Andrew picked me up at five thirty after I did my makeup, and wore my punk-est all black outfit. I wanted to wear black lipstick, but I thought that went too far, and black lipstick looked terrible on me. I did put on a lot of eyeshadow, though. Not well, but it’s there. I had Andrew pick me up alongside the curb to the left of my house so my Dad wouldn’t see him. As I got in, Andrew smiled.

“You look hot.” He beamed.

Andrew also looked really good. He wore a black grid button-up, opened, with a white shirt underneath. Across his eyes, he wore eyeliner and purple eyeshadow.

“Are you wearing makeup?” I said as I got into his blue convertible.

He became defensive. “Yeah, why?”

“Oh, looks good!” I said trying to be supportive.

“Thanks.” He eased.

Alyxi waved at me at the back of the car. I waved back. I’d never seen her so happy. Like me, she dressed up for the occasion. Wearing makeup, she had a denim jacket on with a striped blue t-shirt. I felt a little funny looking at her because she was so pretty, but I ignored it and focused on Andrew.

Ethan lived in a two-story, small house about fifteen minutes away from me. It sat on a colder sack neck to quite similar houses. No cars sat on the outside I rang the front door, and Andrew stood shoulder to shoulder to me. A little dog started barking like a madman at the door. Ethan opened the door and seemed surprised to see us.

“You’re early,” he said.

“Yeah, it’s at five-thirty right? We’re late, actually.”

Looking at his phone, Ethan shrugged. “Gang won’t be here for another thirty minutes.” He held his dog. “Come on in.”

Animal smell covered the room along with the strong stitch of weed. In the kitchen, a woman clanked dishes together. Looking around the corner, I wondered who it was.

“Oh, hello. They’re early,” a fifty-year-old woman said washing a casserole dish. Her washed-out orange hair fluffed from her head. “Hi! I’m Ethan’s Mom.”

“Hi,” I said, making a wave at her.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Apricot,” Alyxi said.

“Oh, this must be your boyfriend,” his mom said and reached her hand out to Andrew.

“Oh, no. I am with this one,” Andrew pointed down at me.

“That’s too bad,” she said and whispered to Ethan. “He’s cute.” Clasping her hands together, she got excited. “Well, I’ll be getting out of your hair then. I’ll be upstairs in my office if you need me.”

I forced a smile. His mom was going to be here!? And he was okay with that!?

“Thanks, Mom,” Ethan said.

His mother patted him on the shoulder and wandered up the stairs. Once gone, I made sure Ethan was okay.

“Your Mom is staying?”

“Yeah, she made these brownies. They’re flavored,” Ethan said.

Brownies!? I loved brownies. I grabbed one, but Andrew took it out of my hand. He smelt it and put it back in the dish. He made a little wink with his eye and shook his head. Confused, I wondered if there was something wrong.

“I love chocolate,” I said.

“They’re not ordinary brownies,” Andrew said.

“What’s wrong with them?”

Andrew scratched his brow trying to figure out why I wasn’t getting the clue.

“They’re weed brownies, Amber.”

His Mom made weed brownies? What the–why!? No wonder Ethan was the way he was. He had no boundaries. My Mom would never do that in a million years. Only shitty people took drugs, and it made me unhappy knowing I was around them. Too late now, though. It’d be rude to leave.

“I have chips, too,” Ethan said, offering us some.

“No, thanks,” I said and sat on his dog fur-covered sofa.

Andrew handed him a couple of DVDs. Taking them, Ethan flipped them over.

“I’m not watching the hentai. Give it to Tony. He’s a –”

Someone opens the door holding an eight-pack of beer. An overweight Hispanic man wearing something somewhat similar to Andrew walked in with a friendly smile. Once he saw us he waved.

“Hi, the name’s Tony.”

“Give it to this guy,” Ethan said as he gave Tony a side hug. “He’s in charge of the whole thing.” Andrew showed him the DVDs. “Oh shit, these are old school. I like it. What’s your name?”

“Andrew.”

“Alyxi.”

“Amber.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m going upstairs now if you want to hang out. I know Ethan is staying down here.”

“Uh…” I said.

“Okay!” Alyxi said.

My vision went white. Panic filled my veins.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Andrew said.

“Uhm…” I said.

“I thought you were hanging with me,” Ethan said to me.

“Yeah, I don’t want to watch Hentai. Sorry….”

“Why?” Andrew asked, annoyed.

“Because I don’t like Hentai.”

I could tell this put a splint in Andrew’s side. He gave me the expression that I was being a prude, and that I should grow up and watch it.

“It’s just a cartoon. Nothing that graphic happens,” Andrew said.

“It’ll be fun,” Alyxi said.

“I don’t want to, though,” I said.

“First of all, it is graphic. Second of all, if she doesn’t want to watch, she doesn’t have to. It’s not a big deal, my bro,” Ethan said.

