TW: coercion / lack of consent, underage drinking and smoking
Zephyr and Ricky sit in the car, parked outside Kourtney's house, which to their surprise was only ten minutes down the road. Red's tiny orange car is parked in the front, next to someone's black one.
They turn their attention to the main door as it opens, A group of people coming out and getting into Saylor's car, then Red's car, Red waves to Ricky before getting into his car. Lastly Ej and Gina run out, Ej hopping into the car first so he can sit behind Ricky, one hand on Ricky's shoulder. "Gi you look so good literally shut the fuck up" Zeph says turning her head around.
"You shut up, have you seen yourself"
"Yes yes we get it you're both very beautiful" Ricky deadpans "can we get going now?"
"No Rick wait, Kourt's locking up and coming" Ej responds, half his mind occupied with Gina discreetly pressing her leg against his.
Kourtney runs out of the house, locking the door behind her, as Gina scoots to the middle seat, even closer to EJ. Kourtney smiles awkwardly, since zephyr and Ricky aren't particularly close to her, actually as she thinks about it, she doesn't remember the last time she actually even spoke to them.
"Hey" Zeph smiles, looking at the her through the mirror, she reciprocates.
Ej reaches his hand to the front in an attempt to grab the aux cable, Ricky immediately slaps his hand away, swiftly passing the cable to Zephyr. Ej groans, leaning back, and Ricky starts to drive.
The drive isn't that long, thirty minutes or so. Ricky parks a few minutes away from the house in some empty lot, knowing there'll be way too many cars outside the house. Gina and Kourtney start walking to the party while he's parking, Ej saying he'll catch up with them in a bit.
"What on earth are you doing?" He grumbles. Zeph is stuck in her hoodie, Ej leans forward from the back seat and pulls it off her head. "Rick you could have literally just helped her"
"You're gonna freeze your ass off and then I'm gonna hear about it all through tonight, just keep the hoodie on"
"No, let's go" she says, already half way out the door. They turn the corner of the block, there's faint music blasting at the end of the road, they walk in silence for a bit. As they get closer to the house, they can see a figure sitting on the sidewalk waiting, head hung low, hair dimly lit up by their phone screen. It's a little past eleven now.
"Zeph!" He calls out, standing up. She speed walks, her attempt to run in heels failing. He wraps his arms around her, hugging her closely, he laughs, nose pressed to the cold skin of her neck.
Ricky and Ej stand at a slight distance. "He's so whipped for her" Ej whispers into Ricky's ear.
"Poor guy" Ricky snarks, earning a slap on the back of his head.
They walk into the house, leaving the two boys alone on the side walk. "I'm not drinking tonight, so I'll drive the car back" Ej says as the make their way to the porch. Ricky just nods, slightly distracted. Who the fuck calls someone pretty when they barely know them? Idiot.
Ricky pushes on the large white double door, slipping into the poorly lit house, completely crowded and reeking of alcohol. That smell makes him instantly anxious, he brushes it off but his mind is reminded of what's going to happen tomorrow.
The music is so loud he can't hear himself think, the flashing lights slightly blinding. Maybe I should have avoided this tonight. Well, now that it's too late, he just tags along behind Ej.
Ej goes off to the kitchen to find Ash, and Ricky walks around a bit, making small talk and throwing occasional fist bumps around as usual. "RICK!" a deep voice yells out, he turns around, Blake is sitting on the couch, as usual in his letterman jacket, a bright red cup in his hand. The rest of the football guys, some of the basketball girls and most of the cheerleaders are there too, a couple theatre and dance kids on the side; all around a low coffee table. He walks over, Blake puts a heavy hand on his shoulder, patting his back aggressively as a greeting, saying something obnoxious. It doesn't faze Ricky, he's too used to it.
"Hey" someone puts a hand on his shoulder, he turns around, quickly hugging her, a bit more relaxed now.
"Hi Lils" He smiles, then walks towards an empty spot on the floor. She follows him, three beers in her hand.
He sits down next to Nick Nelson, one of his teammates. Lily passes Nick a beer, then gives one to Ricky. He sits down, Lily settling down next to him. He stares at the unopened bottle, twirling it around in his hand. Lily has her back to his arm and shoulder, leaning against him as she talks to someone opposite her.
