-Chapter 5- I’ve Got a Dark Alley and a Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth (Fall Out Boy)

Please put the doctor on the phone because I'm not making any sense
Blame everyone else but me for this mess
And my back has been breaking from this heavy heart
We never seemed so far
I'm hopelessly hopefull, you're just hopeless enough
But we never had it at all

Tim called while we were in the car and let me know that he was on his way with Bryte, so they would probably get to Katie’s house around the same time as us. The car ride over was pretty fun, actually. Ray can be a pervert sometimes but he is a lot of fun to hang out with. Emma, Ray, yes even Dylan, and I laughed, talked, and joked with each other, and the forty-five minute ride seemed to go by rather quickly.

We pulled up to Katie’s house, and this was the first time I had ever been there, but this had to be one of the biggest houses that I had ever seen. There were so many people already there, but the property was so big that it made it seem like half the amount of people.

We got out of the car and as Emma and I were walking toward the house, I got a call from Tim and he told me to wait for him in the kitchen by the keg.

“So are you and Mike meeting each other here?” I asked Emma as we walked through the massive house.

When I mentioned Mike’s name and Emma smiled the way she did I could tell that she liked him a lot. “Yeah. He’s coming a little bit later because he had work tonight and didn’t get off until ten. Then he had to go home and take a shower, so he should be here in like fifteen or twenty minutes.”

“Blake!”

Emma and I turned and we saw Tim and Bryte walking over toward us. I smiled as Tim came up and gave me a small, relatively light kiss on the lips. “Hey,” I smiled.

Bryte began to look around. “Hey, Blake do you know where Meg is?”

I looked around as well. “We came in different cars and I haven’t seen her yet, but she should be around here somewhere.”

“Thanks,” Bryte said. “I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

Bryte headed out and in just a few moments, Emma caught sight of Mike and headed over to him, leaving Tim and me alone.

“You look great,” Tim said, giving me another kiss.

I blushed. “Thank you. You don’t look too bad yourself.” It was the truth. Tim had on a pair of Ralph Lauren faded jeans with a simple black polo, but he unquestionably wore it well. “So um, guess what?”

“What?”

“Andy found out about us, even though there we’re not together, he still wasn’t too happy.”

“Will he be here tonight?”

“Yeah, and I don’t know how it’s going to turn out, but he’ll probably be getting with some girl, so I wouldn’t worry about him too much.”

“Babe, as long as I get to spend some time with you, I can handle your brother.”

I rolled my eyes but at the same time allowed Tim to lead me over to the fridge where he got a cup of beer from the keg and a Smirnoff for me from the fridge, (I’m not a big fan of beer).

“Have you ever been here?” he asked me.

“No, I’ve met Katie before, but I’ve never been to her house,” I told him.

“Well where should we head to?”

“Why don’t we hang out by the pool and see who’s there?”

“Sounds good to me.”

Tim and I made our way to the pool, which wasn’t as crowded as I thought it was going to be. On our way over, I ran into Katie, Dylan’s cousin.

“Oh my God, Blake, how are you?” she asked.

“I’m great. I haven’t seen you in forever,” I said as Katie and I hugged each other.

“I know. Well I’m glad that you could come. Who else came?”

“Meg, Emma, Beth, Dylan, of course, Tony, and Andy came also. They’re all around here somewhere,” I said. I forgot Tim was standing next to me until he cleared his throat. “Oh, God, sorry,” I said while looking over at Tim and smiling. “Tim, this is Katie, the hostess of the party and Dylan’s cousin. Katie, this is Tim. He plays for my dad.”

Katie shook his hand but looked over at me. “I thought you weren’t allowed to date your dad’s players.”

I grinned. “I’m not, but what my dad doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Plus, we’re not dating, we’re just friends.”

Katie looked skeptical but smiled. “Right. Well, I’m going to let you get back to the party, if you need anything let me know. And if you want to go in the pool, there are bathing suits and towels in the pool house. Have a good time, guys,” Katie said and then she was off. I decided that I should hang out with her more often. She was so much fun, and the complete opposite of Dylan, I guess that’s one of the reasons that I liked her so much.

Tim smiled down at me. “You’re so cute, you know that?”

I blushed as I linked my arm through his. “Thanks. So are we going to head over to the pool?”

“Sure.”

Tim and I walked in silence and once we reached the pool house, Tim took a bathing suit that was clean and went to change and put it on.

I waited in one of the lawn chairs, and when he came out, he had a t-shirt on. “Aren’t you going to go in?” he asked.

