“He drank the whole way here, and you know he’s a lightweight,” Angel said.

They’d all only started drinking about a year ago. Then when a senior last year had almost killed himself driving drunk, it scared them so much, they’d all cut back. Even when they did drink, like tonight, it was just a few beers, and they designated a driver. Tonight it was Eric.

Angel took his attention away from Romero for a second to look in Sarah’s direction. She had a cup in her hand. He wondered what she was drinking. He could hear Romero calling for Eric.

“Aw-shit, dude, he’s calling me,” Eric looked in the other direction, pretending not to hear.

“You might as well go,” Angel said, “before his drunk-ass comes over here and drags you over.”

“Me? What about you?”

“He ain’t calling me,” Angel laughed.

“You’re gonna stay here by yourself?” Eric raised his eyebrows.

“No, there’s someone I wanna go say hi to.”

Romero was getting louder. Eric finally acknowledged him. He checked the box with the beer. “There’s four more in here. You want one?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Angel held up his bottle to show he still had plenty. Eric picked up the box and walked away toward Romero, muttering under his breath.

Strolling in Sarah’s direction, Angel recognized the short blonde girl holding a beer bottle with her as his teammate Reggie Luna’s ex-girlfriend.

As he approached Sarah, he could feel his heart pick up speed and his stomach clench up. Despite his attempts to calm down, he felt completely unnerved. It annoyed the hell out of him.

He walked around behind her, and moved in closer. She smelled heavenly, a soft delicate fragrance. Not overpowering, like some of the girls he'd hugged earlier.

He wanted to put his arm around her waist, and pull her up against him. Instead, he leaned over and talked in her ear. “Hey, you made it.”

She spun around, nearly losing her drink. Her expression went immediately from startled to pleased. “Yeah, they cancelled.”

Angel couldn’t get over how amazing she looked. If he gazed at her all night, it wouldn’t be long enough. “I almost didn’t recognize you with your hair down,” His eyes took it all in.

She nodded. “Yeah, it’s too long, especially when I’m running. It gets all over my face.”

Angel wanted it all over his face. “It’s beautiful though, you should wear it like that at school.”

She hesitated for a second. “Thank you.” He noticed she avoided his eyes again.

He didn’t want to, but he decided it would be better to change the subject before she got uncomfortable and made an exit. He had no intentions of letting her run away again. Not this time. He glanced at her cup. “What are you drinking?"

She smiled timidly. “Wine.”

“Wine?”

She laughed. “Why does everybody say it like that?”

Her smile somehow had a calming effect on him. “Out of a cup though? You can’t drink it straight out of the bottle?”

“It’s not a cooler.” Her expression challenged him. “It’s the good stuff.”

She turned to her friend, and then glanced into her cup. It was almost empty. “As a matter of fact,” she said, “I need more.”

She bent over to a medium sized ice chest and pulled out a small jug of wine.

“Nooo,” Angel put his hand over his mouth in disbelief. “Oh, you’re sick. You come to a party with a jug of wine in an ice chest?”

She laughed even more now. Her friend laughed with her. Sarah caressed the jug lovingly. “How else am I supposed to keep my little Precious cold?”

Her demeanor was refreshing, especially since she had seemed so apprehensive at school. Maybe it was the wine. Whatever it was, he loved it. He watched as she poured the wine in her cup, noticing how little she poured in before stopping. She put the jug back in the ice chest and pointed at her friend. “She brings one too.”

Her friend opened her mouth wide, as if Sarah had just snitched on her. Angel raised his eyebrows in exaggerated disbelief. “You too? But you’re drinking beer, you don‘t need an ice chest.”

Her friend smiled and tapped her bottle. “I can’t drink beer unless it’s ice cold.”

“By the way, Angel, this is my cousin, Valerie,” Sarah said.

Angel nodded. “Yeah, I know Valerie.”

He saw Valerie’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“Sure,” he acknowledged her surprise. Glad that Sarah had said her name. That, he would’ve never remembered.

“So, why don’t you just put your drinks in the same ice chest?”

Valerie rolled her eyes at Sarah. “Sarah doesn’t like her Precious to be disturbed.”

“She’s very fragile,” Sarah held her cup close to her.

Angel nodded, and then put his hand up. “It’s a she? Okay, well, now that makes sense.”

Sarah smiled, as she took another quick sip of her wine. Valerie got pulled away by another girl.

Angel took his last swig of beer and threw the empty bottle in a trash can near by.

“Are you out?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah, that was my last one.”

“Well, here,” Sarah bent over to Valerie’s ice chest. She giggled pretending to be sneaky, “let’s steal one of Valerie’s.”