Comfy Closets - Chapter 11: Chapter 11

The house was pumping music through every part of the property. Even from the outside, I could hear some of the lyrics quite clearly, leading me to wonder how the police haven't come yet to bust this party from a noise complaint. People were sitting and lying around in the front yard with solo cups by their sides, either too drunk or too done with the party and escaped for a break.
As Leah and I walked up to the front door behind Gia, I could already sense a pit of dread building up inside of me. I never really enjoyed these events before because they never appealed to me much. It was just a bunch of sweaty teenagers making out and smelling like sh*t alcohol, with most of them overestimating their ability to hold their liquor, resulting in either puke or passed out bodies just being everywhere.
Those thoughts may have manifested due to my natural cynical self, but maybe with Leah beside me tonight, my opinion might just change...
We walked through the front doors and instantly, the music hit us like a wall of sound smashing into our faces. I almost wanted to cover my ears from the noise but prevented myself from doing so as I knew it just needed time to adjust. Even so, the music was so loud that I was able to feel the thump of the tempo throughout my entire body.
The party was in full swing as the house was packed full of people. I grabbed Gia's outstretched hand in front of me so as not to lose her in this crowd. I felt for Leah's hand as she stood right behind me, and came across her slender fingers that tightened around my own. As I looked back for a second, the only sight I caught was the smile on her lips as we continued to move through the house, towards God knows where Gia was leading us.
Finally arriving at an area with fewer people around, I realised it was the kitchen where we stopped. Although I was resistant to do, I reluctantly let go of Leah's warm hand, allowing my lonesome one to swing back to my side. Gia had already let go of mine and had rushed to find some drinks for us and herself.
The music was quieter in this part of the house, allowing people to converse more freely without having to yell.
I turned to Leah and saw her focus was already on me, her eyes showing content. A genuine smile grew on her lips as her beautiful hazel eyes stared into mine. "I'm glad you agreed to come with me."
I returned her smile unconsciously. "I'm really happy I did too. Parties aren't normally my thing though," I warned her, just so she knew that it wouldn't be her fault if I didn't enjoy it as much.
"Well, with me here, I'll definitely make it fun for you," she flirted smoothly, sending a smirk my way accompanied by a wink.
Resisting the blush that was trying to surface, I raised my brows in a challenging manner. "Oh really? I guess we'll just have to see then, huh?"
"You can count on it," she mumbled, and I don't know if it was just me, but it felt like the space between us had lessened in the span of this conversation.
"Ladies, here are your drinks," Gia proclaimed, appearing out of nowhere and causing me to step back from Leah as she thrust our drinks into our hands while trying to balance her own. "Leah, I got you some coke since I'm assuming you'll be driving later?"
She accepted her drink with a smile, not affected by the sudden interruption like I was. "Yeah, I am. Thanks for the drink."
I sipped mine, and with mild disgust, I realised it was beer. Not my favourite drink, I've got to say but I guess a teenage party couldn't afford anything better. I was definitely not trying the punch, that's for sure.
The three of us stayed in the kitchen chatting for a little while until at some point Gia slipped away without me realising. I shrugged it off, as she most likely had gone to greet some of her other friends at this party. I continued chatting with Leah, and occasionally some of my soccer teammates would come up to us to say a quick 'hi', all of them a bit surprised to see me here since it wasn't my usual scene. At one point, I felt someone's stare on me, but when I turned to look around, I didn't see anyone looking our way.
Leah and I were just talking about our favourite TV series when we were interrupted again, but this time by two girls I didn't know the names of, but I was sure I have seen them around school before.
"Leah! There you are! I knew you'd be at this party. Told you," the blonde smugly said to the ebony-haired girl.
The other girl just rolled her eyes as they approached us. It looked like an action she did often with the blonde. "Ignore her. We just saw Kelly, she came back to visit so we thought you wanted to see her, " she explained. Then she looked over to me when she realised I was there standing next to Leah. "Who's this, by the way?" she asked, confusion and curiosity lacing her tone.