I nodded my head. “Yeah, I already have my bathing suit on.”

Tim turned away from me and began to take his shirt off. I couldn’t help but marvel at Tim as I watched all the muscles in his back contract and relax. It was quite the sight to see. Tim turned around and even though I’ve seen him with his shirt off before, he still took me by surprise. Tim’s abs were clearly visible, but it wasn’t the gross hard-core washboard abs that some guys have that cut too deep in the chest. That’s not appealing to me. Back to my point. I will say this for my dad, he definitely knows how to keep his players in shape.

I snapped out of my daze and took my halter and skirt off to reveal a simple white Quiksilver bikini.

The odd part about this situation was that while I tried to hide the fact that I was practically drooling over Tim, he didn’t even attempt to hide his eyes looking me up and down. I wondered how someone could have so much confidence in themselves, that they can demand a certain kind of respect with their presence alone. I had a lot of confidence for a girl, but it only compared to about half of Tim’s.

“Damn girl,” Tim whistled. “I don’t think I’ll be able to control myself if you’re wearing that.”

Tim began to walk toward me but I gently pushed his hands away just before they reached my waist. “Well you better be able to control yourself because both of my brothers are here, and Andy picked up my older cousin on the way here, who is just as protective of me as Andy and Tony are.”

“So?” Tim asked. How could he be so unfazed by this? Maybe he doesn’t truly understand just how nuts my brothers really are.

“So Andy doesn’t know you’re here tonight, and I can guarantee he’d go ballistic if he saw us together.”

Tim just shrugged and began walking toward the pool. He turned back to me and smiled. “You coming?”

When I saw his smile, I caved. It seemed very genuine and at that moment all of my thoughts of my brothers and my cousin left me.

I walked over and sat on the edge of the pool, letting my feet dangle over the side, while Tim wasted no time and just jumped right in.

Meg came over with Bryte, Mike and Emma, and the girls sat down next to me while the boys joined Tim in the pool. A few minutes later, Beth joined the girls on the side of the pool and, to our surprise, Ray was with her.

“Did you and Ray make out?” I asked her.

“Yeah,” she simply answered. Meg, Emma, and I stared wide-eyed at Beth. It was just very uncharacteristic of Beth to just get with someone like Ray. Beth was the most practical and conservative of all of my friends, while Ray was the complete opposite.

“Explain,” Meg said. Meg wasn’t asking Beth to explain, she was telling her.

“There’s really not much to it,” Beth shrugged. “I mean come on, what was I supposed to do? Blake is with Tim, Emma is with Mike, and Meg is with Bryte. I felt left out and Ray was just right there.”

I blinked. “But Beth, that sounds nothing like you.”

She grinned. “I know.”

“Okay ladies,” Bryte said swimming over to us. “It’s time for a game of water volleyball, and don’t try to object because we’ll force you to play if we have to.”

Tim came over, took my hands, and gently pulled me into the water. “What are the teams?” he asked.

“Anything is fine as long as Beth and Blake aren’t on the same team,” Meg said. “I don’t want to play against the two varsity captains.”

“How about this?” Ray began to suggest. “I know that Emma and Meg can play pretty well, so we’ll do Meg, Emma, Beth and me against Tim, Blake, Bryte, and Mike.”

“Blake, are you okay with that?” Emma asked. “I don’t want you to be by yourself on a team full of guys.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I’m fine. Plus Em, I know you only want me on your team so I don’t kick your ass.”

Emma smiled. “Yeah, that’s part of the reason.”

So the eight of us split up into two teams, Meg, Emma, Beth, and Ray versus Tim, Bryte, Mike, and me.

Bryte looked over at me as we got into our positions. “So Blake, are you really any good?”

I shrugged but Mike answered for me. “Have you ever seen her play?” Bryte shook his head no, so Mike continued. “Let me put it this way. Blake is one of the few girls I know that can actually spike the ball well. Blake is going to college on a scholarship for volleyball, she’s one of the best high school players in the state, and she’s been asked to tryout for the 2008 indoor and beach Olympic volleyball team.”

Bryte looked at me astonished. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

I shrugged. “Volleyball is my life, I guess.”

“Oh, don’t be so modest,” Mike laughed. “You’re fucking amazing at this game.”

I blushed but tried to shrug it off as I got ready to serve.

What started as a friendly game of volleyball turned into an intense match. About five minutes into it, we began to attract a crowd. I was surprised at how good Tim, Bryte, and Mike were. Usually football players are so big that they’re not as good at volleyball as people might expect, but these three definitely held their own.

