Author's Note:
Trigger Warnings: Alcohol, underage drinking, hazy or disorienting experiences, potential sexual harassment
...
Tailor Apartments sat silently as the front door swiftly shut and locked behind Mr. Los. Natoya had just had an exhausting day at school. Now, she woke up at 6:40 PM to the sound of a text on her phone.
She rubbed her eyes aggressively, stretched, and grabbed her phone. Several notifications under the name "Andre J" filled her lock screen. She yawned and unlocked her phone before reading them.
Today 6:42 PM
"Hey Nat, are you going to the party tn?"
She paused, trying to think of how to respond to the text. Andre never mentioned going to a party himself, but there was talk amongst the school about some family—the Drakes—who were planning on going on vacation. Their son, Marco, was planning on hosting a party at their house while they were gone.
"Drake's party?"
Read 7:38
"Yeah, down on Beacon Ave."
"Are you going?"
Read 7:39
"Hell yeah, I'm going."
"Could you send me the address?"
Read 7:40
"Do you have a car?"
"No..."
Read 7:40
"I'll walk you there, and we can take the bus."
"It's like an hour otherwise."
"Tailor Lofts, right?"
"Yeah, text me when you get here."
Read 7:41
She slid out of her bed and walked out of her bedroom, peeking into her dad's across the hallway. "Dad...?" she asked, pushing the door further while looking around the room. It was empty. An eerie feeling washed over her, and she looked through the entire apartment, filled with drop-pin silence. There was no noise; everything was silent. Her dad must've left for work—supposedly after a sudden dispatch call. She walked back to her room, waiting for the text. After ten minutes, she made sure her phone was charged enough and just climbed downstairs, waiting outside the apartment building to try and see a familiar face.
"Natoya?" she heard from a few feet away.
"Andre!" She smiled, quickly walking over to him. He took her hand and moved her onto the other side of the sidewalk, not facing incoming traffic.
"So... The Drakes?"
"Rich snobs. Their son Marco goes to Westlake?"
"Are they rich snobs by rumor or...?"
"Oh, no." Andre laughed. "I played basketball against him once. He threw a fit and told his daddy when he lost."
"Think he's actually smart enough to attend Westlake?" she asked, looking up at Andre with a raised eyebrow. At the same time, they slowly approached the bus stop.
"Oh, yeah, definitely," Andre replied sarcastically before climbing onto the bus. Andre pulled her to a specific open seat, then stood before her, holding the rail while she sat on the seat next to where he stood. They didn't talk; instead, he looked alert and paid attention to everyone on the bus, even the people behind him, until they finally got off at Wilshire/Union.
"Anything else I should know about them?" she asked after they had gotten off. Andre walked her down the street in the house's direction.
"Marco isn't going to vouch for anyone, so if cops pull up, run."
"Think the cops will show up?"
"Either the cops will or Mr. and Mrs. Drake." Andre laughed before checking his phone.
The house the couple lived at wasn't what she expected. She looked at Andre with a confused expression as she stared at its Victorian style. Andre didn't seem as confused, but he looked down and read her expression.
"It's his aunt and uncle's. He's not a sharp tool, but he's not the dullest. His father would probably cut him off if the house they lived in got trashed by many teenagers," Andre said. She nodded. It did make sense.
833 Beacon Ave was a Victorian-style house. Its paint job looked like a painting company instructed its workers to take their smoke breaks in the white section of the store. The paint itself didn't complement the house at all; instead, it made it look...
"...Sketchy," she said, her pitch high as she glanced over at Andre with a bit of a worried and cautious look.
Andre looked down at her, his amused look turning into a sudden realization. "If you don't want to go, I can take you back home."
"No! No, it's okay," she said softly, looking back at the house blasting loud music. Andre nodded, and she latched her arm around his as they walked inside.
The place was filled with a variety of different odors: alcohol, cigarettes, vapes. Lights were going wild with a variety of different colors, and everyone was dancing. It was packed full of people aged between 16 and 20, and it surprisingly made her feel excluded. The bass from the music thumped in her chest, and the air was thick with excitement and anticipation.
Andre pulled me through the wave of people. She kept a close hold on him while they walked through the crowd. She could feel her heart skipping beats while she walked through the crowd, her eyes widening at all the teenagers dancing and drinking.
"Easy, easy, don't worry," Andre leaned down and whispered into her ear.
