One - Esme
Part of me was wishing I stayed at home, the heavy baseline music was giving me a headache and I had only just walked through the door. Darius was in front of me, it being him who forced me into this house party. While, I might add, I was tucked up in my own bed.
“Hey! The twins are here!” Malik shouted as we walked into the smoke filled living room, he was swaying, probably half pissed already. My eyes scanned the room, men fucking everywhere. It was something I was used to, Malik being my best friend since primary school, Darius my twin brother. Our older brother Kingsley, or just King as we called him, was somewhere behind me. He was the life and soul of any party, so I probably wouldn’t see him again for most of the night. The room was small, three sofas on a wall each and on them, men.
“Are you drunk?” I asked Malik as he came over to me, downing from a plastic cup.
“Ez, do I look drunk?” He squinted. I looked at him up and down, he was about the same height as me, pushing six foot. His skin was much darker than mine, his braids pulled back in an intricate pattern, thanks to me. The neighbourhood hair stylist. I looked into his dark, bloodshot eyes and laughed, one hand on my hip.
“Yes,” I said firmly, nodding.
“Then you better get on my level then,” he smiled, putting his arm around my shoulder. We swayed into the kitchen, it was tiny, the amount of people making it claustrophobic. I got excited as I saw a woman, long dark hair to her bum and I knew who it was.
“Kyanne!” I shouted and she turned around, a huge smile on her face. Her green eyes were wide and she gave me a huge cuddle, standing on her tiptoes.
“Ez, thank fuck you are here,” she laughed as she pulled back. Malik’s arm moved from my shoulders to hers, kissing her temple.
“For real, it’s dick city in here,” I laughed, looking around.
“So much dick, where are your brothers?” She asked, looking behind her.
“Darius is in the living room, fuck knows where King is,” I shrugged, turning around to the makeshift bar.
“Get on it! We’re about ten drinks deep!” She cried and I rolled my eyes, pouring myself a drink.
“Yeah, I got that. Blame Darius, he took fucking ages to leave,” I complained, putting my cup to my lips. “Where’s Toby?” I asked, watching Malik kiss Kyanne’s cheek, her hand on his chest.
“Garden,” she mumbled, moving closer to Malik. I left them to it, not needing to see them fuck in the kitchen. I walked through the house, I had been to Toby’s loads of times and took my left into the living room, walking through the double doors to the kitchen. It was late but the weather was still warm, it muggy on my skin. The garden was packed as well as the rest of the house and I laughed to myself as I walked down the steps, seeing actual women. A lot less dressed than me, but these men weren’t anything to me. My jeans and tank top would do.
“Ez!” Toby waved as he saw me. His afro was pulled back, being next on my list.
“Hey Toby,” I smiled, bumping his fist as he got closer to me. Darius caught my eye to the left of the door. He was sitting with two other guys and one blonde woman. I rolled my eyes as the blonde in question sat on his lap.
“You need to help me get this party jumping Ez,” Toby moaned before downing his drink.
“Turn this shit music off for a start and do you have to invite every one of your boys?” I scoffed, half laughing.
“Call some girls then!” He put his arm around my shoulder, practically dragging me down the garden.
“You know, that I know absolutely no women other than Kyanne, so nice try”. I pushed his shoulder with mine, rolling my eyes. We got to the end of the garden, Toby’s arm still around me. He had a small makeshift fire pit at the end of his garden and I moved back, flicking my arm off him as he tried to grab it again.
“Ez,” he growled and I came to a stop, shaking my head.
“Nope,” I said firmly.
“Stop being a dick, come on, he wants to talk to you.” Toby turned his body to me, his back to the fire pit.
“I don’t give a fuck what he wants,” I scoffed, getting more irritated with every second. I moved my head around the garden, Darius was still chatting away and I couldn’t see King anywhere. Not that I needed my brothers, because I generally didn’t but I did wish our younger brother Henley was here. He was a bit of a loose cannon, which is why he wasn’t here in the first place.
“Ez man,” Toby rolled his eyes.
“Don’t fucking Ez me,” I turned around, walking towards the living room door.
“Ez!” Toby laughed and I turned back to him, my face like thunder.
“I don’t want to talk to him, Toby. How is that difficult to understand?” My hands were flying everywhere and Toby’s stupid smirk dropped as I heard Darius.
“Who?” He boomed out. We were a tall family, I was probably the shortest at five eleven and Toby’s face fell as Darius towered over him.
“Miles,” Toby shrugged. I chuckled as Darius groaned, walking back to his group.
“Fuck Miles. She doesn’t want to talk to him, she doesn’t.” Darius sat back down, the blonde returning to his lap. I gave Toby a smirk, walking back into the living room. The music had died down slightly, still loud but less of a heavy bass. One of the sofa’s was empty and I collapsed on it, my head going back, my eyes at the ceiling. The worst thing was I was fucking stuck at this bullshit house party now, until King wanted to leave and that wasn’t going to happen until the early hours of the morning. Granted I could make my own way home, on public transport but my brother’s weren’t going to have that, neither was Malik. Usually, I spent these social interactions with Malik but now he and Kyanne were together, I saw less and less of him. It upset me, we were the best of friends and always had been. In primary school, most people assumed that Malik would be best friends with Darius but he had a tendency to chase girls, leaving me and Malik to it. Nothing had ever happened romantically between us and nothing ever would. We were strictly platonic.
“What’s up?” I moved my head down to King, a concerned look on his face. Me and Darius were twins but bizzarily I looked way more like King than anyone else in my family. Our skin was the same light brown, deep dark eyes which were the biggest feature of our faces. We had the exact same lips too, the bottom slightly bigger than the top. Both of our brother’s had the same eyes too, but their noses were much wider than me and King’s.
“Miles is outside and Toby tried to get me to talk to him,” I said.
“Fuck Miles,” he sat down next to me as he spoke. “Also fuck Toby,” he chuckled to himself. “Where’s Malik?” He asked me and I tucked my feet up underneath me.
“Fucking Kyanne,” I shrugged.
“Boy, this is not a good social gathering for you,” King teased, his head going back.
“It is not. Can I go home?” I asked, knowing the answer.
“No, not without us, why don’t you get more drink and sit outside with me and Darius, I’ve got a girls house to go to afterwards but he will take you home.” King stood, putting his hand out for me. I grabbed it, being dragged up from the sofa.
“But I don’t want to,” I stamped my foot, full on tantrum. Being the only girl usually meant I got my way but as I looked at King’s face, I knew this time wasn’t one of those times.
“Move before I throw you to Miles.” he cracked up at himself, walking into the garden.
