FicWad

Hands in her pockets, she walked to the source of noise, the beat of some song drifting on the night air. It offered her directions of sorts, allowing her to find the party. She was never good with actual directions anyway.

She had been invited to the party by a friend. She knew she wouldn't really know anyone there but really, she didn't care much.

She was craving a drink. It was nagging at her insides.

*

Some two hours later we find our protagonist, sitting in a corner, quite drunk. The music was hurting her head, her bottle was very nearly empty and she could have done with some fresh air. But she couldn't really be bothered at this moment.

She watched people dance. Others laughing, smoking, some sneaking into empty bedrooms, gripping a partner by the hand or arm. She observed all these things, not really processing anything, not caring that she had been alone the whole time she'd been there.

She tended to become even more quiet when alcohol crawled it's way through her veins. She often felt as if she receded into herself further, shutting out everything. She only resurfaced when she had to, perhaps when someone decided to talk to her, or if a friend popped out of nowhere.

In many ways, alcohol allowed her an ever better armour than anything she could have ever thought of.

She shook the last dregs of her drink, holding it up to the light. “Thank you,” she murmured to it, giving it a small smile.

Someone plonked into the space next to her. “Still talking to objects, I see.”

She turned, finding the familiar shy grin of Mikey's.

“Hey, Mikey,” she replied, trying her very best to come up out of herself. She allowed a small smile, returning her gaze to her little bottle. “Guess you were invited too, huh?”

“Well...if jumping the fence and sneaking in is your idea of 'invited' then yeah, we sure were invited.”

She giggled. “I s'pose you need to find some way of getting yourself a social life.” She smiled at him again. “So who else is here with you?”

“Gerard and Frank.. Ray didn't want to tag along this time.”

And sure enough there was Gerard, lit smoke in hand, talking to a girl. Oh and was that Frank, disappearing into a room with some poor girl?

“What a sleazebag,” she muttered. She drained her drink.

“Hey, do you want to go outside? All the smoke in here...” Mikey rasped, looking uncomfortable.

“Of course.” She got up, grabbing his arm and hoisting him up.

As they were walking by the very door Frank had just disappeared into, the girl came bursting out, looking awfully ruffled. And angry.

“Fucking douchebag,” she muttered, storming past them.

Kaye swayed a little.

Mikey steadied her, looking concerned. “You okay?”

She focused on his face, trying to make the room stop spinning.
“Yeah, I'm fine.” She grabbed his arm again, heading for the night outside. “Come on. We do not need you to have an asthma attack. I wouldn't know what the hell to do if that happened.”

*

Mikey and Kaye decided to stay outside. They dragged some lawn chairs out into the backyard. Kaye had dashed back inside earlier, grabbing a few bottles for Mikey and her to share.

They stared upwards at the night sky, little wisps of clouds partially obscuring the stars and the crescent moon.

Just as Mikey was about to say something, Frank appeared out of nowhere and dropped himself into Mikey's lap.

“Oww! Get the hell off me, Frank!” Mikey yelled.

“Mmph. But there's nowhere else to sit.” Frank grinned.

“Grab another chair or something! Geez. You're seriously hurting me!”

“Fine, fine,” Frank said, getting up and disappearing to find another chair.

“You okay, Mikey?” Kaye asked, unable to suppress a little giggle.

Mikey allowed her a pained smile.

Frank returned, plonking a chair beside Kaye's.

Kaye stared up at him in disbelief. “Out of this entire backyard you have to choose to sit next to me??”

“Shut it, Kaye,” he muttered, trying to light himself a cigarette.

"So I guess you're done scaring the girls at this party with the baby carrot thing you try to pass off as a penis?” Kaye asked sweetly.

He stared at her. “You're just jealous. You dig this body of mine.” He smirked at her.

She raised her eyebrow. “Oh indeed. What wouldn't I do for a scrawny midget like you.”

He laughed. “You're shorter than me, shrimp.”

She opened her mouth to retaliate but Mikey cut her short. “Don't, Kaye.”

She slumped back into her seat, taking a swig of beer. “Whatever,” she muttered.

They heard someone approaching.

“Hey guys.” It was Gerard.

“Hey,” they all said in unison.

“Enjoying the party, Way?” Frank asked.

Gerard grinned. “Yeah. Got this girl's number.” He held up a slip of paper.

“Hey, move over Kaye.” Gerard nudged her foot with his.

“Mmk.” She moved over a bit. Gerard squeezed in next to her.

Frank regarded all this with seeming indifference.

“What are you staring at?” Kaye shot at him.

In response Frank blew a plume of smoke at her.

“Stop picking on eachother,” Gerard said, sounding tired. He lit himself a cigarette.

“Can I?” Kaye asked.

Gerard laughed. “You always hate it, Kaye.”

She shrugged. He passed it over.

She took a drag, giving it back to Gerard.

She made a face, making Gerard laugh again. He ruffled her hair affectionately.

Frank rolled his eyes.

Conversation started again, while Kaye went quiet, taking small sips of her drink. Her eyes strayed and she found herself staring at Frank.

All of a sudden the dream came back to her. Looking at him made her feel nervous, jittery.

“Uhm. I think I'm going to get going.” She made up some excuse about homework, trying to pull herself up, the alcohol making her feel sluggish.

She hurried out of there, feeling weirded out.