The road leading up to Felix’s house was crooked and gnarled, thanks mainly to the old sycamores that flanked each side like silent sentinels. Whilst Maddy usually enjoyed the dappled light and refreshing scent the greenery provided, she found herself cursing the wizened old trees as she stumbled along the footpath in a pair of high heels. If it wasn’t for Liv holding her up, she would have fallen on her face several times already, all before even a drop of alcohol had touched her lips.
Felix’s house was not hard to miss. The lights were all on, the front door was open and loud, generic music was seeping out into the night air. Maddy noticed that the houses on either side were in complete darkness – Mr Crompton must have been kind enough to tip his neighbours off.
“Not exactly subtle, is he?” Liv giggled in Maddy’s ear. “Those fairy lights weren’t up when we left.”
“No, they weren’t,” Maddy agreed. “Oh well – at least we didn’t have to help him put them up. Scratched legs and short skirts don’t mix very well.”
The two girls crossed the road together and made their way up Felix’s driveway. Maddy was surprised to see a good ten people gathered in the hallway already – the party had only officially started five minutes ago. Then she realised, with a hint of annoyance, they were all of Felix’s football friends.
“Nice of him to offer us an early invite,” Maddy muttered darkly.
“He did offer us an early invite,” Liv reminded her gently. “But it took you an hour to do your hair, remember?”
Maddy said nothing.
“Come on,” smiled Liv, encouragingly. “It’s Felix’s birthday – and you did say you were going to give them a chance.”
“Alright,” Maddy sighed. “But if they’ve touched our vodka, I’m not going to be happy.”
They approached the front door and Maddy stood back to allow Liv to pass through the narrow entrance first. Jeers and catcalls met her ears as Liv passed the crowd of boys to get to the living room. Maddy scowled, but followed suit.
“Hey girlies,” a dark haired boy leered as she went by. “Where are you two off to?”
Maddy rolled her eyes and said nothing, prompting a burst of uncivilised laughter from the boy’s comrades. She passed straight through the hall and into Felix’s living room. Here, the sofas had been pushed back against the walls, creating a large, open space, which was occupied by a drum kit, several amps and a microphone stand. Maddy blinked in surprise.
“Hey you!” Felix cried as he appeared from behind the doorway and enveloped Maddy in a poorly balanced and uncomfortably tight hug. His lack of co-ordination and over friendliness told Maddy he’d had a few drinks already.
“I’m so glad you’re here!” he grinned. “Now it feels right.”
Maddy did not even attempt to fathom what he meant by this. Instead, she turned her attention to the equipment in the centre of the room.
“What’s all this?” she asked.
“Oh!” Felix exclaimed, animatedly. “It’s Dan’s band’s stuff! They’re going to play a few songs, isn’t that cool?”
“Dan?” Maddy repeated, with a raise of her eyebrows.
“Yeah,” Felix grinned. “Let me introduce you. Hey Dan!”
Felix hollered towards the window, where Maddy noticed a group of boys congregating and drinking. The tallest of them turned around. He had dark, well-styled hair that all but covered his left eye, and was wearing the tightest pair of black jeans Maddy had ever seen in her life. He approached them both with jaunty smile, revealing a small, silver lip ring.
“Dan, these are the girls I’ve been telling you about,” Felix said, giving Maddy a push forward. “This is my best friend Maddy. And the babe in the green next to her is Liv. Maddy, Liv, this is Dan.”
“Alright,” Dan nodded pleasantly, raising his drink to them.
“Charmed,” Maddy murmured. Liv elbowed her sharply in the ribs.
“Yeah, Dan and the guys play in a band,” Felix informed them, seemingly impressed. “They’re called ‘Helyx’, and they’re gonna do a few songs tonight.
“Sounds fun,” said Maddy, trying her best to sound like she meant it. “What sort of stuff will you be playing?” she asked directly of Dan.
“A little Fall Out Boy,” Dan responded. “But mostly Green Day. Me and Sammy – our guitarist – we both like Green Day.”
