The First Party

Riding the high of making a new friend, you confidently enter the party behind Mike. It's at a large old house just down the street. You assume it's a fraternity house, though you don't know anything about greek life.

Mike very quickly disappears leaving you standing in the center of the room. You look around and see groups of students chatting, all with drinks in their hands. There's a banner on the back wall that reads Welcome Freshies!

Not wanting to stand awkwardly too long, you feel the impulse to move. You decide a drink is the best place to start, and you find the keg. A bearded guy stands next to it. He's in the middle of a conversation and without acknowledging your presence, he fills up a cup and hands it towards you.

As you turn around, you nearly bump into a woman that had apparently formed a line behind you.

"Real smooth" she laughs, as your maneuver managed to evade her without spilling your beer.

You give her a finger gun in, what you hope is, an ironic way, and not cringey. She seems caught off guard by the move, but keeps her smile. She then turns back to get her beer. Before you can engage her in conversation, a group of her friends emerge and overtake her attention.

The beating of your heart increases suddenly as you realize just how beautiful she is. She has wavy blonde hair that is currently pinned back. Her facial features appear to sparkle from her light glitter makeup. She's wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a crop top that accentuate the curves of her fit body.

Feeling an instant crush, your insides are liquified and your legs wobble slightly. She is completely surrounded by a group of girls that are repelling any approaching men swiftly. Knowing better than to bother a fun evening for these friends, you move across the room to a circle of students that seem much more open.

Greeting you upon walking up, the group consists of three women and two men. After a brief set of introductions, you learn that the two men are named Paul and Anton. As for the women, there's the petite and freckled Payton, the tall short-haired Dasha, and the stout Brynn.

The conversation remains pretty vague. Just thoughts on classes and missing high school friends. You feel an ease talking with the ladies as they all seem to be buzzed and feeling pretty comfortable. You feel hints of attraction for them, though most of your attention is still on the blonde woman across the room.

You notice that she breaks off from the group to go down the hall, so you casually excuse yourself.

When you reach the hall, you see a line for the bathroom. She has situated herself against the wall to wait, and has pulled out her phone. Before you can reach the line, a guy walks around you.

"Hey Genna" he says.

She looks up, first at you and you see a look of both confusion and the smallest bit of a smile. The eye contact sends a bolt straight to your chest, but she immediately shifts her attention to the other guy. Her look changes to annoyance as the guy gives her an awkward hug.

You cannot handle standing in line with them right now, so you head up the stairwell on your right as if that was your intended direction all along.

Upstairs, you find that the party has filled up most of the house. You weave your way to the balcony deck overlooking the backyard.

Feeling the fresh air, you let yourself calm down and you find a seat in a secluded corner.

Your reserve of social energy definitely needs a recharge, so you just relax for a few minutes.

Suddenly, you realize you aren't alone as the blanket on the chair in front of you moves.