He let out an awkward giggle as he leaned back, hoping Spence didn't think he was coming onto him. But, evidently he did. When Spence leaned in to kiss Raf, he really did want to kiss him back. But as soon as he felt lips against him, he decided to act. "What the fuck man?!" Raf pushed Spence from him in an offended manner. If he wasn't so drunk, he wouldn't be so rude and hurtful, but he didn't want people to know. "I'm not a fucking gay." Raf stood up and folded his arms tightly, looking down to Spencer with the most disgusted look his face could form. The boy would usually never dare to be so rude, but he had to make sure. In fact, he probably was making it more obvious. Raf stared at Spence, his eyes darting away before he stormed off.
Nice one. Raf got to the stairs and sat down, just away from the loud music. He placed his head in his hands, surely he just made it worse. Raf felt like going back and apologizing, but he was far too embarrassed. Plus, some people might of seen that.
Once again, his brain had been completely and utterly wrong. Raf shoved him away, clearly offended. He pushed a little too hard, and Spence lost his balance, knocking over his beer. Spence wanted to flinch at Raf's words, but instead he stayed staring at the floor, not allowing himself to react. Once he had watched Raf's legs storm away, he straightened up, picking up his empty beer and staring into it. It wasn't like he hadn't been rejected before, but even in his drunken state, that stung. I'm not a fucking gay... He'd spat it like there was something wrong with it. As he stood up to claim another beer, his brain kept replaying things. It wasn't like he hadn't known about Spence's sexuality, so if he thought like that, why hadn't there been any hostility before? Something wasn't adding up. He was fully aware of a few people staring at him, but ignored it. As he started to drain his beer, he caught a glance of Raf sitting on the stairs, his head in his hands. Should he go apologise? Would that make things worse? He drained the rest of the bottle, before walking over to the other boy.
"Listen, dude, I'm sorry. I guess I just got a bit ahead of myself. Had a little too much to drink."
Arin smiled slightly at Alexis' comment. They were relieved that they weren't alone in not knowing anyone.
They leaned forward and kept drawing. They refined the anatomy of the figures and added value. Looking at the people on the dance floor, they saw dark figures slipping between the trees, eyes like lit cigarettes. Despite the unease that the figures stirred in Arin's guts, they added the shadows to the sketch. Because even though they were unsettling, they looked damn cool.
Jenna beamed as Elliot approached, but didn't manage to get a word in as Leon introduced her to Jameson. "You two know each other already! That's awesome, how did you meet? It's always nice not to be completely surrounded by strangers!" She asked, leaning forward a little and grinning. That grin faded a little as Candace approached and neglected to address Jen. Well, they didn't both need to be rude. And besides, Jen was aware that she could annoy Candace just by being herself. "Hi, Candace! How are you? How's your brother?" She'd done some- well, babysitting was probably the wrong word, but she'd minded Richard for Mr. and Mrs. Nelson before. She picked her shoes off of the sofa and set them on the ground beside her.
A firm handshake with no meaning within the shake. He looked up at her and had no recollection as she did. She was quick to point out that he was a familiar face. His brows furrowed in confusion unsure whether he knew who this girl was. "Um..." Was all he could make out. He wasn't good with faces nor names. He didn't remember an Elliott, he wasn't quite sure what to feel about this woman's discovery. "I didn't know you knew Ellie," Leon said. "Um..." Jameson said shaking his head a bit, attempting to grasp the blurry memories. He put on a thoughtful expression then looked back up at Elliott. He ventured deep into his thoughts. He remembered the days of his pianist days -- a cellist. He raised one brow and looked up at Elliott. "Ah..." He let out. "I do remember you." He recollected memories of Elliott, he never spoke to her a lot. Jameson's parents were much more focused on him doing his job and leaving. Although, he remembered everybody in the orchestra. She certainly changed from the last he seen her.
"What a coincidence." A big smile was drawn on Jameson's face. "It is." Leon nodded. Shortly, another girl joined the larger group of people. He looked over to her and smiled at her nodding, a simple greeting. Everybody grew more active in the conversation. He chuckled softly to Jenna's statement. "I'm not quite sure. Probably in school or something." He said shrugging a bit. He felt his feet under the thin ice, people would know what type of person he was. He stood up from his seat, "I'm gonna walk around." He slowly slipped out of the group avoiding Elliott's explanation on how they met. In his thoughts, he prayed that the girl wouldn't dare utter a word about the past. The pianist he was, was gone, forever. He's a new person now, away from home, away from the greed.
And there's no way he was going to be reminded of himself back then.
The voices around Raf went a little quiet as they watched the two boys. He stared at ground, trying to figure out what he could do to make it better. He saw the way Spencer stared at the ground, Raf was obviously being offensive. But he just didn't want anyone to know he was gay. Because that would be the gateway secret to what he had being doing at school. That was what would get him into real trouble. He watched Spencer's legs walk over. When he began apologizing, Raf huffed out, he shouldn't be apologizing. If this was any other time, he would of been happy that some guy was actually paying attention to him. But, he had his shitty reasons.
