Heather
After they'd pulled their all-nighter, Heather had felt like garbage the entire rest of that weekend. She hadn't been able to concentrate on anything or remember anything that anyone said to her, and everything just pissed her off: when people walked in front of her, the way Matt rubbed his eyes, even Eden's hair color had pissed her off at one point. Her long, layered hair that grew lighter as it descended, and the rose gold highlights at the tips...
Just pick a freaking color already!
Heather noticed how Eden's bangs fell over her eyes and hooded them, and somehow that also got on Heather's nerves.
They'd all grabbed breakfast together in the Dining Hall before class that following Monday before class, and were joined by Alex and Jared, who'd both looked in better shape than the rest of them, and they'd been the ones who'd gotten drunk and partied both nights.
Lucky bastards...
Eden had insisted to go to the Starbucks station in the MSC before class.
"You guys, there's no way I will be able to function if I don't get some expresso pumping through my veins." Eden grumbled as her, Matt, Heather, Zach, Jenna had made the quick detour on their way to the Applied Arts building. While She and Jenna had ordered their drinks, Heather and the others had gone into the Blue Devil Market next door and grabbed more Monster Energy Drinks. They'd come out with a passion-fruit flavored one that Heather had been craving as of late.
They'd sat in their seats in the Drawing II classroom, and Heather took comfort in the fact that everyone else had looked worse for wear too. One girl who always wore a hoodie with cat ears still wore her pajamas and had probably come straight from pulling her own all-nighter on that damn project.
Professor Arquez silently entered the room, and Heather wasn't entirely sure, but she'd sworn she'd caught a glint of pleasure in his eyes at the sight of how miserable everyone looked. Even Mandy and Lindsay appeared duller and less saturated, and they'd always made it a point to look more put together than anyone else.
"Well, if everyone is ready to begin, I'm going to have you all put your work up on the wall," Professor Arquez announced as greeting. Everyone slowly dragged themselves out of their seats and found spots along the wall. Two people hadn't completed their projects: a guy in baggy camo pants who'd looked too stoned to fully even realize what was going on, and a petite girl with glasses on the verge of tears.
Heather's heart went out to the poor girl.
"You two, see me after class," Mr. Arquez glared, and the class remained silent as he'd looked at everyone's piece tacked up on the wall. The room was tense to see what the professor had to say.
Arquez turned to the class. "Well, I'm pleased to see that at least 90-percent of the class actually completed this assignment, and so moving forward, the second phase of this project will be much easier."
Madison
Mondays had the power to make or break the entire rest of that week. If someone's Monday went horribly, it usually meant that the rest of the week wouldn't get any better; at least, that's how Madison always looked at it. After a brutal weekend of competing on Saturday and not getting back until seven that night, she'd barely gotten her project done in time.
"I want to stab a bitch," Madison growled as the four girls sat down at their table later that night. They went to the nicest restaurant in the Menomonie area, Jake's Supper Club. "If I wasn't so effing tired, I would seriously be trying to find out where Arquez lives, and then smother him with a pillow."
Lindsay coughed into her drink. "Jeez Mads...tell us how you really feel."
"Well, seriously! We all kill ourselves over this one project, and then there's another part to it? Nuh-uh, I am livid!"
"There's nothing we can do about it now, so there's no use bitching about it," Ali shrugged as she'd sipped on water. They were all silent as their waiter returned and placed their plates in front of them.
Ali watched him walk away before she'd spoken again. "Plus, that guy he showed us in class, Chuck Close, has got some kickass pieces of art."
Back in class, Arquez had passed them print-offs of their non-pixelated images and explained that they'd need to create a work of art that'd bridge the two images printed out. Chuck Close, an artist that was known for his style of work in using images within an image, was used as an example. Madison had been fascinated with his work that was shown, and wanted to go see the piece over at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts Museum if she'd ever found herself visiting the Twin Cities.
"You know, you could get some extra help if you'd simply asked," Mandy pointed out.
"Not going to happen, Mandy. I've told you, I'm not doing drugs," Madison shook her head.
