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A party. I’m at a rinky dink, sweaty, loud, dreadful, weed and drunk smelling party. A highschool one too. This run down place called a party is mostly filled with highschoolers that somehow have a GPA lower than 1, still graduate, and don’t give a shit about anything school related until they realize they need a scholarship or something other than a participation award.
How the hell did I end up here? Honestly I’m asking myself the same thing, but it’s also kinda my fault I’m in this predicament. My.. friend group.. convinced me, actually I think they bribed me, I don’t even remember, it’s probably the weed messing with my head.
“Noah, Noah, Noah,” Izzy repeatedly says in my ear while poking my cheek, clearly trying to get some reaction out of me.
I’m in a random corner, holding a red cup filled with probably spiked juice. My friends are trying to make me move from this spot. Yeah, no, not happening. They’ve clearly done enough by dragging me here in the first place.
“What.” I look up from the continents of my drink and look up to see unstable people I call my friends around me.
Owen, being the most stable one there, exclaims while nudging my ribs lightly, “C’mon buddy! We’re at a party! Live it up a little ay?”
“What the hell was the point in dragging your ass here if you aren’t gonna do anything?!” Eva’s glare starts to get more aggressive than it already is.
“Noah, pleaseeeeee!!” Izzy begs while quite literally being on her hands and knees, “You won’t get to see my awesome jump from the roof to the trampoline!” Mind you, the house is 4 stories, not sure how I ended up to be in a rich guys house. This is also one of her more tamer stunts.
“Look, I already fulfilled my social quota by showing up. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a corner to judge everyone from.” I say waving around the hand with the cup to signal them to go away.
They decided to finally give up, as they’ve been going at this for about 15 minutes. All of them have different dejected faces as they walk away, maybe I’d feel bad, but I would rather debate the nutritional value of sawdust than party with strangers.
Once they leave I immediately begin to focus on random people and say whatever comes to mind. And also because I don’t have anything better to do.
I land my eyes on Duncan, hard to miss him with that radioactive hair. He’s currently flirting with Courtney on the couch. You know, Duncan's got a heart of gold… buried somewhere under 37 layers of juvenile delinquency and hair gel.
Speaking of those two, watching Courtney and Duncan flirt is like watching a porcupine hug a cactus. Painful, confusing, and somehow they both seem into it.
I can’t stand to look at them for longer than a second so I land my eyes onto Tyler and Lindsay. They both showed up to the party with zero plans and even less awareness. Five minutes in, Tyler broke a lamp, Lindsay tried to dance with a coat rack, and somehow, I’m the one getting weird looks.
As I’m scanning the small crowd for a new person, a girl I genuinely almost mistaken as an eggplant catches my attention. She seems to be cornering this scrawny boy I’ve never seen in my life.
Okay, that’s a lie. He’s in my math class, his name is Cody, but I still barely know him. As for the girl, no idea. I’ve only seen her sneaking around, and now that I think about it, every corner where he’s at.
When I get out of my thoughts and look back at them, she’s still practically drooling over him, the lighting in the room making it look like she has hearts in her eyes. Unless you don’t have any emotional intelligence, you could clearly tell Cody is uncomfortable and is trying to escape.
I’m usually the “not my problem, solve it yourself” type of person, but at the girls height, she could just pick him up like a handbag and walk off.
No one else is seeing this and I don’t want to be a bystander to someone being on borderline sexually harassed. So my actions take over before my brain really decides what I’m doing and I place my cup down on the nearest counter and start walking over.
I managed to get over to the other side of the room while hopping over a few passed out bodies. I lean up against the wall with my shoulder. “Hey. Sorry to interrupt, Cody, right?” I say looking between the two of them.
“Uh… yeah?” While he has confusion on his face, in my peripheral I could see her, put her and Eva in a glare contest, who’s winning?
I pull an excuse out of my ass. “Yeah, your friend’s looking for you. Said something about a ride? Seemed important.”
“Wait. Who even are you?” She crosses her arms with a mix of “I want you dead” and “Who the hell is this guy” on her face. I notice she has a scrapbook and scissors in her hands. I don’t even want to imagine what she was gonna do.
“Noah. Anyway, I’ll lead you to your friend, cmon.” Clearly done with this conversation I tug on his sleeve (like a damn toddler, ew).
She blocks our path, trying to get Cody back. “We’re in the middle of a very important conversation.”
“Sure. Looked more like a hostage situation, but I won’t get into the details.”
“Wha- excusuh me?” The way she said excuse me made me want to punch her in the face and rip her scrapbook to shreds.
“Just saying. When a guy starts scanning the room like he’s looking for an emergency exit, it’s usually a cue.” I realize I’m still holding his sleeve a bit too long for my liking so I take a chance to let go and lightly shrug. “Anyway, Cody and I were about to head out, so if you’ll excuse us—“
“You don’t even know him.” Her arms still crossed as she squints at me.
“Yeah, and yet somehow I’m his favorite person in the room. Life’s weird like that.” I take his hand instead by accident, but before I could react I shove her out the way and walk towards the back door and go outside.
