@ajricci replied to your post: [pm] As much as I think it would be a good...
[pm] Being boring really is your favorite hobby, huh?
[pm] First off, rude.
Secondly, no. I am bored out of my mind and this is distracting. Plus Greek is good for understanding the roots of words and Jenna’s also learning Japanese because her girlfriend speaks it fluently, so I figured I could learn also since her girlfriend is my friend, too.
What have you been up to? I’d sneak out and hang out but I don’t want mum to literally kill me I should probably just watch Netflix or something. Did you like my present from the end of December
@ajricci replied to your post: [pm] Can you just give me a heads up the next time...
[pm] I thought you might be worried for her well being too. Or is she too unpopular to be considered a friend too? I thought I was the only one.
[pm] You’re It’s not I’m sorry
I thought you cared about me even though you don’t like to show it. I guess not, I must’ve been too stupid or annoying or anything else to be your friend. Friends are good and I care about you a lot but you
I’m pathetic, right? I can’t even do I can’t do anything and I had to be saved by someone at the zoo because I thought “oh, let’s save the whole town a bit by using my magic and then maybe I’ll have done something right since I’m not able to cure Dustin’s asthma or stop my parents from fighting or help you or Blanche”
I can’t sleep without waking up shaking, I am a fifteen-year-old girl and my mother has had to come by my room every night when I wake up sobbing
Neither of you are. I’ve been friends with Katie and Jenna since I was in preschool, it just so happened things fell where they did.
Lea: [dials and starts talking the moment she hears the phone pick up] I can't really fall asleep for more than fifteen minutes at a time and I don't know why I'm calling but I can't wake up Dustin right now and I just clicked your contact and [user pauses to take a tiny breath of air]
Death-Defying Acts || AJ & Lea (ft. Laura Parrish)
In this week’s adventures of “No, we are not friends at all.”: AJ needs help, Lea helps, and Laura Parrish is a saint for dealing with her children.
AJ wasn’t sure how he had gotten to the Parrish house. He could only vaguely remember driving through town and hitting at least two curbs on the way. The woman, or whatever the hell she had been, had used her freakishly long nails to stab AJ right through the gut. The location of the injury was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, he knew that gut injuries were infamously painful. They bled a lot and caused a slow, painful death that unless treated in time were extremely fatal. However, it also meant that he had time. Maybe not to get to a hospital and get proper treatment, but he could get to the Parrish house where she still owed him a favor. His vision was blurring from the pain and blood loss, but as AJ made it up to the door step he zipped up his jacket to hide the wound and stuffed his hands in his pockets after knocking on the door. He plastered a smile across his paling face and waited. Hopefully he would get lucky and Lea would be the only one home.
She was just finishing putting away some groceries when Laura heard a knock at the door, and breezed over to it, opening it as a brief look of confusion crossed her face as she regarded the boy who stood there. "Hello, how can I help you?" She asked, a smile briefly gracing her face.
It was luck that AJ had never met Dustin and Lea’s mother before. That and the fact that he had only been to there house a total of three times, two of which he had never made it farther than the driveway. So regardless of what he looked like now, it would be the first time Laura Parrish had seen him and couldn’t know any difference. “Hi.” He spoke as friendly as he could, his voice coming out in a husky whisper. He coughed into his shoulder to help clear his voice, careful not to take his hands out of his pockets, and tried again. “Hi. My name’s AJ. I dropped Dustin and Blanche off the other day and I think I forgot my debit card in Dustin’s room while I was there. Do you mind if I just ran in and took a look real quick?”
The smile returned, and Laura gave a nod, motioning for AJ to enter the house. "I am so glad my Dustin is making friends, though I am sorry I missed you the other day." She shook her head. "He is not here right now, but you are welcome to go and find what you need. I do not think he would mind all too much." She pushed the door shut and motioned towards the stairs. "His room is right up there - though I do suppose you know that, if you were hanging out the other day." She turned back and began walking towards the kitchen again. "Just let me know if there's anything else I can do."
“Likewise. I’ll be back though don’t worry. Thanks a lot!” AJ smiled widely, “Hopefully it shouldn’t take me too long.” He began to traverse up the steps, each additional incline making his gut hurt worse and worse. He was getting incredibly tired, so tired he almost felt like he could fall asleep right here on these steps. His eyes began opening and shutting rapidly and he felt incredibly light on his feet as if he were floating. His elbow caught on the handrails and brought him back to reality and he was able to steady himself and finish the ascent. He spotted an open door and leaned to get a look inside. Definitely Lea’s. He stumbled forward practically tripping into the door and opening it the rest of the way, finally getting a full look inside her room. It was so freaking pink. “Holy Barbie Dream house.” He muttered, swaying from side to side as the intensity of the room made him even dizzier than before. “Hey Lea. Just thought I’d drop by.”
Lea was sitting at her desk, finishing up edits on her extra credit paper for English. All the rising 10th graders were required to read To Kill a Mockingbird, but writing a paper on it was optional, but an option that Lea had gladly snapped up. Her essay was almost perfect now, she thought to herself, before her attention was drawn away by a familiar-but-not-familiar-at-her-home voice. She whipped her head around, her braid flicking against her back. Standing up suddenly, Lea pulled off her Yale sweatshirt and threw it over the small basket of stuffed animals in the corner. Though Bertrand, her white stuffed bear still sat against her pale green pillowcases. "AJ?!" She half-sputtered. "One, I like things neat, and two, how did you - how are you here?" She wrapped her arms around her torso and glanced over to him.
If AJ wasn’t legitimately concerned about dying at the moment, he would be reveling in the fact that Lea had that creepy ass bear sitting on her bed and had noticeably tossed a blanket over something in the corner of her room. If he could coherently string together an insult he would accuse her of building a shrine of him. “I drove. Sort of.” Short answers were good. Short answers didn’t hurt and didn’t require as much thinking. His brain seemed too cloudy at the moment to think too much. “I need help.” He managed, leaning back against the door frame and then slowly realizing that he was getting closer to the ground. Oh, he was sliding down the door frame onto the floor. He almost pulled his hands out of his pockets to help steady the descent but then remembered that they still had blood on them. Lea would pop a gasket if he got any red on some of her pink. Instead his body slid onto Lea’s bedroom floor AJ’s head fell back, smacking against the wall.
"Sort of?" Lea raised an eyebrow, but before she could receive a more coherent answer AJ seemed to be slipping onto the ground and she half yelped, but managed to not let out any noise, only quickly moved over to where he was falling onto the ground and rested a hand against his shoulder. "What did you do? Or did somebody do something to you?" She sucked in a breath of air, though her room seemed a bit warmer than before. Had someone taken a prank beyond the normal level of high school cruelty? "Come over here, if you can." She motioned to the end of her bed, before glancing back over to AJ. "But move slowly, or, um." She gave a sharp nod. "Let me help you." She moved back over to him and knelt down right next to him. "The floor might have some carpeting, but over there's a lot better." Lea used a free hand to push her door closed before looking back over to AJ. "Does that work?"
