𝟭𝟴
art of starting fights
Carson had sharpies cat whiskers on his face, all completed with a snout drawn on his nose and a generous spread of freckles over his cheeks.
He shouldn't have looked intimidating after Trinity had finished turning him into a cute little kitty cat– Sarah's words, not hers– but he was just that. Intimidating. As hell.
"Trinity, I dare you to kiss the person you're most attracted to here at this party." He challenged her with as if he knew exactly who the person she would choose to kiss was going to be.
The girls only had one last dare cup remaining on their end of the beer pong table. If Trinity did the dare, they could still be in the game until the boys got the ball into the same cup again in another round.
"I mean, you don't have to do it." Sarah let Trinity know, but there was a strain in her voice and Trinity knew it was because the Cameron girl didn't want to lose the game to her ex-boyfriend who was standing besides Carson with a huge dick sharpied onto his face– Sarah's doing, not hers.
"We lose if I don't do it." Trinity brought herself up to acknowledge out loud. "I'm gonna do it."
"Attagirl." Sarah's arms loosened around her frame as she stepped away to give Trinity the space she needed to walk over to Carson. But it wasn't Carson she ended up going to.
"Sarah?" Trinity turned to face her beer pong partner. "Can I kiss you?"
Sarah's mouth fell open while her eyes glimmered with an excited shock. Her surprise was quick to morph into a shit-eating grin as she opened her arms in a welcoming manner.
"Yes, bitch, of course you can– c'mere!"
The spectating crowd went crazy as the two girls shared a short, chaste kiss. Sarah completed the theatrics with a loud 'mwah!' and when the girls released each other and turned back to the boys, Carson was chuckling with his mouth agape while Topper was scowling.
"The person you're most attracted to is Sarah?" He narrowed his eyes over at Trinity. "That's a lie."
"Oh, but you don't know that." The Shoupe girl shook her head teasingly while Sarah giggled next to her.
"We're back in the game, baby! Let's keep playing." She announced, picking up the ping pong ball out of their cup. She made it into the boys' last dare cup and smiled victoriously to herself. "Alright, alright, it's your turn now, Carson. I dare you to kiss the the person you're most attracted to here at this party."
There was a bunch of 'ooh''s that coursed from the crowd as Carson smirked to himself, a breath of amusement leaving him.
"Don't get shy now, Carson." Trinity found some unknowing confidence to taunt him with, making Sarah laugh from besides her while Carson's eyes shot up to find hers.
"Alright, come here then." He nodded his head to the side, beckoning Trinity over to him. Sarah grasped at Trinity's arm and squealed while the Shoupe girl herself froze up, heart pounding erratically in her chest as she tried to remember how to breathe and think properly.
"Go!" Sarah encouraged her, shaking her a bit as the crowd's continued loud reaction to Carson's words drowned in her ears. "You got him to admit he likes you first! You freaking win, Trin!"
Trinity started forward on her feet and Carson left his side of the table too so he could meet her halfway. She was ready to melt into a puddle of nervousness, but she forced herself to let the alcohol pumping in her veins to take over so that she could keep her chin held high as she neared Carson.
At the front of Kelce's house, John B, JJ, and Kiara finally arrived at the party and didn't know where to start looking for Trinity and Ellie in the giant manor-like home they'd found themselves in. To their luck, Eleanor Routledge came stumbling over to the Pogue trio.
"I can't believe you guys are here!" She cried and JJ could tell she was tipsy since she didn't even look mad to see that he and her brother had crashed the party. She even looked a bit . . . relieved?
"Why are you roaming around by yourself drunk?" John B scowled down at his sister, gathering her in his arms before a passing-by party-goer could knock into her.
"Yeah, where's Trinity?" Kiara asked from besides John B.
"John B, you've gotta help her." Ellie gripped onto the front of her brother's shirt tightly and something sunk in JJ's chest when he saw the franticness wash over the Routledge girl's face.
"Help her? Why? Is she in trouble? Where is she?" He quickly stepped up to Ellie and bombarded her with questions. The girl just shot JJ a helpless look before turning back to John B.
"She's playing beer pong– she's playing beer pong right over there with Sarah and . . . and . . . John B, she's playing against Carson."
Something snapped in John B's composure and he urgently handed Ellie over to Kiara.
"Watch her." He demanded before starting forward with a vigor that confused JJ.
"What the hell was that about?" He voiced his confusion out loud with a frown.
"JJ, go after him and make sure things don't get too out of hand." Ellie tugged on the sleeve of JJ's shirt to get his attention.
"I don't understand . . ."
"Just go, JJ." Kie also urged him and JJ gave in with a sigh, following after John B in a hurry in order to catch up with him. He made it just in time to see Trinity and a half-naked Carson Kheelaghan standing in front of each other– standing too close in front of each other, like they were about to kiss. But John B was already on Carson, grabbing at the back of the boy's shoulders aggressively and yanking him away from Trinity.
"You have some fucking nerve, Kheelaghan!" John B growled as he his arms wrapped around Carson's neck.
A surprised commotion broke out across the crowd surrounding the two while JJ rushed over to stop John B from roughing the Kheelaghan boy too much.
"Woah! John B, take it easy!" He hugged John B from behind and pulled him away from Carson until the two became separated. "Relax, okay? He's not near her anymore– he's not near her anymore!"
Carson looked furious as he rubbed at his neck.
"Dude, relax, I got him, okay?" JJ rose a hand between him and Carson to keep him from coming at John B. He then shot a look over his shoulder to find Trinity watching the scene unfold out before her with wild, horrified eyes and her mouth hanging open. "You okay, Shoupe?"