I hear her call out behind us, “This isn’t over!” Although I barely hear over the bass of the music.
We get on the porch. “Dude, I don’t even know what to say, you saved my life!”
“No problem, more importantly are you good?” I’m not sure why I’m still talking with this guy. I could’ve just said no problem and walked away. Just wanted to save him so it wouldn’t be on my conscious all night.
“Physically? Mostly. Mentally? I think I need six years of therapy and a restraining order.” He chuckles a bit, revealing his cute small tooth gap. “Man, I owe you one. She had this look in her eye, like she was about to propose or chloroform me. I'm not even sure which.”
“Probably both, it’s hard to tell with her. Every time she blinks, it’s a coin toss between "romantic gesture" and "federal offense."
“If we were in a buddy-cop movie, this would be the part where I say, "’You’re not so bad after all’.”
God he’s so corny, but kinda endearing. Never thought I’d say that about a stranger. “And I’d say, ‘Let’s never speak of this again’.”
“Aww, come on, admit it. You care.” He winks at me while shoving my shoulder. My face starts to feel hot, I’m sure it’s the humid air.
“I have.. no comment.” Cody looks off guard by that, expecting me to make another one of my remarks. We both just stare at each other for about 5 seconds before I bring the conversation back up.
“Wait, what do you mean ‘not as bad as you thought’?” One of my eyebrows raised.
“Oh! I wasn’t really.. I was just joking!” Must be bad with how quickly he defended himself.
“Calm down, I’m just joking. Let me guess, you see me has a quiet bookworm that only talks in witty remarks and doesn’t try at all but still gets good results.”
He stands there, mocking as if he’s actually thinking. “Word for word, actually.” He giggles a bit.
“Just promise me next time, if you see her coming with a wedding binder, you run. And scream. Preferably both.”
“Deal.” He pauses, “Hey, maybe we should team up more often. You know, brains and charm?” Team up in what? Maybe that’s his loser way of asking to be friends.
“Great idea. I’ll bring the brains. You.. figure out where you fit in.” I smirk, my poker face starting to slip.
“Hey!” His eyebrows furrowing despite his smile.
We decide to sit down on a log we found, looking at the people outside and talking about school. I just met the guy and suddenly I’m auditioning for ‘Best Friend: The Oversharing Edition.’ Or I’ve inhaled too much smoke and lost all brain function.
Cody’s rambling about a random game he found that’s “severely underrated” and it’s like if he talks about it to me it’ll miraculously become more popular.
I’m listening, kinda, it’s like a train going through one ear and out the other, but it’ll occasionally “choo choo”, as in some of his dialogue would slip in.
As I’m admiring observing his features, I notice his freckles, glistening in the light like glitter. His mouth and hands moving at incredible speed. His bangs moving around as he moves his head and his emerald eyes—
“BLEGAHHHHHH!” Izzy springs up from behind us in some type of camouflage costume— not even a costume, just patches of grass stuck to her, and a chainsaw. I’m not one to scream, but Jesus Christ did that scare me. As I recall my previous thoughts, I’m a bit glad she interrupted them. I’m officially losing it. Next thing you know, I’ll be writing poetry about his stupid smile.
Where did she get the chainsaw? Why does she have it? Where the hell are Owen and Eva? The ones who are supposed to be supervising her.
My last question gets answered as I see those two run up with somewhat relieved looks on their faces.
“Wow, I’m gone for 20 minutes and suddenly it's ‘Chainsaw Apocalypse: The Izzy Cut.’ Should I even ask?”
“She said she just wanted to "borrow" a few squirrels, that didn’t sound dangerous!” Owen explains as he’s catching his breath from seemingly running around the whole perimeter.
“I looked away for two seconds to crack my knuckles and she was GONE. Like a ninja. A loud, redheaded, unhinged ninja.”
“In your defense, she is basically an over-caffeinated cryptid. But still—one job, people. ‘Watch Izzy.’ Not ‘Let Izzy declare war on wildlife’."
My mind snaps back to Cody and I look over at him. He’s currently on the ground while clutching his heart, looking between all of us as if aliens just landed and we’re the reason for it.
“Who is this wimp?” Eva says with the natural aggression in her voice, eyeing him up and down in a disapproving way.
“Heeyyyy! Don’t be so mean Eva!” Izzy hops over to Eva and wraps an arm around her shoulder, the other hand holding the chainsaw. When she fully reveals herself her outfit is complete with a few dead squirrels tied to her belt, not sure you needed a whole chainsaw. “Our little Noah Woaha made a new friennnnndd.” She teases me, not bothering to hide her giggling.
Before I could fire back Owen interrupts, “Yeah who is this guy? Is he a new edition to the club?” He excitedly exclaims as he helps him up.
“Okay, first of all, don’t call us a ‘club’ ever again. And two, I kinda just met him.”