"Suit yourself, but don't say I never offered any help."
Madison still remembered her time in the hospital, the fear she'd seen on her family's faces when she'd been coming in and out of consciousness as they'd flushed her system. Sure, college had been getting overwhelming with balancing out classes, practice every day, morning lifts, track meets every weekend, being with friends; it was a lot to handle all at once.
Did that mean she had to turn to drugs in order to be able to do it all?
Matt
"You guys, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I don't even think I want to go out this weekend," Eden whined as she'd rested her head on her crossed arms. They were once again back in the dining hall since Arquez had given their class a small mercy and had let them out early.
Zach, Jenna, Heather, Eden and Matt all sat in a corner booth, and Matt was tempted to take a nap right there since the lighting was dimmer, and the background chatter had a surprising calming effect. Everyone still looked worn out from the previous weekend, which Matt thought was ironic since they hadn't even gone out or drank any of their booze. They've somehow come out better after a night of partying, but one all-nighter had them all struggling to function.
"I'm with you on that, I just want to sleep forever." Jenna yawned.
"Does this mean I'll actually have company this weekend?" Zach asked.
Heather smirked. "Zach, don't act like you don't talk to anyone on that headpiece for your Xbox."
"Hey, I could be talking to myself, you don't know me," he threw back.
Heather hadn't responded with her usual snappy remarks, so Matt turned to where her eyes traveled, and saw Luke as he'd walked up to their booth. Matt had barely seen his roommate in quite some time, both their schedules were completely different. Luke was always either in Jarvis Hall, or at his brother's house, and Matt had been really busy with his two art courses with Arquez, who gave out excruciating amounts of homework in both Drawing II and 3D-Design.
The others noticed him too.
"You guys look a little worse for wear," Luke greeted them.
Eden chuckled with her eyes never opening. "That's got to be the nicest thing someone has said this week."
"What do you mean?"
"We've gotten 'you all look like zombies' or the good 'ole 'you look like shit,' which we do, but that's not the point," Eden said. "What girl ever wants to hear that?"
"Ehh, I'm too tired to even care," Zach admitted.
Matt noticed Heather had stayed silent and looked down onto her tray ever since Luke had arrived.
"Well, I think maybe we all need a little breather this weekend then. I know I've been MIA lately too, which I'm sorry about," Luke glanced at Matt. "Maybe we all do something together this weekend? Like, maybe a movie night or something?"
Jenna jumped up in her seat with renewed energy. "Do we want to do a Harry Potter marathon?"
Matt laughed. "Didn't we do that, like, three weeks ago already?"
Jenna stared at him. "What's your point?"
"Maybe switch it up a little? How about something most of us have never seen before?"
Luke nodded. "I just bought a copy of The Shining; we could watch that?"
Eden blanched. "How scary is that?"
"It shouldn't be too bad, it's older so the special effects are kind of cheesy."
Jenna pouted. "You guys are actually worse than Umbridge right now."
Matt amusedly turned back to Luke. "Should we do it around 8:30 or so?"
Luke agreed, and said he'd see them all later before Matt had noticed his quick glance towards Heather, who'd still hadn't looked up from her tray while she'd eaten. Luke's eyes looked downcast as he'd walked away.
As soon as Luke was out of earshot, Matt rounded on Heather. "You need to seriously forgive him already."
Heather looked up in shock after taking a bite of her blueberry muffin. "Excuse me?"
Eden, Zach and Jenna all looked on, so Matt went on. "I mean c'mon, he's apologized already, and it's been three weeks, and if you'd bothered to look up, you'd have seen how upset he looked, so why can't you move on?"
Heather's eyes narrowed. "You know what, Matt? That's none of your business. There's more going on than you know, so let me decide how I behave around certain people."
Matt couldn't believe he'd actually said that out loud. It was just that he hated when two people he knew fought and caused tension between them and everyone else. He was never one for drama and always tried to make a certain point to never be around it, but whenever he'd tried to solve it, it just caused confrontation.
Why would people get upset with him if all he was trying to do was solve the issue?
