I thought you wanted to dance

"Are you coming tonight?", Ethan said to me over the phone. "Hello?", he continued before I finally replied, "Yes, I am on my way, I can barely hear you." "Sorry, it's noisy here, the party is peaking dude, you've missed enough, it's now or never. You only ever get to have a senior graduation party at Drake's house once you know", Ethan replied after having gone somewhere quieter. "Is she there?", I asked nervously. "Dude, Sarah's been here for almost an hour now.", Ethan replied. "Fuck, dude I can't do this, I can't come, if she's there then...", I said before being cut off by Ethan "John, cut the crap, on the slim chance you and Sarah head of to the same college next fall, this is your last chance. You've been afraid to ask her out since our sophomore year, it's pathetic. Here we are, about to head off to college and having a party at Drake's of all fucking places, you'll be an idiot forever if you don't get to tell the girl of your dreams that you love her at this party, just saying". It's true though since Sarah moved to our school, Eagle Falls, in sophomore year, I couldn't stop thinking about her. Call it love at first sight, but I just fall into a bliss-like state when I look at her, just by looking at her. Sometimes, I only show up at school just to see her. Ethan has even come to me expressing his concerns, that I am too obsessed with her. Sarah and I have hanged out sometimes and even then it felt like a dream come true to me, as much as I was putting up the front of a friend. However, this party may be my only chance to let her know I want to be more than just friends. Holding in how I feel about her has been even more exhausting than math homework ever could have been. I'm just scared, terrified, what if she doesn't like me, what if she laughs at me or already has a boyfriend or a crush which isn't me or... "Hello, John, are you still there. John!", Ethan called out over the phone. "Y-yea, I'm here, I can hear you", I replied. "How far did you say you were again?", asked Ethan. "I just got here, I am at the gate now", I replied. "Wait, you were calling and driving this whole time", Ethan asked. "I took an Uber, I meant what I said by "I am on the way" you know", I replied. "Oh okay, just give me a sec to send the code for the gate", Ethan answered. "Thanks, I meet you at the entrance. Bye.", I said. "Bye.", Ethan replied. It took about 2 minutes to arrive at the actual house from the gate, fuck, the place was huge, how was I supposed to find Sarah in this maze? Before, long, I could see Ethan waving his arms in the air as I stepped out of the uber. I raised my hand to signal that I see him. I lightly jogged to Ethan and greeted him.

"Hey dude", I say as we do our handshake, two hand slaps, followed by a fist pump we twist and explode.

