So this was the girl Finn was falling head over heels for. Interesting. I never would’ve guessed, because, to me, this Delilah didn’t seem like Finn’s type. Despite her outfit, she gave off an air of innocence. Maybe it was the long blonde hair, maybe it was her large, green eyes. Eyes are the window to the soul right? Her soul screamed innocence. Something I didn’t think Finn would be attracted to. But hey, to each his own. And who knows, perhaps this girl could surprise me.
Kim and I followed Finn and Delilah down the stairs. Already, Finn and Delilah were in an animated conversation about something called vlogbrothers. I’ve never heard of it before in my life. When we reached the street, I turned to Kim.
“Looks like Finn’s enjoying himself.”
“I wouldn’t have expected anything else from him,” she replied with a devilish grin. Nobody would ever guess that this girl, with lightly curled brown hair and dark blue eyes, had a bite to her. But her blunt, scathing remarks were simply part of her personality, something I’ve grown to enjoy listening to.
At that point, Delilah dropped back with Finn to join us in conversation. “Hey, Dmitri. Finn mentioned you worked in a bookstore.”
“Yeah, me and Kim both work there.”
“Where is it? I love books, and I haven’t found a store around here yet. And since you work there, I figured I might as well go there.” Delilah rambled. As she reached the end of her explanation, she blushed.
I gave her a small smile. Despite my bad mood at being forced to a party, I didn’t have to ruin her night. “It’s called Prospect Secondhand Books. It’s on Barlow Street.”
Kim chimed in, “Since it’s a secondhand store, you won’t find many of the new releases, but there’s a lot of interesting books. If you’re willing to look for them.”
Delilah grinned, “Sounds exactly like my kind of store.”
“Feel free to stop by anytime! It’ll be either me, Dmitri, or our boss Peter there.”
“Alright, I will.”
After a few more minutes of walking, I started to hear the music. We were still 3 blocks away. I almost turned back there. Made some lame excuse to Finn, and Delilah, and Kim. I wanted to. I didn’t particularly care what would happen as a result. Really, I didn’t.
But I didn’t go. I opened my mouth to say something. I begged my feet to stop moving. But something in my mind rebelled, telling me that I could make it through the night. It was only one night. A few hours. In the long run, no time at all.
We drew closer to the party, and the music grew even louder. Within half a block, the sounds of drunken teenagers joined the mix of noise. When we reached the house, Finn disappeared inside with Delilah, going who knows where.
Kim turned to me, “Guess it’s just you and me.”
“Yeah.” I managed a weak attempt of a smile.
“Let’s dance!” Kim took my arm and pulled me into the house. We weaved around those already drunk and found our way to the dance floor. Here, the music was almost deafening and I could feel the bass throughout my entire body. An involuntary shiver forced its way through my body.
Kim moved her lips to my ear and yelled over the sound, “Stop standing there! Dance!”
Nodding, I began to dance. I tried to focus all of my energy on the movements, but it didn’t help. The sound pressed against my mind, smothering it with layer upon layer of deafening noise. After only one song, I had had enough.
“I need some air!” I yelled in Kim’s ear before making me way off of the dance floor and out of the house. I found an empty patch of grass and sat down. Kim plopped down next to me.
“What’s up?”
I shook my head, “Nothing. Just needed some air.”
“It can get pretty crowded in there.”
“Yeah.” I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, trying to alleviate the pressure in my head.
We sat together there for a few more songs. Not a word passed between us until Kim exclaimed, “That’s my favorite song! Let’s go dance again!”
“You go ahead. I’ll stay here.”
“You sure?”
I gave her a small smile, “Yeah. Go on.”
Kim stood up and before she went back into the house, gave my shoulder a warm squeeze, “I’ll be back.”
“Got it.”
When she disappeared from view, I pulled my knees up and rested my head against them. The noise continued to push against my mind, a background to the one thought running through my conscious: I shouldn’t have come.
It wasn’t worth it, no matter what the hell happened with Finn and Delilah that night. At that point, absolutely nothing mattered at all, because my head felt like it had been hit with something big and heavy. Like a bowling ball. Or a bulldozer. Or the entire freaking world. And it was all Finn’s fault.
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