Lea was saying a lot of words but AJ could only catch a few at a time. He could tell that she was asking what was wrong and then he was pretty sure that she was trying to get him to move somewhere. There was a ringing in his ears but he tried to push it aside so that he could focus on what she was saying. He tried wiggling to his feet, still careful not to pull his hands free of his pockets. He eventually managed it, managing to only wince and grimace at the pain in his stomach. At this point the only thing keeping him from screaming out in pain was the fact that AJ had seemed to lose his voice entirely. In his head he thought about saying words and explaining things to Lea but his mouth wouldn’t obey his commands. He fumbled to the end of the bed and sat down on it. When he was sure that he could free his hands without bloodying anything of hers he finally pulled them free and fumbled with the zipper of his jacket, trying desperately to grab onto it and pull it down but the damned thing was caught. So he started pointing at it hoping that Lea would get the message for him.
She watched him carefully. Something was wrong, clearly. He had yet to make some snarky remark about the fact that over half her room was some shade of light or medium pink, that her bookshelves were organized in perfect rainbow order, or anything else. Lea watched him make his way over to her bed and sat down, though it almost seemed as though he'd fall before he made it to the edge of her bed, but he didn't, and she sighed softly, glancing back towards her closed door before looking back at AJ and moving toward him. He removed his hands from his pockets and Lea couldn't help but suck in a quick breath of air, letting out a small, though barely noticeable high-pitched squeak. "I got it." She moved over to where he was fumbling with his zipper and reached her fingers to the back of it, pulling a small piece of stuck fabric out of it and giving a quick and firm tug on it, finally undoing it. "Your hands need to get cleaned." She looked over at him for a brief moment. "Wait a sec." Lea darted out of her room and into the bathroom, wetting a green washcloth and giving a small kiss to Aria before she made her way quickly back to her room, again pulling the door closed. "Use this." She handed the cloth to AJ. "Is the source of that," she nodded at the blood on his hands, "under the jacket?"
Lea had gone to grab him a wash cloth and AJ welcomed the idea of washing the blood off of his hands. He was able to wash most of the dried blood from his skin and only a faint stain of red could be seen at this point. Then he balled up the towel and found the spot with the least amount of red on it to press against his forehead, the wet coolness helped to semi clear his head. “Something stabbed me.” He managed to answer finally, and made a motion to push his jacket aside, unveiling the tattered shirt that remained underneath. It had been a quick job to wrap the wound after he had ran from Noah. Something had happened, something AJ didn’t quite understand. The bleeding had begun to slow down even though AJ had been on the move. A stomach wound should not have stopped bleeding without medical treatment. So AJ had taken the opportunity to leave. Then he had tripped on his way to his truck and smacked into a broken branch and the pain had come rushing back. Same when he hit the curbs on the way here. So he had torn his shirt and used it to wrap around his stomach to stop some of the bleeding. Still, for a stomach wound AJ knew there should be a lot more blood than there was. “Can you fix it?”
Regarding AJ carefully, Lea stood near him, waiting as he washed off his hands and pressed the cloth against his forehead. She felt her eyes grow wide at his next comment, and shook her head. "Something stabbed you?!" She practically squeaked. Lea pulled his jacket more to the side, chewing her lip as she examined the wound. "I think I can." She sighed, after a few moments. "But you need to take off your jacket and also the shirt - wrapping - whatever-it-is. It works best with direct-to-skin contact." She paused. "I can help with that if moving is too hard, and I can't take away all the pain in addition to healing, but I've got Advil in my drawer for that if you need."
AJ struggled but was able to strip his jacket off of himself. He knew that Lea had offered help, but against AJ’s better judgement he convinced himself that he needed to do this on his own. He hated asking for help from others and this was especially painful. Something about potential life or death seemed worse than asking Lea to use her magic to break into something for her or whatever he was going to figure out she could help him with. The shirt underneath had been turned into what looked like an unevenly homemade male crop top, and AJ struggled to pull it up and over his head. He laid back on the bed, keeping his jacket under him to stop the blood if it began pouring out. Knowing the wound it should be right now, though the wrap seemed to be keeping it in place. It still didn’t make much sense to him. He began unwrapping the shirt tied around his stomach and once undone, blood did start leaking but the amount was minimal in comparison to what it had looked like an hour ago.
Lea could almost sense the wincing that AJ seemed to be making every effort to avoid. She would have rolled her eyes if the situation wasn't as seemingly dire as his actions seemed to indicate. Lea raised an eyebrow at his homemade top, but gave a small shrug. She had to admit that it was good thinking on his feet, and it had helped to absorb at least some of the blood. He lay back and she watched him undo the wrap, but although the injury was still relatively severe, it didn't look half as bad as she'd been imagining. "Thanks." She muttered, pushing herself up and on to the bed. "Okay..." She gave another nod and moved closer to AJ, moving one leg on each side of his torso. "It works better straight on." She bit her lip again and brushed a few strands of hair out of her face, before looking back at AJ. "I can start whenever you're ready, just say when. I promise I won't screw it up or hurt you more, but you might still have some pain when this is all done."
Even in pain, AJ still managed to laugh out loud. If Dustin was worried before he would pop a blood vessel if he saw the two of them at this moment. Minus the sight of the blood it looked pretty damn condemning. Lea was practically straddling AJ at the moment and it looked like something out of a coming-of-age rom-com. “Just get it over with.” AJ said. He could live through the pain. But without her magic he was pretty sure that he wouldn’t live at all and that was something he couldn’t have right now. He was not going to die in high school.
Lea narrowed her eyes at AJ. Her mother was downstairs somewhere, and Dustin was out. She didn't know where, but she didn't care right now. Point was, nobody was going to see any magic happening, not if she could avoid it. "I will, promise." She moved her hand over his wound and pressed down gently, moving her other hand to rest on AJ's arm. Just to keep balance, to make sure that her hand didn't slip, that she didn't screw this up. Because she knew that Dustin had more practice than she did, and of course her mother did - but Lea could do this. There was no way that anybody ever deserved to die, and especially if she could do anything to help fix it. Keeping solid, though not too intense pressure on the wound, Lea concentrated on thinking of how it healed. First a scab, then scar tissue covering the wound, until the wound had pulled itself back together. She opened her eyes and smiled briefly before glancing at AJ. "There'll be a small scar, but it might even heal itself pretty quickly." Lea bit her lip. "How does it feel?" She finally lifted her hands off of him and turned her head to the side.
AJ was about to lie still through the pain. He kept himself distracted by running through the night again, just as he had been doing all night to distract himself from the injury. AJ had been sure that he had wasted his time in the forest at that crime scene. The site had been too aged and too weathered to hold any evidence of anything that had happened over two years before. He hadn’t been hopeful before he had shown up and became even more discouraged along the way, but as it turned out AJ had learned something. The crime scene had been close enough to the victim’s home or at least a place they frequented. That was the only reasonable explanation as to why her sister had been close enough to the scene of the crime to hear AJ and investigate. It didn’t exactly count as a huge break, but it was something he hadn’t known before. Chances were, if her sister wasn’t human that meant the victim wasn’t human either which brought even more questions into play. Had the killer known she wasn’t human? If she wasn’t human, then what was she? Would a human be able to kill something like whatever she was? The distraction worked, the next thing AJ knew Lea was talking again and AJ leaned his head up and saw a scar had replaced the blood pouring out of the open wound. Dried blood still stuck to his stomach, but AJ leaned up and used the wet rag to dab at it. “It’s better than bleeding to death I guess.”
