《RIVEN'S POV》
"What do you mean?" Riven's voice trembled a bit, even though he himself had no idea why.
"Well, you're my best friend. I'm really grateful to know you."
Riven slowly nodded. "Well, that was pretty random."
"OH MY GOD!!! NICK!" Emily had noticed them, casually standing behind the refrigerator and came running towards them. "I had no idea you'd come."
Nick winked at her and Riven felt the need to throw up.
"Of course." He said, and went to hug his ex-girlfriend. "Oh, I see you took your friend with you as well." She smiled at Riven, who forced a smile onto his face. Emily sent a not so subtle look towards Charlotte who was standing behind her and Riven wondered where he could find the nearest window to jump out of.
Nick let go of Emily and put his arm around Riven's shoulder. "Well I had to take him with me, since it seems like I can't basically function without him." Riven couldn't help but feel like he just won something, especially when he saw the look on Emily's face.
Then he realised he was being stupid and moved away from Nick.
"Okay," Charlotte said, "it's time to party!"
~~~~
Riven was sitting on a couch, next to some girl with purple hair who seemed to have fallen asleep already. He checked his Instagram once again, and noticed that his phone was about to die. He looked around but couldn't find Nick, who had been with him most of the time but disappeared about 15 minutes ago.
Emily wasn't there either, which made him feel a bit uncomfortable. He saw a girl looking around, and got worried she would try and talk to him. He thought about acting like he had fallen asleep because he drank too much, but he realised that would not be realistic at all since he had refused to drink any alcohol all night.
The girl came closer to him, and he realised it was Charlotte.
"Hi." She said, looking a bit nervous. "Can I sit down next to you?" Riven looked at the purple haired girl. "Seat's taken."
"Oh." She looked back over her shoulder, to a few guests who were sitting on the floor, eating some chips and drinking some liquor Riven couldn't identify from this far away. "Do you mind... coming with me and being introduced to some of my friends?"
Riven thought of the friendliest way to say no, but he blacked out and just stared back at her for a few seconds in silence, until she continued, clearly not knowing what to do with herself. "It's okay, you don't have to..."
To Riven's instant regret, his good manners kicked in, and he got up. "I'll go with you."
Charlotte let out something that could be best described as a giggle. "Yay!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the messy circle her friends were sitting in. "This is Riven." She simply said. It was silent for a while, until Riven realised he should say something next. "Hi. I'm Riven."
"Hey dude." A guy with blonde, long, curly hair grinned.
"That's Kyle." Charlotte explained.
"Hi, I'm Kyle."
Charlotte frowned at Kyle, who rolled his eyes. "So, Riven, how about you sit down next to me?"
Riven looked at Charlotte, expecting her to suggest she'd sit down next to Riven instead.
When she didn't answer, he realised she wasn't Nick and obviously wouldn't know how uncomfortable this made him. But since he didn't want to say no in front of everyone, he just sat down. Perhaps Kyle would turn out to be really nice.
Charlotte sat down across from them, and started a conversation with a guy next to her. She seemed to really like him, leaning towards him and putting her hand on his arm. But meanwhile she kept glancing at Riven every chance she got. Riven decided not to pay attention to her, and ate the leftovers of the chips.
"Omg, you're so funny!" Charlotte's loud voice made him look up, which she seemed to be aware of. She leaned towards the boy. "Kiss me."
Riven dropped the chips he was holding, as everyone else suddenly went silent.
As the boy happily made use of her proposal, Riven tried to come up with a good reason as to why she would do this. "Oh my god." He uttered, as suddenly he knew what was happening. "Are you kidding me?"
Charlotte let go of guy, who seemed a bit flustered by her abruptly ending their kiss.
"What's wrong?" Charlotte asked with an odd smirk on her face.
"Nothing." Riven wasn't about to rat her out to the group like that.
Still, he felt uncomfortable knowing that she pretended to like the guy just to make Riven jealous.
He could tell that Charlotte was still looking at him, but he avoided making eyecontact.
Next thing he knew, Kyle hit Riven's shoulder with his fist, so Riven fell forward. Riven got up again and feeling quite annoying he looked at the guy. "What the hell Kyle?"
