Paper Hearts [Brallon-ish]

217 days

Pete had stupidly decided it was a good idea to wake me up by whipping the blankets off my bed and sliding my pillow out from underneath my head. Yeah, it woke me up but it wasn't a good way to do it in my opinion.

"Jacuzzi in 15," he yelled next to my face and tucked a cigarette behind his right ear. "Brendon's gonna be there." He singsonged and left the room, drumming his fingers against the countertops so loud I could hear it in the bathroom as I took a short shower as quick as I could without bumping the shower head or slipping on the tile. Surprisingly that happened a lot more than I'd expected because the nozzle was set too low and only dripped water at the rate of a broken leaky garden hose.

Pete was waiting for me in the sad excuse of a living room, staring at me while I pulled a shirt over my head and attempted to ruffle my hair so it was messy but not after sex messy because that would probably give off some bad messages for first impressions. For some reason, he seemed like an early riser, which would probably be good for my schedule considering once I slept for 3 days straight.

"Just follow my lead and I sincerely hope that you can run as fast as you look like you can." Pete snickered mischievously and shoved the half empty box of cigarettes into his back pocket. "Also don't forget to use your glutes."

I followed him out of the dorm in a fast paced walk and as soon as we'd stepped foot off the pathway leading to the entrance doors, he took off like he was running for the Olympics, sprinting for the gold medal with 3 opponents each 3 steps away. He was much quicker than I expected too, or maybe I was more uncoordinated than I'd thought because I missed nearly all the stones he'd hopped on to cross the river and each branch he wove around through a small patch of trees. And I wondered if all of this was the smartest decision, because for years I'd been told I have a future and that I would be amazing in college. The only reason that happened was having like 1 friend meant I could focus more on school instead of all the gossip hanging in the air, and thankfully it was never about me.

"Nobody knows about the jacuzzi, so you can't get caught!" He laughed over his shoulder, impressively not out of breath.

As we got closer, I heard people laughing and obnoxiously yelling profanities and once again, I wondered if I'd associated myself with the right crowd. Pete had already smoked half a pack of cigarettes in like 10 hours and I was sure you'd die eventually from all of that one way or another, and on top of that he'd used my money to pay for it.

"Ohh shit, the meme is here!" Someone called out into the woods, and I had the weird feeling I was about to be murdered.

"Bleach blonde meme - oh yay bleach blonde meme!" A short guy with fluffy hair and a fedora he somehow made look amazing, had his arms up like a goalpost when Pete stepped out of the bushes with me in tow. I felt out of place already, but at least I wasn't about to die.

Gathered around a small hole in the ground that was just large enough for everyone to stick their feet in, was only one person. Including me and Pete, it was 3, and the guy with the hat made it 4, but 4 seemed like a sad number with no explanation as to why. Brendon sat off to the side, sprawled out on his back across an oddly placed cement platform and holding a bottle in one hand and guarding 2 more with the other. It took me a second to realize the jacuzzi was literally a jacuzzi without the water in it, which was quite saddening considering I'd thought they'd have tried to fill it by now. The blue plastic chairs attached  to a desk with smudged metal rods looked like they'd been stolen from a class room as a compensation for the lack of bubbles.

"The guy with the hat is Patrick, that guy over there is Ryan. Then there's Brendon over there. If you try to take any of those beer bottles, he'll sucker punch  you." Pete patted my chest twice reassuringly and bounced off to the empty jacuzzi tub.