I heard a knock at the front door, and I raced out of my room, still in the middle of straitening my freshly black dyed hair. But even if I was fast, my eager guardian beat me to the door, smirking at me. Aunt Tracy opened the door, revealing Kai with his beautiful, smooth face and wearing tight dark jeans with a hoodie and a jean jacket over top. He was casual but held an air of formality as he introduced himself to Aunt Tracy.

"Hey, I'm Kai. You must be Jasper's aunt. It's a pleasure to meet you. He stuck out one of his strong hands and shook it with Aunt Tracy's.

"OH, the pleasure's all mine. Come in, come in! I am so excited to meet you, I haven't met one of Jasper's friends in a long time." The comment was innocent enough, but the context got through to Kai, as I saw his face harden a little with sympathy.

"Hey." I said smiling awkwardly, half my head styled in my usual alternative way, the other wavy and back combed a little too much. I heard Kai snort at it and I laughed myself.

"You look... very Frankenstein-like today." He said as we both started laughing.

"Shut up, I'm going to finish getting ready then I'll be right out." I said rolling my eyes. I left Kai and Aunt Tracy to talk in the living room for a minute while I rushed the rest of my weave and put on a black leather jacket and a maroon beanie.

When I came back out, the two of them were conversing in small talk, and as I walked up to them, Kai looked at me and went quiet.

"You look really good." He said shyly in front of Aunt Tracy as she winked at me from across the room.

"Thanks." I looked away from the compliment, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yup." We walked out of the apartment saying our goodbyes and went to get into Kai's beige truck. "You nervous?" Kai asked as he started the car and pulled out onto the road.

"A little. I don't really know what parties are like..." I said as I felt small butterflies start to flutter in my gut.

"They're fun." Kai said with a smile, turning up the radio, "There will be lots of different people you'll meet, some pretty cool guys from the soccer team, and some that were invited. There will be loud music and dancing and beer pong, that's the best, and what else..." He tried to think but all I could think about was that there was going to be alcohol... I'd never had any before.

"You're not drinking right?" I asked kai as he drove on, worried about how we'd get home.

"If I do, I'll make sure we have a safe way home, don't worry. There are usually a few designated drivers so they can drive us back to my place if need be." His place!? Would I sleep over there? What was he thinking? God, I was such a nervous wreck, my hands had started to shake and my teeth were on the verge of chattering.

"Hey, It will be fine. If you decide you want to leave, I'll take you home." He said with a care-filled smile.

"Okay." I said quietly and listened to the drone of music.

"We're here." Kai announced as we pulled up to a house that was booming with music and I saw the silhouettes of dancers with cups in their hands from the windows. My gut was clenched tight, tighter than my jeans. We got out of the car and stepped into the warm, night air together, walking up the steps of the party house.

"Heyyyyy...." Slurred the boy that opened the door, "Welcome dudes! Beer's in the back, pool's open and the party's just begun!" He walked over to a group of girls and started flirting with them. The house was packed with all different types of people, many I recognized from school, but the majority were new faces. I even noticed an alternative girl with snake bites and bright blue hair wink at me from the corner of the room.

"Um.. Kai, I'm not sure about this." I said nervously, moving closer to him, my shoulder up against his.

"Don't worry, It will be so fun!" He said as he draped one of his strong arms around my shaking shoulders. He whispered into my ear, "I'll be right next to you the whole time." And then he guided us over to a table covered in cans, bottles and red solo cups.

"Want one?" He asked as he let go of me to pour a drink from the keg. The loud, pounding music making it difficult to think, so I nodded at the offer. He handed me the cup he poured and I took a swig, the bile taste staining my tongue. I gagged and herd a laugh from behind me. I turned around to see the girl with electric blue hair and snake bites.

"Not much of a drinker?" She said in a seductive voice. She reeked of booze and smoke, leaning towards me while pushing her chest up, exposing cleavage. I shrank away from the girl, too much was going on, my senses were overloaded and I couldn't process anything. I turned away from her, chugging the drink in my hands; this was going to be a long night.

After another few minutes, Kai returned from the booze table and handed me another drink.

"Cider, might be more your thing." He said with a wink as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder protectively. "What did that girl want?" He asked as he sipped his cup.

"Um, probably to make out...?" I said, "She was practically flashing me!" I said with disbelief, "What is wrong with people?" I felt Kai chuckle as we walked around the crowded house looking for a place to sit for a bit.