"Why'd you disturb Charlotte like that, hm? Are you jealous or something?"
"No, I'm not." Riven responded, while rubbing his shoulder with his hand. What was this dude's deal?
"Sure you're not. If you don't like her, then prove it."
Charlotte clearly wasn't enjoying their conversation, and tried to interrupt. "Kyle you shouldn't-"
"Charlotte. Let me just do this one thing."
Kyle stared at Riven for a short while. "Hmm... then you should kiss someone else. If you don't like her, what would be the problem?"
"Kyle!!" Charlotte looked like she was about to either burst out in anger, or tears.
"I'm not going to randomly kiss someone I don't know."
"Oh, shut up. It's only a kiss. It's not that big of a deal. Or is it because you don't want to kiss someone in front of Charlotte?"
"No, that's not the point-"
"Why? Are you dating someone else?."
Riven frantically thought of what to say, not knowing if he should expose Nick like that. He didn't have to say it was Nick he was talking about. "I am."
"For real? I can't imagine anyone would actually like you."
"Pardon? What did you just say?" Riven had never before been so happy to hear Nick's voice.
"Hey, no reason to get upset. I'm just talking to your friend right here. Now tell us, is he dating someone or not?"
Riven turned around to look at Nick, who was standing behind them. Nick made eyecontact with him, and then turned towards Kyle. "Yes, he is. He's dating me."
A shockwave of WTF's went through the room. Kyle's smile faded from his face.
"W- What?" Charlotte stuttered.
"Sure you are." Kyle laughed, having overcome the first shock of this unexpected reveal.
Nick looked at Riven, their eyes met again. Nick raised his eyebrows a tiny bit, and Riven instantly knew what he meant.
His heart started beating faster, while he slowly titled his head in a nod that probably wasn't even noticeable for the others, but Nick saw.
He walked over to Riven, squatted down in front of him, and leaned over until their faces were too close to each other for there to be a heterosexual explanation for it.
"F*ck them." He whispered, and gently kissed Riven's lips. It wasn't a long kiss, but at least it lasted longer than last time. Still, when Nick let go of him again, Riven felt like it had been too short. But for the party guests, those few seconds were enough to realise Nick was serious about this.
"Oh my f*cking god... what is going on?" Kyle seemed to be in shock, and Nick didn't want to wait until he came to his senses again. He grabbed Riven's hand as he got up, making Riven stand up as well. "We're leaving. Emily, I'll call you."
Nick intertwined their fingers, then he walked towards the door, while Riven looked behind him, wondering if anyone was gonna keep them from leaving, or even say something to them. But until he closed the door, no one had said anything.
They walked down the stairs, got out of the building, keeping on walking until they got to Nick's car. Nick finally let go of Riven's hand. It looked like he wanted to say something, but all that came out was: "Get in the car. I'll drive you home."
Riven shook his head. "I don't think so."
Nick left out a deep sigh. "Hey, you can trust me, I won't kidnap you... I mean, I don't think so."
"You drank too much. Hand me your keys."
"Oh." Nick gave his car keys to Riven, then he walked to the other side of the car and got in.
Riven did the same. He didn't start the car yet, but instead turned to Nick.
"Are you staying at your grandparents or at your mom's home?"
"I don't want to go home... my grandparents are gonna beat me up tomorrow morning for drinking too much."
"I'm sure they won't be that harsh."
"They will! Besides, I already told them I'd be staying at yours."
"Nick! Stop inviting yourself over to my home!"
Nick pouted. "No. I like being with you too much."
"Shut up and put on your seatbelt. We're leaving."
Nick did what Riven told him to do, and Riven started the car.
He had barely turned around the corner when Nick fell asleep.
His head leaned onto the window and he his cheeks were had a pinkish color, which usually happened when Nick drunk too much.
For a person who liked to drink and party, Nick had an impressively low alcoholtollerance, usually getting a bit tipsy after only 1 glass of beer, after which if he kept drinking it would go downhill pretty fast.
Riven didn't really mind this too much, he knew how to handle Nick and the way he would get overly touchy after having a few drinks.