Cody’s dusting dirt off of himself and gets a good look at all of us. “Wait.. you!” He points at Izzy, “Aren’t you the girl that made a 7 foot tall volcano with soda, Mentos, glitter, and hot sauce for the schools science fair?”
What. Not even I knew that one.
“You forgot the part where it erupted and I rode the wave with my skateboard! AND high fived the janitor mid ride! Don’t worry, he LOVES me!” She demonstrated all of that with a big grin on her already ecstatic face.
You can tell on Cody’s face he’s definitely amused but also weirded out, that’s everyone’s impression on Izzy, and it never changes.
You think she’s done, but she just keeps on talking. “Ya know, Noah doesn’t make a lot of friends,” She mutters as she circles Cody. “How’d you do it? It took us a bit for him to even talk about his school life!” Was she eavesdropping? How long was she behind us..
“Yeah, well, Cody doesn’t greet me by zip-lining into my personal space screaming ‘TRUST FALL!’ without warning.”
“There doesn’t NEED to be a warning! It’s a trust fall for a reason!”
Me and Izzy glare at each other before Cody speaks up, “Hey, hey, let’s all just take a deep breath and remember: trust falls are about building trust, not triggering cardiac arrest. Izzy, maybe next time try, like, a wave? And Noah… maybe consider installing a net?”
Izzy breaks from the glare first, “Hey.. you’re quite the peace maker.”
“We definitely need one of those in this godforsaken friend group.” Eva mutters after being quiet for a bit. Everyone silently agrees while Cody just stands there awkwardly.
“Don’t act like you don’t love us!” Owen waddles over to Eva and before she could escape he wraps her up in one of his massive rib crushing hugs.
Izzy removes herself from Cody and those three start doing their own thing. Wow, this is quite the trio. Owen’s a walking buffet, Eva’s an anger management dropout, and Izzy... well, I’m not sure if she escaped from a zoo or a science experiment. Either way, I'm surrounded by chaos, carbs, and concussion risks.
I’ve decided I was done with this once Owen and Eva arrived. Seeing them distracted, me and Cody silently agree to get the hell out of this deranged place.
We quietly slip away and start walking on the sidewalk. I for some reason feel compelled to.. apologize? What’s next, hugs? Everything is dissing my dignity tonight.
I guess I’m zoning out, because Cody’s voice infiltrates my mind. “You good, man? Looks like you have something on your mind.”
God, can’t believe I’m actually about to apologize for something that isn’t even my fault. This guy is making me do things I thought I’d rather kill myself over.
“It’s nothing.” I pause, really contemplating what I’m about to say. “Sorry, I guess? I feel like I dragged you into whatever mess that was. I mean, I didn’t invent the chaos trio, I just happen to sit near them.”
It goes quiet, and I dare to turn my head in his direction. His eyebrows are lifted in disbelief and his mouth turns into an o shape.
I immediately regret my decision. “Ugh. That was way too sincere. Forget I said anything. Let’s just pretend I tripped and fell into emotional vulnerability, okay? It won’t happen again. Probably.”
“Wow. So you do have a heart. I mean, it’s probably small and heavily guarded by sarcasm and book references, but… it’s in there.” His crooked smile starts to form again, “And no, I’m not letting you take it back. That was, like, a once in a lifetime moment. I’m framing it in my brain forever. You can sulk about it all you want.”
His face turns into some from of bashfulness. “Honestly, I wouldn’t mind. I used to hang out with my band, but—”
“Wait, you’re in a band? Like, with instruments? And people? That play music?”
“Yep! Well, I was..”
“Oh?”
“We kinda.. broke up.”
“Okay, you’re making it sound like you all were in a polycule.” I smirk a bit, this conversation sounds like it’s going into more emotional territory, and I am NOT the best in that department.
He chuckles and shakes his head, but his smile quickly fades and goes silent.
As much as I don’t want to be stuck in a position where I have to comfort someone, I’m curious about his band. “So.. What happened? If you wanna talk about it.”
“I think... I ruined it. I kept pushing my ideas, changing stuff during practice without talking to anyone. I thought I was helping, making things better. But they said I wasn’t listening. That I was taking over.” He kicks a rock into the darkness of the night. “Now we’re not even talking. Three years down the drain.”
“Yikes..” What type of response was that?
“I really thought we had something. We weren’t famous or anything, but we clicked. Or at least we did.”
A few beats of silence pass by, I’m trying to collect the best piece of advice I could give right now. “Look, I don’t pretend to be a band expert, or a people expert, for that matter. But you cared enough to lead, that’s not nothing. You just forgot to lead with them instead of over them. It happens. Creative people are messy. Trust me, I’ve read their biographies.”
He picks his head and eyes up from the ground and looks at me with a hopeful look in his pretty eyes. “You think it’s fixable?”
“Maybe. Might take time. Or an apology that doesn’t sound like a TED Talk.”
“What if it doesn’t work?” He side eyes me, dejected.
“You start again. Smarter this time.”
I see his smile come back again. “Thanks, man.”
My heart flutters for no goddamn reason.“Yeah, yeah. Don’t make it weird.”