“Don’t be such a flirt, Raj,” Alex said. “We don’t want to scare her off.”
“I’m not a rabbit,” I said. “I don’t get skittish at the sight of sudden movement.”
Raj laughed. “So I should keep flirting, then? Will it do me any good?”
“You’re pushing it,” Alex said. “Go make yourself useful and refill her—what are you drinking, anyway?”
“Ginger ale,” I said.
“A sensible choice,” Raj said. “I’ll be back soon.”
Alex turned to me. “Sorry, they can be kind of a lot, and Raj hits on anything that moves. But they’re my friends, so I really wanted you to meet them. How are you holding up? Are you having fun?”
I was, actually, and I told her. I might have been a little disappointed that Raj was an equal-opportunity flirt, but it wasn’t like I was really into meeting guys anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal. Or so I told myself. The truth was that Raj was the first guy who’d sparked my attention in a long time, and that was kind of a scary thought. Was it just that he was the first cute guy to talk to me in forever? Maybe I just needed to meet more people in general. That’s probably what Alex would say.
“Novalert still working?” she asked.
“I think so. I’m definitely not freaking out.”
“Want it for the test? We can take care of it tonight if you’ve got money on you. It’s sometimes hard to get, so if you want it, I’d get it now.”
“Might as well,” I said. I could always change my mind later. Better to get this part over with.
“Excellent. I’ll make it happen. Look, the boys are on their way back. You okay if I leave you on your own for a bit? The Prospect awaits, and you seem to be doing all right so far.”
“No problem.” This would be a good way to test how well the Novalert was doing. But I could fend for myself. I was sure of it. Which was totally not how I’d been feeling earlier—maybe that was the first sign that it was actually working.
Bryan and Raj came back together, each holding two drinks. Alex took one from each of them and handed me the one she’d taken from Raj. “How do you know that’s the right one?” I asked.
“Alex knows I don’t really drink,” Raj said.
“I know lots of things about you,” Alex said. She reached up and pulled on his collar, bending him down so she could whisper in his ear.
“Gotcha,” he said.
Alex turned around and started walking around the other side of the house, giving Bryan a little nod that he seemed to understand meant “Follow me.” She was so good.
“It appears Alex and Bryan have gone off to do some exploring,” Raj said. “How about I show you the rest of the party?” He touched my arm and guided me back to the house, chatting all the way. “I only moved here last year, so it actually makes sense we wouldn’t have met.”
“Where did you move from? Your accent sounds British.”
“Got it in one,” he said, as we crossed back through the foyer. I finally figured out the Pan statue—the half man, half beast linked the animal sculptures in front with the statues of gods and goddesses in the back. “I grew up in England, though my parents assure me I was born in India. We moved well before I was old enough to remember it.”
“How do you like it here?” I wished I could come up with more interesting things to ask him. But it turned out not to matter, because once Raj led me around the enormous staircase and opened the door hidden behind it, I heard music so loud we’d have had to scream at each other to continue our conversation.
The music got louder and louder as we walked down the stairs, bass thumping so hard that I could almost feel my heartbeat aligning with it. When we reached the bottom, I saw that the house’s lower level had been converted into a club. There was a long bar, complete with a bartender and a backlit wall of clear and colorful bottles of liquor; there was a booth for a DJ, where a girl with multicolored dreadlocks and a full-arm sleeve of tattoos was presiding over a computer and a bunch of electronic equipment I didn’t recognize; there were strobe lights and smoke piping out of machines in the corners of the room; and of course, there was a dance floor. Packed.
“This is really someone’s house?” I asked Raj, though I knew the answer.
“What?” he yelled.
“Forget it!” I yelled back, at three times the volume. “This is crazy!”
“It’s fantastic! Let’s dance.”
I shook my head. I didn’t even dance alone, in front of the mirror. “You go ahead.”
“Just for one song,” he said. “No one’s paying attention, I swear. They’re all out of their tree.”
I looked at the dance floor, at the throng of improbably elegantly dressed teenagers throwing themselves around as if they really were at a club. Total abandon. I definitely wasn’t the only one at this party who was on something.
“Come on, one song. Then we can chat.” He looked at me with this little smile, like I was the only person in the crowded room. Maybe he was just a flirt, but he was really good at it.