"Well, I don't blame her for trying." He said, taking another sip of beer. My eyes went wide at the comment and my stomach flip-flopped.

"What does that mean?" I asked boldly, staring up at the boy that had his arm still tightly around me.

"It means that you're cute, Jas." Jas? Where did that come from? And he just called me cute again! Okay, he was obviously not straight, I knew that, it had to be true. I drank the rest of my cider, which was actually pretty good and set the bottle down on the littered floor. We sat on a set of stairs in the main room, which was now turned into a dance floor, with about twenty-five people jumping to the beat of the music and laughing, all drunk.

"How so?" I asked him, I was getting dangerously bold... somehow it was easier to speak my mind with booze in my system.

"Um, well you're sweet, and like a tiny dark puppy from hell." He said laughing, setting his empty drink on the floor next to mine.

"A dark puppy from Hell?" I scoffed, laughing at his analogy. The booze was making me giggly, I realized after two drinks... I was definitely a light weight. I leaned into him, resting my head on his shoulder, the pounding music wasn't making my head hurt anymore, it was just background noise... everything but Kai was background noise.

"I like your hair, "He said as he but a hand on my head, I could feel his fingers combing through the hairspray and finding a few soft strands to play with, it was mesmerizing. i don't know how long we stayed like that for, It felt like hours, him just playing absentmindedly with my hair as I leaned against his strong body. We were rudely interrupted by one of Kai's soccer friends, "Hey dudes!" He said with an enthusiastic tone, "Re-fills?" He topped up Kai's beer and handed me a can of something. "I'll leave ya to it! Have fun dudes." He said waving and going to the next person refilling their drinks with more alcohol.

After we finished our beverages we decided to go and walk around. He slung his arm around my waist this time and we walked outside to the pool deck. There were tonnes of people standing, talking, dancing to the beat of the music, drinking, sitting on the pool's edge, there was even a few people swimming in the pool, laughing and playing in the water. Someone handed me anther drink along the was and I took it, it made me feel less anxious, less scared of what could go wrong, and focus more on what could go right. I felt invincible and like I could do anything. I wrapped one of my small arms around Kai's waist and pulled him closer against me. I could feel the eyes of several girls on him, and I wanted to let them know that he was my date. We ended up sitting by the pool, our pants rolled up and our legs hanging into the cool pool water. Our bodies were side by side, touching and I drank the rest of my sixth drink. I was feeling pretty dizzy so I held onto Kai as my anchor. He had stopped drinking a while ago and was just enjoying the atmosphere, sometimes he would laugh at my meaningless drunk conversations.

"Kai? Do you think that Elvis really died on the toilet?" I asked him, he nodded his head and laughed, his smile wide.

"Yes, because they took pictures, you weirdo."

"Pictures can be forged!" I said loudly, unaware of my volume.

"Even drunk you're stubborn aren't you Jas?" He nudged my shoulder with his and passed me a few chips that he had acquired and was munching on.

"Are you drunk?" I asked him seriously.

"Nope. I only had three beers." He smiled at me, "You told me that you didn't want me to, so I promised."

"Woah, you're such a good person, Kai. I know that most people wouldn't be as nice as you, that's why you're so hot. You've got nice eyebrows." I couldn't tell if I had said that out loud or not, but in my mind, everything was right in the world. He chuckled and I noticed a little blush on his smooth, olive skinned face.

"Did you just call me hot?"He said laughing again, and I nodded.

"You are a very attractive person." I said in a matter-of-fact sort of tone.

"Okay, I think you need to lay off the booze there, Jasper." I kicked my feet in the water, splashing him a little.

"Hey! What was that for?" He said laughing in surprise.

"No reason!" I said cheerfully as I snuggled into his side comfortably. His arm was around my shoulders and my arm was around his waist, hanging a little limply due to intoxication.

"I like you." I heard a whisper come out of Kai's mouth. I wan't sure if he really had said it or not.

"You what?!" I said back to him, moving my head to look into his beautiful brown eyes.

"I like you." He said louder this time looking into my dark blue eyes, I smiled.

"I knew you weren't straight!" I shouted, pumping my arms in the air. Ruining the small moment, but nobody could blame me, I was completely, and utterly drunk. He laughed again, bringing one hand up to stroke my hair fondly, and then his arm pulled me closer to him slightly, holding me safely in his grasp.