Until the Sun by Chandler Morrison

Author:Chandler Morrison [Morrison, Chandler]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-31T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18 - The Bad Batch

1

By nine o’ clock the following Friday, the party was in full swing. You’d figured Mara would only invite a handful of people…the usual group, and maybe a few of your classmates…but that turned out not to be the case. Once seven o’clock had rolled around, there were almost twenty people there. That number nearly doubled by eight, and at nine you estimated the headcount to be well over sixty. Most of them were people you didn’t know. You recognized some of the faces from school, but the majority of the crowd was composed of complete strangers.

They all, however, seemed to know who you were. All night, people had been coming up to you and wishing you happy birthday, showering you in hugs and air-kisses, and drinking to your health and success.

The walls of the house reverberated with music and exultant conversation. There were at least four stereos blasting music from strategic positions in the house, and twice as many cell phones rolling through Spotify playlists with the volume turned all the way up. There was an old man you didn’t recognize seated at the grand piano in the parlor playing jubilant showtunes, his fingers dancing across the keys with extravagant, disembodied grace.

When it started to become too much, you ducked into the bathroom cradling a red plastic cup filled to the brim with foamy beer. You sat down on the edge of the tub and nursed it gingerly, yearning for a cigarette. Ten minutes passed, maybe fifteen. You were just beginning to gather the courage to rejoin the festivities when the doorknob turned. As the door started to open, you took a deep breath and struggled to construct an embarrassed apology to whatever drunken fornicators were about to enter.

It was Mara who entered, instead. The sight of her made you release a relieved breath and brought a smile to your face. You’d seen little of her that night; she’d been busy whisking around from one guest to the next and offering them refreshments and warm welcomes, ever the Hollywood hostess.

Mara hastily shut the door again and thumbed the lock. She came over and pulled you to your feet, kissing you hard upon the mouth. Your half-empty beer splashed to the floor, sending frothy green rivulets trickling through the cracks between the linoleum tiles. You put your hands on her waist and pulled her close to you as she locked her arms around your neck. A soft moan escaped your lips.

She smiled when she pulled away, brushing a lock of hair out of your eye. “Sorry there are so many people,” she said. “I know crowds aren’t your thing. I honestly hadn’t expected this many to come. I invited, like, forty people because I figured maybe half of them would show, but it looks like they all came. And brought friends.”

You put a finger to her lips and kissed the tip of her nose. It was a gesture that made you feel older than you

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