"We need to hurry inside, there's so much shit to see", Ethan replied in an excited tone as he dragged me on into the house. “Hey, dude, have you seen Sarah?”, I asked as we stepped in. “Oh, I mean I did see her, but I lost her, I’m sure to see still her, that can wait though, now come on”, Ethan replied. First, we went through the front door, I figured the party would be somewhere else, but it was crowded even from there with sweaty bodies jumping and dancing to the music. We squeezed and pushed through to get to the kitchen, I could smell the alcohol in the drinks from the middle of the jumping crowd. Ethan handed me a cup as we arrived at the Kool-Aid. I took a sip to taste, I didn’t want to get too drunk, I had to have my moment with Sarah be a sober one, a moment I could remember. Whilst I was alcohol tasting, Ethan found Sydney, the nerd turned party girl of our school, she’s cool, she used to be always in her books but now you’ll find her wherever the party is at. I guess high school has a habit of changing people, some sooner than others. I wouldn’t call Sydney your usual apathetic teenager, she’s a more free spirit, authentic, honest, she’s kind of wise beyond her year's type. “John, guess who I found.”, Ethan said as he dragged Sydney towards the Kool-Aid he left me with, Sydney reluctantly followed behind. “Hey, John”, Sydney replied blushingly as they arrived at where I was. Before I could say anything back, Ethan was already yelling out to Chris, another guy from our school, that he saw from afar and dragging us with him to greet him. We got to Chris and coincidentally, he had the same Golf le Fleur No nukes jacket I was wearing, he did, however, look like he had been drinking a little more too. Just as we started talking Controlla by Drake started playing and just like that, we were all pushed by the wave of people gathering to the dance floor at the center of what seemed to be a cleared-out living room. It took me 20 minutes to get out of that sweat hole full of grinding bodies and couples making out. I escaped back into the kitchen, I found Mark there chatting it up with some girl I had never seen before. “Dude you think you can take me to Sarah now?”, I asked. “What?, oh dude I haven’t seen her, but she went upstairs with a couple of other girls about 5 minutes ago.”, he replied. I apologized for interrupting their conversation before I headed upstairs too, only to find a line of people waiting to have their photo taken with Drake. The line had stretched far, from the staircase I just climbed to a room, five doors down a lengthy hallway, it felt like at least 50 people were in the line, I took it as a sign that maybe Drake is here. The cue was made up of Instagram influencers, more people from my school, and total strangers. I figured there would be celebrities in the cue to meet Drake as well but didn’t pay much attention to it. As I entered the cue, to my right, two girls who were crying burst out of the room the line was leading up to. To me, crying seemed like the wrong response to have after having just taken a picture with Drake. I wouldn’t have called it a happy cry either, those girls legit looked sad though I could be wrong. After they passed me I tried peeking out my spot in the line to see if I could find Sarah but to no avail, maybe she was in the room already? Just as I stood place straightly in the line to not lose my spot, I heard someone calling out my name. “John”, I could hear it coming from someone not too far away from where I was in the line, then a person in front of me peaked out his place in the line to and waved at me, it was Eric. Eric is a UK exchange student who has been in our school for about 5 months now, I kind of always wondered what the point would be in exchanging schools during senior year, but he seems to be fitting in well, the first time I see him him in a party though. Eric signals his hands for me to come over to him, I responded by jumping a few spaces ahead of the line as I heard people moaning and groaning about me skipping, I didn’t care. “How have you been mate?”, Eric asked, “Good, thanks for allowing me to cut in, I can almost see the door from here now”, I replied. “Hey, have you seen Sarah?”, I asked. “Oh, yes, she walked into the room just now, she went with some friends, they were next in line”, Eric replied. “When do you think they’ll come out?”, I asked. “Any minute now I am sure.”, Eric replied. Just then, Sarah and two of her friends stormed out of the room looking pissed, trying to shoot my shot I greeted her “Hey Sarah”, I said almost as a whisper as she walked past us unphased whispering out “…wait of time.” “Bloody hell was that mate?” Eric asked. “I lost my voice”, I replied. “Um, no, if I didn’t know any better you tried to greet those girls as they walked by, and badly if I might add, what was the name you just said Sara?”, Eric, asks. “Sarah”, I bluntly replied. “Sarah huh, never heard of her”, Eric replied. “You been here for five months, and you don’t know Sarah?”, I asked with a what-the-hell face. “Well, what’s she like?”, Eric asked. “Only the most beautiful and sweetest thing there is, she’s 5ft 7 ounces of pure joy, she’s smart, kind, likes to wear a ponytail but hates ponies, listens to N.E.R.D, loves biology, want to become a doctor, self-less, she’s always helping charities out, a social butterfly since she is always talking to people and she has the most mesmerizing eyes, smell and face, I could look it all day and only want to see more of her and…”, I ranted on for what seemed like only a second for me but forever for Eric since he just stopped me. “I take it to you as her”, Eric replied jokingly. “Well…uh… yes, yes I do like her, fuck I like her, I’m just so scared, I get so dizzy whenever she is around and…”, I ranted on again. “Mate, slow down, it’s both sad and cute to see you like this, with her friends there you’re walking into a trap as much as professing your love is concerned so I’ll be your wingman, I’d like to see where this little love story ends up.”, Eric replied. “Great, thank you, you’ll take care of her friends and I’ll take to her for real this time, let’s go”, I said. “Wait”, Eric replied as he pulled me back into the line before I could completely bolt off. “What is it?”, I asked annoyed. “I want to see what’s in this room, ever since I got into this cue people have been leaving disappointed, angry, or both as they make it inside, aren’t you curious as to why that is?”, Eric asked. “Now that you mention it, I did see two girls who came out of that room crying.”, I replied. “Exactly and I heard those, girls say “I can’t believe this” as they walked out”, Eric responded. “Okay, I guess we can check it out before we go, we’re almost next anyway.” I replied. “Enough about me though, have you been in love, Eric?”, I asked. “What you mean, I don’t know who you’re talking about?”, Eric replied blushingly. “Yea, sure you don’t”, I replied sarcastically “So, who is she?”, I continued “Well… I… uh…I-I…”, Eric replied. “Eric, it’s okay, you can tell me, you’re helping me out, the least I can do is listen”, I commented. “She’s in our school”, Eric replied. “Okay, well that’s specific?”, I replied sarcastically. “She has blonde hair, likes the color green, frequently goes to parties.”, Eric continued. “Okay, now we’re getting somewhere, by any chance, and this is a wild guess but, as she previously a bookworm?”, I replied.

“Well, I did hear that she used to be seriously focused on her schoolwork and…”, Eric said

“Oh my God, dude, is it Sydney?”, I interrupted him.

“W-what I-I…”, Eric replied blushingly

“It’s her, oh my god dude, go for it, I’m sure she likes you too”, I replied excitedly.