By the time game point came around, our team was up 24-22. All we needed was one more point to win the game. I served the ball and after it was over the net, Meg set the ball for Ray to spike it, and he did. I dove into the water as I dug the ball out and Mike bumped it up and over the net from behind me. Beth sent it back over to us, and Bryte set the ball and I hit it back over. Emma moved to the ball and set it for Ray to try and spike it once more, and he did. Tim and I were unaware that each other was going for the ball. Let me put it this way, Tim is a much, much bigger person than I am. Well we collided and I went under. I heard gasps from the decent-sized crowd that had come to watch. I could care less as to whether I was underwater or not, I just wanted to know if we got the point or not.

I felt a strong pair of hands grab my arms and haul me above the surface. It was Tim. “Are you alright, Blake?” he asked.

I nodded my head. “Yeah, I’m fine. Did we win the point?”

Tim laughed lightly. “Is that all you care about?”

“At the moment, yes. This is an intense game.”

“Yes, we won the point, you can sleep soundly now.”

I laughed. “I feel better now, thank you.” I jumped on Tim’s back and attempted to pull him under the water, but as mentioned before, Tim is a much bigger person than I am, so I was kind of unsuccessful.

“What are you doing?” he asked while trying to fend me off.

I laughed. “I’m getting you back for practically dunking me under the water.” It was weird but I forgot about everyone else that was there for the time.

Tim laughed and somehow managed to flip me around in his arms and he was holding me. “This is my payback for trying to wrestle me.” The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air. It was only then that I realized that Tim threw me almost half the distance of the pool. I went under the water and took a moment before resurfacing. By the time I came back up, Tim was already by my side.

Tim and I started messing around in the pool with one another, and I forgot that other people were there. We were kind of caught up in our own little world when we heard a crowd chanting. Tim had his arms around me when I finally made out what they were saying. “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

I looked over and didn’t have to move to see anything, the two boys who were fighting were right near the edge of the pool. I had no idea who they were.

My eyes traveled to the crowd surrounding the two boys and I landed on Nathan. I suddenly felt uncomfortable in Tim’s arms. I wasn’t sure what was going on between Nathan and me. I know I liked him, (who wouldn’t, he’s gorgeous), but I wasn’t sure how he felt, and I wasn’t going to be the one to make the first move. The one thing I was sure of, things would be even more awkward if he saw me with Tim.

I rolled my eyes at the fact that there were so many people standing around but no one attempted to stop the fight. I rolled my eyes again when I saw Andy come barreling through the crowd. He always has to be the hero.

“Nathan, help me here!” Andy called. Nathan complied and the two of them broke up the fight, much to the dismay of everyone else.

I felt a little relieved when a girl came up to Nate and practically threw herself on him that should keep his attention off of me. But at the same time, the knot that had settled itself in my stomach twisted even tighter than it was before the party started.

Andy began to walk away, and I thought he wouldn’t notice me, but as I mentioned before, my luck sucks and I’m terrible at poker.

I immediately recognized the voice that was calling Andy as my cousin, Eric.

“What’s up,-” Andy began, but cut himself off as he saw me with Tim and Meg with Bryte. He went with a different choice of words. “What the fuck is this?”

Meg and I knew that Eric didn’t have anything to say to Andy. We knew that Andy told Eric about Meg, Tim, Bryte, and me, and we definitely knew that Eric had called Andy’s attention toward us to get Meg and I caught.

Meg and I turned at the same time and glared at Eric and he just shrugged like the loving cousin that he is. I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before I turned and looked at Nathan, and his face was if utter shock. I don’t think he expected to see me there with Tim, either that, or he just didn’t want Andy blowing up at everyone. Whatever it was, the result was the same, Nathan began to walk away toward the house.

I turned around in Tim’s arms and looked up at him. “Can you excuse me for a minute?”

Tim scoffed. “Is this about me, because I can handle Andy.”

I became somewhat agitated. “No, Tim. This isn’t about you. Not everything that goes on is about you.” I pulled myself out of Tim’s arms as I saw Nathan pry himself completely away from the girl he was with and walk quickly inside the house. I swam to the edge of the pool and pushed myself out.

Eric was standing in front of me and Andy was making his way over. I decided to ignore them and go find Nathan.

“Blake,” Andy angrily called as he grabbed my wrist. “Where the hell are you going?”

