Chapter 9 : House Party

Eleonore’s POV

“I’m not sure…”

“Come on, it’s already been a month and you haven’t been to a single party on campus! I’m not saying that you, like, have to go, but I think you should have the experience while you’re here. You need to go to at least one and see what it’s like.”

“Still…” I bit my lip.

The first month of university had passed with little fanfare. No werewolves or supernatural beyond the books Professor Cross had recommended to me. Just homework and friends and it was wonderful.

It made sense that Charlie was worried. Normally people joined clubs or sports or whatnot to fill their day with something to do and while a few clubs were interesting to me I hadn’t really joined or participated in any meetings.

Maybe I was a bit scared, maybe I was a bit wary about interacting with more people, but I’d been going at my own pace! The book club on campus was more than understanding and even gave me a copy of the book they were currently reading in case I ever wanted to join in on their discussions.

And I would! At—at some point, but it would definitely happen!

So, it made sense that Charlie was worried about me and my social life, but I really didn’t think a party would be the best first introduction to making more friends and putting myself out there.

It wasn’t that Charlie was wrong though, it was just that I was trying to avoid trouble and parties were trouble. That and I was no longer the extrovert I once was. I wasn’t sure how much joy I’d find at a party full of strangers.

Hence my hesitance and Charlie trying to reassure me I would not spontaneously combust from social interaction.

“El’s, if you hate it that much we can leave right away, but at least try. How are you going to live if you never try anything?”

Oof. That—now that was a mental blow that practically left me withering.

She sounded so much like Thomas scolding me to go out more and try new things and I really didn’t need that on my conscience when Thomas was MIA due to work and I got sporadic texts at odd hours due to time zones.

“…Which party is it?”

“El’s!” Charlie grinned.

“No, nono, I’m just asking, which party are you trying to drag me to?”

“It’s a smaller one held by one of the sororities. Delta Phi? The pink house on campus.”

“Oh! That one, I think I know the sorority leader, she works in the library, right?”

“Yep, so I’m thinking it’s going to be a lot chiller than what some of the other Greek life houses get up to, and hey, if it’s not then we can totally leave and just chill at my dorm.”

It was… tempting, as much as I hated to admit it.

I used to love parties. When they were held at the hotel and we had to attend, Father was always swept up with the guests and business so as long as I stayed pretty and polite I could eat whatever I wanted from the food tables and steal my brother away from conversations playing the little sister card.

A college party… everything good and bad could happen at one of them but if I wasn’t going alone… and if I had an out… I couldn’t believe I was contemplating it when one word and Father would have me back home faster than I could say sorry.

Was I getting greedy? Already having so much yet still wanting to have just a little bit more? But… I wanted to. I really wanted to.

“…Okay.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah, I’ll go.”

“Oh, this’ll be so much fun! I promise you, it’ll be great. Come over to my dorm tonight and we’ll get ready together and I’ll lend you a cute outfit—”

“What’s wrong with my clothes?”

“—and we can head over together and if it sucks, all your stuff will be at my dorm anyways and we’ll just have a sleepover.”

“What—what’s wrong with how I dress?”

“El’s. I’ll be surprised if you owned a dress that didn’t make you look like a flight attendant or businesswoman in a board meeting.”

“…Oh.” I certainly didn’t own any sexy, club-worthy clothes but still!... some were business casual.

The veto was a very powerful thing in the Everwood family. Usually, Father said no, and we had to listen, and he had a certain… image of me that I had to uphold. One that wasn’t ‘college girl’ despite how that’s exactly what I was.

“Hey, I’m calling it like I see it. The truth hurts.”

“I’m gonna veto it if I don’t like it.”

“Fine, fine, but let me do your hair. You have such nice waves, but you never do anything with them.”

“Alright, I suppose it’s a deal.”

“Awesome, meet me at eight and we’ll get ready!”

Eight was an hour ago, it was currently nine, and I’d been freaking out for just a bit longer than that.

Charlie had gone all out with the outfit and makeup, giving me a sparkly, short pencil skirt and flowy spaghetti strap top, giving my hair some curls and a lot of volume to fill it out, and light makeup that made my eyes pop.

I felt pretty; I WAS pretty, and we were rocking everything, and I was about to lose my cool because as we stood before the Delta Phi house, the party was spilling out into the yard with folded tables holding drinks and snacks as people got drunk and danced.

There were beer kegs and wine coolers, champagne being poured as people screamed and some DJ was cranking out admittedly good tunes and at least two sports teams were around as someone chugged their pitcher of beer.

“I thought you said this was a smaller party.”

“I thought it was,” Charlie frowned. “Hold on, give me a second, I’m gonna talk to Ryan, she’ll know what’s up.”

“Wait—you’re leaving me? We just got here!”

“You’re on the lawn, it’ll be a minute, and from the looks of it, the life of the party is inside.” She nodded her head towards the building where the lights were strobing, and people were screaming. I didn’t know how there hadn’t been a noise violation yet. “You’ll be fine.”

Then Charlie left me there on the lawn, awkward like I was being held at gunpoint. It had been a little past nine since she left, and now it was almost ten, and I’d been freaking out for far longer than the minute I was promised.

I had made my way over to the food after it became apparent that just standing there was making me stick out, and the outfit that had felt so cute moments before was starting to rest poorly on me.

I cut myself a brownie and started to pick at one of the bowls of chips to give myself something to do as I hung around the snack table like I was guarding the food. I probably shouldn’t have come to the party as I ate their food and didn’t contribute to the mood.

“Hey, Ellie! I didn’t know you were coming.”

“Oh, thank God! Hi, Gael.”

Gael looked amused by my response as he poured himself a drink.