"Wow, such high praise." Lea shook her head. "You could thank me for saving your life, you know." She smiled briefly, rolling her eyes. It had turned out pretty well, all things considered. Considering she usually had her mother watching when she practiced healing, and considering that the gash on AJ's body was more than she was used to dealing with. Lea briefly pressed her fingers against the now-present scar, willing it to heal at least mostly. She could manage that, surely. Especially since she couldn't also give him the benefit of a lack of pain. Lea sighed briefly, pressing a few fingers against her temple. Healing such a significant wound did take a lot out of her. Her mother had told her and Dustin that - an important warning to take into account. "Sorry." She muttered, shaking her head briefly, not moving her position. "In the interest of my honesty promise, healing can take a lot of energy from whomever is performing the magic. But you should be all good now."
“I could.” AJ began, turning the idea of thanking Lea around in his mouth a few times wondering if he could stomach the idea of spitting out the words. “Thanks.” He mostly mumbled. That was two people he had thanked today, which was twice as many people he had thanked in the past month, maybe longer. He reached behind him and grabbed at his jacket, sliding one arm into it and then the other. Lea looked exhausted and a few moments later she explained to him why it was that she had been acting that way. It made sense. Magic used the body’s energy in the same sense that running a marathon or exercising did it seemed. “Okay. That makes sense.” AJ sat for a long moment. He considered telling Lea about the super strength. A secret for a secret seemed fair, he knew what she was. The difference was that AJ had no idea what was wrong with him. He hated sharing secrets, but he hated the unknown even more.
"Oh." Lea bit her lip, briefly smiling. She hadn't expected AJ to actually thank her, but she didn't comment on it. Drawing more attention to that would likely result in some joke or sarcastic comment, and the gratitude felt nice. She'd have saved his life regardless, but he did seem truly grateful, which was something, surely. "If you - I can also take pain, though not both at once. If I take the pain I literally-" Her explanation was cut off by the door suddenly opening, revealing her mother standing there. Lea half-leapt off of AJ, banging her leg against the foot of her bed in the process. At least the bloodied washcloth was out of sight. "Hi mum." She squeaked. "Lea, sweetheart, you know the rules that we have about closed doors." Laura turned to AJ, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you needed to get something from Dustin's room." Adjusting her dress, Lea nodded. "Oh, yeah! He totally did, but then I had a question about a class and he was helping me out and the door closed on accident I swear it. He's super helpful and really knows a lot about - uh, maths! He might even be better than Dustin at maths and so he was showing me, uh, things in preparation for tenth grade. You know, being ahead is real good." Shoot. She could lie well for Dustin, but why wasn't she able to come up with a better excuse right now for herself?!
AJ was uncomfortably aware that the two of them were entering some sort of genuine touchy-feely moment that AJ had no interest in falling victim of. Luckily for him it was that exact moment that Laura Parrish decided to burst into the room and AJ was painfully reminded that the Parrish household held a no closed door policy. He vaguely remembered Dustin mentioning it at some point, most likely during the Prom Night fiasco. Unluckily for AJ, he was quickly realizing that despite the Parrish’s being impressively good at keeping their magic a secret despite for one tiny hiccup that resulted in AJ’s knowledge of it, Lea was a ridiculously bad liar when it came to making up excuses towards her mom. AJ hopped off of the bed and finish zipping up his jacket. Now that he was no longer at risk of bleeding to death he could slip into character a little more easily. “Sorry, Lea you don’t have to cover for me you’re an awful liar.” He laughed nervously, hoping to make Laura think that he was more baffled by the situation than he really was. In situations like this, an awkward teenager was usually the best choice. “I swore her to secrecy, um, mostly because I was embarrassed I’m sorry.” He began pacing around the room and purposefully fidgeted with his hands, scratching at his chin. “I grabbed my card from Dustin’s room and then I came in here because I wanted to show her” He paused, mostly for dramatic effect, “I have this scar. Family reunion accident. It’s a long story. But I wanted to ask her if she thought it would impress… Well I closed the door because I didn’t want Dustin to walk by and see me because…” He hoped that Laura would pick up on the message he was faking. “Lea told me about the door rule but I thought it was just going to be for a second so I apologize. I can show you the scar if you want proof.” He grabbed at his zipper and gave a small tug for show. Physical sights like that, especially from kids, made adults uncomfortable. It might at least make Laura change the subject so AJ could make his escape.
"I'm-" Lea started, glancing between AJ and her mother. The look on Laura's face clearly read exactly what Lea could have suspected. Should have suspected. She didn't believe what Lea was saying at all, though Lea figured that while her lies had sucked big time, it more had to do with the fact that she was both Laura's youngest child and the girl of her two children. Even Lea had to admit that everything looked more than a little bit suspicious and she glanced over to AJ, about to try and offer him a slightly pleading look when he began to tell her mother the "truth". She sucked in her lower lip to keep from almost giggling but she had to admit that AJ was quite good at lying - at spinning tales out of seemingly nothing. She'd been aware of it in theory, but she only hoped that her mother would believe him. "Hm." Laura gave a small nod, with a glance back towards Lea that clearly said we're still talking about this later. "No need to show me, but you do remember my saying my son was not at home, right?" She smiled at AJ. "I am sorry to hear about the scar however." Lea jumped in, "Yeah, but you know, it's a cool sorta thing. It can make someone look more tough. Not that - well, point being, he knows Dustin's got a boyfriend and all, but they've hit it off and AJ here," Lea plastered on a grin, "just wants my big brother to think he's suuuuper cool. Which I mean, that's a first," Laura raised an eyebrow, "Lea..." "Sorry, I don't mean it in a bad way, but he just wants to make sure Dustin doesn't think he's lame or anything." She smiled, hoping that her mother would at least not further lecture her in front of AJ. "Of course." Laura said, though Lea knew that she'd be getting one heck of a lecture later on. "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, AJ. If you need anything on your way out I'll be in the kitchen." She smiled at Lea. "You too, cupcake. Make sure you show AJ out, alright? And doors all open this time." She winked before exiting Lea's room.
“I’ve embarrassed myself in front of him enough. The last thing I needed was for him to come home and find me here like that.” AJ scratched at his head, focusing on forcing himself to blush. He was able to stop himself from rolling his eyes when Lea decided to helpfully jump in and take his hypothetical crush further. How ironic that she suddenly decided that she could further the narrative now when moments before she could barely stutter through a sentence. “It’s a lot more embarrassing when you tell your mom about it.” AJ jumped in, a specific hint of passive aggressiveness added in for flavor. “You too Mrs. Parrish.” He smiled, offering a shy wave as a sort of truce. “I should get going anyway, don’t want my mom to worry.” That was a lie that was almost too unbelievable to tell. “No more closed doors ever again!” AJ yelled out after Laura walked out of the room before turning to Lea with a smirk spread across his face, “There’s so much in this room to make fun of right now I think I’m going to have to compile a list and get back to you. Want to walk me to my car, cupcake?”
