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“I know you’re not much of a party person,” said Peli after two hours of trying to convince him to come to her new year’s eve party, “so my last offer is this: you come to the party and I’ll do your laundry for a week.”
“Two weeks.” He countered.
“Deal.”
That was three days ago and now his friend Cara Dune is sitting on his dorm bed waiting for him to finish dressing up so they could go to the party.
Parties and crowds weren’t his thing, and him knowing a maximum of three people at said party did not help the situation.
With a sigh he threw a leather jacket over a t-shirt and decided that would do.
The location of the party was Peli’s apartment which she shared with her older brother. Din hadn’t met the young man before but he figured he would soon enough.
The moment they stepped in they were greeted with loud music coming from the big speakers in the middle of the room, there were a lot of people milling about already, paper cups in hand and voices raised to be heard over the sound of music by their partners and friends.
Din immediately felt out of place.
Sensing the reluctance, Cara put a strong arm around his shoulder and pulled him along, mumbling about needing some alcohol to loosen him up a bit.
He couldn’t disagree.
He found an antique looking red armchair in the corner of the room and made a beeline for it, wading between party attendees carefully as to not spill his drink. He sank into the chair gratefully and decided that he would not be leaving this particular spot for the rest of the night. Cara told him he was a boring old man. He told her he couldn’t care less if he was.
He watched the crowd get bigger and the music get louder, the free furniture get occupied with couples putting on increasingly unsettling displays of affection and Din felt cornered, though he still had no inclination to leave his cosy spot.
Peli found him somewhere around his fourth cup. Either the alcohol was weak or he had a high tolerance because he wasn’t feeling much different. Peli was just excited to see him there, reaching over and ruffling his hair. He would act annoyed but he secretly loved her ministrations. She felt like the sister he never had.
“Have you seen Cobb yet?” She asked him and he told her he hadn’t. She told him she was sure he would show up soon and make a fool of himself as he was unbelievably drunk.
Din didn’t know why she kept mentioning her brother every time they talked about the party but he figured she probably thought he needed to befriend more people, and seeing as Cobb was apparently popular in campus he would be a good start.
Din couldn’t fault her for it, he was a loner and she was worried.
As the clock neared midnight, the crowd started counting down excitedly, shouting the numbers as they decreased, finishing with a collective shout of “Happy New Year!”
Peli pulled him up to hug him tightly and he felt a lump in his throat. She pushed him back down and told him to get that dumb look off his face.
He checked his watch some time later, seeing it was over one in the morning already, he was about to excuse himself to leave when someone changed the music abruptly mid song to Careless Whisper by George Michael.
“Oh lord help me.” Whispered Peli next to him. Before he could ask who it was, a gorgeous tall boy with silver hair and a cowboy hat made his way to the middle of the room, singing along to the song and dragging an intimidating young man with a shaved head along with him.
The silvered haired one grabbed the other from the collar of his shirt, emotionally singing the part:
Tonight the music seems so loud
I wish that we could lose this crowd
The stony expressions of his partner made for a hilarious sight, but Din couldn’t laugh, too busy fixated on the way Silver Hair was dancing at the other, sweat trailing down his flushed neck, eyes closed, and grin wide.
The sight rooted Din to his seat, breath coming in short bursts. He had never seen someone so beautiful before, someone born to be the center of attention. He was the sun and everyone else was just orbiting around him, desperate to be touched by his light and warmth, and Din wanted to be close even if it burned him. He thought then that it was worth it to be Icarus and have his wings melt if it meant that he would feel the sun’s caress.
Silver Hair threw his head back with a laugh that reverberated to the depths of Din’s bones, the song ended and his friend pushed him off with a grunt.
“Ya need a tissue for all this drooling?.” He heard Peli say, snapping his attention back to her. The mortification painted his cheeks crimson and he shrunk in on himself, praying to any god that would listen to make him disappear at that moment. Naturally, that bore no results as the gods were fond of human suffering, especially of the homosexual type.
“Here comes the village idiot.” She said and he looked up, belatedly wishing he hadn’t, and saw Silver Hair heading their way. He had shucked his cowboy hat and swayed in all his glory all the way to them.
He looked down at Din with a cheshire smile and said “you’re in my seat.”
The slurred words took a few moments to register in Din’s brain and he made a move to get up, but the other boy pushed him back down with a hand on the chest.
He moved his hand to rest on Din’s shoulder and helped himself to sit on Din’s lap, wiggling a few times to get comfortable. He then encircled Din’s neck with his arms and propped his long legs to the side.
“You make a good seat.” He said to a wide eyed Din.
“Uh thanks?” He replied breathlessly.
Peli mumbled something about being a third wheel and left them soon after.
Surprisingly, conversation flowed quite easily between them considering the position they were in and the fact that Silver Hair was drunk out of his mind.
The party and the noise around him were forgotten, he didn’t know where Cara was, nor did he particularly care at that moment, Peli made herself scarce, and no one else bothered them. Not even Silver Hair’s intimidating friend.
He learned later that the boy in his lap was actually Peli’s brother Cobb. It was quite the shock for him since they shared no resemblance whatsoever, but he guessed it happens in families sometimes.
Cobb got sleepier and sleepier the more they talked and he ended up resting his head on Din, temple pressed to his chest.
“What’s your new year resolution?” He asked Din at one point.
To make you mine. Din wanted to say. However long it would take me to do it, it would be worth it.
But he didn’t dare voice his thoughts. There are some things that he couldn’t say out loud, no matter how inebriate the other person was.
He told him something about his career aspirations. By no means a lie, but it wasn’t the truth either.
Their intimacy came to an end when Cobb fell asleep and the intimidating friend came over to collect him.
“Don’t worry he won’t remember any if this tomorrow.” The friend said and it left a bitter taste in Din’s mouth.
All at once he felt drained and wanted to leave.
When they were outside he looked up at the sky, his only solace in this world, and wished that one day, somehow, he would make that boy his. He would wait his whole life if he had to.
All his life he thought love at first sight was a fictional thing, a thing that existed in stories only.
But as he lay in his bed and gazed at the ceiling he felt his worldview shift.
He couldn’t help but feel like what he had just experienced was love.