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Vincent had a weird reason for going to parties.
To be fair, he had other reasons: 1. Not being pestered by all his floor-mates for staying in his room and ‘moping his life away’ (as they said it)
- Free snacks (apparently this floors parties snacks always taste like crap but he likes the texture)
and 3. He accidentally created the perfect hangover cure mixing random things he thought he would enjoy during mixology class (a cup of lemon juice and lime juice respectively, put into a half drank bottle of Powerade and it resets your systems aparently) and now he sells it five bucks a bottle
But there was one thing that…fascinated him. About parties.
He stood there, red solo cup in hand (filled with lemonade with no sugar), leaned up against the wall just…looking around. to the average viewer it looked like he was dragged along and then promptly abandoned by a friend, but no.
He willingly went with his roommate who promptly went to sit on this floor's community room couch and drink.
I don't usually drink, but I've barely been able to sleep because of midterms and alcohol makes me sleepy! Hope you don't mind me ditching you!
He didn't mind. He sipped on his drink as, out of the corner of his eye, he caught someone approaching him. He glanced over at the clock, 11:42 pm. This might have to be the last one for tonight.
“Hey,” he made a point to turn his head and really look at the person who just tapped his shoulder. She looked to be about his age. Black hair thats a bob just slightly above her shoulders (a bit shorter then his), black crop top, white sweatpants, silver sparkly crocs, a look on her face that screams ‘i would rather bang my head against this wall then be talking to you right now’. “I-”
“Your friends forced you to come and talk to me, didn't they?”
Her eyes went wide only for a second, before going deadpan. “Bet me, actually.”
Bet her? Hm. thats a new one.
She shoves her hands in her pockets, slumping against the wall next to her, “they said i had to try and talk to you for at least two minutes, so i sure hope you dont mind me standing here for the next minute and a half.”
“How much did they offer you exactly?”
“Fifty bucks plus doing this weeks laundry for me.”
“...yeah i dont mind.” he had about two minutes to spare.
He took another sip of his drink, his gaze finding its way to where the girl walked from. A group of girls quickly looked anywhere except where he was standing, as if he would believe someone would be more interested in a dripping sink faucet.
“...why do you think people do this?”
“What?” the girl fiddled with something in her pocket, “get wasted and party? For fun i guess.”
“I meant forcing people to flirt with eachother.”
“Oh.” she chuckles slightly, its mostly a tired puff of air. She doesnt look used to staying up this late, “if you asked my friends theyd tell you its because ‘i cant mope away in my room forever.’ as if finding someone to suck face with is more important then getting my degree.”
“Hmm.” She takes a zippo lighter out of her pocket, fiddling with it absent mindedly, “do you have a smoke?”
“Do you have a dollar?”
The girl properly snorts, sticking her hand back in her pocket, “you take change?”
Vincent takes out his pack of cigarettes, fancy cursive he can barely read on the top flashes by as he opens it, he’ll have to refill soon, “Prefer to, actually.”
“I get it,” she plops three quarters and a few other coins into his hand, plucking the cig from in between his fingers, “how else you getting quarters in this economy.”
She flicks her zippo open, lighting the cig and taking a small drag.
Vince holds out his own cigarette, “Can i have a light?”
“You got a dollar?”
Vincent squints at her, before putting his hand out again-
“Dude, no-” she holds the lighter out in front of him, lit, “i was just joshing you. Here.”
“......thanks.”
“No prob bob.”
Vincent takes a drag of his cigarette, He glances over at the clock. 11:44.
“I have to go. Congrats on your fifty dollars.”
she doesn't say anything as he pushes off the wall and downs the rest of his drink.
He swerves around someone who dashes past him, a commotion followed by a squelch hitting the carpet behind him suggesting that they just used up their last strike about partying in the dormitories. the couch looks alot more worn then the one on his floor as he walks up to it, already hearing rodys complaining as the man himself is hunched over the armrest in the most uncomfortable looking way possible. Vincent grabs both of rodys wrists and hoists him up, and catches him as he promptly goes back down.
He picks rody up by his legs, rodys arms lazily draping around his neck, “mmmm…w’ goin’ alre’y?”
Vincent starts trudging over to the elevator, swaying as rody stretches out his arms.
“If you throw up on me im going to start charging you per night.”
“He…he…y’ alay’s say dat’...”
“And its always true.”
Rody simply giggles in response as vincent presses the elevator button.
“Hey.”
Vincent turns his head as much as rody will allow, the girl from earlier off to his side. One of her friends has one of their arms slung around her shoulder, babbling mindlessly.
“You seem cool. Thanks for not minding the whole bet thing.”
“I had a few minutes to burn anyway.”
“Cool. here.” she sticks a sticky note on his back, neutral expression on her face, “see you around.”
And with that, very short interaction, she leaves.
“She sems’ niice.”
“Come on, I need to get to sleep.”
—
A loud piff echos through the room as rody is flopped down onto his mattress. He does not seem disturbed in the slightest, just snoring away without a care in the world.
Meanwhile, vincent sits down at his desk, stretching his stiffness away, a yawn escapes him as he opens his laptop. He opens a google doc titled ‘party test’ (he should really think of a better name for it…not tonight tho.) and skims tonights results. Various lists, some with names, some just labled ‘campy girl with feather scarf who apparently was top of her class in coding’ or ‘nerd guy whos a little too obsessed with cleaning bones’, he creates a new line, and types:
Cigarette bet girl
. looked similar to me, short bobbed hair, fair skin, lanky build (although it looked like she ate better then me), casual clothing (i need to know where she got those crocs. immediately.)
. didnt willingly approach me, although wasnt disgusted by my presence.
. seemed friendly, maybe more then normal. she seemed like she didnt stay up very often. Was a tad delirus.
. didnt get her name
He pauses on that last line. He reaches on his back, feeling around for a few moments before pulling off a sticky note. He ponders it, before returning to his typing.
. gave me her number, with a note that reads: “if you need a study buddy (im not hitting on you. You just seem like the kind of guy who likes to sit in silence and read. We could ignore each other while reading in silence if you want, it would certainly get me off my friends back.)” also seems to over explain things when she wants to get a point across.
Might consider the offer. Maybe rody would stop pestering me about ‘needing to get more sunlight’.
…maybe.