I just wanted to relax.

"So, Krysta, are you coming?" 

I groaned, rolling my eyes as I took a gulp of almost scalding herbal tea. Whenever my roommate Sally talked about going to a party or some other loud event, I tuned her out. So as Sally babbled on about this party near the library, I filled up the dishwasher. I gave occasional sounds of "yeah." and "Uh-huh." to seem like I was listening. 

Ah, and yet Sally found my fatal flaw. When I noticed Sally had stopped talking I peaked out from the kitchen to see her glaring at me. I smiled innocently. "Yes? And?"

Sally huffed and folded her arms childishly. "Did you hear a word I said?" 

"Yes?"

"Really? Then what did I say about Nancy and her boyfriend?"

Crap. I searched my brain for the answer. "Uh... Chris proposed?"

That sounded horribly wrong. 

Sally made a dramatic alarm sound you hear on game shows that told you had the wrong answer. "They broke up! And only after a year. Sad. But anyway, you didn't answer my question. Are you coming to the party?" 

I groaned again and went back to the dishes. "Sally, I came back from work." 

"An hour ago!" Sally stood up and walked over to the kitchen. "Girl, you need to get out more. Almost all you do is work." I opened my mouth to protest but Sally cut me off. "You need to go and meet people. You're twenty four. You have to start life sometime."

"If you're talking about getting married, Beatrix Potter got married at forty seven. I have plenty of time." I said with a smile. 

"Right. But don't change the subject. Are you coming to the party or not?" 

I sighed. "Fine. I'm going to need to know a few things though. One," I began ticking off things on my fingers as I listed. "I need to know who's going to be there. Is there anyone I know? Two, what will we be doing at this party? Three, what are we going to be eating?" 

Sally grinned and dragged me to my room, raiding my closet for an outfit. A pink shirt went flying as she told me three people I knew would be there. Jack Smith, Wilma Green, and Joe White. Lovely. All three were mostly annoying.

Blue shoes soared through the air while I was told that what the party was was a game night. Apple to apples, Mafia, Slamwich, and Uno. Okay, not bad.

As for food, Watermelon and pizza. College kids sure know how to make great food combinations. 

Sally finally told me to wear a blue shirt and green dress pant with black flats. I wish she could have chosen my outfit without making my room look as if a tornado had ripped through it. As for Sally getting ready...that took two hours. I guess I should have expected it from the girl who took nearly an hour raiding my closet to find an outfit for me. 

"Okay! I think I'm ready. I just need to find my purse." Sally frantically searched for it but stopped when I held it up from my corner of the couch. I was so glad we could finally leave. 

The party itself was... loud. There were no more openings in the game Apples to apples or any other game so while Sally went and quite possibly began to flirt with someone, I went to the Snack Table as the sign on it said. I piled some watermelon slices on my foam plate and headed straight to the couch. This is when the party turned from being just loud to loud and freaking dull. Then Wilma Green swooped down to "save" me when she saw I was sitting alone. 

Wilma is a nice girl, always tries to do good and help but, Gods, she was annoying! The first time we met was a month ago and the moment she found out I was introverted, she did everything in her power to change that. She NEVER shut up and when politeness was no longer an option, she always acted offended. She had her heart in the right place but trying to socialize me her way turned into a project with disastrous results. However, I do have to give her credit for not giving up. 

"Krysta! I can't believe you decided to join society!" She said, sitting next to me. Great.

Then she began to shower me with questions and dreaded small talk. 

"Can you believe Chris and Nancy broke up?"

"No. Tragic." Actually I could believe it. Nancy was a jerk to Chris.

"Oh, do you have any plans for the weekend?" 

"Yes." I said nothing about work, reading Howl's moving castle and waiting for the new The bad Batch episode because Wilma wouldn't count that as plans. 

"Aw!" She pouted. "I was thinking you could come to a bake off Sunday."

"Oh, that's a shame." I said, trying to sound as convincingly disappointed as I could. The slightly annoyed expression on Wilma's face told me I had failed. 

'I just wanted to relax after work. Was that so much to ask for?'

I guess it was.

Then, several things happened and the party began to get exciting. For me, anyway. 

It happened when a girl with a white shirt tripped and fell near Wilma. This girl had been drinking what looked like Kool-aid and it spilled all over Wilma's pale pink blouse. Wilma shrieked with surprise and anger and stood up. But the room was so packed that someone accidentally bumped into her which her to flop straight back on the couch and tripped the person in front of her. This caused a sort of domino effect and I took it as a sign from my introverted universe to leave. 

Amid the chaos, I found Sally who had been looking for me and together, we exited the failure of a party. As soon as we were out in the fresh night air and walking to Sally's car, we burst out laughing. 

"Holy crap, that was awful!" Sally cried as she got into the driver's seat. 

"Promise me we are never going to a party hosted by the college," I giggled. "Or anyone that isn't friend or family."

"Agreed."

"Good!" I grinned, getting into the passenger seat. "Because if you drag me to another party like this, I'm never going out with you again."