maze of a mansion

Levi Lind's party was exactly as I suspected. Full of drunk and high people making out in every corner and a DJ with really bad taste in music. Now, I wasn't against indulging in drugs and alcohol once in a while but that stuff only ever felt good in relaxed environments according to my limited experience. The only good thing about it was the size of Levi's house which was huge so I could just lock myself in a room whenever I felt the need.

"Start looking for Chloe." Garo practically screamed in my ear over the music. I flinched and nodded in response.

"Aren't you coming?" I asked.

"No, I'm gonna look for something to drink." She grinned and raised an empty red plastic cup.

I turned around and made my way through sweaty teenagers already on the verge of a blackout. When I found a quiet spot in the corner of the hallway leading up to the stairs, I decided to text Chloe. It was the only way to find out where she was and get it over with. There was no chance I was going to spend time looking for someone in Levi's maze of a mansion who might have not even been there.

After shooting Chloe a "hey, what's up" text, I just waited for her respond by mindlessly scrolling through apps on my phone. I decided to go through Levi's Instagram profile since I hadn't even seen the guy up close. I don't exactly know what I was expecting besides a pasty white dude but boy, was he popular. He had around ten thousand followers. More than half of the school was following him. He was attractive but I still didn't understand the appeal. I wasn't sure why I couldn't picture Chloe being into him at all. I could've had more faith in that possibility if she had mentioned him even once. The first time I ever heard the guy's name was from Garo's mouth.

I saw a text notification from Chloe on top of my screen a couple of seconds later and immediately clicked on it. "Just watching a movie" was her reply and I wanted to bang my head against the wall right there. I was pissed about leaving my house but also weirdly relieved that she wasn't keeping anything from me.

I called Garo almost instantly to let her know that she had to drop me off at my house and that our little deal was over for good. As I waited for her to pick up my call, my eyes caught sight of a familiar looking figure making its way up the stairs. At first I wasn't sure if my eyes were tricking me or not, but the moment Garo picked up my call and said, "I was going to call you, Chloe's here." before I could even say a word was enough confirmation.

I wanted my eyes to deceive me so bad but I knew I could make out Chloe literally anywhere. She had on a red tank top I'd seen before and a pair of shorts. I noticed everything about her every single day so none of the details could've made me think any different and yet, I still wanted to believe otherwise.

"Hello?" I heard Garo's voice from the other end of the line. I didn't even realise I still had my phone against my ear. I hung up without answering and began following Chloe up the stairs like a lost puppy. I hid behind a wall when I saw her turn around with her eyes glued to her phone's screen. I could see her face clearly now but my brain still couldn't grasp the fact that all of it was real. I couldn't understand why she lied to me, it was messing me up.

I decided to text her again just to see if she'd go on with her story and she did. She replied to my "can i come over i'm bored?" message with "No, i'm going to crash soon, I'll see you at school" almost immediately.

I felt someone bump into me right after, making my phone land on the carpeted floor. "Fuck." I mumbled as I lifted my gaze to see Levi walk past me like I was invisible. I saw him make his way towards Chloe who was pacing back and forth with her eyes still on her phone's screen. I hid myself by the wall again and watched him hug her from behind. I felt my heart sink in the worst way possible. It was like my body stopped functioning for a split second, that's how bewildered I was.

I couldn't see her face anymore and he had his arms around her the whole time they talked. I was about to shed real tears when they eventually made their way inside the room they were standing by. I stared at her text on my screen, a lump forming in my throat as I struggled to keep myself together.

Pathetic. All of it was so pathetic. I wasted a lot of time thinking she'd ever feel the same way about me. I still couldn't comprehend why she felt the need to hide all of that from me. If I had the slightest idea about this whole ordeal, I wouldn't have been on the verge of tears at a stupid party with a Skrillex song playing in the background.

By the time I was down the stairs and calling Garo again, my eyes, unfortunately, expelled involuntary tears. Garo didn't pick up my call and, for a moment, I was glad because I wasn't in a very good state, both emotionally and physically. But when one missed call turned into three and I gained some sort of willingness to actually move away from the random spot I was frozen in, I heard a cheering crowd near the pool and hoped to god that Garo was somewhere near that area.

What I discovered, upon making my way near the pool, was a very unstable Garo chugging a bottle of vodka all by herself. Everyone around was recording and cheering her on. I screamed her name as soon as things started to go haywire and the "chug! chug! chug!" turned into "strip! strip! strip!"

When I felt like nothing seemed to be working, I pushed through the crowd and immediately snatched the bottle from her hand. "Party's over!" I shouted over the music. The crowd didn't clear up but no one's attention was on us anymore.

"Sair, it's really you." Garo passed me a huge smile as she grabbed onto my arm for support.

"Yeah, it's me and you were supposed to drive me home." I sighed.

"I will, I promise. Please, don't be mad." She responded, pursing her lips as I tried not to laugh. I had never seen anyone so out of it before. She really wasn't joking about getting that drink after all. "I wanna go skinny dipping, can you take off my clothes?"

"No." I rolled my eyes and grabbed her hand, practically dragging her away from the pool.

"You're so mean." She slapped my head.

"Listen, I'm incharge now so you have to behave." I tried to replicate the look my mother gave me as a child but it didn't seem to be working. She began giggling for whatever reason.

"That's hot." She grinned. "Say it again."

"Okay, it's time to leave." I, somehow, managed to get Garo near her car but then I had another challenge to overcome. "Where are the car keys?!" I looked at her with horror stricken eyes. "Please, please, please don't tell me you lost them in there."

She was quiet for a moment but then, a sickly sweet smile spread across her face. "In my bra." She raised both her arms in the air and closed her eyes. I sighed again.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I grabbed both her wrists, shoving her arms down. "Get the keys out, Garo, I don't have all day."

"You do it." She couldn't stop smiling and at this point, everything was comical. "Are you scared of my tits, Sair?"

"I don't know about tits but I'm scared of you right now." I took a few steps towards her and realised how short she was next to me. So short and yet she had me wrapped around her finger over some stupid fucking car keys. "If you don't give me the keys right now I'm calling an Uber and leaving you here." I looked down at her, trying my best to seem intimidating even though I was very close to laughing my ass off.

"You're no fun." She, finally, slipped them out. "I will drive." She declared but I snatched the them from her hand right away.

"Go sit in the back, you're not doing anything now." After dropping her head low like a disappointed little kid, she settled on the backseat.

"Hey, where do you live?" I asked as soon as we were out of there. "Garo?" I turned around to see why she wasn't answering and found her fast asleep. "Are you fucking kidding me? Yallah!"