I inhale deeply, the familiar feeling running down my throat as smoke enters. After a few seconds of holding in the foul air, I exhale through my nose and the rest leaves my mouth. Ash forms at the end of the cigarette, and when I flick the butt of it, little pieces of wicked snow fall to the ground.

It's been ages since the last time I've smoke, but coming back to it now, I don't know why it was such a big deal in the first place. When the nicotine kicks in is when I finally remember. The much missed buzz makes me lean my head back as I take another drag.

The dock wobbles a little as I hear footsteps approaching. When I turn around to see who it is, Harry steps into view. A small smile crawls on my face too meet me, but he only looks at me in concern.

"What are you doing out here?" I grumble, taking another breath of my cigarette.
He takes a seat to my left. "I could ask you the same thing," he counters. "Aren't you usually in the center of all the commotion going on in there?"

"Not tonight," I say, letting out the smoke in my lungs before continuing. "I'm not really in the mood."

Harry shrugs before grabbing the cigarette from my hand. He brings it to his mouth, also indulging in the nicotine. When he passes it back to me, I'm reminded of the times Whittney, Harry, and I smoked weed together.. None of my other friends were into it, though, so I could only do it at Whittney's place.

A random drug test two years ago almost ruined everything. Knowing I'd come up positive, I brought the situation up to Andrew right away. He made sure that the test results were changed, the way he changes everything - money and power.

That wasn't the end of it, though. The school and the team may not have found out, but my father went ballistic. I had gotten off so much easier than I deserved, but his punishment still sends shivers down my spine. He only ever goes that far if I really mess up.

Luckily, I only had a concussion for two weeks, accompanied with a doctor's note excusing me from PE. It wouldn't been embarrassing if I had to wear a T-shirt in the swimming pool.

The memory makes me take a long drag before crushing the butt under my foot.

"So, you're at a party." I smirk, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I'm as surprised as you are," Harry admits. He's never been much of a partier, even in the past. Being the introvert he is, staying at home and playing video games is his ideal night.

"And you're sitting out here, all by yourself." He adds, pointing out the obvious. "Equally surprising."

He has a point. This isn't like me at all. Usually I'm drinking myself insane while goofing around with Rodney and Brett. I'm known for drawing a lot of attention to myself - some things never change.

But, tonight is apparently not my night.

"Where's Whittney?" I ask, suddenly curious.

Harry shrugs. "Ditched me for some chick."

It surprises me that he can still find people that like him at all. With the reputation he has cooked up for himself, it's surprising he has any friends at all. He's always messing with people, especially my friends.

They used to be his, too, until he started bringing all the wrong attention to himself. He is pretty much the Cromwell High poster boy for bad behavior, and it's getting to the point that I don't think he'll ever change.

"If he brings you to a party, he can't just ditch you," I say, suddenly upset.

He only shrugs again. "My sister has her car here. I guess I'll just find her and drive her home. She's probably drunk and-" He cuts himself off. The way his sister gallivants around with guys is something he tries to ignore.

No older brother wants to acknowledge the fact that they have a younger sister with as derogatory of a nickname as 'Charlette, the Harlot'.

"Don't do anything rash, Austin. Okay?" He knows me too well.

Putting his hand on my shoulder, he makes me turn to look at him. Those crystal blue eyes of his glow in the moonlight as they pierce mine.

A nod is my response.

Once Harry's gone, I'm alone again.

I look onto the calm waters of the lake, wishing it wasn't so cold so I could just strip down to my underwear and take a dip. Imagining the refreshing feeling of immersing myself under the surface calms me. When I close my eyes to visualize, I instantly think back to the heat stroking summers, made more bearable by the pool in my backyard.

The sound of bass vibrates in my eardrums and pulls me away from my daydream. I hear my favorite song come on and it draws me back to the party like a beacon.

When I finally reach the threshold, I find my bottle of JD. Not one sip is missing, and I'm thankful for that. It was the last one in my father's liquor cabinet, and since he hates Jack Daniels, he doesn't notice when it goes missing.

