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Andy was standing in the corner at a party, sipping on some cold ice tea which was in one of those janky red plastic cups. He anxiously glanced around the room, hoping some of his friends would be there. Andy didn’t wanna be here - but it was hosted by one of his best friends, Pete, who threw parties a ton, but he really wanted Andy to come to this one. He didn’t understand why Pete really wanted him to be here. There’s nothing fun to do - all he can even see is people rubbing against each other and drinking, which is making him sick.
Andy pondered on whether or not he should even stay, feeling as though there was nothing here for him. He chugged his iced tea and walked over to the closest garbage bin, throwing out the janky cup he had been drinking out of, which looked like the rim was starting to crack. Once he had started walking away, a person had clashed into him, or he had clashed into them. He didn’t know which it was, but he felt a stinging pain course through his body as he flew back and slammed against the ground. ‘Why is it always me?’ He thought angrily, tears growing at the brim of his eyes.
Tears streamed out of his eyes, sliding down his cheeks, more pouring out as time went by, the pain getting intensely worse. He just wanted to go home, hide away from the world - and also just know who he even bumped into in the first place. He felt extremely uncomfortable, not wanting anyone to see him cry. Andy slowly stood up, tears continuing to slide down his cheeks. His ankle felt like it was in extreme pain, but he didn’t care.
A soft hand rested on his shoulder, the thumb of the hand rubbing against his arm. “Hey, um, are you okay?” The mysterious voice of the person in front of him asked. It sounded soft and sincere, like whoever said it was worrying for Andy. He slowly glanced up, noticing that the person had a few scratches on their face. It seemed as though they were the person who had bumped into him. They had brown curly hair, with bright blue eyes, and a noticeable line of brown above their left pupil. It seemed as though they were the beautifulest thing on earth - but Andy could never admit it.
“Okay. I’m Joe.. Are you.. okay..?” Joe introduced himself, frowning worriedly as he glanced at Andy, who felt like he was gonna explode. His ankle throbbed with pain, and he still had tears streaming down his cheeks. He quickly shook his head, whining slightly. Joe panicked slightly, not knowing what to do. “Do you like- need medicine? Something to suppress the pain? What do you need?” Joe said quickly, hoping the guy he had just met about 5 minutes ago is okay. Andy felt the pain get more intense, his eyes probably getting bloodshot red. The two stood in the middle of the room, panicking, while others could care less.
After a few seconds, Pete ran over to the two, smiling widely. “You guys finally met!” He said excitedly, shaking them both happily, which made Andy whine out in pain. Pete looked at him worriedly, his wide smile morphing into a sad frown. “Are you.. okay, Andy?” He asked worriedly, and Andy shook his head in response. Pete quickly pulled Andy toward a bathroom, Joe following behind, wanting to see what was wrong with Andy.
Andy sat on a stool, the sweet relief of having no pressure on his ankle filling his body. “I- umm.. My ankle hurts.” He said softly, wiping away some of the tears that had started staining his cheeks. More tears started streaming down his cheeks, but he just ignore them. The other two looked at him, wondering how they could help. Eventually, Pete’s phone started ringing, and he exited the bathroom to go answer it.
Joe and Andy gazed at eachother, before Joe went searching in one of the cabinets in the small bathroom. “So like.. What kind of pain suppressant do you think you need? Tylenol, Ibuprofen..? Joe asked softly, looking at all the appliances in the cabinet. Andy just shrugged and glanced at the floor, thinking of what could help his ankle.
“Maybe like- an ice pack?” Andy said quietly, looking up at Joe. He nodded and closed the cabinet, lifting Andy off of the stool, who started clutching onto Joe’s shoulder so he wouldn’t have to step onto his ankle. The two left the bathroom, walking through the hallway and starting to hear loud music and people shouting to eachother cause the party was too loud to hear eachother normally.
They avoided going near others and instead walked into the kitchen, which didn’t have much people in it, just some who were just ignoring the party and sitting in their own little bubble, or people who were raiding the fridge. Joe led Andy towards the freezer, grabbing some pieces of ice and placing them on a nearby counter. He scavenged through a cabinet yet again, before pulling out a small plastic zip up bag. He dropped the ice into it and zipped it up, grabbing some paper towels. He then wrapped the paper towels around the bag and placed it under his arm.
“Voila, a homemade ice pack because Pete had none in his freezer, which is very inconvenient.” Joe said jokingly, trying to cheer Andy up, which made him giggle a bit. ”Anyway, we can like, head to Pete’s room instead of the bathroom this time. He wouldn’t mind.” Joe continued calmly, smiling at Andy. The two headed downstairs, into the basement, heading towards Pete’s room.
Joe opened the door and led Andy in, who let him go to sit down on the bed. “I wonder where Patrick is.” Andy blurted out, looking around the room like the dude was gonna just pop out of nowhere. Joe shrugged and kneeled down on the floor, infront of Andy. He snatched a roll of tape off of Pete’s desk and placed the ice pack around Andy’s ankle, taping it securely.
“There. Neat, huh?” Joe said enthusiastically, sitting down beside Andy. The other shrugged and gazed around the room, wondering what to say, or what to do. The two exchanged a look at eachother, they both were bored. “Hey, have you ever kissed someone before?” Joe asked Andy, shuffling closer to him.
“What?” Andy said confusedly, his face scrunching up in confusion. Joe smiled at him, continuing to shuffle closer to him until there was no more space between them. They both leaned in at the same time, then their noses crashed into eachother because they were leaning in at the wrong angle.
They slightly adjusted the angles of their heads before starting to lean again, their lips eventually colliding together. Joe slid his tongue across Andy’s bottom lip, and Andy parted his lips softly, letting Joe slip his tongue into his mouth. The two tongues clashed together, like they were swords or light sabers. Joe’s hands scrambled all over Andy, meanwhile Andy’s were just resting in the other’s hair. Soon enough, they remembered where they were sitting once a loud knocking sound ran through the room.
They pulled apart, a string of saliva connected to both of their tongues, which they both thought was gross. They pushed the string away and stood up, Andy’s ankle felt a bit better now. He could stand on it, atleast. The two walked over to the door, Joe opening to be met with Pete and Patrick, who were both holding tons of medicine bottles, small teaspoon cups, bottles of water, and other unneeded stuff.
“Andy, are you okay?? Need any medicine? Need any water?” Patrick asked frantically, looking at Andy with a worried expression. If Andy wasn’t aware of who was saying this, he would’ve thought it was some over protective mom. He simply shook his head and smiled, gazing at the two. “You sure?” Patrick asked, and Andy nodded once again.
“Sorry, Andy. Patrick started freaking out about you being hurt and that you had to be rushed to the hospital once I told him about your ankle, and this was the lowest I could get him to do.” Pete explained softly, starting to enter the room, pulling Patrick along with him. “Now if you two don’t mind, I’d like to spend some nice time with Patrick, and just Patrick. So get out, please and thank you.” Pete said casually, pushing the two out of the room.
Joe and Andy watched as the door locked, before walking over to the stairs, running up them. They silently stood together for a bit, gazing around the party like there was gonna be anyone interesting there. Which, there might have been, they just didn’t really notice anyone in the first place.
“Hey, um.. I’m gonna head to my apartment now. But uh.. I can like - give you my number or something.” Andy said softly, smiling brightly at Joe before scribbling his number onto a random sticky note he found in his pocket, handing it to Joe. Just as the other was about to say something, Andy was already gone.
Once Joe got home that night, he immediately put Andy’s number into his phone. Maybe something would sprout out from that night, Joe didn’t know, but he hoped something would come out of it.