Friday
Staring at his phone, Senn contemplated on accepting Lucas' invite to go to a party that evening. He really didn't want to stay in a fight with Lucas over something so trivial and stupid.
Lucas couldn't possibly know why Senn was as upset as he was.
And, shortly after dinner, Lucas had sent him a text to apologize for their small argument during lunch, telling Senn he really didn't mean to say anything wrong, or push his buttons by repeatedly asking about Joyce.
They hadn't exchanged much words after lunch and Senn had mostly spend his time by himself, ignoring Elio during class, or with Avan and Samantha.
But Lucas at least put in effort to clear the air and ask him if he wanted to join him and Avan to a party thrown by the brother of Lucas' teammate Ricky. Which, Senn remembered, were pretty decent parties where pretty much everything was allowed since there usually wasn't a parental figure present to look after the teens trashing their home.
Like with every decision nowadays, Senn grabbed his magic-8-ball, causing Lucas to chuckle on the small phone screen in front of him.
"Yeah, ask the magic-8-ball," Lucas laughed. "It'll know what to do."
"I hope it will. It's been really indecisive lately."
Lucas laughed a little harder while Senn closed his eyes, asked the magic-8-ball if he should attend the party, and shook it lightly with one hand.
Yes, definitely.
Senn frowned, wondering why on Earth the ball couldn't give him any clear fucking answer about coming out to anyone, yes or no. But when it came to going to a party it was convinced it was a splendid idea?
"And? Does it tell you to go?"
"As a matter of fact, it did." Senn showed the ball to Lucas, who smirked in reply.
"Wise decision, my friend. Should we pick you up?" Lucas shortly looked away from the screen, threw a pillow and told his younger sister to get the fuck out of his room before turning back to Senn. "I'm picking up Avan anyway, so it's not that far off route."
"It's still ten minutes. Maybe I can meet you guys at Avan's?" Senn suggested, staring at the boxes with clothes in the corner of his room. He needed to decide what he was going to wear. He should also ask Tessa and Dean if he was even allowed to go.
"That could work. I'm picking him up in half an hour. Will you make it there in thirty?"
"Yeah, I'm not a girl who needs hours to get ready for a party where I'm probably going to end up trashed anyway."
Lucas chuckled again, nodding his head. "Right. Well, in that case, I'll see you in thirty."
"Yeah, see you in thirty."
They hung up, and for the next thirty minutes he was occupied with changing into a decent outfit, informing Tessa, Dean and subsequently Killian—since he was seated in the living room—he was going to a party with his friends, and riding his bike towards Avan since Tessa and Dean had no complaints about him going out.
On the contrary, they seemed happy he was going out.
At Avan's place, they quickly took a few shots of Tequila, and on the way to the party they each drank two cans of beer, like they always used to do whenever they went to parties. As a minor, getting alcohol was hard enough as it was already, but thankfully Julian's older brother didn't mind buying them some.
The few drinks had only been the start, and by the time Senn sat down behind the garage to smoke weed, he was hammered. He couldn't even remember exactly how many drinks he had, since losing a game of beerpong with Avan hadn't done either of them much good.
But Senn was mostly just relieved Lucas and Avan hadn't invited the girls, or Elio for that matter. No, this was their thing. The three of them, going to parties, getting hammered, having fun. The stories about those parties created inside jokes between them, which the girls never understood, and neither would Elio. It was just the three of them, and it made Senn feel slightly better again.
These were his best friends, not anybody else's.
"Okay, okay," Lucas inhaled quickly before handing Senn the spliff, and looked at Avan. "If you had to pick..." Lucas seemed to take time to come up with two new challenges. "You always have to sleep twelve consecutive hours, or you can't sleep more than two hours at once, always needing to be awake for at least two hours before going back to sleep."
"Twelve hours of sleep." Avan nodded. "I'd have the best excuse to stay in bed for twelve hours."
"But you wouldn't be able to go out or do fun things in the evening if you have to get up at seven."
"Oh, damn," Avan scratched his head. "Fuck, I don't know, two hours of sleep in that case?"
"Same," Senn nodded. "Squeezing in naps every so often sounds more appealing."
"Right, that does sound less complicating," Lucas agreed, laying down on the grass. "Maybe a doctor could officially diagnose us with needing naps to survive."
Senn snorted, handing Avan the spliff and his beer. "I'm gonna pee."
"Bring back more beer while you're inside anyway!"
Senn waved a hand as a sign he would bring more beers on his way back, heading back inside and into the crowd to go to the bathroom first. He dodged a swaying girl who wanted to put her arms around his neck, stepped over a guy who sat in the hallway with his legs stretched out in front of him—seemingly asleep—and ignored a few guys at the beer pong table calling him over for another game.
Somewhere after beer number whatever, Senn had lost his ability to care about pretty much anything, so when he found a guy in the bathroom throwing up right next to the toilet on the floor, he simply pushed him aside enough to get access to the toilet.
He really couldn't care anymore. Weirder things had happened at parties in this house.
Like a couple having sex in the toilet while someone else was taking a dump. Or at least, if that story was true because Senn hadn't witnessed it himself, nor did any of his friends.
Senn usually didn't stay around at parties like this long enough for the police to shut them down. And when he left the bathroom and zig-zagged his way through the crowd and towards the kitchen, he bumped into the one person who was the cause for him to never stay for too long; Julian.
"Senn," he breathed out in relief. "I was looking for you."
"You where?" Senn asked, feeling mostly surprised for Julian's presence in the first place. But the fact he was looking for him? He hadn't expected it at all.
"Yeah, I miss hanging out, and I heard you were at this party."
"Kinda hard to hang out with you living on the other side of the country." Senn mumbled while shrugging a shoulder. He had no idea how to act. He had no idea what was going on between them shortly before the accident and since he hadn't heard anything from Julian afterwards, he more or less figured they were done anyway.
He wanted to just grab three beers and head back to his friends, but something was stopping him from moving away from Julian.
Maybe it was his eyes, staring at him with worry. Genuine worry.
Or the fact Julian didn't seem to know how to act either. He was shuffling a foot, waving his hands back and forth by his side, biting his lip. Lips, Senn knew, were very soft and pleasant to kiss. Hands that were very good at holding him protectively, caressing his back while he whispered little nothings into Senn's ear.
"Wanna head out?" Senn blurted out of the blue, suddenly feeling the urge to lay in those arms for a while and feel safe; as if nothing changed. Go back to the things he still remembered. Moments that felt normal.
"Treehouse?" Julian asked, slightly amused.
Senn nodded, and without another word, they went outside, grabbed their bikes, and headed over to the other side of town, just like Senn remembered.
Just the way it was supposed to be.
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Love, June