Anne's POV
We bonded.
I know how that sounds.
Not too long ago, I wanted him as far away from me as possible. I didn’t want anything to do with him or his brother. I had no business with either of them. I was fine on my own.
But within six months, my resolve crumbled.
He grew on me.
“How's the exam song mix I gave you?” He’d asked in one of his “welfare checks” as he called it.
“Was Pam able to meet up with the conference?” He'd ask about my roommate.
“How's Jane's health now? Hope she liked the fruits I got her?”
It had been consistent throughout.
Maybe he wanted to redeem himself and set things right. Maybe he wanted to get on my good graces.
He succeeded. But I don’t think it was because he had something to prove. It felt… effortless… no, natural. Like this was simply who he was.
“Hello, stranger?” I said into the phone as I picked up yet another one of his “welfare checks.”
"Hello Anny, the exams are finally over! How was it?”
“It was good. Really good, actually.”
“Well, that makes one of us. Let's all hang, I need to detox," he purred.
"Was that… did you just purr?” I laughed at his ridiculous imitation of a cat.
"Yea, part of my charm. So, end of exams party at John's, come with friends," he said, shuffling in the background.
“Really?” I rolled my eyes. “That's a thing?”
“Yes!”
“No.”
“Anne!”
"Drew, I prefer my peace and quiet, thank you very much.”
“Anny.”
“Come on! I hate the outdoors, loud gatherings, sweaty icky bodies," I whined, diving onto my bed for comfort.
"Anny, live a little. You've been studying all semester. It won't hurt to enjoy yourself for one night. Besides, John's place is literally a stone's throw, you can go back anytime!"
"Ok! Ok! I'll think about it," I yelled in an attempt to end the argument.
Yep. He certainly grew on me. He grew into a thorn!
Did I mention he is downright stubborn?
Well, he is.
I’d been trying to dodge his constant talk about social events, but from the look of things, he had finally caught up with me.
I had no desire to attend any loud, sweaty, social events, but he had a way of making things sound so interesting and inviting and had somehow extracted a promise from me to attend at least once.
"There's nothing to think about, remember you promised."
"Only because you called me a killjoy and convinced me my life was boring.”
I imagined him smirking at the other end of the phone.
"And it's not far from the truth, hon. Again, you've gotta live a little. How many times do I have to drill that into your thick skull? You'll regret leaving school without attending at least one proper party."
"Why meee!" I protested.
"Because no friend of mine is leaving this school without experiencing at least one good party."
"You're crazy, you know that?"
"So I've been told. Now dress cute, call your friends, let's go! I'll be there by seven," he said.
"Wait, Drew!" I wailed.
"La la la la, can't hear you, la la la la!"
He kept singing until he cut the call.
Weirdo.
We'd grown so comfortable with each other that I had almost convinced myself our first encounter was just a bad dream, or something lifted from a horror movie.
He was so different from that soulless guy that had straddled me that night. Was it the way he smiled whenever he wanted to make a joke or the way he'd scrunch up his face like a confused baby whenever I tried explaining a medical term? Absolutely nothing could connect him to that silhouette in the dark.
Wherever he went, the atmosphere seemed to brighten. He always had something up his sleeve.
He frequented the house of his best friend, John, who lived close to my hostel, and more often than not, hop over to chat with me and my roommates. There was never a dull moment with him.
Whenever he was around, my roommate Jane always fawned over him. Pamela, on the other hand, had a distaste for playful people. According to her, Andrew's an unwelcome distraction.
Andrew wouldn't hear of it. He made sure that he got on her nerves all the time. Whenever she was studying, he would slowly creep up behind her, grab her books, and run off. Pam would chase him all over, cursing at him till she gets exhausted and gives up. It was hilarious to watch.
John often complained that he was losing his friend to us, but Andrew would just laugh and say, “How would I give up pretty ladies for dudes? No way, man.”
All in all, Andrew is one heck of a guy and I'm happy to have met him, notwithstanding the circumstances surrounding our encounter.
My roommates agreed without protest to go to the party. Jane would give her arms and legs just to be close to Andrew and breathe in the same air as him. Pam said she was only going because she needed to protect us from the evil Andrew. But we all knew he was beginning to grow on her. I tell you, the guy is infectious.
Pamela, Jane, and I dressed casually and headed down to meet Andrew who had arrived with his bike. He was going to leave it behind while we walked the little distance to John's.
After giving Jane and me a quick hug, he jumped behind me to where Pam stood and grabbed her handbag, then took off, with Pam hot on his tail. Jane and I couldn't stop laughing till we got to John's house.
The party was in full swing when we got there. The music which was only a whisper from our hostel was now blasting in our ears and thumping in our hearts.
By now, Pam had caught up with Andrew and they had begun dragging Pam's bag right in front of the door.
When Andrew allowed her to take her bag back, Pam hissed, threw some nasty curses at him, and stomped into the party.
Andrew turned to where Jane and I stood, gave us a wink, then extended both hands to us. We took them and let ourselves be dragged into the house.
The house was dimly lit and just as I feared, bodies were grinding on each other. I could also perceive the stench of sweat and alcohol and some other odor I couldn't quite place.
I turned to protest to Andrew, but he immediately placed his hand over my eyes and nose, as if he knew what was going on in my head.
"You'll get used to it," he whispered.
I made to protest again with his hand still over my face, but he shushed me, then dragged me deeper into the house, with Jane in tow.
"Let's go there!" Andrew yelled over the music as we made our way to a setup where drinks were kept on tables.
