Chapter Text
A party. You were at a party. Loud speakers blasted some obnoxious, generic pop music, and lights were flashing everywhere. It was… overstimulating, to say the least. But you wanted to try. After all, you are only a ‘rebellious teen’ once, and you’re running out of time.
That’s what your parents said, anyway. They were the ones who had encouraged you to go, because your senior year of school was almost out and you… hadn’t made any friends. They figured it would be a good experience for you, and you might actually get out of the house this summer, rather than studying 24/7.
It’s not like you needed it. You were close to the top of your class and you took many advanced courses. It was really just a distraction. A distraction from the fact you were ostracized by your peers. You don’t really know what you did, but kids and teens can smell when there’s something different or ‘wrong’ about you.
So there you were. Alone at a party, holding a red solo cup full of punch. Glancing around to see if there was anyone to talk to was unhelpful, in part due to the fact you could barely hear anyone if you tried, and the disappointing truth that everyone was seeming paired up or with a group already. It was disheartening. Your ‘big break’ was a flop. Maybe it was time to go-?
On your way of dodging and weaving between the many dancing (and possibly drunk) teens to the exit, a smaller girl, possibly younger than you, pushes past you, an androgynous looking person around your age in tow. Not willingly, it looks like, as they were being dragged by the sleeves.
“Uuu, come on, Seth!! It’ll be fun, swearsies!”
“Aqua, I’m not so sure that this is a good idea-“
“Come onnnnn, you can’t spend everyday reading! Doesn’t that get boring after a while?!”
At that, the person around your age, who was apparently named Seth, wrestled their sleeve free from the girl and pushed their glasses back up onto their nose. Aqua huffed in response, pouting.
“Fine! If you wanna go home and be a nerd it’ll not be my problem!”
“That’s not what I- you know what! Fine yourself! I’ll see you at home!”
Seth turns to hurriedly walk out, clutching what appears to be a book (or maybe a journal? You can’t quite tell.) close to their chest, but because they were throwing retorts back at Aqua, they bump right into you. You yelp as your cup of punch splashes onto both of you, clattering to the floor and staining your nice pink top a deeper shade of red. Fortunately, hardly anything of Seth’s is light enough to change color other than their previously white shoes (red, now. Oops.) but that doesn’t stop the damage to the book.
“I- I can’t believe you! My book-… You’re gonna have to help restore these pages-!” They scowl up at you, their glasses reflecting the party’s lights into your eyes.
“It’s not really my fault you bumped into me!! My shirt is ruined-…“ You shoot back, at which they survey the damages on the aforementioned clothing, the scowl fading into as they avert their eyes.
“…Sorry,” They mumble, “Why don’t we work this out outside? I can hardly hear you here.” You give a nod, following them to the exit, solo cup forgotten on the floor.
The cool evening breeze hits you as soon as you step outside, making your wet shirt even more of a nuisance.
“Uhh. I was planning on staying there with my sister longer, and we… walked there. So. I don’t really have a place for us to talk, necessarily.” Seth sighs.
“Oh- my car is right over here.”
You give a gesture. Seth nods, readjusting their glasses once again. You fumble with your keys, unlocking the doors and sitting in the driver's seat, with Seth sitting shotgun.
“I don’t have a lot of knowledge about getting stains out of clothes, or shoes for that matter. But-… I think I can help with the book situation. I’ve spilled juice on my textbooks before and fixed ‘em right up.” You offer.
“I… can actually help with that one. Aqua and Orange would pretty frequently make messes when they were younger, so I’ve gotten used to cleaning stuff up-. Oh fiddlesticks, I haven’t introduced myself yet have I? Seedlings and sprouts, this entire interaction isn’t going my way. I’m Seth.”
They offer a hand, which has a slight residue of punch from gripping the book so tightly. Not wanting to be rude, you take it and give it a firm shake, saying your name in turn.
“Uhh, here. If we exchange numbers we can meet up sometime tomorrow and return each other’s stuff, deal? Luckily this is only my outer button-up that got the main blast, so I think my undershirt is relatively alright…”
Seth nods again, quickly scrawling their number onto a scrap of paper in their pocket whilst you undo a few buttons, then shimmy out of the top, not bothering with the rest. It’s true, since your undershirt is already a darker red, the punch did nothing to stain it. You hand them the button-up, which they exchange with their now sticky book.
“…I can drive you home if you’d like-. Or, uh, if you wanna stick around and wait for your sister that’s all cool too.” You give a slight smile and thumbs up, trying to come off less nervous than you were.
“Thanks. I suppose I’ll take the free ride.” They murmur, returning the smile. Their glasses unfortunately find a way to slide down their nose again, and they groan, pushing them back up. The habit was admittedly cute, and you chuckle quietly as you hand them your car’s GPS so they can punch in their address.
A quiet car ride later, and you’re saying bye to Seth for the night. It was… nice. To have an acquaintance who was so similar to you, at least on the base surface level. When you got home, you popped the book in the freezer so it’d be easier to separate the pages in the morning. That night, before sleep caught you, you thought about that strange purple flower.