It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes since he saw them talking at the balcony. He watched the other guys doing the funnel and when he looked up again, they were gone.
There was a sharp prick in his chest that sets an alarm off in his head. His eyes widened and scanned the balconies, he was sure he saw them at the balcony right above the pool area. Where did they go?
Mandy sensed his restlessness and landed a kiss on his lips, “What’s the matter?” she asked when he turned away from her kiss.
“Did you see where Dennis went?” his eyes were wild and anxious.
“No … who cares?”
Marlon ran inside the house and hurried upstairs.
“Hey … where are you going?” Mandy shouted.
He was on alert, he looked around to see if he could spot them somewhere at the dance floor. His vision was too blurry to see in details. His gut told him to ran up the stairs as quickly as his drunken legs can take him. He wobbled on the stairs and pushed through the couples who were making out along the way.
“Hazel?!” he called out, but his voice was swallowed by the music and people were too drunk to notice what the other person was doing or saying.
“Hazel?! Dennis?!” he kept shouting. They can hear him better on the second floor, but still, nobody really cares what’s happening further than two persons away from them.
He started to grab people and asked them to their faces, “Have you seen Hazel? Long brown hair, short floral dress, strapped shoes,” he tried to remember the details of what she was wearing. It wasn’t that hard because she looked stunning that night and he captured her like a photograph in his mind.
“Dennis … white shirt, long sleeves, button down … messy hair, strawberry blonde … he was at the balcony with a girl … did you see him?”
Most of them shook their heads, he was losing his patience when he arrived at the balcony area and started grabbing the couples who were making out in the dark corners by the hallway.
“Hazel Williams … from school … surely you know her … have you seen her? She was in this balcony with a guy,” Marlon’s glassy eyes demanded an answer because this kid was from school.
“Oh yeah … she was out of it …” he laughed, “They went that way,” he pointed to the bedrooms.
“Fuck! Dennis!!! Where are you??!”
His scream caught a lot of attention now, people started to look to where the shouting came from.
“Marlon! Marlon! What are you doing?” Mandy finally came after him, she was pushing through the people in her way.
Marlon was halfway down the hall opening every door and yelling for Dennis and Hazel. Some kids scurried out of the rooms, some were half naked, others were high and stumbling on their feet.
There were six rooms in total, none of them were locked except for one, his own room.
“Dennis!!!” Marlon banged on the door, his face was flushed with shades of red. His glassy eyes turned mad. “Dennis!!! I know you’re in there motherfucker! Open the door!! Don’t you fucking touch her!” he banged the door harder, “Open this fucking door!!!” he screamed so loud that everyone on that floor was dead quiet.
There was a faint thud, a rustling sound came from inside the room. Whatever is going on inside was nothing compared to what’s going on in Marlon’s head. He kicked the door hard, “Dennis!! I’m gonna fucking kill you man! Open the goddamn door!”
Everyone was looking at Marlon in horror, even Mandy was taking her steps carefully toward him. “Marlon … baby … calm down … he’s probably in the toilet or something, he’ll open the door soon,” she tried to calm him down. “Dennis, are you in there? What’s taking you so long? Open the door,” Mandy said near the door.
“I’m coming … what’s all the screaming?” Dennis’s voice answered from inside. They can hear his footsteps and then the lock was being opened.
Before the door was even half opened, Marlon barged in with all his strength and grabbed Dennis by his collar. “Where is she?!” he scanned the room and immediately find Hazel lying motionless on the bed.
His eyes were crazy and turned to Dennis in a rage. He punched his face and Dennis fell to the ground. People were crowding outside the bedroom and gasped. Mandy screamed out Marlon’s name.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Dennis fell on his back. His face was hot from the blow. Before he could figure out what was happening, Marlon was on top of him and swung his fist on his face again.
“What did you do to her?! You fucker!!”
Mandy ran over to Marlon and pulled him away from Dennis whose nose was now bleeding. “Stop it! Marlon!”
“I didn’t do anything man … what the hell? You broke my nose!” Dennis complained.
“I’ll break more than just your nose asshole!” Marlon shrugged to get away from Mandy’s grip and came at Dennis again.
Dennis quickly got onto his feet and prevented another hit from Marlon. They struggled. “Marlon! What are you doing? Stop it!” Mandy shouted and pulling him back.
“Did you touch her? Don’t lie to me! Did you fucking touch her?” Marlon still gripping Dennis’s collar and shook him.
“No … I swear man … she fell asleep and I took her here.”
“What did you give her?”
Dennis fell silent as he wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand.
“Tell me!!” Marlon shook him hard.
“Gummies … jeez … it was just gummies … I didn’t think she would fall asleep … I thought she would be having a good time, I wanted to get her to loosen up a little and go dancing, but she fell asleep.”
“Liar!! You were trying to get her to bed! Why did you lock the door? How long have you been in here?” Marlon pushed Dennis hard until he stumbled backward. Marlon was going to grab him again and land another punch to his face.
“Marlon!!” Mandy stopped him.
“No, man! I swear it! I wasn’t trying to do that … I locked the door because people were coming in and out … this is your bedroom, man, I know you don’t want people coming here …” Dennis looked him in the eyes.
It seems like he was telling the truth and Marlon was calming down. But everyone else was still tense and they were all looking at Marlon. They’ve never saw that side of him before, he was like a mad man, and they realized it was all because of Hazel who was fast asleep on the bed and had no idea what was happening around her.
“Get out,” Marlon said in a low voice.
He could hear them murmuring behind him. Dennis looked pissed for being attacked, but Mandy was signaling him to not prolong the matter.
“I said get out!!” Marlon shouted. “All of you! Party’s over … everyone get out of my house!!”
They couldn’t believe what they just heard. They have never been kicked out of a party before. But they slowly retreating and cleared out the hallway.
“I’m going home … you’re a dick Marlon,” Dennis said and brushed his shoulder against Marlon’s as he walked pass.
Marlon didn’t respond. He hung his head down and waited for everyone to leave. When he turned around, he was met with Mandy staring at him like he was a strange being. She was lost for words. Mandy looked at Hazel on the bed and turned back to Marlon as if all her questions were answered. They looked at each other in silence for a brief moment.
“I’m going home too,” Mandy said.
Marlon didn’t stop her.