They've been friends for quite a few years now, a little more perhaps, friends with benefits one could say, other than the obvious implication of that, the benefits also include attending events between their parents companies and some dinner or another. However, romantic interest was something they've never really had for each other.
Although this year they've been hanging out less, especially outside of school, Ricky's grandparents are not quite fond of Lily when she comes to the events, especially his grandfather.
"Hey, don't feel like drinking?" Nick asks him, watching him mess around with the bottle. "Not really, what about you? You don't look particularly chipper"
"Heh, just waiting for Char, he's late, also those two look particularly close today don't they?" Nick asks, gesturing to their friends, curled up in a chair by the couch. Zephyr's sitting on Wes's lap, fiddling with the sleeve of his turtle neck. He's holding her hands in his.
"He's smitten and she's oblivious, or pretending to be at least. Literally if we ask them they're gonna start with the whole 'we're just friends' routine."
"Even those two" Nick chuckles, pointing his bottle at Ej practically death glaring some drunk sophomore trying to flirt with Gina a few meters away from him. "Also, Faith has been staring at you for like twenty minutes"
Ricky raises his eyebrows, then glances to his right, she waves at him. He gives her a small nod, turning his attention back to Nick who's basically about to burst out laughing. Ricky rolls his eyes, starting to laugh slightly himself. Maybe tonight's not gonna be so bad. "Go ahead go put your sleezeball moves on her, though from the looks of her you don't even need to" Nick teases, knowing very well he's not going to go hook up with Faith Thompson. "Just shut up"
Lily turns to him then, whispering in his ear "meet me in the inside corridor in a bit" she winks then walks away. His face sinks slightly but he tries not to let it show, he acknowledges what she said, nodding and smiling though he isn't even sure if it looks slightly real. A few minutes later, Nick gets up, seeing Charlie across the room. Ricky stays where he is.
He opens the bottle, hesitating for a second, then bringing it to his mouth and drinking as much as he can in a sip, till he finishes the whole bottle.
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At around twelve fifteen, Ricky finds Lily in one of the upstairs corridors. It's clear that she's been drinking. There's barely any light, a couple people passing through at most, the dim color light flash from downstairs creating a low glow on her. He observes her in silence for a while, standing opposite each other.
She walks over to him grabbing the fabric of his hoodie at his upper chest with her fists, and pushing him up against the wall. He stumbles backward into the wall, not so gently. She's pressed up against him, bringing her face to his, he can smell the whiskey on her breathe. "Lils.. I'm really, not in the mood tonight.. I really don't want to" he says in a low voice, trying to gently move her away.
She pushes back a little, firmly grabbing his face and kissing him. The bitter taste of alcohol seeps into his mouth. It's cause she's drunk he bargains with himself, trying to convince himself of the fact that she didn't stop because she didn't understand, and that somehow that's better than her doing this when she isn't intoxicated.
Her hands start to slip inside his clothes, and he can feel himself go completely numb. Please stop. His left hand trembles slightly, pressed again the wall. "I know you like this" she says, it feels almost taunting, he stays frozen, the feeling of discomfort prominent in him. I like it most of the time he tells himself I didn't say no it's my fault.
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He's walking through a crowd thirty minutes later, then sitting with Blake and Landon. He can feel himself about to fall apart, he smiles and laughs, they're joking about something, Blake clearly drunk. He stands up "I've just gonna use the bathroom", they could care less, busy in their own little world. Gina gives him a concerned look, getting up to follow him. "Rick you okay?"
"Yeah I am, just really gotta use the bathroom"
"No you're not, is it cause your mom comes back tomorrow?" She asks, being one of the only three people that knows. He blinks. "Yeah yup that's it, just antsy about that, really do need to use the bathroom though" he nods. She smiles "I'm here if you need me" she says, walking back.
He nods back, she's looking at him as she walks away, he smiles, the tears already building, eyelids heavy.
