"No one can hear me over this music," she reassured. Jonathan walked up behind Casey and put his arms on her waist and started to kiss her neck. Casey looked back at him and smiled.

"Hey baby. What are you guys talking about? Let's get wild up in this place!" Jonathan urged. Casey awkwardly glanced at Isaiah and then back at Jonathan.

"Sounds like a plan." Casey turned to face Jonathan and they started to dance. Isaiah didn't particularly like the idea of dancing he was too scared about what he might look like. He decided he was going to go and explore the house and maybe a bit of the outside, some air would do him good. Casey looked at him as he started to walk away, she placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned into him. "Loosen up, have a little fun." Isaiah forced a smile and started to make his way back through the crowd. He walked past Sheena and Caleb dancing. Caleb looked up and smiled at him, he reached out and stopped him then leaned away from Sheena who flashed a quick smile at Isaiah.

"You're not leaving already, are you?" said Caleb in Isaiah's ear. The smell of Caleb's cologne was almost intoxicating to Isaiah as he talked. His breath touched Isaiah's ear, and it almost sent chills down his spine.

"I… I was just going for a walk. I need some air." Caleb smiled at him.

"Don't go far." Isaiah smiled and continued to walk through the crowd of people. Caleb watched as Isaiah walked away then slowly moved back to Sheena who was looking at him with a questioning look on her face.

"Is he alright?" she asked.

"He's just nervous cus' he's never been to one of these parties before." Sheena looked in the direction that Isaiah had walked and saw the door open as he walked out.

"Well do you wanna go see if he's okay?" asked Sheena. Sheena had an unfamiliar look of compassion on her face, Caleb knew that Isaiah was the only team member that she liked or at least tolerated. So, he decided he would take the opportunity to follow Isaiah to make sure he was ok.

"Yeah, I'm going to go. I'll be back soon." Sheena nodded her head and they kissed then she touched his face and smiled. Caleb nodded at her and started his way through the crowd. Almost all the people there were people that Caleb either went to school with or was a teammate. As he walked past everyone nodded and smiled or gave him a high five or some other congratulatory gesture. As he walked, he made sure that Isaiah wasn't among the crowd. Caleb didn't see him, so he assumed that he had gone outside and opened the front door and walked out. As Caleb stepped outside the fresh air hit his face forcing him to realize just how hot it had gotten inside. The sun was still visible, and the evening sky was starting to show all of its colours. Caleb took a deep breath of the fresh air taking in the smell of the grass and the late spring evening. Caleb looked around and couldn't see Isaiah anywhere, but he spotted Chris standing with a group of people and walked over to them still looking around to see if he could spot Isaiah. "Hey, Chris, what's up?" Chris greeted him with a smile. "Having fun so far?"

"Yeah, buddy. You?" Chris smiled and raised a drink to him. "Great time as always here."

"Good, good." Caleb touched his beer to Chris's drink and lowered it back to his side. "Hey, did you see Isaiah come outside?" Chris looked at Caleb confused and caught off guard by the question.

"Um, not really why?" Chris stopped and thought briefly.

"Oh, I just wanna make sure he's having a good time, it's his first time here you know."

"Yeah… he might have gone over to the pool. I didn't see him leave." Chris's tone was suspicious. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine man I don't like it when people come here and don't have a good time you know this." Caleb laughed to break some of the tension and walked over toward the pool and sure enough, he could see Isaiah, he looked as though he were looking around. Caleb walked up behind him unheard. Caleb didn't say anything for a few seconds. He had never seen Isaiah dressed up like this before, he really liked the way his hair was done tonight, he had seen it spiked before just tonight seemed different. The clothing he was wearing was definitely different than anything he wore to school, his tight-fitting black tee with white sleeves covering his arms and blue jeans seemed to fit him well showing off the work he had done to his body in the last year or so. Caleb remembered the time he first saw Isaiah, he was the definition of a nerd, he wasn't very tall, nor was he in any kind of shape. Caleb always thought he was a cute kid but when he tried to get into shape, he gave it his all and researched it. He thought no one was around at the gym sometimes and Caleb would watch him work out from one of the steps outside the gym that he could see inside the window just by sitting down there and pretending to read a book. Caleb couldn't explain how he felt for Isaiah but up until only recently it had never been so strong before and he wasn't sure how he was going to deal with it. "Hey… you okay?" he asked. Isaiah turned around startled and stared at him for a second. Caleb smiled at Isaiah, and he could see him relax.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I just needed to breathe it's really hot in there with all those people," said Isaiah. Isaiah smiled but then looked at Caleb strangely. "Did you follow me out here?" Caleb looked at Isaiah caught off guard by the question.