"Please, call me Laura." Lea's mother said with a shake of her head. Lea flashed her another grin and a wave as she finally disappeared from view. At AJ's smirk, she glared briefly. "Why I am not in the least bit surprised? Sorry my room doesn't look like it owns a motorcycle, jeez." She sighed at his next comment. "It's just a nickname!" She replied with a squeak. One that her mother had to have used on purpose or something. "But of course, what kind of host would I be to you if I didn't show you out? Wouldn't want you to think poorly of me." She nodded at the shirt and cloth on the bed. "I'll just throw those out, unless you wanted to try and salvage them." Lea raised an eyebrow.
AJ started to lead the way out of Lea’s room and down the steps. “I’m sure plenty of guys can rock the crop top look, but I’m not convinced I’m one of them.” AJ couldn’t get a good read on Laura Parrish to tell if she actually bought his story or not, but to be safe he should keep his distance for a bit. If he showed up again he would have to be his best behavior. He couldn’t believe that he was actually hypothetically considering being back over at the Parrish house. He had already been there three times. What other reason could he possibly have to go back? “Bye Laura!” AJ yelled out from the front door, heading outside and waiting until both he and Lea were standing outside and he was sure that no one could hear them. “So I’d say we’re even now.” This summer had been a strange one for AJ. Hanging out with these people he had known of for years, forming some sort of relationship with them. Not exactly friendship, but closer than he had years ago. Maybe even closer than he was then, even back before everything went to hell he tended to keep people at an arm’s length or further. Maybe these people that he had enlisted to help him; Lea, Blanche, Dustin and Quinn actually were friends. Did that mean trusting them with whatever was going on with him? Nope. Definitely better to keep them at arm’s length too. It wouldn’t be long before they were back at school and whatever weird vibe that had started at prom would wear off. AJ couldn’t actually be friends with someone like Lea anyways, his ex-friends would make sure of that. Taking the chance would only result in disaster on both sides. “I’ll make sure to completely stay out of your way and make sure your actual friends are none the wiser.” He turned his back to head towards the truck and held up his hand as a wave goodbye.
Lea gave a small shrug of agreement. "The whole dudes wearing crop-tops thing is, like, okay, do your own thing, but it's always been a bit odd in my opinion." She gave a small wave to her mother as they passed by the kitchen, careful to not walk too close to where AJ was. "Be right back in!" She blew her mother a kiss before following AJ outside. "I guess we are." She gave a shrug. "But, y'know - I can help, if you're in need. Even if it's just a bad headache or whatever." Lea bit her lip and glanced down at the ground at his next comment. Wanted to say that maybe AJ was also a friend but also didn't want to overstep anything, because that couldn't turn out well. "Right, of course." She glanced up at him, "Best to keep things under wraps and undercover, you know." She ran her tongue across her teeth. "See you around, I guess." She said, waving her hand back at him, watching to make sure that he got out of the driveway safely.
Somehow Nobody Died (part two) || AJ, Blanche, Dustin, Lea, and Quinn
Backdated to June 3rd, 2017 - post-prom adventures featuring a truck and a diner.
Getting to the truck was hard enough work, wrangling the three drunkards like they were cattle and directing them towards the spot where AJ had parked his truck had been no easy task, but somehow the five of them arrived in one piece without anybody running off into traffic or a member of administration chasing out after them. "Quinn and Dustin you guys get in the back." He pointed to the bed of the truck. His car was not exactly ideal for driving multiple people home, but he figured it was better than nothing else. "And stay down because a cop will pull us over if they see you." AJ climbed into the driver's side and leaned over to push the passenger door open for the two girls. Lea climbed in first and sat in the middle while Blanche hopped in the last open seat. "There's a window right behind you if you want to talk to your brother." AJ mumbled, starting the truck and saying a silent prayer that it didn't choose tonight to finally give out on him. Glancing over at Blanche, clearly stuck in her own drunken world made AJ point to the lock on the door and speak to Lea, "And lock her in please."
This was absolutely not how her evening was supposed to go. A frown still on her face, Lea made her way out to AJ's truck with the rest of them, pulling herself up and into the front seat, silently buckling herself in as she let out a sigh. She was doing this for Dustin, she reminded herself. Because she did love him and did care about him and had to make sure he actually got home, even though the fact that he'd hugged her back in the gym was still a bit - or rather a lot - weird. "Got it." She replied tersely to AJ, reaching over Blanche's lap and pushing the lock on the door. She pulled out her phone and opened up her group text with Katie and Jenna, sending the two of them a small message before closing it and holding the phone on her lap.
The trip to the car took far longer than Quinn expected it to. They were stumbling about, laughing far too loudly, and he was pretty much attached to Dustin's hip. By the time he actually reached the truck, he was fairly disheveled. His jacket and vest had been unbuttoned, and the bowtie was hanging limply from his neck. He'd even undone the top two buttons of his shirt. It was too stuffy in the suit, even outside. "The back? That sucks," Quinn mumbled, and pouted. With a huff, he did his best to climb into the back of the truck, but it was surprisingly difficult. He leaped up the first time and failed, groaning as his body hit the side. "Fuck," he mumbled, finally managing to clamber into the truck and falling heavily onto the bed. "C'mon Dustin," he said, reaching out to try and help his boyfriend.
"Are you kidding me?" Dustin exclaimed. "The back is the best part of a truck! I've always wanted to travel in the back. We can totally recreate that movie, you know, with prom and the teenagers in the truck and the ugly clock." He tried climbing into the back, an endeavour that was hindered by his current lack of balance but helped by his height and enthusiasm to get inside the back. Gripping Quinn's hand, he finally landed inside, and he started laughing loudly when he landed half on top of Quinn. "Not exactly how I picture myself on top of you," he told him, grinning, before getting back upright and starting to poud against the window separating the back from the front. Then, he decided to just try opening it - and surprisingly, it worked. "Hey!" Dustin smiled at them. "Can you hear me through here? I'm not sure you can hear me. And that would suck, a lot. You should be able to hear me, because I wanna talk to you guys."