"Oh, this is Alyssa. She's the captain of the soccer team. I met her like a week ago," she stated.
Admittedly, I felt a little hurt by the way she had bluntly said that. It made it seem so impersonal, but I tried to brush off my ridiculous feelings, instead trying to smile politely at the two girls. "Hey, you can call me Aly."
"Nice meeting you. I'm Riley, the blondie here is Sara," the ebony-haired girl said as she nudged the fair-headed one. "We just wanna borrow Leah for a sec. She'll be back," she reassured as she started dragging a startled Leah away, Sara following her lead as she took her other arm.
Leah tried to protest as she tugged at her arms but soon gave up as she mouthed a 'sorry' my way. I thought I saw her mouth something else, but she was soon swallowed by the crowd.
Well, now I'm all alone at a party. This is fun, I sarcastically thought to myself. Sighing, I tried to drink from my cup some more but ended up deciding to just put my drink down and grab something else since I wasn't going to drink anymore of this disgusting beer. As I placed the half-filled cup on the counter, I felt someone else's presence behind me.
Assuming it was Leah who came back already, I turned around with a smile on my lips, only to find some guy I've never seen before standing a little too close than what was deemed normal.
Losing the smile, I immediately felt uncomfortable with the proximity of the guy, so I tried to take a step back to distance myself, but couldn't go much farther as I felt the pressure of the counter against my lower back.
"Hey. Want to go dance?" the boy muttered in what I'm guessing he thought was a sexy tone. I felt chills run up my back as he tried to close the gap between. I crossed my arms to try and keep him at a distance and slowly shuffled along the counter towards the edge as my way of escape.
"Umm, n-no thanks. I'm good," I tried to say casually, but it ended up sounding squeaky as I became more and more uncomfortable. My shyness that was kicking up right now wasn't helping my assertiveness any.
"Oh, come on. Just one dance. I promise I'll give you a good time," he grinned repulsively, trying to close the gap, allowing me the privilege to smell the stench of alcohol on his breath.
As I was readying myself to push him off, having had enough of this, he was suddenly pulled away from me with a startled expression taking over his wolfish one. "What the f-"
"Piss off, Fergus. Take a hint and stop making her uncomfortable," I heard a female voice harshly state.
The boy, Fergus apparently, spun around ready to yell at her when he spotted who it was standing behind him the same time I did.
Instead, the boy settled for a rumpled look, unnecessarily fixing his collar as he tried to play it off. "Geez, Leah. Chill, I was just asking," he muttered as he walked away.
Looking at Leah now, I saw her gazing at his back with a look of irritation in her eyes. She turned back to me a second later, concern now taking over her features. "You alright, Lyssa?" she questioned as she placed a palm on my forearm, making sure I was okay.
All I could concentrate on was the warmth that radiated from her hand, taking in the sense of comfort she provided. The corners of my lips tilted up in reassurance. "I'm alright, he was just an asshole who couldn't take no for an answer."
She pursed her lips then as if reliving what just happened in her head, before she shook it slightly and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, guys like that are just disgusting," she sighed in annoyance as she ran her other hand through her dirty blonde hair. "Anyways, let's forget about him. I did promise you I'd make sure you would have a good time. Come, let's dance," she said, smiling radiantly as she loosened her grip on my arm and slowly trailed it down to my own hand, taking it in hers.
Grinning excitedly, I followed her lead as she guided us through the crowd towards the makeshift dance floor. Once we arrived, she spun around to face me, a flirtatious smile present on her lips. "Dance with me."
And so I did. It first started off slow, with us just swaying along to the beat, but once we got over that awkward first stage, that's when it got really fun. Thankfully, the music that was playing was songs that we could sing along to and not just some EDM crap that most people wouldn't vibe with. They played a lot of throw-backs and top hits, which led us to sing loudly and unapologetically along, with the reassurance that no one could hear us. And even though I was surrounded by many sweaty teenagers and was constantly being bumped into, I couldn't focus on anything else but Leah smiling so joyfully as we danced. It might as well be just the two of us in this room.