“Wow,” Maddy exclaimed. “You guys must be pretty talented.”
Both Dan and Felix appeared to miss her sarcasm.
“We’re just going to get a drink, right Maddy?” Liv said pointedly, pulling on Maddy’s arm. “We’ll see you guys in a sec.”
“Okay,” called Felix, cheerfully, as Maddy found herself being dragged out of the living room and into the nearby kitchen. Two boys were already there, selecting beers out of the fridge.
“What?” Maddy muttered. “What’d you drag me out for?”
“You said you’d be nice,” said Liv, sternly.
“I was being nice!” Maddy objected.
“No, you were being scornful,” corrected Liv. “I know you don’t like these people. You don’t like most people, really, but for Felix’s sake-”
“Alright,” Maddy sighed. “I’ll be good. Let’s just get me a drink, that’ll keep me happy.”
“Okay,” Liv smiled, giving Maddy’s hand a gentle squeeze. The pair waited until the two boys had left the kitchen. Then Maddy retrieved the vodka they had hidden earlier from a top cupboard, whilst Liv pulled a carton of orange juice out of the fridge.
“Told you no one would find it up there,” Liv smiled, cheerily, as she helped herself to plastic cups off the counter. Maddy half filled each one with the clear, pungent liquid, and Liv topped them up with orange juice. They raised their cups together and took a sip.
“Whoa, that’s really strong, Maddy,” Liv spluttered, coughing.
“Good,” Maddy grinned, stowing the glass bottle back in the cupboard. “I’ll need it if I’m going to enjoy tonight.”
She palmed her cup in one hand, slipping the other around Liv’s slender waist. As she glanced at her girlfriend’s dazzling smile, she longed to steal a quick kiss. However, the noise out in the hallway warned her that intrusion was imminent, so she refrained.
The two girls returned to the living room to find it had filled up substantially in their absence. Maddy spotted several people she knew from their classes, as well as several she had never met before. She could only assume these were Felix’s new friends, or associates of, for most of them had congregated in the middle of the room, where Helyx were now tuning up.
“Let’s grab a seat,” murmured Maddy, nodding towards the sofa against the far wall. “This isn’t the sort of music you’ll want to dance to.”
Liv did not object, and the two girls sat down on the soft, leather sofa. Maddy took the opportunity slip her hand under Liv’s backside and squeeze it covetously. Liv giggled.
“Perhaps this night won’t be so bad after all,” she purred in her girlfriend’s ear. Indeed, Maddy would quite happily sit and put up with the musical mishaps of Helyx if it meant an opportunity to touch Liv up, unnoticed. She was just warming to the idea, however, when Felix and a blonde-haired girl, who Maddy had never met, plonked themselves down on the sofa next to them. Apparently, her idea was not an original one.
“Alright, Mads,” Felix grinned, nodding at her in an irritatingly knowing manner. The girl at his side began to toy with the buttons on his shirt, evoking a snort of contempt from Maddy. Meanwhile, the room erupted in excitable noise as Helyx led into a rendition of “American Idiot”.
“Would you look at that?” Maddy said, dolefully, nodding at Felix’s female friend, who was now sucking enthusiastically on his neck. “You don’t even need to get them drunk anymore. Where’s the challenge?”
Liv flashed Maddy a charming smile, banishing all thoughts of Felix and his girly to the back of her mind. She took a hearty sip of her drink and set in down on the floor by her feet, determined not to let the pending distractions waylay her from such a rare opportunity for public affection.
Thirty minutes and four drinks later, however, and Maddy had all but given up. Helyx had disbanded, leaving the stereo to churn out noise in their absence, whilst they mingled with Felix’s guests. Felix himself was still occupying the other side of the sofa. Whilst Maddy was refusing to look at what they were doing, the odd noises that floated in her direction, not mention movements she could feel through the sofa cushions, pretty much gave the game away. Liv appeared not to have noticed, having spent the last fifteen minutes in conversation with a fellow French student. It was needless to say that Maddy’s mood had gone from put out to downright irritable in one excruciatingly long half hour. Having had quite enough, she emptied her fourth vodka and got up to get herself another, determined to find another spot away.
