Free Beautiful Lies by Sharlay Page B

we keep dancing our problems away. The more I dance, the more I let go. Every time I slow down, I feel my head spinning and so I dance faster.
     
    Two hours later and Jen has filled us up with three more shots and two more drinks that I can’t even remember the names of. In fact, I’m not even sure that I can remember my own name. I turn to scream at Jen in excitement as I hear a song that I like, when I see Nate through the crowd.
    “Nate!” I scream excitedly, pointing in his direction. Jen mouths “what?” in confusion. I point at Nate again.
    “It’s Nate,” I say excitedly.
    I see the moment that he sees me; he doesn’t look impressed at all. He stalks over to me angrily.
    “Ah, brother!” I squeal when he is standing in front of me. I hear some guys next to me, laughing, and I wave at them excitedly.
    “Put your hand down,” Nate warns as he grabs my arm and lowers it. “How much have you had to drink?” He asks angrily.
    “Two, five...ten...I lost count,” I say as I try to figure out the numbers on my fingers. I see Jen laughing at me with some guy. I look at the guy a little closer and realize that it’s Tyson.
    “Tyson!!! What are you doing here?” I say running and putting my arms around him. I hear him chuckling at me as he shakes his head.
    “Hey, Paigey,” he says winking. He still calls me Paigey...he’s so cute.
    “Cut it out, Paige,” Nate says as he peels my hands off Tyson.
    “Your sister is wasted, man,” Tyson says, much to Jen’s amusement. She is behaving slightly better than me. I put my hand over Nate’s ear and whisper. “Your best friend is hot, Nate! I forgot how hot he was.”
    I turn to see Jen and Tyson laughing loudly. I cover my mouth and widen my eyes. “Can you hear me?” I ask. Tyson nods. “Whoops. I think he heard me, Nate,” I try to whisper.
    “Just stop talking. What the hell is wrong with you?”
    “I’m just having fun! Gosh, you are not my dad, Nate! I’m allowed to have fun you know.”
    “Yeah, because not being able to walk and chatting crap is real fun isn’t it?”
    “Compared to the day I’ve had...yes it is!” I say angrily. “Come on, Jen, let’s go get a drink!”I shout.
    “Like hell you are. You’re going home,” Nate growls.
    “No, I am not!”
    “Yes, you really are,” he says, grabbing my arm. The truth is, my head is spinning, and going home to my bed does sound pretty good right now, so I don’t put up much of a fight.
    “I can’t leave Jen, Nate.”
    “It’s ok, Emma is in here with her friend somewhere,” Jen says.
    “Ok, if you’re sure.”
    “Ty, make sure she finds her sister, I’m going to take Paige home,” I hear Nate say. I don’t hear Tyson’s response.
    When we step outside the air hits me, and my head starts to clear up a little, but I can still feel the vibration of the music in my body.
    “What’s going on with you, Paige?” Nate asks as we walk somewhere.
    “Nothing.”
    “It sure as hell doesn’t look like nothing. This isn’t you, going out and drinking recklessly. You’re more responsible than that.”
    “Well maybe I don’t want to be responsible today, maybe I just don’t want to give a damn for once,” I say angrily.
    “Maybe you should pick better friends to hang around.”
    “You don’t know Jen, so just drop it. She has stuff going on that you wouldn’t understand, she’s a good person.”
    “Well maybe she should face that ‘stuff’ rather than drinking herself half to death and encouraging my sister to do the same.”
    “We could all face our problems but most of us run away, don’t we?” I say, trying to keep eye contact with him. I would be able to if my head wasn’t spinning. “And I’m not a little kid anymore; I’m twenty three years of age in case you had forgotten.” He stays silent for a moment.
    “Our taxi is here, come on,” he says, pulling me gently toward the car.
    I stumble inside; he puts my seatbelt around me and closes the door. I