"What in the actual fuck is a toothbat?" I ask, laughing at the picture Awsten had just sent to me.
"I don't know but shut up and let me do my job." Jack says, rubbing more hair dye onto my head. I wasn't allowed to look until it was over.
"So sassy. Did you not get enough dick while I was gone?"
"I'm never letting you read fanfiction ever again. For the record, I wouldn't bottom."
"Debatable. But seriously, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. Quit moving."
"I breathed."
"Mhm, stop."
I sarcastically hold my breath, earning a punch in the shoulder from Jack to make me breathe again.
"Something's wrong. What is it?"
"Just another arguement. It's nothing."
"With Allie?"
"Mhm." He sighs, pinning my hair up to let the dye soak in.
"Jack she's an asshole to you. I don't understand why you stay with her."
"You've not been single as long as me. It's just. I have someone now I guess."
"That's not an excuse for her to treat you like trash and you know it."
"I know." He mumbles, closing the manic panic tub, hiding it from me so I can't see the color.
"Jack, you're my bestfriend. I don't like seeing you hurt over someone who doesn't understand how great you are."
"I know, Tori, i know. It's just little arguments, I'll be okay. I promise." He forces a smile. I sigh, dropping it.
Ever since his relationship with Taylor failed 5 years ago, he hasn't been the same. He's terrified of love. I can see it. He settles for abusive relationships and let's girls break him because that's what Taylor did.
"Is there a reason that Awsten Knight is on our front porch?" Rian asks, looking over at us. My eyes widen and I run into my room, closing the door.
Damnit awsten out of all the times you could've chose to randomly appear on my porch you choose NOW?
I look in the mirror and smile at the color of my hair. It was now a bright turquoise that faded to lime green at the ends. Definitely an improvement from my weird faded purple look I had previously.
I anxiously look down at my watch, I still had 15 minutes left until I could wash the dye out.
"Fuck fuck fuck fuck.." I say, searching around my room for a hoodie and some decent pants. I was currently wearing Legend of Zelda Pajama pants and an old black tank top with hair dye stained into it along with a pair of dolphin socks. I was a mess, to say the least.
"Sounds like you're having fun." Awsten says from outside my door, causing me to scream.
"God damnit Knight! Don't scare me like that!!"
"Can I come in?"
"NEVER."
"Go ahead, she's fine." Jack says and I mentally plot his murder. Awsten hesitates before coming in. I groan some, accepting my fate.
"Oh wow that's a fashion statement right there."
"Oh yeah, definitely an upgrade from what I wore yesterday. Not even Beyonce could compete with this."
"Beyonce who? I only know Victoria the dolphin lady."
"Tori." I correct him, laughing. I continue the search for some decent clothes to change into after i wash the dye out.
"Geoff would LOVE your pants. If he was here I guarantee he'd geek out on you."
"Sounds fun but that's kinda funny because you never said why you were here." I grab a shirt and smell it before immediately cringing and throwing it into the dirty clothes bin.
"Well I was wanting to ask you if you wanted to hang out but I'm bad at timing things and also bad at social interactions." He sits on my bed, looking around the room in admiration. He focuses on one specific poster, smiling some.
"You're literally a diva on stage though so how are you bad at being social?" I ask, grabbing a yellow hoodie from my closet. It had an alien on it.
"You'd be surprised. That one's cute by the way." He says, looking at the hoodie. I nod, agreeing.
"Well what did you have in mind for us to do today?" I ask and he shrugs, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Actually, I was thinking maybe you knew what we could do. You're the one who lives here. In Baltimore."
"Not for long. But, yeah, I can figure something out. If you're down to get your ass kicked at some video games there's an awesome arcade about 20 minutes away. You can invite the boys if you want. I'm sure Geoff would love it. Rian needs to get out of the house too."
"Um, no. The ass being kicked would be yours. And sure!" He eagerly pulls out his phone, rapidly texting Geoff and Otto.