“Inside,” I answered and pulled away from him. I could deal with Andy and Eric later, but right now I needed to find Nathan and figure out what the hell was going on with us. I wrapped a towel around my waist and slipped into my flip-flops before venturing inside the house after Nathan. As I was leaving, I heard Andy turn on Meg and begin to bitch her out.

I stepped into the house and didn’t know where to start looking. This was just my luck. All I wanted was to have a good time tonight, and of course, it just blew up in my face.

Andy and Eric were, no doubt, pissed at me. I felt guilty for leaving Meg, Bryte, and Tim with Andy and Eric. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if before the end of the night, Andy threw a punch at Tim or Bryte. I also felt bad for snapping at Tim, and I was so confused as to what was happening between Nathan and me. The only person who I knew everything was okay with was Tony, but give me time, the night is still young.

Katie’s house was humongous. It would take me ½ hour to find my way around if I knew my way around and there was no one else here. Instead, I didn’t know where I was going, and Katie’s house was packed with people.

I pushed my way through the masses of people, looking for Nathan. It was impossible to move through the house without bumping into tons of other people. I was suddenly regretting my decision to walk around in just a bathing suit and a towel.

I saw Dylan charming some poor girl on the other side of the room and I made my way over to him.

“Have you seen Nathan anywhere?” I shouted to him over the music.

Dylan shook his head. “Nah. Have you tried calling him?”

I sighed. “No, but I don’t think he’ll pick up anyway.”

Dylan turned away from the girl he was with for a minute. “Do you want me to call him?”

I became hopeful. “Would you?”

As Dylan took out his phone and began to call Nathan, I thought about how nice he was being, and it was a little surprising and even more unnerving. Maybe he could tell I was upset, or maybe Dylan thought it was something else, but it was way too uncharacteristic for Dylan to be this nice.

Dylan hung up and looked back at me. “He’s in one of the bedrooms upstairs, but I don’t know which one.”

I wrinkled my nose. “He’s not with anyone, is he?”

Dylan shook his head. “No, he’s not. I asked him.”

I smiled gratefully at Dylan. “Thanks Dyl. I mean it.”

I turned to leave when Dylan caught my arm. “Blake. Is everything okay?”

I shrugged. “I hope so.”

I made my way, once again, through the crowd toward the stairs. On my way up, I saw Tony stumble out of a bedroom with some girl. They were both laughing and it was completely obvious what they had just done. I tried to avoid them because it’s pretty awkward talking to your brother after he had just had sex, but Tony caught sight of me.

“Blake!” Tony happily slurred. “What’s going on?”

I had to turn away and cough because Tony’s breath reeked of alcohol. “Not much, Tone. But I have to go. Just be careful on your way down the stairs.”

I pushed past him and the girl he was with and made my way to the first bedroom. I braced myself because I would most likely walk in on two people having sex. I did. After quickly shutting the door, I made my way to the next door. I prepared myself again, but I was relieved when I didn’t hear any moaning. I still slowly opened the door and soon saw Nathan standing on the balcony, staring out at the party going on below him. I didn’t know if he knew if someone had come on in or not, so I wanted to be quiet so I wouldn’t scare him. Bad idea. I was walking through the room and while I was being too careful not to make any noise, I ran into the desk and stubbed my toe.

I sucked in a big breath trying to keep the noise down but Nathan still heard me. I heard him turn around.

I smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. I was trying to be quiet.”

Nathan gave a small smile but there was no amusement in his eyes. “What’s up, Blake?”

I forgot about my throbbing toe. “I could ask you the same thing.”

He shrugged. “You could.” Nathan walked back out to the balcony and leaned on the railing. I couldn’t help but notice just how good he looked, but I decided that I should probably follow him out there, rather than marvel at his body, so I followed him out to the balcony.

“What’s going on with you, Nate?” I asked.

He looked over at me and then back out to the yard. “Do you really not know?”

“No, not really.”

“You and Tim Brooks seemed to be pretty close down by the pool.”

I was about to tell him to stop changing the subject, but then it dawned on me, that was the thing that was really bothering him. “That’s what’s the matter?”

“Well, yeah. Pretty much. I guess I just thought that something might happen tonight between us, but Tim took care of that.”

“Well you didn’t really make it known that you wanted something to happen between us,” I defended myself.

“Yeah, and I also didn’t expect for you and Tim to be all over each other tonight.”

“First of all, Tim and I are friends. Okay, so we make out sometimes, but we both know that it would never turn into a relationship. Second of all, you and I got together a few weeks ago at Kim’s party, and I won’t lie, it was great, but it didn’t turn into anything. What was supposed to make me think that last night was supposed to be anything different?”