"Oh look, it's Alex, he's coming this way!" Eden popped up in her seat with exaggerated enthusiasm.
Alex, looking trim and classy as usual with a scarf over his wool cable-knit sweater, sauntered over, and sat down when Zach shifted over to make room. "Hey party people! What is up?"
"We were talking about staying in and doing a movie night this weekend," Jenna replied.
Alex just stared unblinkingly at all of them. "Okay, like seriously?...who the fuck are you people?"
Friday had come sooner than expected, and after all his classes were done, Matt unlocked his door to his roommate sitting at his desk. Luke looked up from his laptop, and gave Matt a slight smile and nod.
"I have to admit, it's weird to see you here during the day," Matt said. "Usually you're out somewhere until you come back to sleep."
Matt started to clean up his side of their room since Luke was actually a little bit of a neat freak; the total opposite of Thomas. Matt was still getting used to the fact that he was longer to cleaner of the two roommates. He'd liked things organized too, but nothing on Luke's side of the room ever looked out of place or had a speck of dust on it. He even made his bed every morning.
"Yeah, I know and again, I'm sorry about that," Luke scratched the back of his head. "Packaging club has been getting busier lately, and I can't concentrate on school stuff when I'm here, you know?"
"No yeah, that makes total sense," Matt said. "It's nice having the room to myself a little more anyways. Thomas was always around, sometimes with Jack, so I'm grateful for the privacy."
Luke nodded, and Matt wondered what was still being left unsaid, that saying of the elephant in the room and all that. He'd decided to help his roommate out:
"If you want to know, Heather hasn't said a word about you."
"Oh, I wasn't curious or anything."
Matt crossed his arms and jutted out his hip. "Uh huh, sure."
Luke threw him a dirty look, but sighed when he'd looked away. "Fine. So, she still hasn't forgiven me, I guess."
"Sorry, Luke. I tried to get her to change her mind, but she wouldn't listen."
Luke nodded as his head sank lower on his shoulders, so Matt added. "But, I'm sure she'll come around. She's just sleep deprived this week, like all of us."
"Well, it probably didn't help that I fucked things up with her and her guy. I'm not normally someone who'd do that, but..." Luke paused. "I've told her how I've felt, but I don't want to disrespect her relationship too, does that make sense?"
"I think so, and I get it. It's probably better than bottling up how you feel, and then all of a sudden many years later, you stand up at her wedding in an attempt to stop it."
Luke's right eye squinted at the thought. "Right...I just hope that it's not because of me."
Eden
"So, are you guys seriously not joining me on another Friday night to stay in and watch movies?" Alex whined as him and Eden drove towards the small, Riverside liquor store just across the street from campus.
Eden had joined him on his weekly errand run of all Alex's weekend needs: frozen pizzas for when he came back and got the drunchies, an eighth of weed along with a small plastic bag of coke all from his dealer, and then they'd been on their way for booze run at the only store where he'd get away with using his fake ID.
Eden figured at least she'd get to spend time with him before he'd went out that night. She'd felt guilty about bailing out on him again, but that art project had really messed up her sleep schedule.
"Babe, I'm sorry, but I'm so tired after these last two weeks," Eden said. "Plus, if I go out, I will pass out after, like, two drinks and do you remember the last time you tried to help carry me home?" she'd gestured to her upper lip, where her Hitler-esque scab had finally started to disappear.
"Point. But still, you have plenty of time to sleep later, and I don't want you to miss out on the college experience, you know?" Alex winked. "I need my partner in crime in order to cause havoc on this tiny campus."
"I promise I will make it up to you later," and Eden meant it, but after she'd gotten a solid 24-hours of sleep that weekend. Then, she'd be back better than ever and be able to tag-team the party scene with Alex once again.
"You better, sweetheart. By the way, I almost forgot to tell you since you've been so MIA lately, but I met someone last weekend," Alex smiled with a high-pitched squeal.
Eden's brows shot up. "Really? Oh my god! Who is it? What's his name? What's he like?"
