TWO

                  SELENE

"Am I supposed to address the elephant in the room?" I asked as I curled a section of my hair with a hair curler while looking at Axiesse who was sitting beside Ruka who has her feet resting atop my center table despite me telling her to refrain from doing so over the past ten minutes, it's a good thing she kept her socks on or I would've thrown the center table at her face in anger at her lack of proper manners, especially inside my apartment.

Meanwhile, Mindy, the oldest in our friend circle stood beside the youngest, Shana, who we like to call 'Shannie' who was sitting on one of my smaller couches while the only male in our friend group who's like an older brother to me, Shannie and Axiesse who are the three younger ones had been playing games on my laptop. At least, he asked for my permission.

"I suppose I shouldn't." I muttered, already finished with curling the last section of my long black hair, giving it a last few brushes here and there to make it neater before I grabbed my red-pink colored lipstick, lightly tapping it unto my lips before stopping after I was satisfied with the look since I decided to do my lipstick last. I took one last look at myself in the mirror, completely satisfied since I look very pretty, the usual before I decided to put on my gold necklace with an infinity pendant, a few gold bracelets, one ring, simple heart-shaped earrings and adjusted the strap of the sparkly black fitted dress that my older sister Solana gave me for my eighteenth birthday that I didn't see the point of wearing since I don't usually go to parties until now. It didn't really show a lot of skin but it reached down my mid-thigh and it did show a fair amount of my chest which I'm more than self-conscious about but you know what, I only go to parties every once in a while, I might as well give people a glimpse of how beautiful a literal goddess like me can be even more beautiful if that's even possible.

"Hey, should we go now? You said the party will start in ten minutes?" I turned to Axiesse while grabbing a small bag and slinging it over my shoulder before I looked at my nails, nodding to myself when none of them was messed up since I just did them earlier before I did my make up, which was dumb of me, not going to lie.

"Actually five minutes but yeah. Let's go now." Mindy said, glancing at her wrist watch before properly standing up from her earlier leaning pose on my wall and headed to my front door, Michael, who already turned my laptop off and charged it, followed after her with Shannie walking up to me and hooking her arms with mine as we smiled at each other, making our way out of my apartment before I locked it once we were all outside.

"Finally, that took so long." Ruka commented, yawning and not covering her mouth as she did so, typical ill-mannered Ruka.

"Hey, whose idea was it to invite me and wake me up way past my bedtime?" I said scoffing, turning to Shannie as we went across the street and greeted my cousin who had been waiting for us for three minutes.

"Thanks for waiting for us, Liz." I smiled as I greeted my cousin, Elisabeth who prefers to be called 'Liz' for reasons she didn't tell me yet. My guess is that she just hates her full first name.

"Nah, don't mention it. Get in." We all did as told and went inside, Mindy, Michael and Axiesse at the seat behind me and Shannie's which is located behind Liz and her boyfriend, Nate's seats, although the latter is asleep which is why we never got to greet him. Liz immediately started driving, putting on some music by a well-known band that she and her boyfriend liked and we all talked casually about things ranging from the best main dish, side dish, desserts and sweets to strawberries, cherries and our love lives, the latter being a conversation I wasn't particularly invested in nor listened in as much since I also didn't contribute unto such a topic since it's practically very... dry for me, not even once have I ever been in a romantic relationshit- ahem, where are my manners? I meant relationship. After a few minutes, we arrived at Sheila's hell house for the dreaded party, well, for me at the very least. I groaned when we all went out of the car when Liz parked in front of Sheila's door. Geez, I can already hear all the noise from a block away but this is even worse. This is why I don't attend parties like this, what's the point anyway?

"Thanks for the ride!" Axiesse chirped and waved at Liz.

"Yes, we appreciate it." I said and smiled.

"Like I said, don't mention it," Liz said, giving a huge grin before turning to me, "Young lady, c'mere a sec."

I complied almost inmediately and leaned in closer to her.

"Text me when you guys are going home, better yet have a huge sleepover at your apartment or let them stay at mine if you think they might bother you later. Going home at this hour is a big no-no." And like I thought, she's already giving me instructions. "Auntie and Uncle entrusted you to me, I promised I would take good care of you in their stead and that's what I'm going to do. Here, use this if some drunkards gets too close for comfort or if they start harassing you or your friends. If it gets too much, go home, 'kay?" Liz said as I nodded and took the pepper spray she gave me, hiding it inside my pocket which this dress miraculously have.

"I'll get going now, this dude's knocked out." She said referring to Nate and laughed, showing off her cute dimples. "You lot, don't drink too much, 'kay? You'll get bad hangovers the next day if you did, even if it's a friday night, don't risk it, darlings." Liz told us as we all nodded or said "yeah!" before she laughed and drove off to the direction where Nate's house is located. I forgot that he lives around here.

"Well guys, let's all have fun!" Ruka yelled with a happy crap-eating grin on her face.

"Especially you, Selie, let loose! This is youth!" Axiesse said which made us laugh before I gave a playful eye roll before Sheila opened the door.

"Oh, you all made it! I'm so glad! It's good to see you attending my party, Selene!" The host of the party greeted, giving me a hug and a quick peck on the cheek as I smiled and greeted her.

