Five's a Crowd

Chapter Six

“The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in. Few people dare now to say that two beings have fallen in love because they have looked at each other. Yet it is in this way that love begins, and in this way only.”

—      Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

Rory wanted to knock on the door of Stratford Sebastian’s mansion but with the entire sponsor’s staff milling in and out of the house, he didn’t bother. His own house was often used for house parties, and he knew what kind of house people liked to be in. But from just looking at the exterior elegance, his own nerves shot up tenfold. This party was going to be gigantic. And it was starting in two hours.

He first made his way into the go-go dancers’ makeshift dressing room, which he guessed was much nicer than the rooms they were usually used to. All the girls were there, playing a game of Call of Duty. He didn’t hold his befuddled look for long because he was already being asked who he was for this party by some of the staff.

Along with several shy questions about if he was the DJ Rory Mathias, and much awe from hipster passersby, he finally made his way into the gigantic main room that he would be using. There was a stage with gigantic expensive speakers on either side and a stand setup for all his DJ-ing needs, along with a place to put his computer. Rory immediately began checking spacing for the dance number, making sure that all the girls would be able to look amazing for all the spectators when the time came. Only after he was absolutely sure, Rory began to plug in everything for his most anticipated job, DJ-ing. Rory was playing around with one of the harder songs when a familiar face walked in.

A very self-assured Stratford walked in, obviously pleased to see Rory. He returned a small grimace while he kept at his work.

“This is your birthday Stratford. You shouldn’t have to be checking up on everyone else.”

“Ich weiss. Ich kann mir nicht helfen,” Stratford replied in slow labored German, explaining that he couldn’t help himself.

“You don’t have to explain yourself in my language to help me understand. I’m a perfectionist. I already understand.”

Stratford smiled. “Very well. Feel free to enjoy the party once it gets going if you like. There are plenty of women to go around.”

“I suppose there are,” Rory replied biting his lip. Before he could even continue, Stratford was gone.

When the clock struck nine, Rory decided to play some well-known dance songs for all the kids that were going to get to the party on time. He was sure all the people he knew and hung out with wouldn’t be there till at least ten, and he would be surprised if the popular kids got there before eleven, even if it was Stratford’s party.

One of the first people to walk into the ballroom, besides a group of tiny sophomore girls that were giggling in a back corner because they were already drunk, was Torin’s English partner. He had called him Christian earlier today, but after hearing his name called out by their Math substitute, he knew his name was Christopher. He also knew that Christopher must have been sweating bullets just to come to this party after all the time he had been made fun of. Thinking back to Rory’s own past, he evoked a bit of sympathy and motioned the lost-looking boy to come over to the DJ booth.

“Hey, Cicero,” he said, now purposely getting his name wrong. “These kind of parties never really start on time.”

“Oh,” he said over the music. “I guess I’ll just go-”

“No worries man,” Rory interrupted. “Go a couple doors down; you can hang out with all the gogo dancers until people start to show. Just look for Stephanie. I’ll text her and let her know you’re coming.”