Kat almost stopped breathing when she approached the address Matt had given her. "This has to be wrong," she spoke aloud to herself, reading over the address again. The house was only 2 blocks from the beach and it was huge. There were even 15 foot palm trees scattered around the yard.

The driveway and the front yard were totally filled with cars and people. You could barely see the grass because of all the people standing on it. They were drinking beer, dancing...just having a good time. Kat wove her way through the mass of bodies to the front door, finding that it was wide open, Quiet Riot blared loudly through the house. As she entered, she saw Brian standing in the living room talking to one of his buddies.

He noticed her immediately. "Kat!" he called out. "What's up?" he asked as he came up to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "Glad you came," he smiled, taking a sip of beer. "Let's go get you a drink!"

"Where's Matt?" she asked as she was being chauffeured towards the kitchen, looking around the room.

“He’s around here somewhere,” Brian maneuvered her through the people.

The kitchen had people crammed in it from wall to wall, as large as it was. Beer cans, empty liquor bottles, trash scattered on the counter tops. Kat didn’t recognize anyone but Jimmy who stood at the center of the crowd knocking back shots of Jaegermeister, the people cheering him on as he downed each one.

Brian pulled the refrigerator door open to expose a pyramid of every type of beer you could name. No food, no condiments--just beer. “What’ll it be? Bud light, Yuengling, Miller, Heine, Lambic?” he asked.

“Lambic,” Kat answered.

“Here ya go,” he pulled it from the fridge.

“Brian! Get over here you dick!” Jimmy yelled.

“Have fun,” Brian warmly instructed Kat before dispersing into the crowd.

There she stood with a beer in hand, amidst a crowd of unfamiliar faces. She popped the cap off her beer and used a corkscrew she found buried under used paper towels, finally tasting the tart drink on her palate. She decided the only way she was going to find Matt was if she started the search on her own. The only people she knew here were wrapped up in drinking themselves into a stooper.

As Kat made her way into the living room, she saw Val sitting with a few friends as they sipped their drinks and laughed. A very uncomfortable feeling overtook Kat as she decided to turn and find another route through the house.

“Kat,” Val’s voice came up behind Kat as she excused herself from her friends. “I’m glad you came,” Val gave her a venomous smile.

“Thanks,” Kat somehow managed to produce a complete word.

“Matt’s out back, but I was hoping we could talk a minute before you go see him.”

“Uh...I should probably just go see Matt.”

“Come on,” Val protested, took Kat’s hand and pulled her up the stairs towards Matt’s bedroom. “This is the only part of the house off-limits to these crazy bastards,” she joked as they entered the room.

Kat continued to drink her beer as her eyes surveyed the room. She could smell Matt’s scent in the room and it made her blush slightly. She saw his discarded clothes strewn about the floor and some even piled up in a plush chair that sat in the corner of the room.

Val closed the door behind them. She picked up the pile of clothes that sat in the chair in her arms, “Have a seat,” she nodded her head towards the now empty chair and she placed the clothes on the bed.

Kat tried to accept Val’s hospitality, but struggled. Her guard was at full attention and had no signs of coming down any time soon. She had been at the house for nearly 15 minutes now and still had not seen Matt, which made her very uncomfortable and wanting to flee.

“You know Matt and I had a talk, right?”

“Yeah, he mentioned it,” Kat responded.

“I’m not going to lie and say I don’t want to claw your eyes out right now,” she clenched her teeth tightly. “I’ve been with him since we were in middle school.”

“Look, I completely understand how you feel…if I would‘ve known,” Kat began to fidget with her rings, staring at them as if they were the most interesting things she had ever seen. “I never intended on all this happening and it definitely wouldn’t have happened if I knew he was still with you...I just assumed...”

“Well, when Matt sees a gorgeous woman, he doesn’t automatically mention me. We had been having problems long before you came into the picture, Kat. You were just kind of the icing on the cake,” Val explained. “I had been cheating on him...” she suddenly confessed.

“What?” Kat seemed baffled. “You freaked out like you did when you saw us together, but you had been doing the same thing to him?”

Val’s eyes dropped from Kat’s face to the floor. “Yes,” she began.

“So I was his revenge on you?” her blood began to boil.

“No!” Val objected quickly. “He doesn’t know…” she trailed off.

“Why are you telling me this? I think this should be between the two of you…” Kat stood from her seat and headed towards the door.

“I just wanted you to know...I hope if you tell him, it fucking kills his heart the way he did mine.”