Nathan was silent for a minute. Both he and I knew that I had brought up a good point. “I don’t know, Blake. Maybe I was just a little surprised to see you making out with Brooks.”

“We weren’t making out,” I said. My temper was beginning to rise.

“You could’ve fooled me.”

“What the hell is wrong with you, Nate?” I said standing up straight.

“You don’t know?”

“No. Not really,” I said.

I was expecting Nathan to answer me. He stood straight up and towered above me as he slid his hand around the back of my neck and pulled my lips up to meet his. The kiss was rough but sweet at the same time. It took me a few moments to respond because I wasn’t expecting him to kiss me. Once I realized what was happening, I began to melt into the kiss, but I realized what was really happening, and I knew that a kiss wouldn’t solve any of our problems, it would only prolong them. I pulled away from Nathan and backed up to the other side of the balcony.

I buried my face in my hands. If I was confused before, that was nothing compared to this. “What the hell is going on, Nate?” I asked.

“I like you, Blake,” he said. “I like you, a lot.”

“Well why didn’t you say anything sooner?”

“You’re not exactly the easiest girl to talk to.”

I blinked. I wasn’t sure that I heard him correctly. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

I watched as Nathan took a deep breath and tried to gain control of his thoughts. “That’s not what I meant.”

I shivered and only then did I realize that I only had a towel and a bathing suit on. “Then what did you mean, Nathan?”

“You’re beautiful, Blake,” Nathan said. “You’re beautiful, and funny, and carefree, and smart, and amazing. You’re so amazing. I know as well as you do that I’m cocky, and I can be arrogant. I have more than my share of self-confidence, and I’ve slept with my share of girls, but when it comes to you, my confidence shrivels up to the size of a raisin.”

I took a minute to digest what he just said. “You didn’t seem to have a problem last night or at Kim’s party. In fact, you didn’t seem to mind the girl that was all over you in the pool house, and that was before you saw Tim and me together.”

“She meant nothing. You’re right, she was all over me, but I was just about to leave her and go find you.”

“I’ve heard that one before, Nate, except the last time I heard something like that, it was when Josh cheated on me and said that the girl was all over him. It’s always the girl’s fault isn’t it? The man is never to blame.”

Nathan ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “That’s not what I’m saying, Blake.” I opened my mouth to speak but Nathan cut me off. “No, don’t talk. Just listen for a minute. What can I say? You drive me nuts. I go absolutely crazy when I’m around you. I see you go from guy to guy, and none of them are right for you. I’m not saying that I’m right for you, and I’m not saying that I’m ‘the one,’ but I want a chance with you. That chick that you saw downstairs, the truth is that I don’t even know her name. She’s just some slut from our school that wanted to get with me, but I have no idea who she is.”

I put my hand up. “Stop. Just stop, Nathan.” I began to walk closer to him. “Honesty? That’s what you want? Well since we’re being so honest here, I like you too. I was waiting for you to make the first move. I’m not going to say that you’re all I think about because that wouldn’t go too well with the whole ‘truth’ theme, but I have thought about you. Tim and I, that’s nothing. I’m all too aware that Tim’s too wrapped up in himself to notice anything or anyone else. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a fun guy to be with, but he and I know that we would never evolve into anything significant. Hell, I know he wouldn’t be upset if I got with another guy tonight, I know that he would turn around and get with another girl. That’s the kind of guy he is, he’s incapable of having a serious relationship. He and I know that. To be perfectly honest, I was wondering what was taking you so long to say something to me.”

By the time I had finished speaking, Nathan had closed the gap that was between us. I looked up at him and smiled.

Nathan’s hand rose up to cup my cheek and he began to stroke his thumb across my bottom lip. I couldn’t take this anymore, so I reached up and kissed him. Nathan kept his left hand holding my face while his right hand found its way to the small of my back. His hand was so warm that I shivered again when he touched my cold skin. It may be September in California, but I was outside and I could feel the air conditioning coming from the house. My hands wrapped around his neck, and I would say that kissing on the balcony like that was very romantic if there wasn’t a party going on below us.

I pulled away, and I wasn’t sure how long we were kissing, but I didn’t really care.

“So, what about Tim?” Nathan asked.

“Tim who?” I smiled.

Nathan chuckled and kissed me again. “Come on. You’re freezing. Clothes might help.”

