Free A World Away (A New Adult Romance Novel) by Lila Lacroix

inside. I looked up and down the street nervously, wondering if we were going to get a visit from the cops soon, but we were far enough outside of Paris that the other houses were far enough away that I hoped they wouldn’t be bothered by the noise. It was loud, but it wasn’t that loud, I was just used to our crowded inner city apartment buildings.
    Claire and Noelle led me inside. The house was small and cramped, much like everywhere else I’d been in Europe. The music blared from the backyard, where it seemed everyone had decided was the better place to hang out. We pushed our way through people towards the kitchen before heading out back with everyone else. It was so crowded, it felt like everyone in our year at the University had shown up. I’m pretty sure I brushed up against at least a half dozen people during the short walk to the kitchen. Noelle poured drinks for herself and Claire, then handed me a cup.
    “I can’t, remember? I’m allergic ,” I reminded her, almost having to shout to be heard over everyone.
    “Oh, it’s just water Sophie. This way you will not be bothered by men who try to give you drinks ,” she replied. Sure enough, when I looked down, all I saw was clear fluid.
    “Thank you, Noelle ,” I replied, smiling at my friend. I hadn’t thought of that at all, I was glad she had.
    Eventually the three of us wandered into the backyard, and for the most part we went our own separate ways for a while. I saw Claire chatting up Lucas, a guy in one of our classes that I knew she had the hots for. I smiled to myself as I saw her with him. He was obviously very into her, and I wondered how long it was going to take for the two of them to sneak upstairs.
    The backyard of this place was huge. I could totally understand why they decided to have a party here, and I thought to myself that Alexandre Robitaille’s parents must be incredibly rich to afford this place.
    Still, going by the number of empty plastic cups and general garbage around (I’m pretty sure I saw what was vomit in the bushes, but looked away before I could be sure) Alex was definitely going to have to pay a fortune to have someone come in and clean it all before his parents came home. I didn’t really know him. I’d met him a few times and he seemed nice, he was in one of my accounting classes. Right now he was on a plastic table, singing along incredibly badly to the rap song blaring from the stereo system which had been dragged outside, being egged on by all his friends.
    I chatted with a few people, avoided the drunkest of the drunk, and quickly realized that if this was going to be my youth, spent at parties where I was the only sober person, this was going to get old pretty quickly. I looked up and saw there was a balcony on the second floor overlooking the backyard, which was completely empty. How no one had figured out they could jump off of it and be heroes to their friends as they were dragged to the hospital I had no idea, but I decided I was going to take advantage of the privacy.
    I made my way back into the house, eventually clawing my way through the hordes of people still pressed togeth er inside and found the stairs. I made my way up and through a hallway, passing Claire and Lucas making their way downstairs. Claire had a sheepish look on her face, and I grinned at her. It looked like she and Lucas had finally hooked up, and I couldn’t wait to tell Noelle all about their sneaking back downstairs in the morning. A good friend totally spills on her other friends’ hookups.
    Finally, I found the entrance to the balcony and I stepped outside. It’s funny how some things are. You can be so close to something, and yet feel so far away. As I looked down at the multitude of people below, there had to be nearly a hundred of them, all drinking away happily despite the chill in the air (it had been unusually warm for February this past week, apparently, but it was still definitely winter) I felt completely separate to them.