Riven drove straight to his home, since he didn't want to be the one to drop Nick off at his grandparents home being as drunk as he was right now. When he arrived at his home, he had to wake Nick up, which took him several tries.
"What's going on?" Nick sounded like he would rather keep on sleeping in the car.
"You gotta wake up, we're home."
Nick smiled, while closing his eyes again. "So you took me to your home after all."
"Yes. Now let's get out."
"Woah... give me some time to wake up." Nick grinned. "Ask me something to wake me up."
"Where were you?"
Nick looked a bit lost. "I'm sorry, what are you talking about?"
"You were gone for a while. Did you talk to Emily?"
Nick turned his head away from him. "Yea. I was telling her about you, since she asked about us still being friends."
"Oh?"
"She was just wondering, don't worry. I just told her about you, and then..." Nick went silent for a moment, as if he was still trying to grasp what happened himself. "Then she asked if we were dating."
"What did you say?" Riven suddenly felt anxious, wanting to know what Nick said, even though he knew their relationship wasn't even real, so Nick wouldn't even have to lie if he denied it.
Nick started laughing. "I asked if she'd give me a good reason for me not to date you."
"Oh..." Riven said, but before he could continue, Nick went on: "Or did I? Perhaps... perhaps I told her that I'd be crazy to date someone whose lips taste as good as yours."
Riven sighed. "Nick, that's not funny."
Nick finally turned his head back to Riven. "Huh. What do you mean?"
He leaned over towards him. "Can't I kiss you one more time... pleaaassee?"
"Take your seatbelt off, it's time for you to go to bed."
"Noooo."
Riven rolled his eyes, trying not to get too annoyed with his boyfriend.
Nick decided he was gonna make this even harder for him, by leaning over and kissing Riven. Riven pushed him away. "Don't do that."
He reached for Nick's seatbelt, which gave Nick another chance to try and kiss him again, but Riven was faster and moved away from him.
"Nick..." He gave his friend a warning look.
Nick seemed disappointed, but he didn't try to touch Riven again as he took Nick's seatbelt off.
Nick just looked at him, not moving one bit.
Riven let out a deep sigh, wondering how alcohol always managed to make Nick even more annoying than he already was. "Nick, get out... now!"
"Fine... I'll get up, but only because you are this..." Nick closed his eyes again, and Riven was afraid he had fallen asleep again, but Nick opened his eyes. "This cute." He smirked at Riven.
"Wait a second, I'll walk to your side of the car so I can help you." Riven straight up ignored what Nick said, knowing that this was to expect of him in these situations.
He helped Nick get out of the car, and then walked to the door with him.
He struggled to get the door open while also having to help Nick to not fall flat on his face. He wondered if Nick couldn't have been able to stay clear for a bit longer. He had been still pretty much there mentally when he kissed Riven in front of his friends. At least... that's what Riven thought.
They somehow got inside Riven's home and Riven basically carried Nick through the whole hallway. "Jeez, you're so heavy." He mumbled, even though he knew Nick wouldn't even be able to hear him.
He knew he'd probably kill both of them if he tried to carry Nick up the stairs, so he just stumbled down the few steps of the stairs to the living room, and put Nick down on the couch. He tried to get away, but Nick noticed and got up. "Hey... where are you going?"
Riven left out a big sigh. "Don't be so loud. I don't wanna wake up my parents."
"If you stay with me, I won't yell."
"I hate you." Riven knew he didn't have a choice, and sat down next to Nick.
"You're gonna wait for me to fall asleep and leave, aren't you?" Nick mumbled.
"Yes. So hurry up, I'm tired."
Nick moved to the side, and stared at Riven until he gave in. "Fine then."
He got up, and walked to the other end of the couch, to grab a blanket.
When he got back, Nick had already closed his eyes, and Riven carefully put the blanket on top of him.
"You're not thinking of leaving, are you?"
"Shut up." Riven laid down next to Nick, who immediately took advantage of that by hugging him tightly, and Riven realised he wouldn't be able to sneak away after Nick had fallen asleep, so he decided to just accept this was how he was going to fall asleep, and closed his eyes.
《END OF THIS CHAPTER》
Oof