. What did she look like when she just stared into space? She probably looked really embarrassing, open mouth and all. There she was, doing it again, she really had to stop.

“Well, here goes nothing, so this guy and I started dating around a year ago and I thought he wanted something serious, I asked him a million times if he was serious about me and he always said he was,” she said sniffing.

Taking a long sigh, she continued,

“Well turns out he just wanted to have some fun and didn't really want anything serious. He broke up with me like an hour ago saying he didn't really see us going anywhere and that he wanted to date this girl called Tiffany now.” Sabrina said with tears filling her eyes again.

“I really, truly believed he was the one but turns out he didn't see me like that. I hate that he has so much control over my feelings, I just hate it.”

Listening to what Sabrina said made Ruby go back to a year ago when Todd did the same thing. Ruby had thought of this girl as herself but she was just realising how alike their stories really were. By the time Sabrina was done talking, Ruby’s nervousness and fear of the party flew right out the window and were overtaken with rage and sadness. Rage because she thought of how many guys have done this to a girl and sadness because she truly and utterly felt for this girl sitting in front of her.

“What’s his name?” Was the only thing that came out of Ruby’s mouth. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything else.

“Wha- his name? It’s Jared.” Sabrina said with confusion.

Ruby said nothing else. She left the girl there, too consumed with her own thoughts about Todd to say any comforting words to Sabrina. She headed straight for the kitchen in search of something and once she found what she was looking for, her mind was set on completing a mission.

An hour later, a worried Jane and Michelle went out looking for her only to see her standing on the front porch, back faced towards them.

“Ruby!” Michelle shouted.

“We’ve been looking for you for so long, did you have fun?”

When Ruby turned around, both her friends let out terrified gasps. There she was, with a mask in one hand and a bloodied knife in another.

“Ruby, what happened? Jane said, horrified.

“You guys were right, this party was so much fun.” Ruby said giggling like a mad woman.

“What did you do?” Michelle enquired, more frightened than she had ever been in her life.

“Well, Jared wanted to have ‘fun’, so I sent him to Todd, now they can have fun together.” 

Ruby gave a wicked smile remembering when she had taken care of Todd. All she had to do now was take care of her two friends who had unfortunately seen her and then she would live out her best life ‘taking care’ of anyone who dared break the hearts of girls. This was her true purpose. Her calling. Parties really were a ton of fun!