Blanche was calmer once she had left the building with the scary ghosts and stopped trying to run away, but she was babbling incoherently to her Granny, who was, for once, trying to get her to to be quiet. Blanche grinned widely as she hoisted herself in AJ's truck after Lea and sitting herself down. "This truck's nice!" Blanche said to nobody in particular. "I like it-- it's bigger than my little car! My little car is parked waaaaaaaaaay on the other end of the building. It's blue- I really like the color blue but my Granny says it makes me look tacky." She nodded, once again becoming amused by how her curls bounced in front of her face. She leaned back as Lea reached to lock the door. "You're pretty." Blanche said, reaching to pat her on the shoulder. "I like that dress a lot, the lace and stuff compliments it." She nodded once, fumbling with her seatbelt to strap herself in, before she let out a gasp, turning in her seat. "You're pretty too AJ!! Don't worry!! I like your suspenders!!" Blanche announced, before Dustin's voice came floating to her through the open window. "I can hear youuuu!!!" Blanche exclaimed happily, leaning towards it. "Hiiiii Dustin! My Granny says hi too!!!" 'No I did not! Blanche! Stop this nonsense right now! Blanche turned her head. "You did too!" She whispered. "Don't be rude!"
"Wow that's so interesting" AJ answered Blanche blandly, afraid that she would just repeat herself but louder if she realized that she was being ignored. AJ grinned as she turned her focus towards Lea and then immediately transitioned to eye rolling when Blanche felt the need to compliment him too. "Thanks. For a second there I thought you forgot about me. I was heartbroken." Then she started talking to herself again. Or rather, something that was near her. "Am I dropping you and your brother off first Lea?"
Lea smiled briefly at Blanche. "Thanks a bunch. I like the color a lot." Making sure to hold onto her phone, she turned around to the window at Dustin's comment. "Yes, big brother, I can hear you. Try going a little louder, maybe. I think the folks in Portland might not be able to hear you." She gave another huff, and replied to AJ without looking at him. "Sure, we don't live too far from here." Though then he'd know where they lived. Shoot. "We probably have to get home soon, anyhow." She ran a hand through her loose curls, nervously twisting the ends around her fingertips. Her phone buzzed and she opened up a text from Amanda, which looked more like a mixture of a few different languages than any one distinct one - but it seemed like she and Kevin and some others had left the dance, which made Lea breath a small sigh of relief. She fired off a response and set her phone back in her lap.
Quinn let out a slight "oof" as Dustin toppled on top of him. But then he grinned and laughed at the joke, leaning up a little bit. "You could totally just stay there," he smiled with a big grin. And then Dustin was scrambling off to yell at the others. With a slight groan, Quinn picked himself up to move next to Dustin. "I think they can hear us," he said, nudging Dustin and reaching into the window to pat Lea's head. "See? She can hear. But she's being mean again. You're mean Lea," he said, looking around at AJ. "I'm staying over tonight!" he called out, probably too loudly. "So I'm gonna get dropped off with them," he said, before turning to Blanche. "Who's being rude? Also do we have to go home now? I'm not ready to go home yet. Let's do something fun,"
"Is that a challenge?" Dustin grinned at Lea from the back of the truck. When Quinn reached through the window, he decided to do the same, bumping his arm against Quinn's. Patting Lea was a good idea. But she needed more pats. He moved his hand to pat against her cheek, in what looked like an odd mixture between a mild slap, a cheek exam and petting a dog. "Only I am allowed to call her mean," Dustin protested. He stretched in order to pat Blanche's cheek next. "Do you have your granny on your phone?" Dustin asked. "Or is she like, with you in spirit?" he asked. "But tell her hi back! I'd love to meet her, if she's the type of granny that gives out candy and stuff." He let go of Blanche's cheek, moving his hand towards AJ. "Wait, you're staying over? Does that mean we're having sex?" Dustin wanted to know, before moving his hand against AJ's hair, ruffling it. He really had to stretch a lot to reach him. "Not you, AJ," he quickly correctly. "Oh my god, yes, we should do something fun. Lea, can you get us into the aquarium? I know you love the fishies. Pleease."
Blanche frowned slightly. "Don't be heart broken!!! You're very pretty!!!" She insisted. Granny was practically having a cow, but Blanche was too busy laughing as Dustin and Quinn kept touching Lea's head. She didn't think Lea liked that too much. Confusion filled her as Dustin started patting her and asking about her Granny. "Spirit? What's a spirit?! Like a ghost? Ghosts- haha- aren't real!! You know what I like though, goats!!! Oh! Oh no! Dustin!! Quinn!! You guys are pretty too!!" Blanche was horrified when she realized she forgot to compliment them. "You guys were super cute tonight-AJ did you get nice pictures of them? I hope you got nice pictures of them! And- wait, who's having sex with who?" Blanche asked, whispering to Lea in what really wasn't a whisper. She was having trouble keeping up. Blanche swiveled in her seat. "We can't go to the aquarium!!! It's closed and—" Her stomach let out the loudest growl and her laughter mixed with Granny's groan. "— OOOH! I'm hungry!! Let's get food!! But not Flopped because I work there- did you know I work there? I do the rollerskating which is actually a lot harder than people think because people push by you and then you sorta just fly in whatever direction and— ohhh I want a burger! No I want three burgers- I haven't eaten alllllll day. Please AJ? Can we go to AJ's- not AJ... El? No. Al's!!!!! They have the best burgers ever!!"
Aquariums or any other location post prom other than home had not been part of the deal. Not that AJ had really made a deal with them in the first place. It was more or less an ultimatum, leave with him right then and there or face whatever consequences the school board thought up to deal with those that had been caught intoxicated tonight. Dustin and Blanche had been too drunk to really care about the consequences anyways, but AJ had been able to at least get Quinn to see why they had needed to leave. The plan had been to go straight from the prom to their houses so that AJ could go home. He should have left them at prom. Dustin’s hand found AJ’s face through the back window of the truck and AJ just sighed through it, figuring that pulling away would only make matters worst. “Bummer. I had really been looking forward to prom night sex too.” The aquarium sounded like an awful idea and any place like it wouldn’t be much better. Blanche eventually decided that she was suddenly starving somehow, and started screaming out that she needed food as soon as possible. “Fine. Fine. Jesus Christ. We will go to Al’s just shut it.” Dustin and Lea had lived so close to the school that he thought he could get them out as fast as possible, but instead and did a U-turn and drove back in the opposite direction of their house and toward the diner. What could possibly go wrong?
Lea whipped her head around and glared at both Dustin and Quinn. "No, big brother, that was sarcasm. Also, he's right. Nobody else can call me mean, and it's even rude when he does it." She gave a small huff, turning back around to face forward. "Nobody's having sex tonight, holy cow. Personally, I think we should all go back to our own houses but-" She was cut off by Blanche's suggestion mixed with Dustin's. "I do love the aquarium, but it's after hours which means it is closed." She glanced down at her phone, Amanda and Kevin continuing to text her and she replied quickly, apologizing for leaving early which earned an inordinate amount of crying emojis from both of them, even though Kevin was not one to use emojis in great excess on any normal day. "I guess Al's is fine," she sighed as AJ turned around. "It is good to have food when you've had alcohol, it helps process it."