Bringing the bottle to my mouth, I gulp down a few sips. Finally, I'm starting to feel a little less upset. My spirits rise and I start jumping to the music like everyone else. When I find Brett, he's grinding with the waitress from the diner, Candice. I dance with them and Josh, a basketball player in my grade, until my legs get tired.

They start to hurt and I can't stop myself from whining about it. My whole body feels like it's weighing itself down.

Rodney notices me in the crowd and offers me a ride, but I only keep saying the same three words over and over again: "I want Sabrina."

Eventually, Rodney gets fed up with my complaining, so he drags me into the kitchen where it's quieter. He grabs his phone from his back pocket and starts scrolling through his contacts until he finds who he's looking for.

He holds the phone up to his ear and waits patiently for an answer. "Yeah, Sabrina? It's Rodney." He rolls his eyes. "Yes, I'm aware of the time." A smirk appears on his face when he notices my eagerness, and it feels almost as if he's laughing at me. "I have someone here who wants to talk to you."

"Hi, Rina!" I shout into the speaker after I almost tear the phone from Rodney's hand. "I miss you."

"Austin, are you drunk?" She sounds mad at me.

I hate it when she's mad at me.

"No," I lie, laughing to myself.

"You are. I'm coming to get you. Where are you?"

"But you don't have a car, silly," I remind her.

"I'll use my mom's. Now, where are you?"

The house's address escapes me. "Um, Brett Larson's lake! You know, the one by the house." I think over what I just said, trying to decipher if it made any sense. "Wait-"

Sabrina's giggle brightens the whole room, even though she's not here. "Brett's Lake, got it." She continues to snicker, but I don't get it. "I'll be right there. Do not leave. Okay?"

I nod, but remember she can't see my response over the phone. "Yeah. See you soon, Honey Buns."

When I hang up, Rodney is laughing his ass off in front of me. "Honey Buns?" His laughter continues and I almost think he's going to start rolling all over the floor.

Suddenly, I'm mad at him, and decide to wait for Sabrina to show up somewhere else.

It takes a long while for Sabrina to get here, so I try and find something to occupy myself. A table with a tray of Jello shots catches my eye and I get a couple down before a hand grabs my wrist, stopping me from downing a third.

At first, I'm mad, but when I look and notice it's my girlfriend, I throw my arms around her like I haven't seen her in ages. "Rina, you're finally here!"

"Oh," she says, patting me awkwardly. When we separate, she doesn't look happy to see me. "Come on, I'm taking you home."

I only nod when I wrap my arm around her to steady myself. Walking me to her car is probably harder than she originally thought. To be fair, I'm not exactly cooperating. At least, my feet aren't.

When she finally gets me into the passenger seat of her mom's mini cooper, she's completely out of breath. I try to buckle myself in, but I can't seem to be able to do that by myself either, so Sabrina does it for me. A heavy sigh leaves her when I'm finally situated. Her sullen expression haunts me when she leaves my side and walks around the vehicle to get behind the wheel.

It's a long ride home, and Sabrina looks over to me every chance she gets, almost as if I'm going to disappear in thin air or something.

Relief runs through me when I remember I didn't drive myself to the party. Since my car is in the shop until tomorrow to replace my rims, Rodney drove me. It was nice of him to offer me a ride home as well, but I'm happy that Sabrina came and got me. This proves the she still cares about me and won't be mad for much longer.

At long last, she pulls into my extensive driveway and turns off the engine when we're a ways past the front gates. We sit in silence when she puts the car in park and rubs her temples with the tips of her fingers.

After the longest silence, she finally speaks up. "You smell like smoke."

She can't even look at me.

"Sabrina, I-" I'm interrupted when she starts hitting me.

"You stupid, stupid asshole!" She continues to slap me and I don't know what to do, so I just let her. "You promised me! You promised. Does that mean nothing to you?"

Eventually, I snap out of it and grab her wrists in an attempt to stop her, but they keep escaping my grasp.

"Will you stop? I don't need someone else to start hitting me, too!" The words are out before I can ever comprehend what I'm saying.

This stops her right there and then. "Someone else?" Her voice is barely a whisper.

One of these days, I really have to learn how to control my drunkard mouth.