"I'm sorry, I'm just not, gay." He mumbled, staring at the ground. Great, Raf felt tears welling in his eyes. The boy had a bad tendency to cry whenever he was stressed. It made him feel weak. "I'm sorry." He repeated quietly, not looking up.
Spence frowned at Raf. He'd gotten the whole "dude I'm not gay" thing before, but nobody had ever reacted like this. Raf looked and sounded like he was about to cry. Spence walked over and sat down beside Raf, giving the other boy his space. "Dude, are you okay? Do you want to talk about anything, or...?" He asked. He couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't just about the kiss, that it was about something else entirely.
Elliot watched as Jameson searched his memory banks. Just when it seemed certain that he had no clue who she was, something must have clicked -- because he suddenly remembered. She stared back at him with a mix of curious disbelief and pleasant surprise. She hadn't expected him to remember, but something about it made her glad that he did.
Jen then said something about it being nice that they knew each other, and she asked how they met; however, before Elliot could get a word in, Candace came up to join the group. At that moment, Elliot shied away a bit. She didn't really know Candace very well, but just her presence was intimidating enough. She had that certain air about her that just seemed to warn off unwanted company, and Elliot tended to avoid that kind of energy. "Hey, Candace," she said quietly, nodding in greeting.
It was then that Jameson took the liberty of answering Jen's previous question -- or attempting to, anyway. Did he really think that they met in school? Elliot shot him a subtle but curious glance. How could he remember who she was, but not remember how they met? Was he just being polite, as he actually didn't know who Elliot was? No... No, if that had been the case and he just couldn't remember, he would've waited for her to answer and fill in the blank. "Well, actually, I think..." But before she could finish, Jameson said he was going for a walk and disappeared.
Elliot watched him go, looking very confused. He clearly didn't want to talk about music and their past, and she didn't understand why. She looked over at Leon and shrugged, wondering what was up. "Is it something I said?"
Sitting silently in the corner of the room, Rayne crossed her legs and leaned back into her chair with a smug grin creeping up the corner of her blood red colored lips. Besides dancing, drinking, and maybe taking a few puffs outside underneath the stars, Rayne's favorite thing to do was sit back and watch for any possible drama that would make for some juicy gossip later on.
At school, Rayne was notorious for catching onto any drama at the nub and this was how she did it. It was quite simple actually, and Rayne took much pride in it. For such a simple process, it ended with miraculous results.
Sighing to herself and carefully lifting a glass to her lips, she continued searching. Something good was about to happen- she could feel it.
Despite the less than moral events of the past week, Alice wanted to go out. She was tired of holing up in her room and always going straight to school and then walking straight back home with zero detours. She was tired of not having any friends and pretending like sneaking bites of her lunch in the library was fun. It had been two years already! She'd been held prisoner by Lucy's abandonment long enough. She deserved a fresh start and some fun.
But upon arriving to the party Alice suddenly felt very nervous and a strong need to turn on her heel and run back to her house. However before she could, the drunk and obnoxious guy staggering behind her, shoved his way past her into the house and her zipper happened to catch on his sweater. "Oh no! Wait, wait, wait!" She shrieked as she was propelled forward against her will. Unfortunately the music was so loud that the guy didn't hear her and he was too drunk to notice that a person was practically being dragged behind him.
Everything seemed to be going normally- people huddling around tables talking, girls and boys slathering themselves over each other, and strangers like her taking shots at the bar. Rolling her eyes and taking a yawn, she sank further back into her chair with a dissatisfied front. Can someone say, boring?
That was until she found one girl staggering behind some drunk shrieking, "Oh, no! Wait, wait, wait!"
Leaning forward in interest, Rayne chuckled to herself. This looked interesting. Maybe she should take a closer look.
Sliding off her stool with her drink in hand, Rayne smoothly wove her way through the crowds and smirked while walking backwards besides the girl. "You need any help, dear?" She smiled sweetly. This didn't even make the halfway cut for good gossip, but it was, without a doubt, very entertaining to Rayne.
Alice nearly sobbed with relief when someone finally noticed her plight. She would have hugged the other girl if not for the tiny fact that she was still being slowly but surely dragged to God knows where. Damn it how much strength did drunks even have? Shouldn't he have passed out already! Or at least stopped to dance. And then as if God saw her misery and wanted to kick it up a notch, the guy began to dance in an erratic and energetic fashion. Alice was now being swung this way and that like a rag doll and he still hadn't noticed. She turned to the girl who had noticed them. "Please help me! My zip--" Oh great he was doing some freakish dance move and his sudden movements were causing her to stammer and splutter like an idiot. "My zip--my z-zipp--zipper is caught in his sweater!" She finally shrieked.What made this unwanted experience even worse was that Alice recognized the girl. Since Lucy had been so freaking popular she had come into contact with at least most of the other popular girls in Mountain Brook at least once. Hopefully Rayne didn't recognize her though...It had been two year after all.