Quinn just pouted, fully intending to call Lea mean when she's been acting mean. With a shrug, Quinn turned to Dustin. "We're totally gonna have sex. And it'll be loud and Lea will hate it," he grinned, kissing his boyfriend's cheek before pulling his and back from the window. He didn't feel the need to pet everyone in the front. "There are a lot of fish in the aquarium. Could we swim with them? That would be fun," Quinn rambled, but the suggestion of food actually caught his ears. "Oh, fuck yeah food is soooo much better than fish. Unless it's fish as food, but then only sometimes," Quinn said, before letting out a yelp as the car turned. He slipped a bit to the side, crashing into Dustin before giggling again and trying to get back up. "Be careful driving! We're in a truck,"
Dustin smiled when Blanche called them cute. It sounded like she did like them as a couple. Unless it was just a cover up for her giant crush that she refused to admit. "So it's not rude when I call you mean?" he asked Lea. "Because you're the meanest of them all, holy cow," he said, mocking her words. "And I'll have sex if I wanna have sex. We should start practicing right now, you know." He grinned at Quinn, curling his fingers around his waist, mostly to keep steady. "Because I'm a virgin, you know? Lea knows that. Lea knows when people are virgins, she's got a virgin-dar." He laughed out loud. "Oh yes, I love food! Not just when drunk, because I'm not drunk, but always. And who knows, maybe at the diner we can find someone for AJ to have sex with!" he suggested brightly. When Quinn crashed into him, his laugh was so loud it could likely be heard from two streets away. "No, do that again, AJ, that was fun! Don't listen to Quinn!" He held onto his boyfriend more tightly.
'Hooligans. You are hanging out with HOOLIGANS! You make him take you home right now, young lady!' Blanche stared at the space her Granny had wedged herself in and she blinked. "But if don't get don't get food I'll die," Blanche said, gently trying to soothe her Granny. It didn't work. Blanche eeked slightly as AJ did a u-turn, but Blanche grinned happily. She felt fairly woozy now-- the alcohol was slurring her words together. Didn't drunk people get sick sometimes? No, she wouldn't get sick. She decided. Blanche patted her growling tummy, before turning. "Are you making fun of Lea? That's not very nice. What's a virgin-dar-- I don't think that's a thing. Is that a thing?" Blanche tried to whisper to Lea, her brows furrowing in confusion. But she popped her head back to get a better look at Quinn and Dustin, frowning. "I don't think you guys should un-virgin-ify yourselves in AJ's car, that's kinda mean-- I mean, what if he has to, like, put stuff back there. That's why you have a truck, right? To put stuff back there."
The drive to Al’s was not too far from the school. If there were any perks of living in a small town like Ashkent Creek it would be the close proximity of basically everything one could need. Getting from one edge of town to the other took barely any time at all and there were a lot of businesses stuffed within its borders. AJ mostly ignored the others as he drove towards the diner. He was fairly certain that Dustin and Quinn would not make any real attempts at doing it in his car. He was hopeful that Lea would stop them if they tried. He kept his eyes staring at the road and tried his hardest to block all of the drunk people out. It wasn’t until he was only a few stoplights from the diner that he glanced at Lea. She seemed to be more pissed off than she usually was when she was around him. He wondered if it had anything to do with what drunk Dustin had told AJ at the prom. Lea’s sudden anger had basically been a nonverbal confession. “You know, you shouldn’t be pissed at your brother for saying something. Technically you were the one that showed me first. I basically knew.” He spoke softly and casually, enough that Lea but none of the other drunk kids too caught up in themselves could hear.
"I literally just said it was rude, Dustin." Lea hissed. "I'd rather have sex with Kevin than listen to you continue this conversation, and I've got no interest in that at all. Also thank you Blanche, making fun of me is very rude, I am not the meanest of them all," she bit her lip hard. Dustin didn't think that. Except he was drunk and more honest than usual which meant that maybe he did, "and there's no such thing as virgin-dar, Dustin. But nice announcement to everyone here." There was a brief moment of silence before AJ spoke again and Lea felt herself tense up. "Knew what?" She whisper-hissed back. "Still got no clue what you're going on about. All seems a bit farfetched to me. Also, if this is about what I assume it is, you watched me, I never showed you anything." She knew she could only play dumb to such an extent, but she wasn't about to give any full and official confirmation to him.
Quinn managed to still have the dignity to blush when Dustin mentioned that he was a virgin, though he leaned into his touch anyway. "I know," he mumbled, not mentioning that he was too. "Food is great though! So let's do that! Oh yeah, we can definitely find AJ sex," Quinn nodded eagerly. "Virgin-dar is totally not a thing though Blanche. Dustin's just teasing his sister because teasing sister's is fun. I tease mine all the time. "I think Aj would like to have his car unvirgined. Don't you AJ?" he asked. When Dustin laughed, he burst out into laughter even more, leaning in and wrapping his arms around his boyfriend. He leaned up to kiss him but missed and got his cheek, giggling again, before actually managing to find his lips.
"I wanna eat 12 burgers," Dustin announced, grinning widely. "I bet I can eat 12 burgers in 5 minutes. Who wants to bet with me and what are we betting for?" Smiling, he leaned through the window, patting AJ's cheek which hadn't been patted yet. "What type of girl is your dream girl? Or boy? I'm not homophobic at all," he said. "I'm sure there's lots of cute people in the diner!" He glanced towards Blanche, shaking his head. "It is a thing and Lea has it! Also, Lea calls me mean all the time so by definition, she is super rude. And also, you can't have sex with Kevin, you're just fif-teen. That is only halfway to thirty. I am 16 and therefore, mathematically, I am more thirty than you," he pointed out, a big smile spreading across his face when Quinn kissed his cheek. He was surprised when a real kiss followed, but it was a good surprise. Wrapping his arms and kissing him back enthusiastically, Dustin didn't pay any attention to the other people in the truck as he tried not to fall over at the next turn the truck took.
Blanche shook her head. "I could eat 13 burgers I bet—" Blanche said, more to Granny than anyone else. Granny let out a scoff. 'And it will all go to your hips!' Blanche wrinkled her nose, turning to her Granny. "Nu-uh! I can inhale any food I want, my hips aren't big at all!!" She said, making a face. "I could eat 20 burgers- I think Al's has a burger called the fat burger- what do you think that is? I could eat 2 of those!!! Maybe 3!! Do you think it's bigger than my head?" Blanche asked Lea, clearly oblivious to the situation at hand. She turned to ask Dustin if he was gunna eat a fat burger too, but she frowned seeing the two making out in the truck bed. 'Horny drunk teenagers can't control themselves!' "Uh-" Blanche looked over to AJ and Lea, and just pointed. "Are we almost there I'm staaarving!"
"Before you do it in the back of my truck just remember that this truck used to be my dad's and my parents have probably done it in their like a million times. And they fell in love in the 80's so they were into some freaky shit.” AJ called out as loudly as he could hoping that the thought was enough to break through their thick, drunken skulls. He turned back to Lea “I know you’re a smart girl I’ve seen your file. Playing dumb seems a little beneath you don’t you think?” He shrugged. AJ couldn’t decide which Parrish sibling was more annoying at the moment, the brother playing tonsil hockey in the bed of his truck or the sister with some kind of vendetta against AJ because he walked down a public school hallway and she hadn’t been paying enough attention. He had always been light on his feet. Dustin interrupted his thoughts with some question about AJ’s type and making a claim that he wasn’t homophobic. “Well you have a boyfriend. So…” AJ drug out the o sound and kept his eyes on the road. His eyes were going to get stuck in the back of his head if he kept rolling them as often as he was tonight. “I don’t have a type.” He wasn’t asexual, or maybe he was who really knew. He just knew that he hadn’t met a single person in the last two years that didn’t make him want to shove his head into a locker. He found a moment of reprieve when he spotted the diner up the road and sped up a bit to turn into the parking lot.
