Boy

EIGHT

One try.

Daniel is giving the whole happiness thing one last try, and if it doesn't work, well, then maybe dying will.

He looks at himself again in the mirror. His parents are asleep - the previous night he took his fathers beige dress pants and black button-up shirt, beforehand. If he gets caught sneaking out, and especially with what he's now wearing, he'll definitely be in trouble - but he doesn't care. What does it matter?

He runs a hand through his brown hair and tugs at his clothing. He feels like a boy, a relatively good-looking one at that, and it brings on a sense of much-needed happiness. He flashes a smile to the mirror and it smiles back at him.

Daniel turns away and walks out of his room, upstairs and grabs his phone. After sliding it in his pocket, he's sure to be very quiet as he walks through the front door and gently shuts it behind him.

When he gets to the party, he sees Liam standing in front of the house. Ryan Cross' house is a huge brick house - the guys family is rich, and he's one of the most popular guys at school, so of course the front lawn and the insides of the house are littered with people, probably all intoxicated in one way or another.

Liam waves to Daniel as he walks up. "Hey," he says, smiling.

"Hi," Daniel responds. Liam leads him into the house, which is filled with blasting pop music and dancing, drunk people. Some stand off to the side, talking; though Daniel can barely hear anything over the collective mess of voices and song.

And what's worse is the crowd. If the mansion is huge, it's not big enough to contain everybody, because the rooms are crowded. Nobody seems to care about the space, though, whereas Daniel feels crushed between all the other human bodies making the room too hot and too small.

Eventually, Liam leads him to a couch, where they sit down. They kind of just sit in silence, and Daniel is left to stare at the couch as if it's the most interesting thing in the world.

Eventually, Liam talks. "Do you want a drink?"

Daniel knows he shouldn't, but he nods his head anyways. "Yeah, thanks."

And Liam stands up and walks away.

Daniel sits there quietly, looking around. More than anything he sees couples, either making out in a dark corner of dancing in the centre of the room or casually chatting around the outskirts of the area. He begins to wish he was in a relationship, and then he begins to think about Alex, and once his mind gets started on the blue haired boy he can't stop thinking about him.

He shakes his head ever so slightly, trying to clear things up. His gaze kind of fades out, and after a while, he's genuinely scared when he hears Liam's voice.

He jumps when he speaks. "Here."

Eventually, Daniel realizes he's holding out a drink in a red plastic cup, and he takes it. He brings it to his nose, sniffing it, raising his eyebrows and blinking when a tangy, sour smell hits his nose. "What's in this?"

"Whiskey and Pepsi."

Daniel hesitates, but nods and brings the rim of the cup to his bottom lip, tilting it up only slightly to allow the tangy liquid to pour into his mouth. The alcohol tastes.. odd, but the pop does it's job and lessens the taste a little so it's manageable.

His mouth kind of burns, and his throat feels odd when he swallows it, but after his second sip he's used to it.

His thoughts begin to straighten out and his head clouds up a little. Daniel knows after about three sips already that he's drinking it too fast, but he feels like he needs the alcohol, because miraculously it's making him feel better. Happier.