"We'll see." I laugh, grabbing some black shorts and my yellow vans.
"They said they'll be ready in 30 minutes. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, that's perfect actually. I'll be back, just, uh, make yourself at home." I leave him there and go into the bathroom to wash out the dye.
After getting all the dye out and blow drying it, I was satisfied with the vibrant colors. I quickly change into the new outfit and put some makeup on. Just some foundation, concealer, winged eyeliner, and some chapstick.
"Princess I love you and all but I need to piss." Jack says from outside the door. I laugh, opening it.
"Sorry your highness." I bow playfully.
"You look gorgeous." He smiles, running his fingers through my hair in awe.
"Thank you. You did a pretty great job honestly."
"My pleasure." He ruffles my hair, messing it up. I roll my eyes, fixing it before walking out of the bathroom to let him use it.
"By the way, put on your good pants. We're going out." I say and he excitedly screams "HELL YES" in response.
"Awsten? Where'd you go?" I call out, looking for the purple haired dork.
"He's with Alex." Zack answers and I immediately sigh. Alex is giving him the talk. The standard 'if you hurt my bestfriend I will literally murder you' talk. He always did this with new people in my life. Especially after my last relationship. I walk into the livingroom to find the interrogation going down.
"So help me God if you- Oh. Hey T." Alex stops, smiling innocently at me.
"Wanna finish that sentence, love?"
"Nope." He stands up, popping his knuckles.
"Alright, ready to get beat at Mario kart?"
"In your dreams."
××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××
"Geoff, Otto, meet Victoria and the Baltimore boys. Hey, that sounds like a band name." Awsten says, giggling.
"Hi, it's Tori, despite what Knight says." I say, shaking Geoff's hand, smiling.
"We're huggers. You'll learn that quickly." Geoff says, pulling me into a hug. I laugh, hugging back. I hug Otto as well. He was quiet, but sweet.
They introduce themselves to the others and we all make our way into the arcade. I immediately race towards the Dance Dance Revolution game.
"I call first round!" Otto says, running up to the player 2 dance pad.
"You're on!" I smirk, picking the song.
××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××
"Ready to give up yet, Knight?"
"Never!" He says, out of breath. We were on the 9th "replay" of DDR. I had beat everyone else and he refused to be another loser.
"I bet Awsten can win this one." Zack says, taking a long sip from his red slushie.
"Have you seen Tori's skills? No way man. No offense Aw." Geoff says, watching us.
"Fuck off Geoff." Awsten groans, trying to keep up to the beat. I laugh, easily getting the combo move.
"There are children present." Alex narrows his eyes at Awsten.
"Boys, behave." Jack says, sitting down next to Otto.
I smirk, looking over at Awsten who was struggling with the Dance moves. I could destroy him right now.
"Tell me when you're ready to give up. I'll make sure Geoff won't call you a little bitch." I say as the song speeds up.
"God damnit how are you so good at this?!"
"Language!" Alex says louder.
"We know!" Awsten and I both say in unison.
Awsten narrows his eyes, focusing hard on the screen. He continues to miss the steps. I sigh some, purposefully missing some. He smiles, getting some right.
"Oh come on T, show no mercy!" Jack cheers. I continue to miss some. The song slows down and eventually comes to a stop. The score tallies up.
Awsten won.
"Oh my god!!!" He smiles, jumping up and down. Jack looks at me, raising an eyebrow. He knows I let Awsten win.
"Congratulations. You have defeated me." I smile, patting Awsten on the back. He smiles, proud of his accomplishment.
I grab my stack of tickets and walk away, going towards the next game. Geoff runs up beside me.
"You totally let him win just then, didn't you?"
"That obvious?"
"Little bit. It's been a while since I've seen him that happy."
"Really? He seems like such an energetic bundle of joy."
"You've not known him long." He coughs some awkwardly before looking up at a game and smirking.
"Wanna race?" He raises an eyebrow, smirking even more.
"Bring it on, nerd."