The Secret of Ella and Micha(9)

Lila bites her thumbnail. "We're sorry. She didn't mean to."

Chants fill the living room and the chaos is giving me a headache. "Sorry," I strain an apology and squeeze between her and the wall.

She snickers at me and her friends join in with her laughter as they sashay to the back door. It takes everything I have not to turn around and tackle her to the floor.

Lila makes a beeline for the bar set up on the counter, dumps a drop of vodka into a cup, and mixes it with a splash of orange juice. "Okay, that was intense. I thought she was going to kick your ass."

"Welcome to Star Grove." I shout over the music. "The Land of the Intense and Poverty-stricken, where the adolescents roam free without sober parental supervision and try to start fights wherever they can."

She laughs, takes a gulp of her drink, and her face pinches at the bitterness. "Try - " She starts, then coughs. She pounds her hand against her chest.

"Are you going to make it?" I ask. Lila has never been a big drinker.

She nods and clears her throat. "I was going to say try growing up where you have to get permission to wear a certain style of shoes." I give her a mystified look and she adds, "If it wasn't up to my mother's stylish fashion standards I wasn't allowed to wear it."

I edge out of the way of a guy with blotchy skin and a beanie covering his head, who doesn't seem to mind that he knocks his shoulder into mine. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad growing up where you did. I mean, at least there was some control."

"Yeah, there was," she says uneasily and her eyes quickly scan the room. "I can't believe there's a live band. It's like being at an outside concert."

"What? They don't have live bands in California?" I joke with a small smile as I pour myself a cup of water. "One's that take place outside?"

She stirs her drink with a straw. "Not these kinds of bands. Think much more mellow, with a stage and seats to watch."

"Sounds like fun to me." I oblige a smile and glance at my watch. "Are you about ready to go?"

"Are you joking?" Sucking the drink out of the straw, she hops on the counter and crosses her legs. "We just got here. Why would we want to go? In fact, we should go dance."

My eyes find the living room, where a guy with dreads smashes his head against the glass plate of a cabinet in the corner and everyone cheers.

"You can if you want, but I'm good." I gulp my water. "I like all my bones intact."

Leaning against the counter, I scan through the crowd, curious to see where Micha is. I don't know why I'm so curious, but I am. Occasionally he would bail on his own parties, either to hook up or just get some quiet. I found him a couple of times hiding out on a lawn chair. Each time, he would pull me onto his lap and we would stare up at the night sky, talking about an unreachable future.

I spot him in the corner, sitting on the couch with his arm draped around some blonde girl with boobs popping out of her dress. His hair hangs in his eyes and he's nibbling at his lip ring, driving the girl crazy I'm sure. They're just talking, but the girl keeps flipping her hair off her shoulder and her hand is on his chest. It's hard to tell if Micha's enjoying her company or not. He was always difficult to read when it came to girls because he never really looked interested in any of them, but sometimes he would end up with them for the night.

I asked him about it once and he said it was all fun, but that he was just killing time until I gave into my inner desire to be with him. I tackled him to the ground for it and it made him laugh.

"Why do you have that look on your face? Like you're undressing someone with your eyes?" Lila asks, following my gaze. "Oh, is that - "

My eyes dart from Micha. "I wasn't looking at anyone, just the madness in the living room."

"Yeah, right," she says, elevating her eyebrows. "You totally want him. I can see it on your face."

"Well, I'll be damned if it isn't the infamous Ella May!" Ethan Gregory grins from the other side of the counter, just behind Lila. He stumbles around the corner, nearly clipping his head on the low ceiling. Before I can respond, he has me trapped in an awkward hug with his long arms that are tracked with tattoos. His grey shirt smells like an ash tray and his breath like beer. He pulls back, ruffling his black hair with his fingers. "Does Micha know you're here in his house?"

I lie breezily, very aware of where Micha is and what he's doing. "I'm pretty sure he saw me walk in."

"I doubt that. He's been looking for you for the past eight months." He glances over his shoulder and nods at Lila, then tips in toward me. "You know he's been a wreck ever since you took off. You really f*cked up his head, Ella."

"That's such a lie," I tell him. Ethan and I have never really gotten along very well, which is why the hug confused me so much. We both had the same blunt attitude and butted heads a lot. The only reason we were friends at all was because of Micha. Although, there was one time we did bond for a split second, but we never talk about it. "Micha doesn't fall apart over anyone. I know him better than that."

His face is flushed and his brown eyes are bloodshot. "I guess you don't know him as well as you think then, because he's been a wreck. In fact, all he's done for the last few months is search for you."