"If you eat that many burgers you can get seriously ill, so I'd advise against many, but whatever." Lea rolled her eyes. "It is not a thing that exists, and I can have sex with Kevin if I want to. I don't, but I can, and wow, congrats, math genius big brother. Obviously sixteen is closer to thirty than fifteen." Flicking her gaze to Blanche briefly she gave a shrug. "Maybe. Never seen one of them in person, so I don't know." She turned to AJ again and glared. "Not sure why you're snooping through my file, but yes. Maybe I'll even be valedictorian of the ACHS class of 2020. Doesn't mean squat." Thankfully, they pulled up to the diner before she'd needed to pull out her phone to drown out AJ with music, and as he parked, she unlocked the door and attempted to nudge Blanche out - maybe AJ would stop asking her questions, though if she allowed herself full honesty, she doubted it.
"12 burgers sounds so gross," Quinn wrinkled his nose. "Maybe like, 2 burgers at most is what I could do. Oh! Definitely fries though. So many frieds," he grinned. Quinn laughed when AJ commented about Dustin not being homophobic. The rest of the conversation was lost on him though. He was far too wrapped up in kissing Dustin in the back of the truck. It was proving a bit more difficult than he expected as they were jostled around in the bed of the truck. They managed to not get too tangled though and had continued to kiss until the truck finally stopped. Quinn definitely preferred a bed for kissing though, or against a wall, or- he shivered, not from the wind, and pulled away, grinning slightly. "Are we there yet?" he asked, licking his lips and looking around the parking lot.
Dustin pulled away from Quinn once the truck had finally stopped. He was torn between feeling happy that they'd finally arrived and could get burgers and being sad he had to stop kissing for a bit in order to eat. "Why didn't we go to Flopped?" Dustin asked as he saw the sign of the diner. "I love Flopped! They make the best waffles ever. Also, AJ, no sex has happened, for your information. Are you proud?" Prom was just amazing, and this truck journey was almost more fun than the dance itself. They should get food and then drive around and then find something super fun to do. Maybe they could go to the beach and go swimming together. But first, food. "I'm going to eat 12 burgers and no one is stopping me," Dustin announced as he placed his hands on the side of the truck. He swung his legs over the edge, but since he had miscalculated the distance from the ground he ended up on the parking lot floor with a loud yelp.
Lea unlocked the door, and had barely started nudging Blanche out of the truck when she jumped out. Blanche landed on her feet and stumbled forward, blindly walking forward. She watched as Dustin ate it and stopped and pointed. "He fell down!" She announced loudly, frowning slightly. Blanche patted her stomach, thinking about burgers. If she could be a burger, she would probably be one. "I want the biggest burger ever-- Hey! We can't go to flopped!" Blanche 'whispered'. "I work there and I'll get fired!" She shook her head, watching her curls bounce up and down. She patted her belly as it growled again and she looked down at it. 'I do wish you would wear things that covered your stomach... Did you have to wear a two piece to the prom? Granny mused, sadly. "Quiet you!" Blanche said, unclear if she was talking to her stomach or something else. Blanche looked to Lea. "Look at my tattoo!" She pointed to her side, the little bit of her tattoo peaking out from underneath her top. "I want food!" She jumped topics and started stumbling in the wrong direction to the diner.
AJ groaned. "I'm so proud of you two." He hopped out of his truck and slammed the door shut just as Dustin hopped out of the truck and fell to the pavement practically right in front of him. "Graceful." He bent down and grabbed for Dustin's hand, pulling him back up onto his feet and then brushing off a small amount of dust from his tux. He then turned to head for the diner, leaving Quinn to take care of his stumbling boyfriend. Blanche started zigzagging off towards the wrong side of the parking lot and AJ stomped over to Blanche and spun her to face towards the diner, begrudgingly helping direct her as all five made their way into the diner. "I am so sorry in advance, he whispered to the waitress when they walked in. And don't let them order 12 cheeseburgers." She just looked at him like he was insane and he smiled at her innocently. Then she rolled her eyes and led them to a booth.
Lea nodded at Blanche's comment. "Aren't you not 18? I'm impressed your parents let you have-" She blinked and gave a small sigh when Blanche started to run across the parking lot, half-ready to go and grab her before AJ managed to. He was way taller, he did reach her sooner than Lea would have been able to, despite the fact that she was fairly quick on her feet when she needed to be. Then they were entering the diner and Lea made a small face as AJ commented to the waitress, but when she looked at Lea, Lea offered a grin. "Seating us further away from others is probably a good idea." She nodded, seeing where the waitress bought them. "So, um, how are we organizing where we're sitting?" She asked, moving a bit more towards Dustin but not yet into the booth.
Quinn watched as Dustin tried, and failed to get out of the truck. With a slight yelp of shock, he moved to look over, making sure that he was alright. At least he didn't look hurt. "I know he did," he replied to Blanche, pouting slightly. He managed to get down with a little bit more grace. Well, at least he landed on his feet, which was something considering how high the truck was and how drunk he was. For a moment, he watched as Blanche wandered off in the wrong way, snickering as AJ went to get her. Then he reached down and helped Dustin up. "You okay? Still good to eat a stupid number of burgers?" he teased. He took Dustin's hand and followed Lea into the diner, cocking his head to the side when Lea looked confused. "I'm sitting next to Dustin," he said simply, moving into the booth and looking expectantly at him. "And then I'm gonna order food and it's gonna be the best food ever.”
Dustin let his boyfriend pull him up from the ground and then. "Yup." he nodded in confirmation. "But it's not a stupid amount, it is the best amount." Once Blanche had been directed into the right direction he staggered into the diner, holding onto Quinn's hand tightly to not lose direction. When they crossed the waitress, he gave her a bright smile and a little wave with his hand before he was pulled towards one booth. When Lea moved towards him, he let go of Quinn's hand to pull his arms around her, mostly to keep steady. Standing upright was getting pretty difficult. He rested his chin on top of her head. "You are so short!" He laughed. "Why are you so short? Did you not eat your greens, hmm?" Still smiling, he let go of her. His head felt way too fuzzy. Reaching for the edge of the table, he pretty much crawled into the booth Quinn was sitting in, before leaning against him and looking at the other three expectantly. "Who's gonna come sit with me?" He held out his arms, knocking over a sugar pot in the process.