As soon as she turns he runs up the stairs, getting into the bathroom and locking the door quickly. He has his back to the door, he slouches down, knees to his chest, breathing erratically. He's sniveling for at least fifteen minutes, the feeling that she's still touching him makes his skin crawl. Tears roll down his face, eyes burning red, he grips his legs tightly, rocking back and forth, unable to compose himself. you're fine you're fine you're overreacting you're fucking fine.
He stands up, walking to the sink, he stares at himself, wiping his face again and again and again. Suddenly he's grateful that Ej is staying the night, maybe being alone with his mind right now is exactly what he doesn't need.
His thoughts drift back to his mother, he splashed his face with water. He pulls out his phone to check the time. It's around one twelve, he washing his face twice, hoping the redness goes down. He spends the next ten minutes looking for Zeph.
Ricky meets them in the living room instead, Wes walking behind Ej and Zeph. Ej quickly says bye to the football guys then goes to the theatre group to say goodnight, hugging Gi. The three then leave the house, Ej has one shoulder around Zephyr who may be a little over 'tipsy'.
Back at the house, Blake roughly grabs Wesley's shoulder. "Hey, look who finally decided to join us" he tells the seniors and team around him. "You shouldn't disappear like that you know, bros before hoes"
Wes shakes his hand off his shoulder "call her a hoe ever again and I'll break your fucking nose" he snapped, walking off to go find someone who's part of his friend group, at the end of the room he spots Nick, Charlie and Jules; he sighs in relief.
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"I blehhhnbububujjj" she slurs slightly, then giggles. "Well that's an un-natural sound" Ricky retorts, getting a dirty look from Ej. "I hate these, teeehehe, these heels" she grunts, stopping and clumsily taking them off on the sidewalk.
"Zee it's fucking freezing you're already shaking" Ricky says, frustrated. He aggressively hands Ej the ziplock bag with a sandwich in it that's unevenly cut.
Ricky reaches below her and in one swift moments throws her over his shoulders, she yelps and Ej laughs, she starts to laugh too, adjust herself so she's on his back and not upside down.
They get in the car, Ricky gets in the back with Zephyr, quickly helping her put on a hoodie and grabbing a blanket he keeps in his car. "Here eat, sober up" he says, passing her the food. Ej shakes his head, chuckling, and starts to drive.
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At a few minutes past two, Nini runs downstairs, because of a messy text from Zephyr saying "ijmn herke". She stands on the porch, Kenji behind her, it's freezing outside. Ricky's car is parked across the road. Ricky gets out, Zeph on his back again. Ej drives into their garage.
Ricky walks across the road, zeph pressing her cold hands to his cheek continuously.
"Hi"
"Hi"
"Hellooooooooo" zeph chips in. She taps his cheeks again "I love you bowden"
"It's Bowen" he mumble turning her head to look at her. "But sometimes" she taps his face again "you're a.. you're a manwhore" he raises his eyebrows, amused.
"Alright then" Kenji interrupts "I've got her" he takes her from Ricky's arms "thanks buddy" he says taking Zeph up. Nini laughs, looking at the stairs.
She turns her attention back to Ricky, his expression is slightly sullen, he isn't really holding his smile, his eyes are bloodshot. Her face sinks.
He puts on a small smile "goodnight" he says softly, about to turn around.
"Wait!" she says, he's confused. Fuck she blinks reconsidering her life choices should I hug him? That's weird he doesn't even know me, what on earth am I doing?
"Uhm" she thinks for a second, fiddling with her rubber band "do you want Winnie for the night?"
"What?"
"You know there's a lot of people over and it's overwhelming for her cause she's not used to it so I thought maybe she'd be happier spending the night in your house, if you want" she panders.
His eyes light up slightly, she smiles to herself as he nods. "I'll go get her" she says, scurrying up the stairs. Winter is sleeping peacefully on the bed, curled up with a soft toy pig.
Nini goes and carefully lifts her up, she yawns, whining once, Nini grabs her soft toy too. "Sorry baby" she whispers once she's out the room "I think he needs you more tonight"
im sorry for the pain this has caused
what are everyone's opinions on this chapter?
word count: 2437
proofread : no, get used to it
i hope everyone's good, this is the longest chapter yet