The Beautiful Monster

Alyssa had an odd feeling about all of this. Maybe she was just being too uptight, though. She wasn't used to this, so a lot of this felt weird. It was probably the norm, and she was the weird one.

"Have you had this stuff before?" she asked Zoe. She figured Zoe knew her way around the party circuit more than she did.

"Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's not," Zoe replied with a shrug. "It looks like a pretty good batch, though."

Alyssa wasn't sure how she felt about it being referred to as a "batch," but she also wasn't sure how she felt about it coming out of a plastic tub.

She hoped that they had washed it at least. Then again, she saw the state of the kitchen. She wasn't even sure if she could expect that level of cleanliness from these boys.

"Want a drink?" A guy's voice sounded next to them.

Zoe and Alyssa turned to face a guy wearing a loose tank top and cargo shorts. He held two cups full of jungle juice in his hands as he grinned at them.

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"Sure!" Zoe replied as she reached out to take one of the drinks.

Alyssa followed her lead and took the other drink. She looked down at the glistening red drink with a wary look. There was no telling how much alcohol was in it. She wasn't exactly an experienced drinker.

"Oh! I love this song! Wanna dance?" Zoe asked as an early 2000s pop beat sounded through the frat house. She abandoned her drink on a nearby counter before motioning for Alyssa to follow her through a nearby door.

Alyssa felt a wave of nervousness crash over her. She knew that she would look awkward dancing, but there were so many people here that maybe no one would notice her.

She decided to whip up some liquid courage and downed half of her drink in a few heavy sips. With a grimace at the strong taste, she set her drink down before rushing after Zoe.

The lounge area of the frat house was now a dance floor. A small light machine made swirls of colorful lights dance around the walls and ceilings.

A swarm of people bumped and grinded against each other as the music played on.

Zoe dragged her into the thick of it all and draped her arms around Alyssa's neck. She swayed her hips and closed her eyes as she moved to the music.

Alyssa coaxed herself to relax and follow Zoe's lead. She was supposed to be having fun, which meant she needed to loosen up a little.

She closed her eyes, shutting out the people around her. She moved to the beat, letting her hips do most of the movement and subtly moving her feet.

"There you go!" Zoe cheered her on.

Alyssa smiled and dragged one of her hands through her hair, feeling the bass rumble in her chest. It actually felt pretty good.

She swayed along with Zoe, their hips brushing as they moved close together. It was like no one else was around.

"I really like this song!" Alyssa said, recognizing the song from her childhood. She listened to more modern artists now, but she could appreciate some of the things from her past. Only certain things, though.

"I love it!" Zoe cheered as she reached her hands up toward the ceiling and added a little hop to her movements. Even when she was just playing around, she moved with experience and finesse.

When the song faded into a new hip hop tune, she opened her eyes and stopped moving. Well, she thought that she had stopped moving.

For some reason, it still felt like the floor was moving under her. She turned her head to glance around, but her head felt like it was full of lead. The move nearly made her stumble.

"I… I'm going to the bathroom," she said to Zoe. It felt like her words were slurred. She wasn't even sure if they came out correctly. She stumbled through the crowd as the ground beneath her started to tilt.

She didn't know what was happening. She only drank half a cup of the alcohol, and she knew that she couldn't be that much of a lightweight.

It had to be something else making her feel so off. She made it to the edge of the crowd, but she didn't even know where the bathroom was.

Alyssa found the nearest wall and leaned against it. Her vision was doubling up at that point, and the rest of her senses felt so distant.

She blinked her eyes, trying to clear up whatever haze was coming over her. It didn't take long to feel like the floor was sliding out from under her.

The last thing that she caught a glimpse of before her sight went dark was Elias rushing toward her. Maybe this was all a dream. Or a nightmare.