Thirty minutes later, that was when we started feeling a little tired, so we decided to take a little breather at one of the couches lying around the corners of the room. We still had beaming grins on our faces from all the left over excitement and energy that was surging through us from dancing.
"I'm going to grab us a drink. I'll be right back," she promised as she stood up and headed for the kitchen.
I took this time to lean back and sink into the couch, trying to catch my breath as my eyes unconsciously wandered around the room. Everyone else was preoccupied in whatever they were doing, their minds kept busy and their attention always flitting. For just a moment, I could see why an event like this was so appealing to them. It kept their minds from thinking, their inhibitions from stopping them. It was the perfect place to make mistakes.
A couple of minutes later, as I was contemplating this, I realised Leah hadn't come back yet. I assumed it was because she was being stopped from time to time to have a quick chat since she was a very popular girl. But after a couple more minutes, she still hadn't arrived, so I decided to stand up and search for her. Something was up.
I squeezed through the sweaty crowd, saying sorry a couple of times as I slipped through the throngs of teenagers in the direction of the kitchen. I finally was able to reach an area that was not as congested as before, allowing me to exhale a breath of relief. Searching my eyes around for the hazel-eyed girl, I scanned my eyes over the faces and came across the staircase that was filled with many couples openly making out, some of them even looking ready to take it to the next stage.
I came across a face I thought I recognized and backtracked my gaze. There, I saw a brown-haired boy making out with some girl pushed against the stair railing in a tight top and a skirt that I thought was a little too short for a party like this. Staring at the boys' face, I suddenly recognized where I've seen it before. It was the guy at the coffee shop with Leah. Her boyfriend.
Shocked, I didn't know what to do. Their display was pretty obvious since the stairwell was right in the centre of the room. Leah must have seen this on her way to get our drinks; it was impossible to miss.
Now worried about Leah, I tried to search the current vicinity but wasn't able to spot her dirty blonde hair anywhere. I quickly searched the rest of the ground floor but couldn't find her there either. I even contemplated on searching upstairs, but I doubted she went up there as most of the rooms were most likely occupied by couples doing quite indecent things.
I decided to head outside to the back of the house where I hadn't searched yet, hoping she hadn't just left in her car already. Sliding open the back door, I stepped down onto the porch and looked out into the inky darkness as I slide it back close.
I spotted her on the right side of the porch, sitting on the steps alone with one beer in her hands and another empty one sitting beside her. Walking slowly and cautiously her way, I sat down next to her and let silence blanket us, the music now a faint thump in the background.
Her head was slumped down as she stared at the bottle in her hands, swirling the liquid slowly as she tilted the bottle from side to side. Her wavy hair was covering most of her face, but from what I could see, her features showed a kind of despondency to it.
I didn't want to be the first one to speak. I wanted to let her have her time to gather her thoughts, and if she didn't want to talk about it, that was fine. I was here for her either way.
She spoke up a few minutes into the silence, sounding so tired and crestfallen, so juxtaposed to the emotions she showed a couple of minutes ago. "I'm not mad."
I didn't say anything, letting her continue to talk and let out whatever she needed to let out. She lifted her head and stared straight into the dark as she spoke. "We've only been dating for a couple of weeks, so the relationship was still relatively fresh. Before we dated, we were friends. He was actually a cool guy, although my friends did warn me about him when we first started dating, about his tendencies to..." she trailed off, not being able to finish that sentence.
"I didn't like him that much anyway. I only really dated him for fun, nothing serious," she stated, taking a deep breath in as if trying not to let her emotions overwhelm her. "But then he had to go behind my back and do this. He didn't have the guts to say it to my face. What is up with those type of people?" she asked rhetorically, but it seemed like she actually wanted an answer to that.