Alex's smile froze on his face. "Well...I never actually got his name since he was too busy going down on me to really say much."
Eden stared at him. "I hate it when that happens."
Alex laughed. "I gotta say though, his dick felt so great to slide down on when I—"
"—Woah-kay, too much info for me, thank you!" Eden interrupted.
"Whoops, my bad."
Alex had pulled up to the liquor store and noticed a couple familiar blonde guys who'd walked out. Both the Bryans had 24-packs of Coors Light they'd thrown into the backseat of Bryan Schmidt's truck.
Eden rolled down her window. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
They both turned to her and smiled back.
Alex got out and walked around the front of his minivan. "What are you bitches doing with beer, anyway? Rum is where it's at."
"Yeah, okay Alex. It's good to see that you're still alive from last weekend," Bryan Evans teased. Schmidt chuckled as he'd closed the door and leaned against the driver's side door.
"Water is your savior against hangovers, my friend," Alex snapped back. "Not to mention late night runs to Dominos or Kwik Trip."
"Very true. So, we'll see you guys at the Pink Taco tonight?" Evans asked.
Alex glared in Eden's direction. "This one is staying in because they're too sleep deprived to go out."
The Bryans rounded on Eden. "So we're missing you again this week?" Schmidt asked, his brown eyes revealed his disappointment.
Eden nodded with a small pout. "Sorry boys, there was a killer project that took over my life for the last two weeks, and I'm not up for your usual wild and crazy weekend plans."
Schmidt gestured towards Alex. "He's an art student too, and he's still going out."
"Well, Alex is a textbook 'circuit gay'," Eden grinned. "Plus, he's lucky and got to skip out on the assignment."
"Some of us are just born lucky," Alex winked.
Eden threw him an air-kissed before she'd turned back to Bryans. "Next weekend for sure! If you want, Matts hosting a movie night, you could join us before you headed out?"
The blond party-boys both looked at each other.
"We'd be down to pregame with you guys," Evans said. "That cool with Matt?"
Eden nodded. "Oh yeah, Matt shouldn't have a problem at all. It'll just be a quiet night in watching movies."
Jared
For the first time in what'd felt like forever, Jared had no plans on a Friday night. After the previous weekend, he wasn't up to going out the night before a meet. His performance last Saturday had been mediocre, and he'd known he could've done better, but for that to happen, he couldn't be hungover while competing.
Brayden was out of town visiting his girlfriend over at UW-Madison, so Jared thankfully had the room to himself too. No roommate to walk on eggshells for when he'd had to get up at five in the morning.
He'd gotten another message from the Bryans; each of them urged him to come out with them and Alex, but Jared once again responded that he wasn't feeling it. Jared relaxed on one of the armoire chairs scattered throughout the student center and ate two slices of pizza for dinner, and he'd still been riding the high he'd felt since the long phone call he'd had not too long ago. Jared spotted Heather by her blonde hair as she'd walked by without noticing him; she'd walked into to the Blue Devil Market. Seeing her had caused him to remember how they hadn't talked much for quite some time, and how disappointing that was. At the beginning of the school year, he'd considered her his closest friend that was a girl, and even though he'd always held out a small inkling of hope of hooking up, he'd still missed having her around and talking to her.
Jared decided to get up and followed her into the market. It was a long time overdue that they talk and catch up.
Heather walked down the candy aisle and grabbed Wildberry Skittles, Mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Laffy Taffy, and Snickers bars, and Jared had become curious. He'd also appreciated her fine form wrapped in a pair of black leggings, some low top chuck taylors, a warm looking tan cardigan; she didn't look like she'd be going out that night either.
He'd snuck up right behind her while she still hadn't seen him.
"You gotta go for the Starburst too while you're at it too," Jared whispered into her ear, and chuckled when she'd jumped up in surprise.
"Christ Jared! You scared me, you ass!" Heather swatted his arm.
"Sorry, you seemed too easy a target, so I had to," Jared smiled as he'd raised his arms in surrender. "Plus, it meant I got to talk to you again. I missed ya."