"Okay," she said, looking back up at Andre as she tried to calm down. She began studying her surroundings, trying to recognize any faces in the old Victorian house, and then she saw the same black-haired, grey-eyed boy from the park.
"Is that... Jess?" she asked Andre, unsure of herself. He looked in the direction she was pointing at and suddenly started smiling.
"Jess! Yo!" His voice deepened; she could only assume it was to make himself sound cooler.
Jess looked like he was in the middle of a conversation with another dark-haired boy. The boy in question had his hair slicked back, quite the opposite of Jess' hair, which seemed to be creating waves due to the room's humidity. The boy looked in Andre's direction, then swiftly turned away from Jess, who began to walk over.
"Natoya, Andre," he greeted them with a dry smile as he walked over. Jess put his hands in his pockets, and she looked at Andre, who had an off-putting look on his face.
"Yeah, didn't know you were coming to the party," Andre said with uncertainty.
"I guess we got lucky to find each other," He replied, his voice copying the same tone as Natoya glanced over Jess. He didn't seem as amused. He then offered Natoya an open palm. "Well, I was about to join the crowd. Would you like to join?"
"How generous," she replied before taking it. Andre and Natoya exchanged looks of curiosity, and Andre backed up to look for the guy Jess had just been talking to.
"So, Andre brought you here tonight?" Jess asked as they joined the crowd. The dance floor was in the living room and was full of teenagers grinding on each other and making out anywhere they could.
"Yeah, I thought it would be pretty fun," Natoya smiled. She knew her face was growing red with embarrassment as Jess and she joined them and just danced instead of doing anything provocative.
"I take it you don't know the Drakes too well?" Jess asked, taking her hand and twirling me as the music began to slow.
"No... I know of them."
"Try not to," Jess said in a tone of warning. She looked at him in confusion, but before he could answer her confused look, Andre joined them with red Solo cups. He handed both Jess and me one, and she could feel the anxiety slowly growing within me.
Natoya had never drunk before. Her father probably wouldn't care if she did, but her mother would kill her. She wouldn't have let me so much as stick a foot out the door to be able to even get a mile within alcohol. She looked at the solo cup Andre had handed me and then back up at them. "Have either of you ever drunk before?"
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"Pfft." Andre scoffed before taking a swig of the alcohol and chugging down a red solo cup. She smiled at his recklessness and looked at Jess, who had a look of... disgust? She couldn't quite read it through his poker face.
"No... I've never touched alcohol or any other substance," Jess replied bluntly. She breathed a silent breath of relief as he revealed that to us. Thank God she wasn't the only one. "Is it beer?"
"I'd be surprised if it wasn't. Bottoms up," Andre was the first to take a sip, and after noticing our hesitation, he slightly lowered his cup. She hesitated before following in his footsteps. It tasted bitter, like garbage water, and she forced herself to try and give them a smile as her eye twitched.
"Not how I expected it to taste," she laughed after swallowing the beer. She was doing everything she could to keep her face from looking sour. Jess smelled the contents of his cup and then took a sip.
"Ah... Not what I expected either..." He swallowed, then immediately gagged. "Ah hell, that's bitter as fuck." Jess scowled, and she giggled at his reaction. She took another sip of the beer; the fiery liquid burned its way down her throat, leaving an almost tingling sensation as it left. She couldn't help but wonder if it would "numb her worries and troubles," as everyone around me had described it.
"This is pretty good. How can you hate something so delicious?" Andre asked, looking over at me while she finished her cup. She looked around for wherever Andre had gotten it from. He must've noticed because seconds after, he was pushing through the crowd to get another round of drinks before returning to us. "Jess, you barely even finished your cup."
"I'm taking my time with it," Jess replied, taking Andre's second cup. Andre didn't seem that amused but continued chugging his cup after offering me one after Natoya finished the first solo cup. It tasted bad, but it made me feel a lot less anxious being surrounded by these other kids.
Andre seemed to be having the time of his life. He weighed more tall than Jess and me, so it was no surprise that he wasn't getting as drunk. Nevertheless, she walked towards him to try and get him to slow down, but as she reached her arm out, she realized he was a bit further than she originally thought. The dimly lit room was messing with her vision.
"Nat, are you good?" Jess asked, quickly grabbing her shoulder before she fell forward.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied with a smile.
"Cheers," Andre said after grabbing another can, handing it to her, and clinking the cans together.
"Cheers," she replied, raising the can up.