“Hi, so, not that I mind a bit of blasphemy and myself, but what’s up?”

“Just… a bit stressed. The party’s bigger than I thought it would be, and Charlie disappeared on me. She was going to find out how it went from a small party to half the campus but she’s MIA. I think the house might’ve swallowed her.”

Gael snorted, shaking his head in amusement, before offering me a chip and making me laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.

“Well, there are two other Greek life houses that were having their own parties, but the sound system blew out for one of them and the other lost their power because of that so the Delta Phi girls were sweet enough to share some of the space. Last I heard, some grills are being busted out in the back to provide more food since there was cake from the Delta Phi party, emphasis on was. Now there’s just the weed brownies.”

“The what?”

Gael blinked before looking at the brownie in my hand and removing it after he saw my horrified look.

“You’re fine, it’s fine. How many did you have?”

“Three.”

“…”

“Oh god, I’m going to die.” I realized with a sort of horrified fascination at how I apparently destroyed myself while trying to self-soothe with food.

“No! No, you’ll be fine!” Gael quickly tried to reassure me. “Maybe you’ll be a little high, but you’ll be fine. Weed is like the softest of drugs.”

“I am not supposed to take any drugs!” I hissed.

“Yes, but, counterpoint, it’s far safer than getting roofied.”

I silently ate the chips as I had no reply to that, trying not to laugh or cry. This felt like trouble—no, this was definitely the trouble I was told to avoid.

Oh, I was soooo going to get kicked out of college.

“Hey, it’s alright, I’ll stay with you for the night until Charlie comes back, and we can get you to the dorms, okay?”

“I… yeah, okay… You don’t mind?”

“I promise I don’t.”

I was surprised by how safe I felt at Gael’s words as they almost instantly relaxed me. I don’t know why I trusted Gael so readily, but it felt like I could, that he wouldn’t harm me. I stayed with him, and just like he promised, he stayed by my side.

People came up to him to talk and chat and laugh over something or the other, but he didn’t leave me and didn’t make me feel ignored. Somehow it was… nice watching him, not being dragged into the conversation. He was in his element surrounded by people.

And despite how I was more comfortable being there, not talking instead of in the thick of it like he was, it was… familiar to me, bittersweet. I used to love this, talking, being around others, the parties where I’d chatter off peoples’ ears when Thomas needed a break, or I’d have just the right excuse so we could take a few minutes to stuff our faces with food and soda.

Back then when Mother was around, and we’d join her posh little tea parties, that was just an excuse for the three of us to go out and do something fun together since the other ladies didn’t seem to care if her little walks were hours long as long as the tea was provided.

This was… nice. I guess the party wasn’t as bad as I feared it was going to be, especially with Gael with me. I did wonder where Charlie had gone off to.

By now I was starting to feel those three weed brownies, getting a bit gigglier, the stress fading a bit but also my anxieties increasing as the world just got… more? Bigger? I didn’t know.

Drugs were whack and beyond my pills, I’d never really needed anything than the occasional dose of cold medicine and fever reducer.

“Oh, hey look, I think I see Charlie.”

Gael pointed her out and—there she was, looking none too happy as some guy in a varsity jacket chatted her up, trapping her on the second level. I’d be more worried if she didn’t look fine, just irritated, and hadn’t left me for almost TWO HOURS.

“That guy’s in her baby bio class—and I think he misunderstood what it meant by ‘baby bio’. Pretty sure he’s begging for notes if he hasn’t gotten the whole team to help him try and get them.”

“Can you go check on her–or at least tell her I’m gonna leave? She hasn’t been answering my texts,” I grimaced, wobbling before Gael led me away to lean up against a tree so I didn’t just up and fall over.

“I don’t think I should leave you alone right now.”

“I’d like to go back to my dorm, but I don’t need Charlie panicking, even if she did ditch me. Please?”

“...Alright,” Gael gave in, sighing. He didn’t look too happy to agree but probably decided it’d be best not to argue with me right now. “Give me a moment and I’ll go get her, and then we can get you out of here.”

“Okay, I’ll just be here,” I agreed, slightly lightheaded, and it was a good thing the tree was right behind me. God, what was in those brownies?

I’d never had weed before, but it felt like WAY more than weed. This was absolutely unfair. There was nothing soft about this!

My first time doing recreational things and it wasn’t even fun. Absolutely unfair.

“Hey baby, you alright?”

And even worse, someone was calling me a baby.

“I’m fine—just—needed to catch my breath. It’s a wild party,” I said, trying to ignore whoever spoke to me, hoping they’d catch the hint, which they didn’t.

“Aww, come on, don’t be like that, how about I keep you company?”

“No, I’m good. I’m about to head out anyways.”

“Then, would you like some help getting home?”

I don’t know why, but every part of me suddenly started screaming abort, and that brownie might’ve been heightening things, but everything was starting to feel wrong.

“I said I was good, so leave me alone.”

“Hey, I was just trying to be nice. You look like you need some help.”

“I said no,” I hissed out, finally looking at the guy, but his face didn’t really register, the world was spinning.

That was definitely not a good thing. The guy was reaching out to grab me, something I really didn’t want to happen but really couldn’t fight against but before he could—someone grabbed him.

“She said to back off, and if you don’t, I’ll make you.”

I remembered that voice. My heart was pounding as I carefully looked up and there he was.

Mr. Werewolf’s brother had come to my rescue and boy did he look mad, but this time it wasn’t directed at me.

He… he had saved me?

I didn’t understand, but right now, I could do nothing but feel relieved that he had.

I didn’t know how I knew this either but, somewhere in my heart, I knew it was nothing but the truth.

I was safe with him.