Accepted by Coleen Lahr Read Free Book Online Page A

closed the door. Our last conversation had been a little too serious to continue while he was only half-dressed.
    I doubt I would’ve been able to string together a coherent sentence anyway.
    I was truly looking forward to seeing Colin tonight. I knew we were destined to only be friends, but I wanted to ensure I kept him — at the very least — as that.
    I was feeling good. Amber had blown out my hair so it framed my face. My new long, swooping bangs, along with my gold tank top, made my green eyes pop, and my excitement added a pink blush to my cheeks.
    I just knew it was going to be a good night.
    ****
    And it was turning out to be a good night — just not for me.
    When I’d imagined my first college party, I did not imagine the throngs of uncontrollably drunk college students yelling at each other over the ridiculously loud radio blaring unintelligible, bad indie rock.
    Naïve…I know.
    I’m sure if I was one of the uncontrollable drunk kids, like my friends, I would have had more fun, but I’d never drank before, and I figured that this dark, dirty basement was not the place for me to start experimenting with new things.
    Instead, I perched myself on a ledge, against a wall, near my friends, and tried to look like I was either having fun or belonged there — or both.
    In truth, I felt miserable and out of place.
    I watched my friends drinking and laughing and, for a moment, I seriously thought about just saying "screw it" and asking the strange little man who had appointed himself the "keg master" for a beer when, out of nowhere, Colin appeared next to me.
    "Having fun?" He asked, and a knowing smile ran across his face.
    I studied him for a minute, trying to figure out how drunk he was. He sat down — quite adeptly, I might add — showing no signs of the alcohol-induced clumsiness I had watched befall Becca just minutes before. It seemed to me that none of my friends were graceful drunks.
    "Um," I began, oh so elegantly, "fun isn’t the exact word I’d use."
    I figured honesty was the best policy. Besides, he’d probably get so drunk that he’d forget we had this conversation.
    I was shocked when he nodded at me before replying, "Yeah, these kinds of parties aren’t really my scene either, but…" He shrugged. "I figured I’d check it out ‘cause it’s the first one of the year."
    Then, looking across the room, he began laughing and said, "Plus, they can be pretty entertaining"."
    I followed his eyes to the door and watched as a pretty blonde girl walked over to a couple who had just entered the basement a minute before. The blonde calmly turned to the guy in the couple and proceeded to dump her beer over his head. Then, just as calmly, she walked over to the keg and got a fresh beer.
    I felt Colin laughing next to me. "See? That’s some entertaining stuff."
    I laughed with him.
    "So…you don’t drink." He said it like a statement, but still I answered him.
    "Nope," I shrugged. "I’ve never tried it."
    "Me neither."
    "Really?" I’m not sure why I found that so surprising, but I really did. "You’ve never had a drink?" I could hear how incredulous my voice sounded.
    He laughed loudly at my obvious shock.
    "What?" he asked, still laughing. "Do I look like a total lush?"
    I blushed, embarrassed. Why did I make such a big deal? He didn’t even wince when I told him I’d never drank, and then I all but freaked out when he admitted the same.
    I put my head down. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that." I apologized, staring at the floor.
    He put his finger under my chin and lifted my gaze to his. "Hey," he smiled, "I’m just kidding. It’s not a big deal." He sat down on the little concrete ledge next to me and leaned over, pushing his shoulder into mine. "Anyway, it looks like you and I needed to stick together. I think we’re the only two sober people in here." He laughed.
    I laughed with him.
    "So," he began, changing the subject, "How was your second day of classes? I meant to ask you in