"Well, no not really." Caleb looked awkwardly at his feet then back at Isaiah. "Well okay yeah I did, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Caleb could feel the blood rushing to his face, he was sure he was blushing. "I know you're uncomfortable here and I like to make sure everyone is having a good time." Isaiah looked at Caleb for a few short seconds watching his dark skin get a tint of red to it as he blushed. He was showing a lot of concern for him.

"Honestly I am okay, just a little bit of sensory overload going on in there," explained Isaiah. "Go back in I'm not going to go far I promise." Caleb turned slightly to start walking away keeping eye contact.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Isaiah really didn't want him to go but he didn't want to seem needy.

"Yes go," he laughed, "I'll be fine." Caleb turned and walked away then smiled back at him as he spoke.

"Suit yourself, I'll see you inside." Isaiah smiled back at him and continued to watch him as he walked out of site. Isaiah could hear people all on the deck talking and decided to walk out front but before he could act on the thought Stephanie came walking around the corner. She saw him and walked over to him.

"Hey cutie," she said smiling. Isaiah knew what kind of girl Stephanie was, her reputation for being easy was well talked about within the football team. He wasn't about to be another stamp on her card from the team. "What'cha doin'?" He didn't have a problem with her personally, he just didn't like her reputation and Casey couldn't stand her.

"Not much, I was just about to head back in." Stephanie stepped closer to him and looked him in the eye for a short second smiling at him. "So," he hesitated, "Are you having fun so far?" Stephanie stayed silent and leaned in and kissed him. Isaiah was caught off guard and pulled back. He hadn't kissed a girl since he joined the football team, and he had no intention of kissing one today. Isaiah looked at her surprised, she was just as surprised as he was, he could tell as she looked back at him with disappointment in her eyes. "I'm sorry you…"

"I didn't mean to scare you jeez it's just a kiss."

"It's okay just a little warning would have been nice." Isaiah wiped his mouth off and looked at her for a second.

"Come on was it really that bad?" Stephanie still looked at him with confusion on her face. "What, are you a fag or something?"

"Excuse me?" Isaiah was insulted at her insinuation just because he didn't kiss her.

"Sorry I guess I'm just not used to the rejection." Stephanie's face changed to a smile as she looked at him. "You should come dance with me." Isaiah decided it best to avoid the potentially awkward situation this could create.

"Sure," he said simply. Stephanie smiled at him and took his hand and led him quickly back into the house amidst the crowd of people. She pulled him through the crowd over to Sheena and Caleb who were dancing rather close. Sheena looked over at the two of them as they started to dance and suddenly Stephanie made sense. Caleb looked back and smiled with a bit of surprise on his face. Isaiah was not the type of person who liked to dance. Not that he didn't feel he could, he just wasn't comfortable with dancing around other people, especially people he knew. He was terrified of what they might think of him, awkwardly he went with the flow of the music. As the two of them danced Stephanie began to get extremely seductive touching and rubbing his body. She smiled at him as she danced and began to put her hands up his shirt lifting it slightly. Caleb looked back at Isaiah dancing still as Stephanie touched him and lifted his shirt, he couldn't help but stare. He was particularly impressed with Isaiah's core it was one of the hardest things to get yet he managed to get and maintain an almost perfect six-pack. Isaiah nervously lowered his shirt and took Stephanie's hands to prevent her from doing it again.

