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energy was sucked out of the room.  Cell phones were flipped open, ties hung on the backs of folding chairs, and twin sets lost their cardigan components.  The room full of teenagers relaxed and gave a concerted sigh of relief.
    Claire went to the stereo and put on the compilation, a fast song began playing. “The fun portion of the party will begin now,” she announced.  Walking over to Jason, she took his cell phone from his hands, flipped it shut and slipped it deep into his pants pockets.  “Care for a dance, sailor?”
    I laughed, but remained glued to my metal folding chair. Claire’s capacity for saving me through her own personal embarrassment was limitless, thank God.
    People began pairing off to dance in the middle of the concrete basement floor. That left me and Melody sitting at one end of the table and Avery and Ricky Sykes at the other.  The dancing couples were oblivious to us four awkward people inspecting our cuticles at the table.
    I poked Melody in the arm. She totally owed me for being allowed at my party.  I could have banned her with enough whining to Dad.  “Mel, go ask Ricky to dance.”
    Melody continued picking the nail polish from her fingers. She gave a sideways glance at the short and zitty Ricky Sykes. “Ick.  He’s like three years older than me and four inches shorter.  Why would I want to dance with him?”
    I got to my feet. She was never going to change, what did I expect? “Fine, be that way.  I’m going to dance.”  Out of the corner of my eye I could see that when I stood up, Avery had too. Crap! I needed to ask him to dance before he could flee, which is what I was now sure he wanted to do.  Instead, he walked over to me.
    I turned toward him, trying not to pass out or throw up.
    “Hey, Zellie, uh, happy birthday.” He ran his fingers through his hair. I could never get tired of watching him do that.
     His deep brown eyes looked into mine. Passing out was becoming more and more of a realistic possibility by the minute.
    “Thanks, Avery,” I managed to say, balancing myself with one hand on the edge of the table.
    He mimed his hands on a steering wheel, motioning like he was driving a car. “Sixteen. Cool.” His face went red and he stuck his hands into his pockets.
    I put my hands on the invisible steering wheel too. “Yeah! Driving. I’m taking Driver’s Ed this summer.  Should be pretty awesome.” Oh, my God.  Because waking up at six in the morning and sweating in a car full of other nervous kids is pretty awesome? I grabbed onto the table again.  I didn’t have pockets. “Your birthday’s in July if I remember, right?” His birthday was July third.  I’d practically been born knowing that, but I didn’t want to seem like a stalker.
    “Yeah, July third, it’s pretty cool…y’know with the 4th and all.  There’s usually a rodeo.” 
    “That’s a great birthday!  Fun. I like the rodeo. Horses…in the corral? The clowns?  Funny.” I had not been to the rodeo since I was like eight.  What the hell was I talking about?
    “So, um, cool party, Miss Zellie…who is sixteen.” He reached out and gave me a playful punch on the arm.
    “Oh, no, it’s not, but thanks for saying so.”  I shrugged my shoulders, relaxing my death grip on the edge of the table and attempting to slyly graze my hand up my arm to the spot where he had touched me.
    “My dad made me wear a suit.”  He jammed his hands back into his pockets. 
    He seemed a little nervous too.  That made me feel better. Avery Adams gets nervous talking to me. “Yeah, I see that.  You look really hot though.  Like good, nice, not…the opposite of cold.” I felt a sudden tingle of warmth throughout my body.  I crossed my arms across my breasts as the tingle obviously passed through them.  Yikes, for once I’d rather blush.
    Avery glanced down at my chest, breaking eye contact for the first time since we started talking. He was totally looking at my nipples! “You look