Best Friends Since Kindergarten

The Party

AMY

I stood in front of Lucy’s full-length mirror, examining myself for the thousandth time. Kissing Ryan had changed everything. I didn’t want to just show up in leggings and a t-shirt anymore- I wanted to make his jaw drop. I was wearing cat-eye liner for the first time in weeks, and mascara. My hair was down for once. Lucy had curled it lightly so it looked more mermaidy. It flowed down my shoulders to just below my breasts. I was wearing a short, tight skirt with a floral print on it and a sweetheart neckline black crop top. The look was finished off with a pair of artfully torn black tights and my red converse. I nervously brushed at the skirt, trying to smooth out some non-existent wrinkles.

Lucy lay on the bed behind me, playing on her phone, tired of my obsessing. I hadn’t told her what happened today and I guessed she was confused as to why I was taking this party so seriously. I sighed heavily. Lucy groaned at me for the thousandth time. “Are you done with the mirror yet?” she whined.

“Yeah… yeah I’m done,” I said reluctantly, stepping away. Lucy bounced up off the bed and skipped past me to do her makeup. I sat down on her bed, nibbling at my nails. Looking at me in the mirror she sighed.

“Amy. Seriously. What is wrong with you? Parties are supposed to be fun. Rob and Ryan will be there. It will be chill. Is this about telling Andres you didn’t want to go with him? Because he was perfectly understanding and you don’t have to stress about that.”

I nodded, gratefully accepting the excuse for my being nervous. “Yeah… I guess I just don’t know how I feel about going to the same party I rejected him for,” I bluffed. Lucy narrowed her eyes at me in the mirror.

“You are a terrible liar. What’s actually going on?” I shifted uncomfortably.

“My crush is going to be there,” I finally settled on saying. Lucy didn’t officially know the identity of my crush, so I figured that was safe enough.

She rolled her eyes. “Amy, you see your crush every day. Willing to bet he’s seen you at your worst too.”

“How would you know that?” I demanded. She rolled her eyes again.

“Do you think I’m an i***t, Ames?” she said, distracted by her mascara for a moment. She turned around, blinking aggressively- must have poked her eye with the wand. “I know who your crush is.”

“Who is it then, oh wise one?” I asked. She rolled her eyes and turned back around. She took her time finishing her eye makeup, made a sound of approval, then stepped back and turned to look at me.

“It’s Ryan, you dumb-dumb. And he wouldn’t care if you showed up in a potato sack. He wouldn’t care if you showed up dressed as a Teletubby!” I blushed.

“I think the Teletubby would be a step too far,” I laughed. “How did you know?” I asked.

“How did you think I wouldn’t know? Amy, the four of us are together all the time. These things become obvious after a while. Also Rob told me he likes you, so stop stressing about it.”

“You love taking the romance out of things, don’t you?” I told her. She snorted.

“Whatever. Look, it’ll be fine. You look hot. And Ryan’s always touchy-feely when he’s drunk. He’ll be all over you.” I blushed. If she only knew.

“Okay,” I said. She looked at me sharply.

“Something’s up. I know it is. One last chance to tell me before I find it out,” she warned. I shook my head. I wanted to tell Lucy, but first I wanted to be sure it had actually happened. That it was real and that he meant those kisses the way I did. He had gone through a girl-crazy phase last year- dating and discarding people within a few weeks of each other. I didn’t want to be his next victim. And I really didn’t want my sister knowing about it if I was. She’d just say I should have known better. I bit my lip, shoving the panicky thoughts down. Ryan wouldn’t do that to me, I reminded myself. He’s my best friend.  Lucy sighed. “Fine. You ready to go?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. We slunk out of her room and through the kitchen to the front door. Dad was home, but he was up drinking in his room. We had technically secured permission to go out tonight, but he “forgot” these things when he was drinking. It would just be better for everyone if he didn’t notice us slipping away. Thankfully, we got out the front door without issue. Jimmy was waiting for us outside, dressed casually.

“Dang,” he said, raising an eyebrow at me. “Wait what kind of party is this going to be? Should I have dressed better?” he demanded.

I shook my head. “I just felt like dressing up,” I lied. “Is it too much?” I added nervously. “I could go change again.”

“NO,” Lucy insisted. “I refuse to allow you access to your wardrobe until AFTER the party.” Jimmy laughed.

“I wondered what took so long,” he said. I rolled my eyes at both of them.

“Oh hush,” I told Lucy. We walked the short distance to Ryan and Rob’s house. Jimmy bounced up the steps to knock on the door. He was in love with Mrs. Robertson and always insisted on being the one to see her when this kind of thing was happening. She opened the door quickly.

“Hello, James!” she said brightly. “And my two favorite girls!” she waved to us. We waved back happily. She really was the nicest person in the world. How Rob and Ryan came out of her I have no idea. Jimmy chatted happily with her for the minute it took for Rob and Ryan to come out. Ryan was dressed in a black t-shirt that was maybe just half a size too small- not that I was complaining. It showed off his muscles perfectly. He had on a pair of black ripped jeans and red converse. Rob looked like always- white t-shirt, blue jeans, varsity jacket. They looked good as ever- Ryan with his darker hair and bright icy eyes and Rob with his chestnut hair and darker blue eyes. They each kissed their mom on the cheek before bounding down the steps to us, saying cheery goodbyes. Rob leaned down to give Lucy a quick kiss. Ryan walked up to me and gave me a once-over.

“Damn,” he said. “You clean up alright.” I punched him in the arm playfully. He laughed. “Better than alright, okay?” he laughed, hooking his arm around my shoulders and tugging me against him. I wrapped my arm around his waist.