A few hours had passed, and Isaiah now found himself standing out on the deck with Caleb, Sheena, Chris, Stephanie and Jonathan. They were standing by the pool; the wind blew slightly; the warm summer night air smelled like fresh-cut grass from one of the other houses nearby. Isaiah was actually having a good time; he was glad he'd shown up. The only thing he was particularly not fond of was the fact that Stephanie had been hanging off of him all night. He hadn't been able to get away from her since they danced together, and it was getting tiring entertaining her, but he didn't want to be rude to her nor did he want Caleb to think he might be interested in her. At this point, she had been drinking for several hours, and she wasn't the only one. Although Isaiah was still nursing the same one he had taken from the fridge when he first arrived, he had noticed that Caleb had probably downed about 5 drinks and was feeling pretty good. Sheena, Jonathan and Chris were all pretty well off and he was sure they were all drunk. He wondered how far-gone Casey had managed to get herself but with Stephanie around, there was no way she was going to approach him. Stephanie and Sheena were having a random conversation about things no one else seemed to be interested in. Isaiah was not listening to them in any case, he wasn't interested in what they had to say at any point. He noticed that Caleb had looked over at him, Isaiah smiled at him then turned away and took a drink of his now warm can of beer. Caleb smiled at him.

"So, you enjoying yourself so far, dude?" he asked.

"Yeah man, it's pretty cool. I'm sorry I've never come to these before."

"Yeah, it's pretty much the same all the time, just people getting together to have some fun." Caleb took another drink from his bottle of Coors and looked at Stephanie and Sheena who had just stopped their conversation. Stephanie once again turned her attention to Isaiah smiling at him.
"Yeah Isaiah, I'm glad you decided to come too." Stephanie leaned in and touched his chest. "You look really hot tonight." Stephanie was very drunk at this point this type of conduct was certainly something Isaiah was used to. He didn't think that any of the girls in school were interested in him and the only one he had ever gotten a compliment from was Casey, but that, he was sure was just patronization. Isaiah awkwardly forced a smile.

"Nah, I'm pretty average," said Isaiah embarrassed.

"Hey man, learn to take a compliment," laughed Caleb.

"I love this shirt on you." Stephanie began to rub her hand across Isaiah's chest.

"Um, thanks, Stephanie." Isaiah accepted the compliment reluctantly. Caleb could tell that Chris and Jonathan were uncomfortable. Caleb stared at the ground as the exchange took place but could still see that Jonathan was even beginning to squirm. He was uncomfortable with Stephanie hitting on Isaiah as well, not only because it was Isaiah, she was hitting on but because he was aware of her track record and was sure that Isaiah really wouldn't be.

"Isaiah," Caleb lifted his head and looked in Isaiah's direction who met his glance, "did I ever tell you about the time Jonathan and I went to the mall and this chick kept following us around?"

"Awe man, that chick was such a dog, dude," laughed Jonathan. Sheena suddenly had a disgusted look on her face.

"Caleb, that story is so stupid," she interrupted as Caleb took a breath, "I hate it when you tell people about it. It just makes you two look like idiots." Sheena turned to look at Jonathan still with a disgusted look on her face. "If she was such a dog then why did you end up fucking her in the bathroom?" Isaiah looked back and forth between Sheena, Caleb and Jonathan caught off guard by Sheena's blatant disrespect for Caleb. He was sure that this would be the argument that would set Caleb over the edge.

"Oh, fuck off would ya? Pussy is pussy." Caleb's steady smile quickly faded as the exchange took place. He looked at Chris and then at Sheena and Stephanie, it was clear that he was angry, Sheena had embarrassed him again and this time for no reason she just couldn't keep her mouth shut. Caleb quickly thought of a reason to get out of there for fear that he might blow up at her, he discretely checked his drink it was almost gone.

"Anyone need a drink refresh? I'm getting a little low." Chris looked at him awkwardly and then checked his drink.

"Um yeah, I could use one if you're going, bud," said Chris handing Caleb the bottle he had.

"Cool. How about you, Isaiah?" Caleb looked at Isaiah knowing that he could tell he was angry.

"No thank you," said Isaiah shaking his head accordingly.

"Okay, I'll be right back." Caleb walked back into the house. His emotions were running at an all-time high, this was it he was done; he couldn't deal with her anymore. He was hoping that they would be able to make it through the party without any kind of incident, but it was clear to him that with Sheena this was asking far too much. He had decided to take the long way to the kitchen, so he would have more time to think of what he would say to her. Caleb walked around the house and in through the main door to the living room, there were still a lot of people in the house and the air was stuff even with the air conditioner running almost full tilt. The music had been turned down and now only added to the background noise that was now most people's voices chattering. He heard glass shattering and stopped to look around to see someone quickly sweeping up the mess, he ignored it and kept walking. Thinking of the mess he was going to have to clean up tomorrow, there was no point in doing any cleaning now.