Heather's expression softened and sighed. "I know, life's gotten pretty crazy lately. I've missed you too."
He put a hand to his heart with an exaggerated touched expression. "Awh, you're too good to me. So, what are you doing with all the sweets?"
"Matt and Luke are hosting a movie night with a couple of us on the floor, and I thought I'd help out by getting some snacks to share."
Jared nodded. "Sounds like a fun plan, got room for one more?"
Heather's brows rose. "Really? I thought you'd be having another boys night tonight."
Jared rolled his eyes. "I was kind of a shit show for my last meet. My coach was on my ass all week, so I thought I'd take it easy tonight."
"Gotcha, well I don't see why not. We'd be happy to have you," Heather smiled up at him and his mood had continued to dramatically improve as they'd walked out of the market together.
"Wait a second, so are you and Luke tight again? Since you're going to his room and all?" Jared asked.
Heather's smile faltered. "No, not really, to be honest."
Jared snorted. "Girl, c'mon. So, the guy kissed you? Big deal. From what I remember, you and your guy have kind of been on the outs way before that happened."
Heather frowned. "God, I still can't believe everyone knows about us...He kissed me when he knew I was with someone else; that's kind of shitty of him to do, don't you think?"
"Heather...the guy's fucking crazy about you, he's told me so himself," Jared said as he'd opened the outside door for her. "He's pretty much been in 'instalove' with you ever since he'd met you, so what do you expect? Besides, life is short. Have fun, be stupid sometimes, love the people that treat you right, screw the ones who don't, and regret nothing."
Heather looked back up at him with a wondrous gaze.
"Believe everything happens for a purpose, and I don't know...go seek that purpose," Jared said.
Heather stared at him for a second. "Wow, Jared. Since when did you become so wise? Is this what getting a girlfriend does to you?"
Jared shrugged and looked away, suddenly he'd felt bashful. "Shut up...I've had some complications as of late, and there was a short break period, but we're giving it another go."
Heather's eyes lit up and smiled. "Really?"
"Yeah, I actually just got off the phone with her before I ran into you, but I'm going to go see her in River Falls tomorrow night after my meet in Steven's Point, so I'll drive separately down so I can sneak out early."
"Awh, I'm so happy for you! You deserve it."
Jared snorted. "I don't know about that, but she makes me happy, so I'm glad it worked out. I hope it does for you and Luke too, for what it's worth."
Heather sighed. "I admit there's something there, but I can't just give up on Ryan, you know?"
Jared nodded, so she'd continued. "I just need to keep my distance until I know what I want. I don't want to give him anymore mixed signals or give him any false hope, you know?"
"That doesn't sound familiar to me at all," Jared snorted again. He'd noticed Heather frowned at him to explain. "You have no idea."
Luke
Luke felt guilty about how he'd ditched Matt as soon as the semester had started, but how could he spend time with his roommate when he was best friends with the girl who haunted his mind? Every time Matt was around, he was with Heather, and with how things were going with her, Luke figured that he'd better just keep himself busy, which hadn't been hard to do with plenty of credits he'd had that semester and how the Packaging Committee prepared him and the other members for the upcoming Career Conference.
The conference was a multiple day convention in the Johnson field house, and hosted representatives from actual companies in the surrounding area, including the Twin Cities. Students had the opportunity to approach the company booths, schedule to be interviewed with representatives, and possibly get an internship out of it. For Luke's major, an internship or co-op that lasted six months was required for graduation. It was a competitive setting, but he'd felt confident enough to be one of the few that'd be selected.
Luke hadn't had too much time to go out and party like last semester; he usually went over to his brother's every Friday after classes and drank with them before Brett, Jackson and their crew left for the bars on Main Street.
Luke sipped on his bottle of Spotted Cow as he'd glanced over at Matt, who'd chatted with Brett, Jackson, and their girlfriends, Eve and Avery.
Brett turned towards Luke; his green eyes lit from laughing at something Matt had said earlier. "Dude, why've you been holding out on us? This guy is fucking sick!"