“You look good too,” I stumbled over my words a little. I rarely, if ever, complimented Ryan to his face. But I felt like I could give it a shot if he really liked me. He looked at me in surprise, blushing slightly. “Don’t get a big head about it though,” I added gruffly. He chuckled.

“There’s the Amy I know,” he grinned.

Jimmy finally finished saying goodbye to Mrs. Robertson and came down to join us. “Are we going or are we going?” he demanded, as if he hadn’t been the one slowing us down. The 5 of us started the 30 minute walk towards Daniel and Charlie’s house.

I had walked places a thousand times with Ryan’s arm around my shoulders, but tonight felt different. I couldn’t stop blushing and felt overheated, but didn’t want him to take his arm off. He was pulling me a little closer to him, maybe. Or it was just me being hyperaware of every time our sides brushed against each other. I don’t know. We all chatted as though nothing had happened today on the way there. Rob kept giving me knowing looks, which confused me and made me blush. It was a bit of a relief to get to the party.

You could hear the party from the street already. Considering it was only 8, I was impressed. Ryan c****d his head towards the door, signaling Jimmy to be the one that knocked. Jimmy whined, but eventually caved to Rob and Ryan’s pressure. He bounded up the steps and pounded on the door. Daniel opened it wide, a big smile on his face and looked around at our group. He was definitely already tipsy.

“Well this is an assortment of people I wouldn’t have put together myself,” he said cheerfully. “I’m happy to see every one of you though!” Rob laughed and gave Daniel a football bro hug- that weird thing where guys hold opposite hands and smack each other on the back? I didn’t quite understand how having a fist between the two of you could be comfortable, especially without boobs, but how would I know I guess. Jimmy gave him the same thing, then it was Ryan, Daniel, and I.

“I didn’t know you two knew each other!” he laughed. Daniel had a different lunch period than us, and so tended to be out of the loop.

“Best friends since kindergarten!” I said jokingly. I gave him a big hug, unable to resist his happy energy, and let him pick me up off the ground and squeeze me.

“Aw, little Amy! You must be in a really good mood if you’re hugging me!” he teased. I rolled my eyes.

“’Little Amy’?” I repeated.

“You heard me!” he laughed and put me down.

“And Ryan- dude I didn’t think you’d come!” he lightly punched Ryan’s shoulder. I watched with wide eyes. That wasn’t a thing most guys dared to do with Ryan, but he just laughed and punched Daniel back lightly, knocking him back a step. “Oof,” Daniel said, rubbing his shoulder. Ryan chuckled. “Best friends since kindergarten huh?” He looked between the two of us.

“Something like that,” Ryan shrugged giving me a smirk. I rolled my eyes. Daniel watched us with curious eyes.

“Well come on in!” he led us inside. The house was teeming with teenagers. I grabbed hold of Ryan’s hand so I wouldn’t lose him in the crowd and we started pushing our way through people towards the kitchen. It was surprising how many people Ryan stopped to joke with or greet. I tended to think of him as an outsider. When had he met all these people? We finally got to the beer coolers and each grabbed a drink. Ryan opened them both, then passed me mine.

“Cheers?” he asked, extending his bottle towards me.

“Cheers!” I grinned, knocking my bottle against his. We each took a swig. I wrinkled my nose, having forgotten how disgusting beer was for a full minute. Ryan laughed at my expression. Before I could say anything else, I was tackled from behind.

“AMY!” Susan’s voice chimed in my ear. “THERE YOU ARE!” I winced at the volume. Susan was definitely drunk. She and Daniel were practically siblings- they’d probably pregamed. She gave me a big kiss on the cheek and pulled me back into her arms, wrapping her arms around my waist and rocking her hips so that we were dancing together. Ryan watched with amusement. I blushed remembering the blonde woman on the poster over his bed.  “MY CUTEST FRIEND!” she exclaimed. I heard Giselle start protesting in the background.

“Hey, Susan,” I laughed.

“C’MON! YOU’VE GOTTA PLAY BEER PONG WITH US!” I looked at Ryan.

“You wanna play?” I asked him. He shrugged and followed as Susan tugged me back through the crowd to the dining room, where some people had set up the game on the nice wooden table. I winced at the sight, imagining the number of cup rings that would be left. Andres was there, leaning against the wall and chatting with some of the other jocks. Susan dragged me up to the table and started resetting the cups. I helped her, noticing she was swaying a bit.

“Another game?” Andres asked her, waving to me. I waved back awkwardly as I felt Ryan emerge from the crowd behind me and stand by my shoulder. Andres frowned for a moment, but then his pleasant expression was back with a vengeance.

“YES!” Susan shouted gleefully. “DO YOU WANT TO PLAY?”

“Who would my opponents be?” he asked. She gestured to me and Ryan. Andres’s grin suddenly seemed sharp.

“No offense, Amy, but I’d love to play against Ryan in a game.” The other jocks near Andres shifted uncomfortably at the sudden change in the atmosphere. I glanced up at Ryan. He was matching Andres’s nasty smile.

“You’re on,” he said sharply. Susan looked between the two in confusion, clearly wondering where the animosity had come from so suddenly.

“I SHOULD WARN YOU, RYAN,” she said cheerfully, deciding to just move on “ANDRES IS UNDEFEATED TONIGHT!”

Ryan shrugged. “I’ve always loved the idea of dethroning a despot.” Andres glared at him. They moved to either end of the table. Susan, Giselle, and I stood along the side to referee.  

“Let’s make this more interesting,” Andres said.