The boys and she began walking out of the living room, where the blasting music gave her a massive headache. Andre seemed to have a similar issue as he held onto his head.
"Sit down, Nat," Andre said when she realized most of her weight had been concentrated on leaning against him. She felt herself growing nauseous and suddenly... sad? Angry? She gripped her drink and took another swig as Andre sat beside her. Jess was standing up, though a huge light was blocking him from her vision.
She began talking with Andy. He was a friendly face within a crowd of strangers. She finished the second drink she had in her hand, and the room felt like it was becoming louder. It couldn't have been that bad. Andre had already finished his fourth, and he looked fine. After a few seconds, he turned to look at another girl who had joined the couch they were sitting on.
"You're... very pretty, y'know." Andre began flirting with another girl, and she turned her attention to Jess. His face looked like a hazy concept art piece, and she took another sip of her drink. Unless she didn't. Her mouth felt dry, but her throat felt... not dry.
"Natoya..." Jess was saying something, but she was focused on the laughter surrounding her. The raucous conversations and the two people wildly making out beside her.
"Hey, girl~," Andi said in front of her. He looked older. She squinted, trying to figure out why he looked so different.
"...Hey?" she asked in a three-dimensional voice. Randi kept talking and felt her back suddenly grow colder, as if the wind was rising from it.
"...somewhere?" was the last thing she heard before she suddenly felt herself leaning back onto the couch or grabbing something.
"Uh," she began before she felt a sudden pressure on her wrist, hand, or arm. One of those three things, or maybe all of them.
"Hey!" she heard a voice shout from behind her. She let go of whatever she was holding onto and grasped her head as she suddenly felt a sudden headache. "...Interested."
A body got thrown across the floor, and she felt pressure on her arm again, even though it felt like it had never left. She struggled to grasp everything around her before everything went black.
The light became a fixture only known to man, and she was back on the couch, unsure if what had just happened even happened. Maybe it was a dream. Maybe she was just thinking about it happening. She was zoning out, then zoning back in.
The night passed by in a blur. One moment, Randrew was being shoved toward a girl to try flirting with her; another, Jess and a different girl were chatting. She stumbled through a wave of people like a warrior on a battlefield. She leaned against a wall as gravity seemed to pull her in that direction. Then, she walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge door.
She found herself a snack, humming slightly as she tried to open the wrapping. Did it have wrapping? Was it a snack? She dropped it in her confusion.
"First time..." she heard Jess say, and she looked up from the snack in a bubble of confusion. His mouth was moving, but words weren't coming out. And if they were, music was absorbing them. But she could see Jess with his black curls and blue eyes.
"Yeah..." Her words tunneled down a drain, and her mouth moved, but she wasn't sure what was coming from it.
"Daniel..." Jess said. She looked at him, confused.
"Daniel?" she asked, grabbing a hand on the fridge. Jess just laughed in response, and suddenly, she realized she wasn't holding the fridge. Instead, it was another solo cup.
Jess asked a question, and she obliged. He offered his hand and took her phone out. He said something, but she couldn't really understand it. He then offered her phone back, and at the bottom was a message, but she could not read the blurry words—their bright lights hurt her eyes.
"Awww. You're so sweet," she replied before standing up. Gravity felt like it was making her fly as she did so. Vertigo was hitting her like a boat. What felt like hours of talk later, Jess began leading her out to the living room. He was saying something, and she could hear it despite the music. "...Westlake." She had heard of that place before. An apartment building?
"What family?" she said randomly as she picked out pieces of the conversation here and there.
"The Severens."
"Oh," she replied.
Jess reached out to her shoulder, but she felt no weight on it. She looked in his direction and saw him pulling on her hoodie string, exposing her neck to the hot and humid air around her. She realized how close he was to her—they were practically nose-to-nose.
She felt herself pull back—or maybe she was falling backward. Or maybe he had pushed her back. Nevertheless, she was heading in a direction opposite from him. He moved his hand to her back and ensured she didn't fall over.
Jess was so nice and sweet. He kept her from falling over. She was saying something to him—something she couldn't coherently understand. "...So?" was the last thing she remembered saying. Instead of holding his arm to steady herself, she felt her throat go from feeling dry to more alcohol.
"...Answer."
"Popcorn?"
"POLICE!"
She was shoved to the ground by a variety of different teenagers running in opposite directions. Jess's friends grabbed him by the arm, and he gave her a swift peace sign.