Brett reached over and patted Matt on his shoulder, to which Matt blushed and looked at the floor. "You gotta bring your friends around more often."
"Seriously, we'd be down for hosting something if you want," Jackson added, his light blue eyes lit up as Avery affectionately reached over to play with his short, dark curls.
"That would be awesome! I know the others would absolutely love to do that," Matt exclaimed, right at home between all the upperclassmen.
"Well yeah! Why should you guys have to drink next door to your RA when you could be as loud as you want over here?" Brett grinned.
"I'm surprised you guys haven't gotten busted yet," Eva admitted.
"Hey Luke, maybe you can bring that girl around too," Brett added, and Luke felt his face go red. He'd immediately looked over at Matt, who'd looked away with a secretive smile.
"Actually, Heather will be at our place later tonight," Matt said.
Jackson beamed at Luke. "Bro! And you're watching a scary movie too, it'll be the perfect opportunity to get her back." He'd put his arm around Avery. "Chicks love to hide in guys' shoulders during the scary parts."
Avery scowled, and flipped her long, red-velvet shaded hair behind her shoulders. "That was totally you when we watched the Conjuring movie, honey."
Jackson responded by shoving her head into his armpit, and Avery screamed and slapped at his arms, but laughed after she'd come up for air. "God, you're such a dork!"
"But, I'm your dork." Jackson tucked her into the nook of his arms.
Luke found himself grossed out but also kind of jealous at the same time. As annoying as the happy couples got on his nerves, Luke could only admit to himself that he wouldn't have minded having that kind of relationship for himself one day.
Heather
Reconnecting with Jared had to have been the highlight of Heather's week. She'd never admit out loud how happy it'd made her feel, because she'd known he'd be a complete jackass about it and rub it in her face. She hadn't said anything of the sort towards him, but it was amazing how one conversation that could change someone's outlook on everything. As they'd sat together in her room and talked about almost everything they'd been through the last couple of months, Heather felt like she'd gotten one of her good friends back.
Jared apparently had been through an ordeal with the girl he'd gotten back together with, but Heather was happy that it'd all worked out in his favor. Who knew that him, of all people, would've found someone within their first year of college?
Together, they'd walked over to the boys side and heard multiple voices from Jared's room. They gave each other a look; neither knew what to expect.
Brayden stood by as he'd ordered the Bryans around as they'd maneuvered a large glass tank into his room. He'd wanted them to move it a little to the left on the top of his dresser. Both of the Bryan's breathed heavily from exertion, and Heather and Jared watched from the doorway, confused. She'd had the desire to quote Ross from Friends and yell "Pivot! Pivot!" but held her tongue when she'd seen how they'd thrown Brayden a look of pure death, even as Brayden continued to be somehow completely oblivious.
"Brayden...what's going on here?" Jared crossed his arms and stepped further inside.
Brayden turned and smiled at them both.
"Jare, Heather, great to see you!" Brayden held his arms out like a welcoming host. "Schmidt and Evans were just helping me install this new tank I got."
Jared nodded. "Yep, I got that, but what is the tank doing here?"
Brayden blinked. "Dude, I told you, I got a turtle."
"You never told me this...Ever."
Brayden frowned. "Yeah, I totally did. At that party last weekend?"
Heather chuckled. "Oh yeah, remember Jared? That thing he'd told you at that one party at that one house?" Her grin widened as Jared's scowled deepened. "It was on that one street too, just in case you still needed a refresher."
Jared flicked her off and turned to Brayden; reigning in any annoyance a deep breath he. "Dude...Next time, come to me when we're not shit-faced in someone's basement."
Brayden eyes widened, so Jared continued. "It's cool, so long as we don't get written up for this."
Brayden shook his head. "Nah, it's all good. I checked, and as long as it lives completely underwater, it's totally cool to have it live in our room."
"What turtle around here does that?"
"Check it out," Brayden grabbed his phone and showed an image a turtle had never seen before. "It's an African Side-neck, and he's already on the way. I've already decided to name him Douglas!"