"I'm fine!" She spluttered.
"John B?" Sarah's voice inquired from somewhere behind Trinity. "JJ?"
"What the hell are you Pogues doing here!" Topper's voiced boomed over.
"Yeah, we're leaving, champ. Just give us a minute to– John B–! Jesus, I told you to relax!" JJ had to tighten his arms around the Routledge boy again when he felt him struggle vigorously against him, aching to lurch out at Carson again.
"Get the fuck outta my house, you filthy Pogues!" Kelce had made it over to the commotion and his demand was followed by supporting booing from the crowd around them.
"Yeah, I said we're leaving, didn't I?" Anger bit into JJ's voice as he let go of John B after being sure that the boy would control himself. "Some fucking party anyways– no wonder a bunch of you always make it down to our keggers. Only Pogues know how to throw a real rager." He sneered. "Common, Trin. Don't waste your time here. None of these assholes deserve you." He extended a hand out to Trinity while glaring over at Carson who was glaring at him right back.
It was weird for JJ to feel so much animosity towards a guy he used to be close friends with, but he couldn't just ignore the bitter taste that rose to his mouth when he saw a shirtless Carson standing so close to Trinity, about to take advantage of her in front of so many people.
He also couldn't ignore the way his best friend had tried to nearly choke the guy– there had to be a reason for that.
JJ almost forgot that he'd held out a hand for Trinity to take until he felt a warm hand slip into his. His anger dissipated as he turned to look at the Shoupe girl who still looked thrown off by all the madness that'd suddenly broke out before her. Hoping to ease her discomfort, JJ curled his fingers around hers and tugged her to him.
"Trinity . . ." Sarah Cameron called out to her with worry trembling in her voice.
"I'll– I'll see you later, okay?" Trinity found the strength to let her friend know. "I should probably leave with them."
"Common, let's go." JJ gave John B a gentle shove to get him to lead the way out of the crowd. He then gently moved Trinity in front of him before tapping on her arm to get her to start following John B.
"I'm s-sorry." She dropped a quick apology to Carson as she and JJ passed him. The Kheelaghan boy just stared at her as they walked ahead with his jaw clenched and eye hardened. JJ felt Trinity tremble against him so he squeezed her hand in his and stayed close behind her as they left Kelce's house.
Once all five Pogues were outside– John B, Kiara, Ellie, Trinity, and JJ– John B started up his yelling again, but this time he was directing it towards Ellie.
"Can you maybe take it fucking easy?!" Kiara tried to intercept. "She's drunk and it's not really her fault that this happened– plus nothing even happened, right, Trinity? Carson didn't hurt you, right?"
"Hurt me?" She was still standing close to JJ, but the Maybank boy had dropped her hand once they'd gotten out of the house. "No, he didn't hurt me!"
"But I saw him coming onto you!" John B said through clenched teeth.
"Yeah, we were going to kiss and I was gonna let him!" Trinity exclaimed. "It was just a dare for the game we were playing!"
"A dare?! You were gonna let him take advantage of you for a stupid dare?"
"What the hell has gotten into you tonight, John B? Carson wasn't taking advantage of me!"
"Alright everyone needs to calm the fuck down." JJ was mediating, stepping in front of Trinity as if to shield her away from John B's aggressive remarks. "Trin, were you okay with getting kissed by Carson because of the dare?"
"Yeah, I was fine with it." She huffed, crossing her arms underneath her chest. "And I didn't realize anyone else had to give me their consent for it to be acceptable." She looked around JJ to shoot John B a nasty glare.
"He probably has his reasons." JJ leaned to the side to block Trinity's view of John B. "You sure, you're good?"
"No, I'm mortified that your stupid friend tried to nearly kill Carson!" She hit JJ's chest, hoping that the impact would magically reach John B. "I feel like I can never show my face in front of him again."
"Good!" John B called out and Trinity immediately tried to rush around JJ to get to him. JJ had to wrap his hands around the girl's waist to hold her back.
"Hey, did I or did I not tell everyone to to chill the fuck out!"
She struggled against his half-embrace for a while before relaxing her body and letting JJ tuck her into him until her back was flush against his chest and his chin was resting against her temple.
JJ heard her breath hitch and the bare skin on her waist blazed under his arms and fingertips as he held onto her.
"Relax, Trin, I believe you. I'm on your side." He spoke into her ear just so that she could hear while Kiara started getting onto John B's case again for being overdramatic.
"You told me that none of the Kooks deserve me." She whispered back, quivering a little since the feeling of his hot breath against the tip of her ear still lingered. "You told me you don't deserve me– then who does, JJ?" JJ felt her slump a little in his arms as she asked her burning question. "Why can't you see that they have a chance to prove they do deserve me?"
"Do I have a chance?" JJ couldn't stop himself from asking her.
"Of course you do." She sighed, heavy and needy that the sound of her honeyed voice rushed straight to JJ's groin. "You don't trust yourself, and I get that, but . . . but I think you deserve at least one chance. And don't you– don't you think I get to decide that? Whether I let you get that chance with me or not?"
"We should probably talk more about this later." He told her on an exhale, gently prying her out of his arms. "Later when we, you know, have more privacy." He noticed Trinity's eyes waver back to where John B and Kiara were wrapping up their argument while Ellie leaned drunkenly against the Carrera girl. "Guys, let's go home and sort this out later, 'kay? It's getting late."
So the Pogues went home. JJ drove and John B sat shotgun while the girls climbed into the back.
The drive home was serene and quiet compared to all the uproar they'd experienced that night. But Trinity's heart was going through all sorts of crazy palpitations as she nervously awaited the next time JJ and her got to talk.