friday, december 11th

Beth and Robin walked around the neighbourhood, keeping up their casual conversation even though they were both visibly nervous with their lack of party-experiences. Beth checked the address on the invitation one more time before the pair turned to the right street.

The music could be heard before the house was even on sight. The echoes of a song, which Beth recognised as Heart of Glass, was sure enough to lead the girls to the right house.

Now that they were standing on Tammy's front porch, the music was already loud and clear.

"Well, good news." Robin mumbled. "The party is definitely going on already. We're not too early."

"We could still be late." Beth sighed. "Let's just.." She searched for a doorbell, only for Robin to press it before she could; giving Beth a mischievous smile.

Tammy rushed to open the door, saving the girls from the cold. Seconds later, she was holding two champagne glasses, handing them over.

"It's cinnamon wine. It's not the strong stuff, don't worry. One glass won't get anyone drunk." The blonde assured the two.

Beth doubted for a moment, but seeing Robin eagerly take the other glass, she took one aswell and thanked Tammy.

The girl brought the glass to her lips, taking a small sip. The wine was really sweet. It didn't even taste like normal wine. Beth had only tried white wine once when her mother let her drink from her glass.

The doorbell rang again. Tammy quickly guided Beth and Robin to the living room before going back to the door. No one was dancing or anything, everyone just stood around talking with eachother.

"Should we..?" Beth asked Robin, gesturing to the talking people.

"Yeah, yeah. Man, we suck at parties." Robin laughed, and the girls walked over to a couch while looking around. Tammy's house was really nice, a three-storey house with a giant backyard. Maybe they were super rich or something? Wouldn't be a surprise.

Beth sat down with Robin, spotting Josh standing on the other side of the room. The boy smiled widely, earning a smile back from Beth.

"So, uhm, how many parties have you been to? Before this?" Robin asked, trying to sit more comfotably.

Beth raised an eyebrow. "I think you know the answer, sherlock." She smirked.

Robin acted like she was really pondering.

"Zero?" She guessed, smiling.

"Exactly." Beth nodded. "I'm assuming that your experience are just as lame as mine?"

"You assumed right." Robin lifted her now half-empty champagne glass. "Well, if we're both newbies.. let's raise a toast."

Beth lifted her glass aswell. "To.. parties?"

"To being a newbie. To.. christmas?"

"Sure." They gently clang their glasses together, drinking and smiling.

—

The party had turned pretty intense in a matter of minutes.

No more quiet talking, now it was just.. well, beer. After someone had brought a giant beer can to the house, the atmosphere changed, the living room turned into a dance floor, and now everyone was more or less drunk. It felt like the number of quests doubled, the house was full with everyone swaying and dancing around.

It was fun. The only problem was that Beth had lost Robin. At what point it happened, she wasn't sure. She was too involved in the conversation she was having with Maddie to notice the girl's disappearance. Puf. She was gone.

Now Beth was looking for her, ending up on Tammy's kitchen, and a bottle on the table catched her attention. The cinnamon wine.

She had made a promise with herself -and Robin- before even coming to the party: no drinking. It was no doubt, though: everyone who had visited the beer can seemed to be having so much more fun than her.

Beth took a quick look around. Probably Tammy wouldn't mind, if she took another glass. The wine had sucked on the first try: but she didn't want to drink the beer, so why not try again.

Beth struggled with the cap, and ended up throwing it on the sink by accident.

"Oops."

She poured herself a full glass, watching the little bubbles rising. "Okay." She muffled, taking a long sip. Soon the girl was chugging the entire glass down her throat, already planning on pouring another one.

She ended up spending a good while in the kitchen: spilling most of the wine to the floor, she had to wipe it up, and then she might have drank

just one glass more. Beth moved back to the living room, already feeling a nice, warm sensation in her stomach.

She wandered around, pushing her way trough the dancing people, trying to get to Tammy who was talking with a random guy.

"Hey, Beth." The girl smiled. "Hey. Have you seen Robin anywhere?" Beth asked.

"No, sorry." Tammy smiled sadly. Beth nodded, moving on. She saw Kate sitting on a counter, deciding to head to her next.

An obstacle appeared on her way to the girl: an obstacle who turned out to be a boy with black hair.