I laughed and allowed him to take my hand and lead me out of the bedroom. Once we were downstairs, I saw Tony, Dylan, Vince, and Ray were all sitting on two couches. Each of them had their arms around a different girl, and I was happy to see that Tony was still with the same girl that I had seen him with before. I think that’s a record for him. I was also happy to see that Ray was with Beth and hadn’t done a ‘use her and lose her’ type of thing.

Nathan brought me over to them and once Beth saw us together, she just smiled and had to hide her head in Ray’s chest to control her laughter. Tony was still trashed, and Vince was feeling pretty good himself.

“I’ll be right back,” I told Nathan.

I left him and went to find Tim. I, at least, owed him the courtesy of explaining what happened between Nathan and I.

I went back to the pool and saw that Mike and Emma were gone, and Andy and Eric were finished chewing off Meg’s head. Meg and Bryte were hanging out with a bunch of other people. Tim, ironically, was hitting on the girl that was trying to get with Nathan before.

Before going over to Tim, I went to Meg. “Where’d Andy go?”

She looked up at me. “He and Eric are looking for you. Let me tell you, Andy is beyond pissed.”

I left her, put my skirt and halter top back on before I went over to Tim.

Once by him I cleared my throat. Tim looked lazily up at me until he realized that it was actually me. “Blake…hi,” he managed to get out.

I looked at the girl he was with. “Could you excuse us for a moment?”

She looked pissed but left anyway, not before sending a glare my way.

“Listen, Blake,” Tim began, “that’s not what it looks like. I was trying to get rid of her and go find you to see if you were alright. You know?”

I rolled my eyes, hearing that line enough times to last me a lifetime. “I’m over it, really, Tim. Don’t worry about it.”

“Really?”

“Really. But listen, I don’t think you and I are going to work out. Friends is fine, but I think this time we’ll have to leave out the benefits part.”

“Why? I thought you were having fun.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Tim. I was having fun. It’s just that there’s this kid, Nathan, and he has a thing for me, and I have a thing for him. I’m sorry, I know that this is unfair to you, but it just kind of happened.”

“So are you and this kid together?”

I shrugged. “Sort of. We’re not together, but we’re not not together. It’s complicated. I know, I’m a bitch for doing this, but it was pretty unexpected for this to happen.”

Tim flashed me one of his dazzling smiles. “Don’t worry, Blake. It’s not like we were going to go anywhere with this thing. And since we’re being so honest here, I slept with someone last night. It’s sort of a good luck thing that I do before every game. It really helps me out. I would have slept with you but I figured I’d wait to sleep with you for like a week because we’ve only been hooking up for a few days.”

I blinked, and resisted the urge to flat-out stare at what Tim just told me. “Well I’m glad that you’re at least, um, honest. I guess? But I should probably go. Nathan is waiting for me, and I’m sure that Andy and Eric want to tear my head off.” I began walking away but I turned around quickly as Tim looked up. “Oh, and Tim? That girl you were just hitting on, yeah, she’s fifteen. She’s only a sophomore, so you might want to stay away from all the illegal age stuff. I don’t think my dad would like it too much.”

This was by far the most uncomfortable situation that I had been in all night. I gave Tim a hug and told him that I’d call him sometime to hang out. He smiled and nodded his head, both of us knowing that that would probably never happen.

I pulled away and left the pool house after telling Meg that I had a number of stories to share with her tomorrow. She just nodded and laughed as I left to find Nathan once more.

This time I knew Nathan would answer his phone and I learned he was still with the boys so I made my way over to them. I sat next to Nathan and the girl that was with Tony was literally hanging all over him. Gag.

Ray came back with a bunch of drinks and I thanked him as he handed me one.

After just hanging out for about an hour, we all got up and went upstairs to the bedroom Nathan and I were in before. The room was very large and more than big enough to fit Tony, Dylan, Vince, the girls they were with, Emma, Mike, Ray, Beth, Meg, Bryte, Nathan, and me. People were beginning to leave Katie’s house, and Andy text messaged Meg and told her that even though he and Eric were leaving, I was not off the hook.

The rest of the night was great. It was me and some of my best friends hanging out and having fun. We were all a little buzzed, and Tony was the only one who was pretty wasted, but he can hold his liquor reasonably well. Around four thirty in the morning, I fell asleep on the floor with Nathan acting as my pillow. It was quite comfortable.

Tonight turned out better than I thought it would. Andy is pissed at me, but he’ll get over it. Tim and I are friends, it’s pretty awkward, but we’re still friends. Best of all, Nathan and I are together…I guess.

What do you know?

I guess I’m not all that bad at Poker after all.