"Daniel!" one of them shouted as she tried to stand up. Everyone around her was springing in opposite directions. They looked like they were running through walls and into doors. The reality of the situation suddenly hit her—red and blue lights were flashing from the windows.
"Nat! Come on!" Andre shouted, and his arm was thrown over her shoulder. She struggled to climb the stairs, and her weight was suddenly shifted to a different part of her body.
"You're still drunk—"
"We can just run..."
Their voices merged as she suddenly felt her weight being lifted from the ground. Bodies hit the floor, but she could still hear a door lock. They were in a bathroom, and then there was a skylight. She grabbed its frame and was pushed onto the roof. She sprawled across the shingles and saw Andre suddenly standing near her. Then, she felt a warm hand on her face.
"...Dilated."
"Shit." She felt like she was about to throw up as Jess grabbed her hand and pulled her up. She stood up confidently. She thought for a solid minute that she was holding her own before she realized that Jess still had his arm wrapped around her. Or maybe he had just done that at that moment.
"Jesus Christ." That's his last name? No idea. The only thing she knew was that in one second, she was on the roof, facing a ladder, and in front of a building. Jess suddenly grabbed her and pulled her to his side, and now she was by a car.
The boys dragged her across the parking lot behind a few houses until they finally approached a property containing a huge white building—a perfume store. She looked at Jess and Andre as they pulled all of them inside.
"Just act cool," Jess whispered in their ears—right before they were suddenly ambushed by the potent smells of various perfumes. She coughed and staggered a bit as she walked inside.
Jess grabbed a perfume off the shelf and sprayed it on one of the test papers. He brought it to her nose, and her eyes widened as she breathed in the scent.
"How's that?" he asked after she had taken a whiff of it.
"Daniella would..." Andre replied. His expression stiffened as he returned the test sample, grabbing another one off the shelf. The two were talking. It bored her to death. She looked around, and her eyes focused on one shelf, which she continued to stare at until she was pulled again.
Then, they approached the cashier and checked out their bought item. The three left the store after Jess handed her the little bag. Suddenly, they were in an entirely different location. She looked back, and they had only passed a single building.
"Last time I joined you two at a party," Jess said with a bit of a chuckle.
"What time is it?" Andre asked, looking over at Jess before he grabbed her to make sure she didn't continue falling over. She felt her arm raise, and Jess looked at the time.
"9:21. I'm surprised..." God, this was boring.
"A guy?"
"Guy...?" she asked. The night seemed like a blur. The streets right now were hazy on their own.
"What'd he look like?" Jess asked. She couldn't read his tone. She looked up at him, and his eyebrows were furrowed—in confusion? She looked at his entire face and reached out to touch his hair.
"Awhh. Your curls are gone," she frowned, looking at the wavy pattern in his hair.
"What?" She wracked her brain, trying to remember his features.
"And your eyes are gone?" she almost asked before looking at Andre. "His colors are gone."
"What were you guys talking about?" Andre asked, suddenly amused for some reason.
"Some lake out west. And... serpents?" Andre looked at her in confusion as she discussed her and Jess's conversation. "No, no, no... It was like—a job... with a family of... serpents...?"
"Severens?" Jess spoke out of nowhere.
"That's it."
"What did you say his name was again?" Jess asked. She stared at the concrete, feeling a headache slowly rising.
"Ohh..." she replied, suddenly grabbing onto Andre's jacket as she felt the alcohol slowly traveling up her stomach.
"...Minch?" Jess's interrogation seemed less like he was interested and more like... well, she didn't know. But his voice was definitely changing. The two boys continued asking questions, but she could feel herself growing colder. Her saliva tasted weird, and it started to feel like...
"Nat—" Jess pulled her away from Andre and toward the road, where she suddenly revolted against tonight's drinks. She felt the back of her neck become exposed to the chilly air of L.A. as the boys held her back from falling forward.
"What did you..." Andre asked, and she tried to hear the rest of his question but just shook her head in confusion—or maybe the world was spinning. She felt her back leaning against a pole, and suddenly, both boys stared down at her.
"Naty, look at me. What..." His words trailed on, but she stared into a streetlight, unable to focus on what Jess was asking. She felt gravity pulling her down, and not two seconds later, she was suddenly caught by one of the boys.
The last thing she heard before everything went black was Jess's voice. The last thing she felt was Andre grabbing onto her. Her hearing slowly gave out like a TV's volume going down, and her vision quickly blacked out.