“Hey, where are you going?” Liv cried, grabbing the back of her blue dress. Her French speaking friend, who had been occupying the arm on the sofa, appeared to have gone.
“I’m getting another drink,” Maddy muttered, fractiously. “Then I’m probably going to go outside for some air. I can’t sit here a moment longer.”
Maddy pulled her skirt free of Liv’s grasp and was about to walk away when Liv called her back.
“How about we go upstairs then?” she whispered, suggestively. Maddy scowled down at her teasing girlfriend and was surprised to see a very genuine twinkle in Liv’s eyes.
“Race you to the master bedroom,” she winked, and she set off out of the room at a run. Maddy grinned and then followed.
***
Maddy and Liv emerged from Felix’s parents’ room what felt like hours later, both chronically adjusting their hair and clothing, trying their best to look like two friends who’d been having a chat, rather than lovers who’d stolen away for a private moment. As they descended the stairs, being careful not to stand too close together, Maddy wondered if indeed they had been hours, for they appeared to have emerged into a completely different house. The floor was littered with cups and bottles and wrappers, whilst someone had taken it upon themselves to adorn the stairway with toilet paper. As they shuffled through the debris in the hallway, they passed the living room, where several people were gathered around a pizza box, smoking something that was clearly not a cigarette.
“Where’s Felix?” Liv called, over the steady thump of the music.
“I don’t know,” Maddy all but shouted back over the noise. “But he’s clearly not in there. Let’s try the kitchen.”
They navigated the hallway, passing a boy and girl intricately entwined against the coat cupboard. The kitchen was crowded and noisy, dominated by a group of boys who were huddled around the sink, cheering and laughing. On the counter nearby a selection of glass bottles, once containing an array of spirits, lay morose and empty beside a dozen discarded cups. Even in her heels, Maddy had to stand on her tiptoes before she glimpsed Felix in the centre of the hubbub.
“What’s going on?” Maddy demanded, pulling on the shirt of the nearest boy in an attempt to break through the little crowd.
“This guy is crazy,” the dark haired boy laughed. “He just downed over half a pint of pure whisky mixed with sambuca!”
Maddy glanced again at the empty bottle on the counter and felt a rush of panic.
“Get out of the way, for god’s sake!” she cried, elbowing several of the spectators out of the way as she cleared a path to Felix. He was bent over the sink, an empty cup held limply in his right hand, as he retched into the basin.
“Is he alright?” Liv called.
“I think so,” replied Maddy, pulling a face as the foul stench of sick mingled with alcohol fumes met her nostrils. “Seems like he’s thrown most of it back up.”
As if to confirm her point, Felix gave another unpleasant heave into the sink.
“I think we should get him to bed,” Maddy suggested.
“What about all the people?” Liv asked.
“Not much we can do about them,” shrugged Maddy. “We can round them up later if need be. For now, we need to get him out of here.”
She turned to the little crowd of onlookers, who had clearly been egging Felix on
“That means you lot,” she said, firmly. “Go find something else to do, he’s had enough.”
With mutters and grumbles, the gaggle of boys dispersed from the kitchen, leaving Maddy alone with Liv and the half-conscious Felix.
“How are we going to do this then?” Liv asked, timidly, eyeing Felix with evident unease.
“Well,“ Maddy began, “I guess we’re just going to have to take an arm each and get him upstairs as fast as possible. It’s be a good idea to leave our shoes down here, I think.”
“Good call,” agreed Liv, removing her heels and placing them neatly in a corner. Then, she added with a weak smile, “I distinctly remember you saying you weren’t going to do this.”
“I know,” Maddy sighed, reaching for Felix’s left arm. “The things I do for friendship.”
Give me a couple of years to finish the novel version - there'll be plenty of antics in that.