As she continued, she sounded less and less present, like she was thinking of another time whilst talking to me. "I should've expected it. I kind of did, actually. I guess I'm just disappointed. I expected better from him, and this is what I get. The feeling of being cheated on sucks," she bluntly expressed, lifting the bottle and finishing the rest of her beer in one go.
Silence enveloped us again as we sat there, thinking about the events of tonight. Finally gathering my thoughts, I decided to say something.
"Some people who make good friends don't always make good partners," I let out. "And sometimes we expect too much of people when they don't deserve that much of high regard." I looked to my side towards her. "But that is not your fault. All the fault is on him. He betrayed your trust, and honestly, that's his loss because you are a brilliant person. You gave him a chance to prove he wasn't the person people said he was, and unfortunately, he proved them right. So, all you can do is move on."
I really hoped I said the right thing because she was such a beautiful and bright woman and didn't deserve this at all. I waited with bated breath for her response.
After a few seconds of silence, she nodded slowly in acknowledgement. She drew her attention away from the darkened view in front and focused her softened hazel eyes on me for the first time.
"Thanks, Lyssa." Although it didn't sound like she was okay yet, I knew it was going to take some time to get past this. The feeling of betrayal was something that lingered and will remind you of its painful presence until you either learnt or simply moved on.
"Do you want to go now?" I asked, feeling like a party wasn't the best place for her right now.
She smiled a sad faint smile and slightly nodded her head. That was all I needed to get up and quickly dial Gia's phone to inform her of our departure.
"Hey, Alyyy! What's up! Where are you? I wanna dance together!" she exclaimed through the phone. I guess she was a little bit tipsy right now.
"Hey, just calling to say that Leah and I are thinking of heading off now. You ready to come, or want to stay for a bit longer?"
"I WANNA STAY! And don't worry about me, I can get home." I heard some muffling going on in the background as I was assuming she was asking someone for a ride home. She came back on with giddiness in her voice. "Yeah! Don't worry about me, Natasha is going to drive me home. You go with her. Have a good night!" she giggled, a suggestive undertone present before she ended the call.
Sighing to myself, I turned back around to see Leah getting up and stumbling a bit on her feet. I quickly came to her side to support her and only let her go when she was stable enough. "You alright?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm good. Just had a bit to drink, that's all. Sorry I won't be able to drive," she apologized, her voice a little hoarse from the alcohol.
I slowly guided her around the house, keeping an arm around her shoulders to prevent any accidents from happening, but it was also my way to comfort her and remind her that I was there if she needed me. The close proximity clouded my brain a little as her soft body melded with my side, each movement creating slight frictions against my skin. I tried to shake the unbidden thoughts that had invaded my mind, instead trying to focus on the task at hand.
When we arrived at the front yard and were walking on the grass towards Leah's car, I heard someone call my name behind me. Only when I turned my head did I see who it was from my periphery.
"Hey! Where you going? I was looking for you in there. You can't be leaving now!" Ashton whined as he jogged to my side, panting slightly when he stopped.
I gave him an apologetic look and turned to gaze at the dirty blonde who I let stand alone without support as Ashton neared. She looked on into the direction of the neighbouring houses with a blank look to her eyes, as if she wasn't actually seeing them at all.
I turned back to him and bit my lower lip, almost hesitant to tell him what happened. "I got to bring Leah home. She's not feeling so good."
He looked behind me to see Leah then, shock crossing his features as he realised who my companion was, before understanding settled there. He looked like he wanted to say something about it, but he decided not to as he just gave me a nod and a smile before giving us a farewell. "Alright, drive safe."
Although, he did shoot me a look that said 'we will have to talk about this later'.
I gave him a thankful smile when he didn't ask any further questions, knowing that wasn't what Leah needed right now. "We can meet up tomorrow. I'll text you?"
He gave me another nod and a grin before he headed back in. I continued to lead Leah to the car, asking for her keys as she dug around in her pocket. I unlocked the door when she handed it over and opened the passenger door for her to get in. Going around, I got in the driver's seat and started up the beautiful car.
