sugar, we're going down

Four // XO

Charlie had tried on every single dress, skirt, and pair of shorts in her wardrobe. Nothing seemed right. This party was like a jar of honey to the popular flies; everyone worth knowing was going. She had to look her best whilst also not seeming to give a fuck.
Maybe she should just go back to bed.
No, she had to try. She had given a second chance away, which was not something she did often.
She grabbed the closest item of clothing to her; which just so happened to be a world's shortest black dress.
"Oh sweet Jesus." She whispered to herself. "I haven't shaved that far up."

|-/

Thankfully, she managed to resolve this issue by wearing a pair of thigh-high, five-inch-heel hooker boots that made her look like the lovechild of Baby Spice and Madonna.
It was a great look.
She carefully tousled her specially-straightened, shoulder length black hair and pouted in the mirror.
"You're gonna fucking kill it, sugar." She struck a pose, and added a half-hearted, "Yasss."
Now, she thought, how the fuck do I walk in these things without dying?

//---//

Sebastian was seriously considering calling the night off, maybe say he was sick. He had this great plan, the one were he was going to make the fact that he and Charlie were maybe-dating public. He just wasn't sure that he'd be able to deal with the fallout. All his friends would be there: and they had bore witness to the fact that Seb had said some truly terrible things to Charlie.
You don't deserve to be alive. You're disgusting. You should be nailed to a cross and left for dead.
What had he done to deserve Charlie? Charlie was beautiful, brave, and not afraid to be who she was. He had seen the letters that had been sent to her; the ones that said some horrific things.
I want to chew chunks of your face into mush and use it as lube.
If he had been in that situation, he would've thrown the skirts away and stuck to jeans for the rest of his life. But she didn't; and Seb really had to admire that.
So he had to be as brave as Charlie. He was going to kiss her. In front of everyone. And he was going to ask her out. In front of everyone. He may not have been Charlie, but he was no coward: this was going to happen. Tonight. Definitely.
Oh god. He thought to himself, cradling his head in his hands. This was not going to be fun.

//---//

Everything within a hundred-metre radius of Jennifer Li's huge house seemed to be pulsing with the beat of the music. Red, blue, and white lights flashed from the windows; and the house was crammed with people, most of whom seemed to be many, many years the couple's seniors. Charlie had a very bad feeling about this; something told her it wasn't going to go well.

"Woah..." She whispered, feeling totally out of her depth. It honestly felt like she was treading water in the Atlantic Ocean. She bit her lip nervously, feeling sick. This was the first time she'd ever gone into a place full of people from in school, dressed as... well, herself. As herself as she could get in hooker boots and a dress that barely covered her ass, that is.

"You ready?" Seb asked, doing his best to smile encouragingly at her.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Charlie replied, staring at the house and doing her best to not be sick.

"Then let's go!" Seb grinned, his body a torrent of nerves, excitement, and the energy that the party seemed to be radiating.
Charlie hesitated for half a second, waiting for Seb to ask her what was wrong.
He didn't.

|-/

Jennifer had cleared a huge space in her dining room for a makeshift dance floor. Music blared, loud and heavy, above all the shouts of people packed shoulder to shoulder and jumping to the beat. The kitchen seemed quieter, but was packed with booze: cans of beer, larger, bottles of Jack Daniel's, and vodka lined the counters. In the spacious living room, the film Labyrinth played silently, while groups of boys and girls steadily got stoned, watching David Bowie light up the room like the God of too-tight-trousers-for-a-kid's-film.
Sebastian led Charlie onto the 'dance floor', holding her hands and doing all he could to get her to loosen up. Placing his hands on her hips, he carefully pulled her closer.
Closer.
Closer.
Soon they were almost bumping noses. As the music blared on, Charlie started smiling. Was this about to be the ending she always wanted? Seb yelled something, but she couldn't hear him over the throbbing beat, so she nodded and shouted, 'yeah!' back.
Sebastian Evans closed his eyes, and leaned closer still, tilting his head to the left, his lips puckered so perfectly they should've been an advert for Valentine's Day.
An entire chorus seemed to be screaming 'YES!' in Charlie's head. As she leaned into kiss him back, she could've sworn she saw a glimpse of Seb's Mikey. No, she quickly dismissed the thought. Everyone's saying that he's in hospital. It can't be him.
Can it?

But then time stopped.
The sun exploded.
The music faded into far away into the distance.
Charlie's lips brushed Seb's. He tasted like mint and alcohol. Seb kissed her harder, until they were movie-style kissing.
Charlie Wright was kissing Sebastian Evans.
And nothing had ever felt better.

Seb pulled back, and yelled in her ear over the music;
"Be my girlfriend?"
Charlie felt like her chest might explode in the best way possible. She nodded frantically, hoping to get her message across.
Sebastian's face lit up in what can only be described as pure joy.
Their lips met again, proving that someone could feel better than their last kiss.
With any luck, there would be many more to come.

A/N: this is it, the last chapter! I'm really gonna miss Charlie and Seb. They've been great fun to write and play about with (that sounds weird) and this is my first ever short story, for it to be fairly well received means a lot! I've got another side project lined up to go with my next big fic (prologue to that should be here in a day or two!). Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!
xo Charlie

Playlist!
Sugar, We're Goin Down - Fall Out Boy
But It's Better If You Do - Panic! At The Disco
Keep Your Head Up - Ben Howard
Sophomore Slump Or Comeback Of The Year