Rosie

I watched as she danced the night away with a bottle of vodka in her hand and a permanent grin on her perfectly sculpted lips; she looked so unburdened and carefree, like she didn't have any care in the world --a total opposite of what I've seen when she came knocking on my door last Sunday evening. 

"Hey." She had greeted me with the saddest smile that I've ever seen; her eyes looked so dead and empty that I felt my heart instantly drop at the sight of her desolate state. I immediately pulled her into a hug, not caring where we were just as long as I could comfort my grief-stricken friend. I felt her whole body quiver and tremble as she finally broke down in tears. I didn't know how long I had held her in our doorway as she cried her eyes out. 

I didn't ask any questions or say anything to comfort her: How could I when I don't even know why she's crying? All did was to hug her tighter, hoping that my warmth is enough to give her even just a little bit of comfort to get her through. In the end, we weren't able to hang out properly because she made an excuse to go home as soon as she had calmed down. 

After that afternoon, she acted as if nothing happened and I haven't seen that vulnerable side of her ever since; she is very good at hiding and closing off her emotions to other people, and I find it really sad that she keeps her problems locked away where no one else could see. The only other times I've seen any hint of vulnerability was whenever someone would talk about her mysterious best friend, Jennie. I've never seen her before but I seldom hear Mike pester Lisa about her; he obviously have a crush on Jennie but Lisa just shrugs him off and redirects the topic somewhere else. Steve and the other guys eventually got the hint that she doesn't want to talk about her so they avoided any Jennie-related topic altogether whenever Lisa is around.

"Earth to Rosie!" Steve snapped me out of my thoughts. "We came here to party but all you did in the past hour is to stand there in the corner! Come on!" He yelled over the loud music as he pulled me towards the center of the room where everyone else is dancing and grinding into each other like there is no tomorrow; I was still not used to having parties like these so I was kind of embarrassed to participate in something that involves moving my body around.

As we neared the makeshift dancefloor, I heard Lisa call on to us and motioned for us to join her. I hesitated because I am kind of jealous of the guy she is dancing with but, apparently, I don't have any choice in the matter because Steve led me towards her anyway. 

"Glad you two could finally join in!" She greeted as she continued to sway with the music.

"You should thank Steve for that, he's the one who dragged me here!" I protested with a small pout.

"Trust me, you'll also be thanking me later for dragging you in here! Loosen up you Catholic school kid!" He teased as he started jumping around me; he was so cute and energetic that I finally felt myself loosen up and enjoy the groove. Me and Lisa joined him and the three of us started jumping around the dancefloor with no care in the world. I had to admit, this may not be so bad after all.

In the middle our our rowdy dance, Lisa gave me a few swipes of the vodka that she was holding and the part of me that wanted to impress her rode along and drank straight from the bottle even when my throat was protesting from the unpleasant trail that the alcohol had left behind. 

"Atta girl!" She cheered and pat my back. 

Eventually, I started getting dizzy from both jumping around and consuming alcohol too fast: I may not have drunk that much but I have a very low alcohol tolerance. When I couldn't take the buzz anymore, I finally excused myself from my friends and went to the bathroom. Thankfully, it was unoccupied when I got there and I was able to relieve myself without any hitch. After doing my business, I got in front of the mirror then pinched and patted my cheeks to rid myself of the dizzyness that I was feeling but to no avail.

"Are you okay in there?" Someone knocked on the bathroom door.

"In a sec!" I answered before hurriedly fixing up my hair so that I wouldn't look so much like a drunk Asian kid; after I deemed myself presentable enough, I finally opened the bathroom door and got out.

"I thought you'd take all night in there." Someone said out of nowhere, making me slightly jump in fright.