Heather had to cover her mouth in order to hold in her laughter. Watching Jared's face, how it'd froze in confusion, anger and annoyance as he'd stared down Brayden, who'd still remained oblivious. Not to mention, the Bryan's still watched off on the side while they'd held onto the tank. Jared grabbed a comforter off the futon and motioned for Heather to start backing out of the room, and she'd followed him as they walked over to Matt and Luke's room.
"So, you got yourself a third roommate, huh?" she'd smirked.
"I honestly have no words right now."
Heather laughed again, and patted him on the back. She felt bad that he'd seemed irked by this turn of events, but she was just happy to have a friend back.
Matt
Everyone piled into their room: Eden, Jenna, and Alex had gone all out and dressed up in special pajama's with matching pillows, while Zach just sheepishly walked in right behind them in his normal clothes. They'd all taken a spot on the futon, and Alex urged them to close the door behind them. As soon as Matt locked it, Alex had taken out a gigantic bottle of Everclear that'd been hiding in his pillow.
Matt's eyes bugged out. "Holy shit, Alex! What do you need that for?"
"Well, since you guys don't want to go out to the party, I decided to bring the party here," Alex laughed as Jenna had taken out a small stack of solo cups from her pillow and passed them around. "We're going to be playing a drinking game to make this little shindig a little more interesting. Do we all have chase?"
Matt had a twelve-pack of Mountain Dew in his mini-fridge, so he'd offered a can to anyone who hadn't brought their own.
Alex had made everyone add a shot's worth to their cup, and they'd all done a cheers and chugged together, well, everyone except Zach, who'd gagged at the terrible, burning smell of the Everclear.
Eden had taken out a bottle of Rosé that was stuffed within her comforter and took a sip straight out of the bottle. "Oh, I should give you guys a heads up, but I invited the Bryans to come hang out for a bit before they head out tonight."
Matt felt a small flutter in his chest at the news. "Oh, okay I guess." It wasn't that he'd minded, it was more about the fact that he hadn't been told until the last possible moment. He'd glanced over at Luke, who hadn't seemed affected at all.
There was a knock at his door, so Matt got up and answered the door to Heather, who stood there with Jared, much to his surprise.
"Hey Matt, so I actually ran into Jared when I was just over at the MSC, and he wanted to join, is that okay?" Heather asked.
Matt just stared for a moment before he remembered to nod his head. "Ye-Yeah, sure! Why not? Welcome."
Heather walked inside, but Jared lingered in the doorway and smiled at Matt. "Thanks, bro. Much appreciated."
"To be honest, I'm surprised you're not already shit-faced at some house party," Matt admitted.
"Normally, that's what would be goin' down, but I've got a big meet tomorrow, and I need to kick some ass if I still want to go to State. Plus, It's been awhile, I missed ya, bud!"
Jared opened his arms and stepped closer, which Matt hadn't expected. Usually Jared only hugged when he was drunk, or for anyone who looked good in a miniskirt.
Like Eden had mentioned, the Bryan's both showed up shortly afterwards too.
Everyone was in the room, so Luke put in The Shining, but paused the DVD before it started at Eden's urging.
"Y'all are just in time for me to explain the rules for this game," Eden said as she'd stood up and took charge of the cramped dorm room. "We have to take a drink everytime the following happens: Whenever they reference the weather, whenever they talk about Jack's writing, and whenever room 237 is mentioned."
"Is that it?" Alex seemed skeptical. "Let's add a couple more."
Heather cleared her throat. "How about every time we see an exterior shot of the hotel?"
Eden gestured her glass to her. "I like your thinking!"
"How about whenever we see blood?" Jenna suggested.
"Also a good one."
I've got one, how about every time Matt freaks out at the scary parts?" Alex teased.
Matt fake laughed before he'd flicked Alex off, who'd laughed and offered him another shot as an apology.
Matt took it and cringed; He'd never had to drink an entire can to take just a couple shots of something, but holy shit, Everclear was some strong. He'd only taken three shots and had a good buzz going. He didn't even feel confident enough to stand up and felt warm, so he knew he was well on his way. Maybe he'd have to have Alex pick him up a bottle for himself later, he might save money on booze if only four shots got him drunk.