BAM! Someone kicks the door open. Jacob strolled in, raising his hands in a cheer. Once he spotted Ethan, he stopped. About fifteen people stumbled in, one of them being Daniel. No one looked like Ethan’s friend. Ethan’s expression faded.

“Heyyooo!” Daniel said, patting Ethan on the back. “Super cool of you to hold this party. Where do I put this?”

Daniel held his beer up.

“What are you doing here?” Ethan asked.

“Jacob invited us,” Daniel said. “Didn’t he tell you?”

“No, man, you can’t be here. My Mom thinks this is a small party.”

“It is a small party. There’s only a few of us. Come on.”

“Leave.”

“Be chill, my man,” Daniel said. “It’s going to be fun.”

He winked and gave Tony a high five.

“You’re joining us? I had no idea! Go upstairs. We’re hanging up there,” Tony said.

Placing his hands on the side of his head, Ethan could have died. I felt terrible for him and wished there was something I could do. Daniel and Jacob’s girlfriend walked up to us already drinking.

“Hey, you’re Ethan, right?”

“Yeah…” he said defeated.

“Can we eat?” Daniel’s girlfriend said.

“Yeah, we don’t want to watch that anime dork shit,” Jacob’s girlfriend said.

Grabbing the brownies, he put them in the fridge. Why? Isn’t the point of them to serve them to your guests?

“Yeah, I can order pizza. We’re watching scary movies down here.”

“Oooo, a scary movie. I hate scary movies,” she said and drunkenly shuffled to the couch.

“Ethan, what the fuck!?” Bailey came storming into the kitchen. “Why did you invite Daniel?”

“I didn’t. They just came,” he said. “My Mom’s going to murder me.”

“Tell them to fuck off,” Bailey said.

“I can’t,” he sighed. “Just go upstairs. It’ll be fine.”

“This is going to be awesome!” Andrew said.

“No, it’s not, Andrew. He doesn’t want these people here.”

“We’re all friends,” Andrew said.

My nose scrunched up. I had no idea Andrew was so shitty. A good person would help him get the people out of there. Andrew was popular like Daniel, couldn’t he convince him? I guess I had no room to talk. I wasn’t saying anything either.

“What are you guys going to do?” Jacob asked.

“I’m watching scary movies,” I said. I also hated scary films, but scary video games were my favorite genre. Close enough, right?

Jacob became disgusted. “It’s a porn party.”

“And a horror party,” Ethan said.

“Okay, I am down with that,” Jacob shrugged. Wow. It was super easy to convince otherwise.

From the moment I said it, I knew Andrew’s disappointment, but he stayed polite. I didn’t want to ruin Andrew’s time.

“If you want to watch porn you can, Andrew.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m your boyfriend so I’ll stay.”

Andrew and Jacob glared at each other. Jacob rudely poked his chest.

“That’s weird because I thought I was.”

Before my eyes, Andrew shoved Jacob against the wall. Jacob responded by shoving back. What the fuck? Why did Andrew explode like that? Things started to escalate until Tony got between them and used his weight as a buffer.

“Whoa–whoa whoa! No fighting! You guys got to chill, alright?”

“You guys need to leave!” Ethan shouted.

“Jacob, the fuck are you doing?’ Jacob’s girlfriend said.

“Leave,” Ethan pointed to the door.

Andrew punched Jacob across the face. I gasped in horror as I stepped back. Covering his face, blood dripped from Jacob’s cheek. Before Jacob could punch back, Tony acted as a blockade again.

“WHOA! Whoa! Dude, get the fuck out of here!” Tony shouted at Andrew.

Spitting in Jacob’s face, Andrew walked off grabbing me by the arm. Interfering, Ethan stopped us.

“Where are you going with her, you fucking psychopath?”

“She’s my girlfriend,” Andrew said getting in Ethan’s face.

“No, shit,” Ethan said. “Don’t leave with him, Amber. I’ll take you home.”

Tears started swelling in Andrew’s eyes. Without saying another word, he left. Motionless, I wasn’t sure if I should follow. Technically, he was my boyfriend, but he literally hit a guy. Confused as hell, I didn’t know why there was so much tension. When I imagined Jacob and Andrew fighting, I was joking.

Ethan pointed at Jacob. ‘

“Leave before I call the cops,” Ethan said.

Tony grabbed Jacob from the back of the shirt and forced him outside. I think Jacob could take Tony but didn’t want to make a bigger fuss. Except for doing as he was told, like a normal person, Jacob aimed for Andrew again.

“Fuck off! Fuck off–look I’m sorry. I’m sorry I punched you. Just fuck off, okay?” Andrew said.

Cooling off, Jacob retreated to his car. To my amazement, they drove off.

“Holy shit,” Daniel said. “What happened?”