Page 49 of Life Lessons
“You are so right, Abs. We need a bit of fun. We have to sneak out,” she says, as she rummages through her cupboard for something to wear.
“As long as we are back before midnight, mum will have no idea we have left. Agreed?” I ask and Tillie tips her head in confirmation.
“Agreed. I will be the designated driver this week, I wanna stay sober to talk to Ryan,” she mumbles. I don’t know what it is about this guy, but he makes my normally confident sister behave like a bag of nerves. She is gorgeous, funny, and kind. This guy would be lucky to have her, not the other way around.
“Are you sure? It is my turn.” We never get taxi’s home. Even though we can afford it, it’s too dangerous. Not just two young girls alone and drunk in a car, but given our family name and the reputation our family has, we would have a bullseye on our back. We could get kidnapped for ransom or worse. So we take it in turns driving. Tillie drove my drunken ass home last week so it’s only fair I return the favour this week, but she turns me down.
“No, you go and enjoy yourself.” Her kindness is audible with each word and I hug my twin, loving the feel of her in my arms. She pushes me away joking about us getting too soppy and talking about how desperately she needs to find something to wear.
It doesn’t take us long to find something to wear and get ready. Normally, it would take us longer, we would spend more time on our hair and make-up, but since we are sneaking out and having to make sure we are back earlier than normal, we need all the time we can get. I drink a glass or two of Prosecco that we keep in our room, just to help get me in the mood. Tillie doesn’t need any, she is hyped up on Ryan.
We finally arrive at the party and as we walk through the door, I take in the mass of people that are crowding the entrance hallway. Everywhere I look there are teenagers, some younger, some older, but they are everywhere. Some drinking, some kissing, some just talking. I even spot a couple who should be in a bedroom with what they are doing. I notice Tillie’s eyes are scouring through the people, her only goal is finding Ryan, but she refuses to text him.
“I can’t. We didn’t arrange to meet here. He just said to save him a dance when we bump into each other. But I can’t risk us not finding each other, so I am going to go look for him, but also make it look like I’m not looking,” she mutters, clearly thinking of the plan as she voices it to me. I chuckle at my cute sister.
“Fine, I will be on the dancefloor if you need me. Have a good night,” I say as she walks off heading down the hall and out into the back garden. That’s usually where they set up all the drunken games like beer pong. It’s always full of the guys from the sports teams, and the girls chasing after them. It’s where I would have started if I was Tillie.
Mentally wishing my sister luck, I head into the kitchen to grab some drinks before I go and let loose on the dancefloor. “Hey, twin one. Check you out. You are looking hot tonight in that little black dress, if I do say so myself,” growls a voice in my ear as he throws an arm around my shoulder after approaching me from behind.
Shit! I was hoping Lance wasn’t going to be here. He is the guy I had a fumbled sexual encounter with while I was pissed last week. It was awful, like I am talking about needing a Tardis to get over it, bad. I have managed to avoid him all week at school, and I was hoping I’d had a few more drinks before bumping into him. So, I quickly down the shot of Jack Daniels I have in front of me before pouring another. I shrug his arm off my shoulder before turning to look at him.
“Listen, Lance. What happened last week was a one time thing. It will not be happening again, no matter how much I drink. So you may as well move along and find someone else,” I say, trying to be kind but knowing I probably sound like a heartless bitch.
In fact, a couple of Lance’s friends and people that were standing nearby being nosey, started jeering and shouting burn. Lance’s face went a horrendous shade of red as the blush rose and he stomped off whilst yelling about me being a slut and a bitch. I just smiled and took two more rapid shots of Jack. The warmth slid down my throat, the slight burn has now gone, which tells me I have definitely drunk enough to let loose on the dance floor.
I don’t know how long I dance for, I love the feel of the music spreading through my body. It’s like it speaks to all of my nerve endings, they hum and I feel alive. I don’t care about who I dance with, as long as they keep their hands in an appropriate place, and just see it as a dance, then I am willing. If they take it too far, they are told to fuck off appropriately. I sneak off for a couple more drinks, and as I return back to the dance floor, that’s when I see it. Ryan...the guy my sister likes. He’s on the dancefloor, standing almost right in front of me, with his tongue down Misty Greaves throat. I’m shocked because not only does Misty have a boyfriend, she is also one of Tillie’s good friends.
