He was lying. But I wasn’t going to call him out on it. If he wanted to leave, he could. I wasn’t going to force him to stay in my company for any longer than he wanted to… which didn’t seem to be very long at all.

I nodded and waited for them to step through the door. “Cool. Well, Merry Christmas.” I watched as they stepped down to the sidewalk. Kent briefly waved, still avoiding my direct gaze. Jen, on the other hand, she waved and smiled cheerfully, almost as if rubbing it in.

“Merry Christmas, Elly! Have a good night! Don’t forget to go to bed early so that Santa Claus can come!” She disappeared into Kent’s SUV after he shut the door. He glanced at me from a distance, held his hand up in parting and then disappeared from view himself.

I felt the sting of tears in my eyes as I shut the door. Great. I was all alone. I wasn’t going to let myself wallow in my self-pity, however. I was going to a party. A grown-up party. With adults who probably wouldn’t be wanking each other off underneath their hosts’ blankets.

Best case scenario there was another lonely soul there like myself. Worst case scenario, I’d get really, really drunk, for free.

Chapter Fifteen

I stopped by Stacy’s house and picked her up. She would be my partner in crime tonight. The best case scenario was already under way as we stepped in, together, to Mrs. Frederick’s party.

The cacophony of voices was overwhelming and bodies were everywhere. Mrs. Frederick was standing by the door and smiled at us as we entered, “Elly, dear. You’ve finally come to my Christmas Eve Bash!” She touched my shoulder lightly.

I smiled politely and nodded, “Yes, ma’am. And I brought a friend too, I hope you don’t mind.”

She wrinkled her nose and shook her head, her smile still on her lips. “Oh, no, of course not. Make yourselves at home. There are a few other younger people here. I think they’re downstairs with the karaoke. Go ahead and put your coats in the laundry room and then head on down there.”

I looked behind me to Stacy, who nodded, and then turned back to Mrs. Frederick and smiled. A shrug of my shoulders and we were off. We left our coats on the rack and then proceeded downstairs after a doing a loop and finding nothing else interesting.

We were greeted immediately to the overwhelming smell of pot and the soft thumping of bass-heavy dance music. I coughed and waved my hand in front of my nose as we made our descent. Stacy leaned down and whispered into my ear, “You’ve never smoked before?” She sounded almost giddy at the realization.

“No! And I don’t plan on starting now, either.”