When Spence came to sit next to him, Raf quickly rubbed his eyes and sniffed, trying to hold it in. There was now space between them, unlike before. When asked if he wanted to talk, Raf shook his head, "No." He sniffed again, sitting up. Raf looked around the party, watching more and more people fill up the room. "Maybe coming tonight was a bad idea..." He mumbled, before turning to Spence. Maybe he could change the subject, "At least nobody is dead yet." He laughed awkwardly, hoping he could escape another night without people finding out about him, or seeing a murder.
Spence laughed a little, but stayed watching Raf. He'd been feeling shit for long enough to recognise when somebody else was feeling bad. "Yeah, that we know of. For all we know, the murderer could be at this very party, just waiting for their chance," he said, grinning. He watched the party for a bit, always watching Raf out of the corner of his eye, his mind running through the possibilities. Now that he thought about it, he'd been acting a little weirdly for a while now. Was it him? Was it because he'd been so open about his sexuality and had made Raf uncomfortable? But no- Raf had never reacted like that or said anything.
As Spence watched, people started shouting excitedly. He frowned, then realised that a stack of pizzas was being carried over the the refreshments table. He laughed a little. "I'm surprised we've even made it this long without somebody ordering pizza," he said.
"Hey, Elliot. Nice party, hm?" She said in response to the other girl. She was about to strike up some unnecessary small talk when Jen spoke up.
As soon as Jen asked that question, the world seemed to slow down for Candace. Why the fuck was this bitch asking about Richard? She stared blankly at the blonde for a moment before remembering that 'goodie goodie I'm so perfect' Jen had babysat Richard once. The world sped back up to normal speed and Candace composed herself before saying, "He's fine, thanks for asking. I'm actually glad you brought the subject up though. This might seem a bit harsh but my parents won't be in need of your services anymore, cause you can be a bit...Oh what's the word? Fast." She said with mock sweetness. Her parents hadn't specifically said that about Jen, however her mother had commented on how kids like Richard tended to be hyper sexual at his age and some of the girls around town tended to dress like hookers and they didn't want Richard to come into contact with them. So Candace paraphrased a little. Who cares?
After finishing their sketch (or at least getting it to a sort-of satisfying point), Arin noticed the feeling in their stomach. At first, they had thought they were just nervous, but eventually realized it was just hunger. They got up off the couch and murmured to Alexis, "Gotta get something to eat..." They moved around the edges of the room, trying to avoid unwanted contact with strangers until they reached the snacks.
Reaching for a plate, they were stopped by whispers.
They froze, looking at the food suspiciously. It's probably not poisoned... but what if it is? Arin's hands started shaking. They took deep breaths; their lungs felt like they were filled with water. They stared at the food with wide eyes and a racing heart. They tried to go back to the couch, but their feet wouldn't respond.
After spending more than a few minutes in silence, Alexis was caught off guard when Arin stood suddenly. "Oh... uh, I'll come too.", she managed to respond. She followed Arin closely along the edges of the room, narrowly dodging the flailing bodies of a few tall drunks, being sure not to rouse any unwanted attention.
When they reached the refreshments table, party goers had begun swarming around a heaping of pizza boxes, which seemed to have just arrived. As more strangers entered, Alexis clung closely to Arin, unsure of who else to trust. Before Arin managed to nab her share of food, she froze suddenly. Alexis was now stuck behind Arin, and surrounded by a crowd of hungry guests. Glancing around nervously to those who brushed passed her, Alexis' discomfort had returned, and she figured a snack wasn't worth all of this trouble.
She then turned her attention forward, onto Arin once again, hoping to at least find solace in her new acquaintance. "Um, Arin? Are... you alright?"
Frantic warnings screamed ceaselessly in Arin's head. They wanted to do something; cover their ears, yell, cry, anything, but their body wouldn't respond.
Finally, Alexis' voice broke them out of their trance. They turned around to face her, their expression a perfect picture of "not okay."
"Uh! Y-y-yeah! I'm perfect!" They laughed nervously as their furiously shaking hands ran through their hair. "I-I think I just realized I'm n-not actually that hungry!"
It dawned on them that they were very very bad at pretending they're not a mess.
Alexis sensed that there was indeed something quite wrong with Arin. Her expression suggested she'd just witnessed a murder, but that was highly unlikely... Alexis pondered the possibility that she might have social anxiety similar to herself, but not even a nervous wreck like herself would have reacted this drastically (or, at least, not openly). Looking around the stuffy room like a kitten among wolves, Alexis was also quite inclined to leave. "Oh... same here! It's too crowded here anyway... heheh...", she stated, making an effort to sound cool about it before looking around anxiously.
She knew there was something different about Arin, something about her behaviour just didn't seem to add up. It was as if there were an invisible factor prodding her to leave the room. Perhaps she would talk about it with Arin after, but for now she needed to find a way out of this mess of persistent party goers and their pizza.
Well, so much for eating. Arin figured they could just wait until they got home. At least they knew that the food there was safe. The top priority was getting somewhere not scary.
"Yeah, it really is... I-I don't know if there's somewhere else we can go..."
They looked around nervously, seeing only crowds of people.
