Dashia finally decided to join the rest of the group in the living room.

She sat on the couch and watched everyone. The game seemed to never end. There was kiss after kiss, and quite frankly, Dashia was bored.She thought it would be interesting if the police suddenly burst into the house and took them to jail. Steve's parents sure would get in trouble. So would the 22 year old that was all over Steve's sister. She wondered if everyone else thought of these dangers. Then again, she thought, they probably didn't care.

"Hey, don't believe I've seen you here before." said a voice. Dashia turned her head. It was Steve's father. She instantly freaked out. Even though it wasn't suspicious that she was dating Steve, her blood still ran cold. Why did he start talking to her? Was he going to make a big scene about her being black? Or was he just being a fake kind of friendly? Dashia couldn't tell.

"So what's your name?" asked Steve's father, "And why don't you have a beer and join the other kids?"

"My name is Dashia," she said, "And I'm not drinking because... I have to drive home, because I don't plan on sleeping over."

He nodded his head in understanding. This significantly calmed Dashia. She felt a large weight lifted from her shoulders. Then, suddenly, quicker than lightening, one of Steve's friends turned around and exclaimed, "Dashia? Haha! I've always wondered why black people gave their kids such weird, stupid names."

Everyone laughed.

Everyone. Laughed.

Dashia looked at Steve. He was laughing. He was laughing as if nothing wrong was said. To Dashia, he was laughing harder than anyone else. She felt her face turn hot and tearsbuild up in her eyes. She tried to push back the tears, but they were too strong. Her built-up emotions were about to explode all at once. Everything pushed back... was about to come forth. Her eyes wouldn't move off Steve.

She had to get out.

Dashia bolted from the couch. Sheranpast everyone and thebottle flew to the other side of the room. Some of themlooked up, confused. Some of them were too drunk to even notice. She didn't care about what they thought. Keeping the relationship a secret from everyone was too hard, after all.

Shestormed outside, halfway expecting Steve to follow her and apologize. He didn't. The further she walked away from the house the more she realized that Steve wasn't coming. All at once, reality that he is a asshole sank in. The reality that nothing would get better sank in. She realized she had to end it. With a huge breath, Dashia started to wail like a newborn baby. Hercry echoed down the long driveway and several dogs began barking in the darkness.

She quickly whipped out her cell phone and called her best friend-- Alice. Her speed dial was numberone for a reason.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Alice asked.Dashia couldn't speak at first. All she could do was cry, cry, cry. Once inside her 1995 Cadillac, she rested her head on the steering wheel and bawled to Alice on the other end of the line.

--------

"What an ASSHOLE!" Alice cried. It took a few minutes for her to understand the story though Dashia's wails and sobs. She had never heard her best friend so upset before, and it pissed Alice off. If she were there, she'd march inside and give Steve a piece of her mind. And even though Alice was small and looked harmless with her freckles and hazel eyes, she could really tear up someone with her mouth.

Dashia felt a little better after telling her best friend what happened. She went on,"The whole night has been horrible. I still smell like puke! Oh, I can't wait to get home and take a fucking shower-- and I'm through with Steve, I tell you! As soon as I clean myself up, I'm calling him and ending it off. He's a fucktard."

"I'm sorry I didn't force you to end it earlier! I should have!" Alice exclaimed, "I knew that keeping you a secret was a bad idea... and I never really liked him anyway... but, Dashia, it's okay. We'll get through this! Now you can put this shit behind you and we can have a great summer!"

"My summer is screwed over." Dashia stated, "First fucking night of summer and it's already screwed over."

"Oh, no it's not," Alice said, "We have the annual carnival soon-- you love that carnival!"

Dashia sighed when she thought about the carnival. Alice had a boyfriend and so did everyone else. Everyone else that mattered, anyway. She could see it-- everyone having a partner on the rides except her, making her stuck with a random person. Having no one to hold onto when she felt like she was about to puke out of dizziness. No one to buy her a funnel cake.

Back to the single life.