"Are you sure you're sober enough to drive?" she questioned concernedly as she put her seatbelt on, now looking less despondent than before.
Feeling relieved that she was sounding more normal, I drove out of the parking spot as I answered. "Yeah, I'm quite sober since I only drank a bit of that sh*t beer."
A laugh escaped her lips at my brash statement. "Yeah, that was quite sh*t beer," she agreed, giggling softly now.
After that, we settled into silence. It wasn't awkward, but more on the comfortable side as we drowned in our own thoughts. It was only broken when I asked for directions to her place, and she replied with an address and some directions before settling back into the lull of the drive.
As I pulled up in front of her darkened home devoid of light, I turned to her and bit my lip, a little nervous to ask my next question.
"C-Can I stay at yours for tonight?" Before she could ask why I continued. "It's just, I told my parents that I would be sleeping over at Gia's place, so I thought it'd be kind of weird if I just went home now."
Her smile was already present when I finished my sentence, and it looked almost cheeky. "I assumed you were going to stay even before you asked."
"Oh," was all I could utter out as she laughed at my reaction. As Leah got out of the car, I turned off the engine and followed her lead. She took out a set of keys from her pocket and unlocked the door, making me wonder how big her pockets were to be able to store all those things when I could only fit my phone in there.
We stepped into her dark house and lightly treaded to her staircase which I could only faintly see because of the glow of the streetlights that was pooling in through the windows. Our shoes squeaked slightly against the hardwood staircase, making me cringe slightly for fear of waking someone up, but thankfully, our journey went undisturbed as we arrived at her room.
She opened the door and let me in before closing it and turning on the lights. I blinked furiously for a couple of seconds before my eyes slowly adjusted to the sudden brightness. Glancing around her room, I would say it looked quite normal, with a neat bed and a desk to the side that had papers scattered on top. There were photos and posters stuck aesthetically around her room, a soft-looking couch to the side and a shelf that was filled to the brim with books.
Before I could analyse her room any further, Leah had walked to her wardrobe and rummaged around for some clothes. She turned around to hand me a shirt and sport shorts with a tired smile tugging at her lips. "Here. The bathroom is just that door over there."
I walked over and closed the door, quickly using the toilet and changing into the clothes. When I was done, I stood myself in front of the mirror, just staring at my own reflection. I couldn't believe I was actually in Leah's house and was going to sleep in her room. Before I could continue with this train of thought, I shook my head to try to physically shake it out, not wanting to seem like a creep. Just act cool, Alyssa. Everything is normal, she's just a friend.
Walking out of the bathroom, I spotted the blonde already in bed, settled in the thick blankets. I made my way to the couch when she stopped me. "What are you doing, Lyssa?"
"Um, I'm going to sleep on the couch?" I announced unsurely, making it sound more like a question.
"Don't be silly! I'm not going to make you sleep on the couch! Come, sleep over here," she demanded, patting the empty spot on the bed beside her.
I gulped nervously when I heard that, running a hand through my hair to try to calm my nerves. Holy crap! I'm going to be sleeping beside her. Just chill, Alyssa. Chilllll.
Walking slowly to her bed, I slipped underneath the warm blankets beside her and cuddled into it, immediately being bombarded by her lavender and mint scent on the sheets. I unconsciously took a deep breath in to take more of the scent in and commit it to memory.
In my periphery, I saw the blonde girl switch off the lights and turned on her side to face me. Looking her way, she just stared at me for a few seconds, taking my features in while I gazed at her. For some reason, I didn't feel weird doing that. It almost felt natural to hold her gaze like this, the atmosphere so intimate and personal.
She was the first one to break the stillness. "Thank you for being there for me today. Really," she mumbled, the sincerity shining through both her voice and eyes.
Now gazing at her perfect hazel eyes, so pained yet so strong, the smile that stretched my lips was nothing short of genuine.
"No problem. I'm here for you, Leah bear. I'm here for you."