Free Burdened (A Burdened Novel) by Peiri Ann

and starts dancing with me. I’m okay with that—Sam is cool. Glen dances with Toney, and she’s enjoying herself too. We’ve been here for a while already, but it’s unnoticed. I’m free, no worries. It’s just what I needed, to let loose and clear my head, until I shiver and my skin covers in goose-bumps. That demanding presence fills the room.
    I look around me as I slowly get back to dancing. No one else seems to be faltered.
    Glen grabs my arm and turns me so that I’m dancing with her. She’s all into it, rolling her body to the music. I match her, trying to dance off my feeling of discomfort. The girls and a few others join us. Someone puts a water bottle half-full of clear liquid in my hand. I assume it’s not water by the way it sloshes around in the bottle as I move.
    Glen grabs it, taking no time throwing it back down her throat. She makes a strong face towards the taste. “Needs some juice,” she says, with a twinge to her words as she coughs.
    I laugh, taking the bottle back. “I’ll go get some.” She nods, turning around to dance with a drunken Rachel.
    I go to the kitchen where the food and drinks are supposed to be. Sam walks with me. He’s cute, just too skinny and tall. He’s a nice guy most of the time, but he has an anger problem. Not my type, although he is an okay friend.
    “Where are you going, Tracey?”
    “Trying to find some juice to go with this moonshine,” I joke.
    We laugh. “Yeah, that is what it tastes like, huh?”
    “No, it probably tastes like rubbing alcohol.”
    He pulls out his bottle. “I found some strawberry pop in the fridge and put it in mine.” He takes a gulp. “It doesn’t taste too bad.”
    “Good idea.” He throws his arm around me, and we laugh and talk about how the drunken girls are dancing. In the kitchen, he opens the fridge, his arm remaining around my shoulder. He grabs the pop and I open the top of my bottle. With great talent, he pours the strawberry pop in the bottle without spilling a drop, filling the other half of the bottle.
    “Shake it up.” He puts the top back on the pop, putting it back in the fridge. “See if that’s better.”
    I shake it and taste it. “Tastes fine to me.” I smile at him. “Thanks!”
    “Good! Now…let’s get back to the party.” He closes the fridge and we turn to walk back, seeing Scott standing two feet from us.
    Accompanying him is his cousin and two other guys I’ve never seen before. They all slightly favor in build and height. He —standing near Scott—stares at me with Sam’s arm wrapped around my shoulder. He looks a little…thrown. I don’t know if I feel bad or just confused. I’m not supposed to get involved, right? Let it go, right?
    Nothing is going on between Sam and me anyway. We are just having a good time. “That’s not what I meant, Tracey.” Scott glares at me, looking at me as if I am doing something wrong.
    “Don’t, Scott,” I say snobby, echoing him the best I can as I roll my eyes. Grabbing Sam’s sleeved arm from my shoulder, I drag him through the group of guys without looking at him .
    “Wow, what was that about?” Sam asks, after we’ve left the kitchen.
    “Nothing,” I answer, taking a small drink from the bottle as we approach the crowd.
    He walks away as Glen comes over—the moment she spots me. “I think I just saw Scott here.”
    “Don’t worry about it.” I shrug, handing her the bottle. “Here, it tastes better now.”
    She grabs it, taking a full gulp. “I’m going to need this whole bottle if you’re telling me I need to ignore the fact that he is here.”
    “Okay, because that’s what I’m saying.” She gives me a sad look and hands me the bottle. I wave it off—I’m not that big of a drinker. The two sips I had were enough for me. She shrugs and downs the entire bottle. “Umm, Glen, I don’t think that was good idea.”
    “I don’t care!” she half-shouts, then looks over my shoulder. Her expression turns distressed.
    I turn