"I'll go find Pam!" Jane yelled, leaving immediately in search of angry Pamela.
I sat down on one of the seats. Andrew stood in front of me and began moving his waist to the music.
"Are you feeling me," he mouthed.
"Shut up!" I covered my face in embarrassment.
He removed my hand from my face, tugging me to join him.
"No!" I mouthed.
"Yes," he mouthed back, nodding his head and moving in sync with the upbeat music.
I hesitantly stood up and joined him, laughing and clapping as he made complicated dance moves. He even attracted a little crowd who started hailing him.
As the party progressed, I realized I was actually having fun with Andrew by my side. Aside from the drunk and grinding people, every other thing was looking up.
People started moving to the center of the house, showing off different dance moves. Something like a battle had broken out.
"Hey!" Andrew yelled over the music.
"Yea!"
"Want a drink?!" He asked, holding up a canned drink, "little alcohol. Exhilarating!"
"No, I'd rather be sober. For you and the girls!" I replied, moving from side to side.
"Come on, you're already here, enjoy it to the fullest!" He coaxed.
"No!"
"You're such a baby!” he said, mimicking my ‘no’ in an annoyingly high-pitched voice.
I sent him a death glare, grabbed the drink, and took a sip. 'Hmm, it burns a little, but not bad.' I took another and another and felt myself floating.
Wow!
I felt powerful.
I pushed Andrew aside and walked straight to the middle of the house.
I stood tall, staring around me at people who cowered in fear at my awesomeness.
Just then, two celebrities, people who had absolutely no business being at this party, stepped out of the crowd, looked at each other and at me, then walked up to where I stood and began krumping.
'Where did they come from and how are they dancing so well?'.
I felt intimidated. Not for long though. I was going to show them who's boss.
I started wriggling my body to the beat, up and down the makeshift stage. I could hear people whistling and hailing me.
Yet another celebrity appeared in her full beaded costume, and went all ‘hips don't lie’ on the stage. I knew I was equal to the task.
Andrew needn't have persuaded me into coming here. If I had known I would be meeting celebrities, I wouldn't have complained the slightest.
I was still inside my head when a pair of hands grabbed my wrists and pulled me close. I would have gone all jujitsu on him if I hadn't recognized the hands as Andrew's.
I squirmed, fighting to return to my moment of stardom, when I felt myself being pulled toward the exit.
"Hey, stop that! We gotta go… enough for tonight."
"But whyyy! I was going to get that famous lady’s number."
He stopped abruptly and stared at me like I just pooed on my body, before bursting into a fit of laughter.
"You saw a famous person?" He asked in incredulity.
"Yea, loads of celebrities." I slurred.
He burst out laughing again, leading me through the remaining distance to the exit.
“You're such a baby. You had the tiniest bit of alcohol and boom, you're seeing celebrities. Your tolerance is the size of a pea,” he teased, wheezing and clutching his stomach as he tried to hold back his laughter.
I huffed and went ahead of him. I was sure I saw celebrities. Why was he making me feel stupid?
About a few steps towards the direction of my hostel, something clicked in my head. It made me stop abruptly and swivel round to meet Andrew who was still recovering from the laugh attack.
"My friends?!" I asked in alarm.
"John will be bringing them, don't worry." He said casually, pulling out his phone which had begun ringing. He moved away from the blasting music and picked the call.
Who is he talking to?
Must be a celebrity.
He's been mocking me this whole time when he's got a celebrity hiding in his phone.
With that in mind, I rushed and grabbed the phone from him, pressing it to my ear.
"Hello!" I yelled eagerly.
"Hello," came a confused, husky voice.
Wow.
Something warm moved through me all at once.
"Excuse me," I whispered to my own body, because this was not the time.
"Errr... it's a pleasure speaking to you. Are you a musician or an actor?" I asked expectantly.
"Anne?" The owner of the lovely voice asked in confusion, laced with a bit of annoyance.
"You know my name?!” I squealed.
"Anne, what are you doing there?" The concern in his voice sent more tingles down my body.
"Well," I slurred, "I came to this party with Drew and my friends, though I don't know where they've gone." I darted my eyes around. "We met a lot of celebrities. We had a dance battle and I won. I think I need to become one of them. Where do I sign up?"
The voice paused for a few seconds as if trying to make sense of what I was blabbing about. Unexpectedly, he began laughing, making my measly heart miss multiple beats.
"If you would give Andrew his phone, I will tell him how to help you go about it," He said calmly. I could almost hear the smile in his voice.
I handed Andrew, who was looking at me in utter amusement, his phone. He placed it on his ears, shaking his head at me.
"Yeah… chill, I'm already taking her back. That can wait till morning. I'm not drunk. Cool. Later." He ended the call and dropped the phone into his pocket.
With little difficulty, he slung my arm over his neck and wrapped his arms around my waist.
"Anny?" He called me calmly.
"Yea?" I answered absentmindedly, my thoughts still on the woman with beady costume.
"You're hilarious," he laughed, looking at me. Then, in the meekest voice I'd ever heard from him, he added, "and beautiful."
“That woman in the beaded costume is prettier,” I replied dreamily, gazing up at the starry sky before gradually letting my head fall onto his shoulder.
I heard him chuckle. I was gradually going under but I kept forcing myself to stay woke.
The last thing I remember was someone handing me over to an irritated female security guard, and a whisper that sounded like 'welcome to the world of hangovers,' before I finally let myself go under.