Even though Tillie and I will always be inseparable best friends, we did both have our own friendship groups. I had a couple of friends who took the classes that Tillie didn’t. Misty was in Tillie’s History class at school. I took psychology instead and it was one of the only times we were separated, but it allowed us to find individual friendship groups. I never liked Misty, she always seemed a bit stuck up to me. Like she always had to be the best at everything, or the center of attention.
I see the moment Tillie sees them and my heart breaks for her as she watches them making out on the dancefloor. Before I even know what is happening, they are being ripped apart by a very tall muscular guy that I don’t recognise. When he unexpectedly punches Ryan on the end of his nose, it is apparent that he is Misty’s boyfriend from a nearby school. As the tussle continues, I am more interested in my sister who has just walked out into the kitchen. I try to push past the crowd, desperate to get to her and check she is okay.
When I finally make it through the crowd, I see Tillie in the kitchen with a bottle of Absolut Vodka pressed against her lips as she drinks from the bottle. It’s already half empty so I have no idea how much she has drunk while it took me the time to get to her. When I finally reach her, I give her a soft smile and I gently place my hand over the one she has clasping the bottle.
“You better go easy on that, Til. You’re the designated driver, and I’ve already had a few drinks,” I say calmly, desperately trying to avoid the main issue until she has put the alcohol down.
She pulls away from me with a growl before taking a few swigs of the vodka. Then she turns her eyes and glares at me angrily. “Did you know about them?”
My eyes spring wide, hating the idea my twin thinks I would betray her that way. “Of course I didn’t.”
“But you have never liked him,” she slurs, having clearly drunk more than I realise.
Snatching the bottle from her grip, I place it on the side and put my body in front of it, making it very clear to my sister that she has had enough. “No, I never liked him because I’ve always thought he was a bit of a prick, but you liked him, so I stayed quiet. I even encouraged him to give you a chance. I wouldn’t have done that if I knew. What I do know is that he isn’t worth you drowning your sorrows in vodka,” I say, holding her back away from the booze.
My sister huffs and starts to speak, but the alarm in my bag begins to ring. Fucking great timing. My sister takes the bag off me and shuts off the alarm. Before I know what is happening she grabs the car keys out of my bag and stumbles off towards the car. I run after her, stopping her when she reaches the car.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” I ask, as she pings open the car using the electronic key in her hand before walking to the driver side. I quickly stopped her.
“The alarms went off. There’s no fucking way I’m getting caught. Not because of that dick. So get in the car, we don’t have long to get home.” Tillie slurs her words as she speaks and I hold my ground.
“There’s no way you are driving. You are well over the limit. I’m not letting you get done for drunk driving. We will call a taxi,” I state firmly as I pull out my phone.
“No way. Mum will notice the car is missing. I am not missing prom because of this, Abbie. Now get in the car,” she shouts, and I see the angry yet resolved look in her eyes.
Groaning, I hold out my hand. “Fine, but I’m more sober than you. I will drive,” I say the words, and instantly regret them. What the hell am I doing? The whole reason we swap between designated drivers is because we know the risks and they are not worth it. But I know the mood Tillie is in, she is desperate. She has been hurt by Ryan, and she desperately doesn’t want to lose out on going to prom because she thought he was worth the risk when he wasn’t. Normally I would never do this. But I can’t let my sister risk hurting herself, I would rather it be me getting done for drunk driving than her. So having made the decision, I slide into the car.
Grabbing the bottle of water we always keep in the cup holder, I drink as much of it as I can, hoping it will help to sober me up quickly. I’m not completely pissed. I can walk properly and talk properly, but I feel the buzz racing through my system. As I power up the car, I focus as much as I can on each of my movements. The only problem is that my brain is slower than the car. Meaning my reactions are sluggish from the alcohol. I try to adapt my driving to match this. Hopefully, if I stick to the back roads I won’t encounter any traffic and we will get home without incident.
I drive a lot slower than I would normally, much to Tillie’s annoyance. “Fucking hell, Abs. Stop driving like a grandma. You can go a lot faster here. There’s no other fucking person on the road,” she shouts before returning to looking at her phone. I can see over her shoulder that she is going through social media and reading all about the fight.
