JENNIE

“Are you sure we have to do this?” I asked.

“Am I sure we have to do this?” Donghyuk asked, scratching his chin as though he was really thinking about it. “No, I don’t suppose we have to do anything.”

“Good,” I said, turning around. “Then let’s get the hell out of here and forget we were ever here. How’s that sound?”

“Like the coward’s way out,” Donghyuk said.

He sounded for all the world like the football captain giving his team a rousing speech about how they were going to win the big game. It was really annoying, but I suppose I did owe him after everything he did for me last night.

Even if owing him meant coming out to a band party of all things.

“We don’t belong here,” I said.

“And she didn’t belong at the party at my place last night,” Donghyuk said. “That didn’t stop her from coming out and trying to find you though, and you know why she did that?”

“Why?”

“Because she knew finding you was the right thing to do,” he said. “And that’s why you’re going in there and you’re going to find her. You don’t have to do this, but you’re going to do it or you’re going to regret not going in there for the rest of your life.”

“Okay captain,” I muttered.

He grinned. Something told me he liked the idea of being addressed as the captain. And why not? After all, he was used to getting his way with people and it’s not like that stopped because he came out when I was dragged out of the closet kicking and screaming.

I looked at the big house where a band party was happening even as we stood out on the street looking in.

Going to this party hadn’t been my first choice. Not by a long shot. Donghyuk convinced me to stop by Lisa’s place first.

I hadn’t even wanted to go looking for her, but he’d started texting me as soon as I got up, nursing one hell of a headache because it turns out I’d overdone it a little since I’d never been to one of those parties to know my limits.

The texts offered lunch and conversation. The conversation turned to Lisa. Then it turned to Donghyuk giving me a pep talk in the middle of a diner on the town square about how we were going to go find Lisa and get everything sorted out.

That led us to her house where we found out she’d been at her friend Jimin’s house all day long. Going over to Jimin’s house led us to this party on the edge of town because I guess band kids knew how to party too and it sounded like they were having a hell of a good time out there tonight.

“This is stupid,” I said. “I’m going to see her at school in a couple of days and we can sort everything out then.”

“Do you really want to do that?” Donghyuk asked, his tone clearly telling me that he didn’t think it was a good idea to do something like that.

“Why not?” I asked, maybe a touch more defensive than I should’ve been.

“Because if you let her go to school on Monday you’re going to have her walking right into whatever rumors Joy is spreading,” he said. “She might’ve gotten some of the business last night, but don’t think she’s not out there plotting something that’s going to make us miserable when she hatches her plan.”

I decided not to give him for actually using the phrase “gotten some of the business” in a sentence after the ‘50s. He had a point. Joy was out there, and if my time standing next to her on the squad was any indication of how she operated then she was coming up with something that was going to make us miserable.

Damn it.

“I hate it when you have a good point,” I said. “I want you to know that.”

“All my points are good points,” he said.

“Y’know life was a lot easier when I thought you were some meathead football player who didn’t think of anything beyond where the next drink or the next girl was going to come from,” I muttered.

“Yeah, well if you’re going to run with me then you’d better get used to doing what’s right,” he said. “Especially after I did what was right.”

I sighed. He had me there. He’d done what was right last night and saved my . And now we’d come full circle to the part where I owed him.

At least he thought I owed him. That meant it was time to do this.

The house couldn’t be more different from Donghyuk’s. It was an older ranch house that sprawled across a wide property rather than being a McMansion that looked out of place in the middle of a cornfield.

Of course the cornfield was still there, but only on one side of the place. There was a wooded area along the back and the twinkling lights of other houses in town on the other side. There were even streets along two sides of the property instead of just the one since this was one of the last houses before town gave way to country.

I sighed. “We’re really doing this, aren’t we?”

“You bet your we are,” Donghyuk said. “Now let’s go. She’s out there somewhere, or maybe in the house. We’re going to find her.”

I felt awkward about walking up to the front door so instead I went around the side of the house like I had the night before. Stepping around to the back I found a scene that was both very much like what I’d seen at Donghyuk’s party the night before while being completely different at the same time.

There was a pool. That was the same. There was what looked like a sauna at one end of the pool and a hot tub as well. The place looked like it was designed to host a party, is what I’m getting at.

“Damn,” Donghyuk said. “Band kids know how to get down.”

Of course the outward resemblance was where any similarities disappeared. On the flip side the people at this party were a whole lot more lad back than the people I’d seen at Donghyuk’s last night.

It was like they weren’t trying to prove anything. I didn’t even see a keg or anything. No alcohol and no one trying to prove what a badass they were by drinking too much.