“She doesn’t even know me, where would I start how would I…”, Eric ranted on.

“Eric, just do it, what do you have to lose, Sydney is a good person, I’m sure you’d both be better people for dating”, I replied

“I guess we both need help, John.”, Eric replied jokingly.

“Oh, dude, we’re next”, I commented.

“Yes, we are next to find love”, Eric replied.

“No dummy, the line, we’re next.”, I said jokingly.

Eric and I then moved into the room to finally get a picture with Drake. Like most people, I was excited, seemed like it would make a nice family heirloom, a relic to be passed down for generation, a…”20 dollars”, one of the two women at the center of the room replied. “20 dollars for?”, I asked. “A picture with Drake”, the other woman replied. “Okay, well, where is he?”, Eric replied. The two girls then moved away from each other to reveal a cardboard card out “What’s that?”, I asked. They then turned it around to and it was a cardboard cutout of Drake. “What the hell is this?”, Eric said. “What do you think it is, it Drake, what, you think Drake would show up for the likes of you two as if he has time?”, the woman with the name tag “Claire” replied. “Okay, rude.”, I replied. “So, 2o bucks or what, leave if you’re holding up the line”, Ursula, the other woman next to Claire, replied. “No thanks, we were just leaving”, Eric said annoyed as we stormed out of the room. “Well, I guess we now know why everyone walked out of that room madly.”, I replied. “Yea let’s just go find Sarah”, Eric replied as we walked down the hallway towards downstairs. “Hold on, before that, let’s just go and see Sydney first, I’m not procrastinating, just helping out a friend.”, I replied as I stopped us as we were almost at the stairs. Eric then looked at me with a like-I-believe-that face. “I mean it”, I replied reassuringly. “Wait, why is everyone leaving?”, Eric said as he looked behind my shoulder. “Wait what?”, I said shocked as I looked behind my back and downstairs to see everyone leaving out the front door. “Shit, no, no, no, no, no, not now, this can’t be happening, we got to hurry”, I continued as we raced down the stairs. On our way down, I saw Ethan leaving and stopped him as I yelled “Ethan!”, he then turned his head back to see us in response. “Where is everyone going?”, Eric asked. “Somebody pulled a party foul, got too drunk and pissed all over the living room carpet, plus the cops are on the way since there were people doing cocaine in one of the rooms upstairs.”, Ethan reported. “I have to find Sydney quick; I need to tell her I love her.” Eric commented as he ran off into the crowd. “Eric, wait!”, I replied but to no avail. “Well, that’s not a good idea”, Ethan added after Eric had left as he sipped the Kool-Aid in the cups he was holding. “What makes you say that?”, I asked. “Geez, John, you do have shit for brains, Sydney likes you, dumbass. Why do you think I have been leading you away from Sarah this whole time”, Ethan surprisingly outbursts with a smile? “Wait what?”, I said angrily. “What about telling me she was upstairs?”, I asked. “That was meant to be a lie, but it turns out I was right”, Ethan replied. “Dude, why would you do this?”, I asked confused. “Why not, come on John, every time you say you are going to talk to her, you bail. You always promise that ‘this time it’s for real and then stutter, lose your voice, or just go completely stupid, seriously, John, what’s ever going to change? If something was going to happen with you and Sarah, it would have by now, you might as well save yourself some heartbreak and go for someone who already likes you.”, Ethan replied. “That’s not your decision to make, where is she?”, I outburst angrily, Ethan simply shrugged his shoulders as I left him in disgust. From the back of the crowd, I could see Chris walking like a zombie or sheep as people were leaving the party, I suppose he had more alcohol than blood in him now. “Chris, Chris, listen to me, where is Sarah?”, I said as I grabbed and shacked him to wake him up. He lazily pointed at a separate room, I took a look in that direction and there she was, standing alone. I had to make it happen, this time, to prove Ethan wrong. I raced towards the door with eager anticipation that this night was my destiny, that this time, Sarah would be mine and I would be hers. Just as I got to the door of the room, I saw another boy get to her, she smiles and kissed him as she took the cup he was holding. I instantly stopped dead in my tracks, dizzy and broken, my knees felt so weak, and my chest was so heavy. I damn near wept right there and there before I heard my name being called again “John, are you okay?”, Eric asked as I kneeled on the floor face down. “Yea”, I replied as I got up, only to see Sydney in Eric’s arms. “Woah, what’s this?”, I asked surprised. “I shot my shot and I

guess it worked”, Erich said as he looked at Sydney and kissed her too. “Wow, that’s great… happy for you dude”, I replied. “Well, we were just on our way out, you want to come with us?”, Eric asked. “