"Josh!" Beth greeted, giving her voice a little bit of extra cheeriness.

"Hey! I've been trying to reach you all night. You seem to get away from me!" Josh stated, gently holding Beth's shoulder.

"Yeah." Beth laughed, clearly uncomfortable.

"Listen- uh-"

Josh wasn't listening to her, as he desperately tried to start a conversation. "How do you like it? The party?"

"Uh- it's fine."

Beth was stuck. She chatted with Josh for a time that felt like hours, constantly wondering where Robin was. What if she went home? Maybe Beth shouldn't have drank the wine.. it was definitely kicking in and she was feeling clueless. She didn't hear a thing Josh was saying, until he asked a question.

"Would you like to dance?"

Beth's eyes widened. "Huh?" She took a quick look to the dance floor. "I don't know-"

Josh looked at her, pleadingly. "C'mon. It's fun." The boy was about to grab Beth's hand, but someone interrupted his actions.

"Hey, Josh, do you wanna-"

Josh quickly turned around to the girl. "Sorry." He quietly spoke, getting back to the conversation with the other guy.

Beth took her chance. As smoothly as possible, she walked away, fading into the crowd and then running up to the second floor.

Jeez. She was feeling lightheaded, trying to get to the bathroom.

It had been like -half an hour, maximum, since she drank. How did the alcohol kick in this fast?

Where did Tammy say the bathroom was again? Beth stopped at the top of the stairs, looking left and right. Right. It's on the right, at the end of the hallway. Okay, she got this. It has to be that door over there.

She walked fast, or was she walking slow? She felt like she was running, but why is that door still so far away? Suddenly she almost tripped, tangled in her own legs. Great. Beth balanced herself on the wall, looking around. Thank god no one just saw that.

It was ridiculous how she couldn't even walk straight anymore. How much of that wine did she have..? Beth stopped to think. She couldn't be drunk, there's no way that she was drunk. She only had the glass Tammy gave her as a welcoming.

And the other five.

"Shit. I'm drunk." She spoke aloud, chuckling at the absurd situation. Well, at least her words weren't slurring.

Beth finally reached the door and turned the knob. She stumbled in, ready to lock the door behind her.

This isn't the bathroom. Beth realised, as she closed the door behind her and tried to realise where she was. Her vision to the room was blocked by a cabin. Was it a bedroom? She peeked around the corner. Yep, definitely a bedroom.

Well, she couldn't stay here. Who knows, if five minutes later someone stumbled in planning to have sex on Tammy's parents bed? She wouldn't want to witness that. Beth turned around, deciding to get out of the room and find the actual bathroom.

She was interrupted by the sound of footsteps, and turned around.

She could only see a pair of black converse behind the cabin. "Beth?"

"Robin?" Beth gasped, stepping to face the other girl. "What the hell are you doing here?" She asked, eyes wide in surprise.

Robin looked just as surpised at the sight. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't ask me, I just found out I'm drunk!" Beth defended. "Wait, that didn't make any sense." She mumbled, dropping her face into her hands.

Robin stared at the girl in front her, utterly confused. "Oh man. Are you really drunk?"

"Yeah." Beth said, her voice muffled by her palms. "I wasn't supposed to get drunk. Tammy promised I wouldn't." She whined.

"What did you even have? Beer?" Robin asked, gently taking the other girl's hands away from her face to hold them.

"No, the wine. The wine." Beth explained. "But I don't think I had even more than five glasses."

"Well, it looks like you can't handle your alcohol." Robin laughed, grabbing Beth by her shoulders.

"C'mon, lie down. You're gonna sober up in a while."

"I'm not that drunk, I can sit down by myself." Beth resisted as Robin guided her to the bed and sat her down on the edge.

"Lie down. I'm gonna get you some water." Robin said, about to leave the room.

"No, no, no no. Don't go." Beth clinged onto Robin's hand.

The girl stopped, being held back by Beth's grasp. "You don't want water?" She asked.

"No, I don't want you to go."

Robin smiled slowly. "Fine." She granted, laying down on the bed next to Beth.

Even though Beth was definitely tipsy, she felt calm. The party was slowly fading away from her reach, the last 30 minutes blurred on her mind with just Robin being next to her.

"Thank you."

"Mhm." Was all Robin said.