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Chapter 1
Jasmine
When a guy with a mullet strolls up to the firepit with a skunk on his shoulder and a potbellied pig on a leash, leaving the party jumps its way to the top of my priority list.Why did I let my roommate talk me into coming?
I grab Ingrid’s arm.“Can we please go now?”
My roommate frequents parties.I don’t.But because she’s moving away in two weeks—meaning I’m also packing up my stuff and finding a place I can afford alone—she’s trying something new, a barn party.Somehow, she talked me into coming along as a going-away gift.I should’ve just given her a gift card.
With our differences, it’s amazing we have coexisted in the same space for almost a year.
She adjusts her shimmery blouse.“You are here tomeetpeople.Have you even spoken to anyone besides me?Have fun.Loosen up.”She points out toward the lot.“Besides, my car is blocked in.We can’t leave yet.”
We’ve been here more than an hour, and I’m not having fun.By loosen up, she means I should have something alcoholic to drink, but in a place where I know only her, I’m not about to impair my judgment.Even sober, hers is questionable.
Coming here was a bad idea.Being trapped here makes my skin itch.
The party isn’t wild in the typical sense.An eclectic blend of music is spilling out of the barn.There are people drinking, in some cases too much.But this gathering is more on the odd side, evidenced by the guy with the skunk.
With a plastic cup full of some mixed concoction in one hand, Ingrid nods toward Mullet Guy.“What about him?”
Finding a smaller place and living by myself can’t happen fast enough.If that sweet older couple I met yesterday agrees to let me rent their little house, I can move this week.Most of my stuff is already packed.And I’m liking my housemate less and less.
“I’m not really a skunk kind of girl.And mullets aren’t my thing.Pig is cute though.”I’ve been glued to Ingrid since we arrived, but I don’t follow when she insists on going to pet the cute little stripey cat.Her words, not mine.
She doesn’t listen to me, and I hope, for her sake, that the stripey cat has been deskunked.Or whatever it’s called when they make it not able to spray stinky stuff.
Ingrid whips around, her eye glazed.There is no way I’m letting her drive us home.“Mullets are coming back, you know.”
I smile and keep my opinion to myself.There’s a reason they went out of fashion, and if they never come back, the world would be a better place.My opinion.But to each their own.
Ingrid groans.“My heels keep sinking into the ground.”
“Walk on your toes.”I’m in white canvas tennies, which makes walking around easier.But I’m the only woman here in comfortable shoes.The other ladies are dressed like they are headed to a nightclub, which is odd considering where we are.
The party is at a barn.But it’s a nice one.Lights are strung up in the rafters.The stalls are clean and open, not filled with animals, at least the four-footed kind.People are dancing, and there are tables of food and drinks along one wall.
At least that’s how it was when we were in there ten minutes ago.
Outside, several of us are gathered around a large firepit.
Determined to pet the skunk, which Ingrid still seems to think is a cat, she tiptoes around the fire.When she wobbles, because I’m a nice person, I run up next to her.
As I clasp her arm to steady her, the drink in her hand launches toward me, splashing all over the front of my cotton dress.Just perfect.
Ingrid yelps, and that’s all the warning I get before we crash to the ground.
I land flat on my back with Ingrid on top of me.At least I hope it’s Ingrid.My eyes are closed, and if I had any magic powers, I’d be someplace else when I opened them.
Why did I say yes to coming?
When I open my eyes, a pig snout fills my view.After a snort, the little beast starts licking my face.Only moments ago, I thought this night couldn’t get any worse.
“He likes you,” Mullet Guy says.
I don’t like being licked.Not by dogs or by pigs.“Please make him stop.”
The guy has the courtesy to pull his pig away from me.
