It wasn’t completely dark. I could still see the red cups the jocks were drinking out of. The lights of the speaker flashing as the next throwback song started playing. I could tell that people were shuffling into one corner to dance, and in the other corner there was a girl sat all alone. Something about the dim lights made me feel comfortable enough to go talk to her. So, I did.

“OMG, I remember when this song first came out, I was like - 10” I try not to look at her face, just sit myself down beside her.

“Yeah same. Life was so much better then. Is it weird I’ve never heard any of her other songs?”

“Nope. Cos, I haven’t either. But I am more into indie than pop”

“Haha yeah me too. Which artists?”

We spoke about music for a few minutes and when the conversation began to stall, I asked:

“So, uh, who are you here with?”

“I was here with a friend, but she ran off somewhere”

“I’m here alone. Though I know the girl who threw the party, she just texted me to come over”

“I’m not much of a party person or a people person but Beth, my friend dragger me out here”

“I’m not a people person either. They’re scary”

“I’ve always struggled with talking to people. I just – I can’t do it you know? Like inside I'm this raging, confident talker but when I go up to people I – nothing comes out. I don’t even know why I'm telling you this.”

“No. It’s fine, I’m the same. I don’t have many friends because of it”

“Ah I get you. I mean, I’ve NEVER been one of those people, even when I was a child, I could never make friends. I couldn’t talk to people -”

“You get sweaty and feel kind of faint. But I think we made friends as kids because we saw those people in class all the time”

“Yeah that’s true. This is probably the longest conversation I've ever had with someone I don’t know.”

“Mhmm me too. Unless like it’s for a job interview or something important like that”

“Even that I sit there so anxious that I’ll mess up and I never like, talk to them in a casual bubbly way like every other person seems to be able to”

“I don’t know how I'm ever gonna find love at this rate if I can’t even make friends”

“Haha Yeah…”

I could see Beth waving at her from across the room. And I could feel the girl waving back.

“Ah I think she wants to get going” She says

“Yeah sure. It was nice to talk to you”

“You too. See you around. Bye”

“Bye.” I respond in a high voice. I didn’t even get her name. I’d likely never even see her again. But what did I expect that I would actually make a friend? I was kidding myself. I walked back over to the food table.