"It's nice to see you too, Sheila." I said, not being able to and not having the heart to say that I didn't want to come and that I had no say in this since she literally demanded us to come here on her own accord.

"Come in, come in! Welcome to the party!" Sheila said and giggled as she opened the door and let us all in, closing it once all of us were insife before shouting something that made the rest of the party people cheer, "Ayo! The popular circle is here! Selene is here too! It's a miracle!"

Well, going back to my earlier speech, what's the point in attending parties anyway? To socialize? Pft, yeah, right. I'm socially awkward whether I admit it or not, which I do admit, by the way. The smell is annoying, almost everyone that's already here reeks of alcohol and I hate it, the loud musics, the annoying dubstep that I personally dislike, some already drunk people, the occasional thumping sounds, the cheering sounds, the noise pollution and the assault all the mixed scents gives my nose is almost unbearable, I should file a lawsuit, my father owns the biggest and most successful law firm on the whole country, perhaps I can use that to my advantage? Of course, I'm joking but to top it all off, to put the biggest cherry on top of my annoyance is the fact that there are a lot of couples making out everywhere my sight can see! From the couches, the floor, the walls, the tables too, I'm pretty sure even upstairs where most couples took their activities to some of the rooms Sheila's house has. Someone please put me out of my misery. Geez, it's like the zombie apocalypse onky with drunkards and partygoers.

"I knew you didn't like this kind of party, Sena. You never were the life of the party, just the guest of honor." Shannie called me by the nickname she alone gave me, the remark she just said earlier causing us both to laugh since she was referring to the time I was forced to attend a party when we were sixteen-years-old since I was the guest of honor for some reason, I remember that I would've thrown a table and my chair to the host if Shannie and Mindy weren't there to restrain me while Axiesse, Michael and Ruka almost tied me to the chair. I almost never spoke the entire time honestly.

It was just the two of us here in this area since Mindy and Michael are standing near the long table where they have all the food and drinks while Ruka being Ruka decided to eat almost all the food atop the said table as Axiesse drank a bit of soju and laughed at Ruka when the latter almost choked.

Me and Shannie continued talking to each other, avoiding the males who were trying to hit on us by occasionally moving from one seat to another while some males were content in just staring at us.

"Wait, hold the thought, I need to use the restroom. You know, pee run or somethin'." Shannie said and winked making me laugh before she headed to the bathroom after excusing herself. At least some of my friends has manners. Now that I thought about it, there are a lot of people here, are they all our batchmates? Just how many are they? I recognize some to be freshmen and some are seniors.

I stared at the wine glass I was holding, having a mental debate with myself whether I should finally drink it or not and when I decided there was no harm to drinking one glass, I immediately regretted it, already feeling my face get a bit hotter and so I did what one is supposed to, I fanned my face using my hand. I've always regretted making quick decisions and right now, I'm regretting my life decisions. This isn't my first time drinking alcohol since I once drank one glass and let me tell you, I have a very low alcohol tolerance. The lowest in my family, actually. To think that I drank, even if it's just a singular supposed to be harmless glass of wine, even if I know I'd have headaches tomorrow. Sometimes I'm dumb.

"Can't hold your liquor that much, girlie?" I turned only to see a most attractive man with spiky dark brown hair with one white streak, his sharp golden eyes piercing through my very soul as I met his gaze with my brown ones while he made his way to sit next to me, sitting where Shannie once sat. Geez, this guy has an amazing, manly physique. He's perfect.

"First time drinking alcohol, huh?" He asked with this deep and, I'll admit it, hot voice as I nodded, words getting stuck in my throat as I swallowed a forming lump in my throat, feeling his intense stare as he looked me up and down, closing his eyes and nodding to himself afterwards.

Wait, did he just eye-harass me!? How dare he!? Feeling sudden annoyance, which helped get me out of my dazed state, I quickly pursed my lips and flicked his forehead, seemingly surprising him as he raised a brow at me, a fine one. Even if he's hot, harassment is still harassment.

"Look, as attractive as you are, eye-raping me is annoying, it's an inappropriate conduct especially towards a young woman like me who was minding her own business before you came here, pervert. I could press charges right now if I want to." Me, being the second youngest daughter of a wealthy Law Firm owner and a Doctor who had been raised to not take crap from males, chastised him, holding up my pointer finger before poking his forehead with it repeatedly before he grabbed it and to my surprise, he even kissed it before smirking at me.

"I like your guts, doll." He said before patting my head and standing up.

Oh, so we're ruining hairstyles now?

"By the way, if you're going to drink in such a place, you need to work on your low alcohol tolerance." He commented and with that he walked away without telling me his name, rude. Well, I guess since I didn't tell him mine, it's only fair. But since almost everyone at school knows my name and face, I figured he might already know it. Which makes it unfair but, oh well. With a shrug, I put my wine glass down on a table near me wondering what in the world just happened. Wait, now that I thought about it, who even was he? I don't think I've seen or met him before. How was he invited here even? Maybe Sheila knows him? Who knows, she might be the type to talk to someone or invite them to her house for a party even if the person she invited is someone she personally knows or is a complete stranger. You never could tell with people.