Schmidt giggled. "Maybe whenever Evans pisses his pants, we have to chug."
"Dude, shut up, You couldn't even sit through Paranormal Activity with those girls the other weekend," Evans retorted. "Also, that was because I'd spilled my drink, asshole."
"Whatever, dude...you pissed your pants and missed your opportunity."
Zach piped up. "Why don't you guys do the mustache game?"
Alex eyed him. "Does that mean you'll drink too?"
"No."
"Then I 'mustache' you to shut the fuck up."
"Okay everyone, let's do this thing!" Eden gestured for Luke to push the play button on the PlayStation, and they'd all tuned into the screen.
The group hadn't even gotten halfway through The Shining when Matt had decided he wanted to kill everyone. He liked to actually sit and pay attention to the movie, especially when he'd never seen it before, but everyone else seemed to have other plans: The Bryans got louder with every sip they drank, Alex had switched spots on the futon to drinking with them over by Luke's dresser to plan where they were going later, Eden asked a question every three minutes, Zach kept quoting every line spoken, Jenna mumbled about how annoying Shelley Duvall was, Jared was just on his phone the whole time, and Heather kept getting annoyed and tried to constantly shush everyone.
Why couldn't people just sit down, shut the hell up, and enjoy the movie? It had to be the alcohol...
Matt gagged at the disturbing scene of when Jack wandered into Room 237.
"Matt freaked out! Everyone drink!" Alex called out.
Matt groaned. "Shut it."
"Sorry, can't hear you, drink-drank-drunk!" Alex responded with another sip. Matt saw him wobble as he'd once again returned to the Bryans, and wondered if maybe someone should go out with him to make sure he didn't hurt himself.
"Alright, I think this is pretty much done-zo here, so who wants to go to Phi Sig?" Schmidt called out to the room. He looked disappointed when only Eden had looked conflicted, the alcohol had somehow given her a second wind.
Heather silently glared at the screen while Schmidt had spoken again. "Seriously guys, this sucks, so let's get out of here and have some actual fun—"
"—Then fucking leave already, Bryan! If this is so lame, just go already," Heather snapped. "Anyone else who wants to go is more the welcome."
Everyone froze, but Schmidt had recovered first and indignantly stomped out of the room. Slowly, Evans followed along with him as well as Alex. Eden stayed seated, but looked torn.
Heather sighed. "If you want to go Eden, you can go." Eden had quickly apologized, but got up and left the tense room.
Everyone that was still remained in Matt and Luke's room was dead silent for a while, the only noise was the movie that'd still played. Matt held his breath, afraid to make any noise and looked around at everyone else: Heather crossed her arms as she'd sullenly stared at the floor, Jared tapped his fingers on his thighs, Luke slowly spun around in his desk chair, and Zach had a silent conversation with Jenna based off the looks they'd shared. The two of them both rose from the futon.
"Well, thank you guys so much for hosting!" Jenna nervously laughed. "I am so tired though, so I'm going to call it a night."
Zach stretched out his back and yawned. "Yep, looks like it's time to hit the ole' dusty trail."
"We should definitely do this again sometime soon..." Jenna paused when Heather shot her a look. "...maybe?"
"Thanks again!" Zach waved, and they'd both practically bolted out the door.
It stayed silent for a few more moments, but Heather of all people keeled over laughing. She'd laughed while she looked at Matt, Jared and Luke with a look that said did that just really happen? Jared joined in soon after; he no longer had to hide it behind a fake cough.
Matt turned to Luke, who'd shrugged and began to chuckle as well, so Matt shook his head at all of them, but couldn't help but start to laugh as well. He couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed so hard, but he'd also forgotten how good it made him feel. School had its moments, and there was plenty of drama amongst his circle of friends, but in that moment Matt had been able to enjoy the fact that they were together—some had been around longer than others—to be able to enjoy the simplicity of sharing a laugh with friends.