Blanche giggled the entire time that AJ had to direct her into the diner, continuing to giggle even as they entered. "I am going to eat so much food!" Blanche announced. She was totally ready to pig out on everything that was in sight. She was going to get a large milkshake too. Granny was hovering over her helplessly trying to encourage her not to- she'd regret it in the morning. "I think I should totally buy like... 5 milkshakes. There's five of us, and I can prove I can eat five people's worth of milkshakes, wouldn't that be so cool??" Dustin sat and called for someone to go sit, and Blanche's hand shot in the air. "Meeeee!! Me me me! I'l go sit!!!!" And she dropped herself into the booth with a loud laugh. "Wanna see my tattoo?"
With the three drunk people all stuffing themselves on one side of a booth clearly made for two, that left the other side empty for Lea and AJ. Joy. He was sure that Lea would be absolutely thrilled to be able to share a seat with him again. For whatever reason, Lea seemed to hate him more than some of the other kids at school. He hadn’t even done anything to her. Yet. The constant attitude was distracting. He climbed into the booth after Lea, an extinct taught to him by watching his father. Corner tables were preferable, sitting in the seat with both walls touching your back so that a clear view of the entire place could be kept in sights. Seats that faced the front entryway and seats that allowed for quick mobility. The last thing a cop wanted was to be trapped in a booth or have his back turned when an armed robber stormed into a restaurant. He offered her a smile dripping with sarcasm when he dropped into the seat next to hers and leaned back to glance at the menu. He wasn’t hungry. He just wanted to go home. When the waitress came to get drink orders, AJ went first. “Do you have anything that can make me forget this night ever happened? If not I guess water works too.”
Lea hated this. She should have just gone off with her other friends - because while them being drunk might have driven her up a wall, it wouldn't quite be like this. "I eat more vegetables than you do." She snapped at Dustin, begrudgingly getting into the booth opposite the trio and tensing up as AJ got in. He wouldn't dare question her more out in public, would he? He couldn't. She'd been so stupid to even let him become aware of what she was, and it had been on accident. "Ignore all of them," she sighed to the waitress. "Just water for me." She ordered, before setting her back against the back of the booth's seat. This would be done soon and she could back to her neat and calm and organized bedroom and never have to think about it again. She raised an eyebrow at the group across from her and AJ. "Please don't order absurd amounts of food, okay?"
Quinn smiled happily when Dustin moved to sit next to him, before picking up the menu and looking through it. Most of the words were pretty blurry, but a few stood out. Fries for one. That was what he wanted. Cheese fries. But the server was focusing on other people. "Excuse you," he said to AJ. "You're having a great time and you know it," he turned to the waitress and grinned. "This is my boyfriend," he said, patting Dustin's head before going ahead and ordering food for himself. "And they want," he pointed to Blanche and Dustin. "Lots of burgers I think, but I forget exactly what. Just a lot," he pouted for a moment, before shrugging. "Oh! Yes I want to see a tattoo! I almost got a big Q on my arm," he said grinning. It was going to be in the fancy lettering that he used in his insignia for Q.
Once Blanche sat down in the booth, Dustin pulled both his arms around her in a tight hug. She was super nice for sitting next to him. "I don't want lots of burgers," Dustin protested when everyone started ordering. "I just want 12 burgers. Hamburgers. That is not a lot of burgers. Four-thousand-seven-hundred-eighty-eight, now that would be a lot of burgers. But not 12. Oh! And I want a milkshake. Vanilla milkshake. And chocolate cake as dessert." He gave the waitress his most winning smile, which was half-radiant and half-innocent. "Oh! And she-" He pointed at Lea "She is having pancakes because she is my sister so she is getting pancakes." He leaned over the table to grab her hand for a second, holding it up. "This is her," he said. "And yes, that is my boyfriend," he continued, turning towards Quinn. Maybe he should kiss him now to show he was really his boyfriend? But that could wait. "And she is the girl who has a crush on me and also she is very drunk. And I wanna see her tattoo, although I hope it's not on her butt," he said. "Ohh! I nearly forgot about AJ!" Dustin turned towards the other guy. "He is hot and he drove us here and he has a truck. Do you want to go on a date with him?"
Blanche squealed when Dustin hugged her, but joyfully hugged him back. "I want 3 cheeseburgers because I like cheese, but could they be loaded with pickles because I think I like pickles more than I like myself--" Blanche said, grinning. "Oh and a chocolate milkshake please!" Always remember to say please and thank you-- yes, she can use her manners. Blanche laughed as Dustin pointed to Lea, but flushed once he started on her. "I don't have a crush on him!" She objected, frowning. "I just- always have stuff to do!!" She tried that poor excuse, before brightening once they all wanted to see her tattoo. She stood, turned to her side and pointed to where the tattoo was poking out from her top. Wow, it sure was great wearing a two piece dress. She pulled up the hem, so they could see the full thing-- a circle of branches and flowers with the latin woven in the middle of it. "Cool right, it hurt a lot. Don't get a tattoo on your ribs because it hurts a l o o o o t." Blanche said, before she clapped her hands together and pointed to AJ and Dustin. "See! I told you that you were pretty! He didn't forget about you either! Don't be heart- oh!" Blanche turned to the waitress. "Do you? Wanna go on a date with him? I think you'd have fun, he's nice."
“He’s kidding” AJ turned toward the waitress immediately after Dustin offered them a date and Blanche reinforced the idea. “I don’t date.” The waitress scurried off quickly after frantically scribbling down everybody’s ridiculous order. Apparently, she had no interest in dating him anyways. Maybe she had heard of him too, he sure hoped so. At this point he might as well try to be as infamous as possible and maybe someday when some starving novelist writes a book about his father AJ will make it in as a secondary antagonist. “Can we like speed up the eating thing? I’d like to be home sometime before prom next year so.” He tapped against his wrist as if there were a watch strapped onto it. He turned to Lea, “Are they this annoying sober or are we just lucking out tonight?”
"Also, that is literally the worst way to try and get someone to go on a date." Lea sighed. "Yes, I am his sister in case the almost matching hair didn't give it away." She smiled briefly at Dustin - though he was drunk and likely would deny anything he said in the morning, it felt a bit nice to see him care for her, even if in an odd way. "He's my brother and Dustin, aren't I the best sister ever?" She giggled, before turning over to AJ. "Can't speak for the ones who aren't biologically related to me, but this is a different Dustin than normal. He's significantly more touchy-feely." She ran a hand through her hair, giving the end a small fluff.
"Ohhh, that is pretty!" Dustin exclaimed as Blanche showed them her tattoo. He'd never be able to get one, too. His parents would murder him if he did. He gave AJ a pout when he told the waitress he wouldn't date her. "But she was pretty," he mumbled, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He glanced over the table to look at his sister. "Yeah, you're the best sister I have." He stuck out his tongue at her, and then laughed. "Oh no, AJ, you got it wrong. We're sober. I mean, Blanche isn't, but Quinn and I are. We did not drink any alcohol. And I am not touchy-feely. I just like to know I'm not alone, you know?" He nodded before reaching out grab Lea's wrist to press a smacking kiss to her hand. "Like, I got all of you, and you're all pretty nice. Even though I get the feeling AJ is pissed off with me? He called me annoying." Frowning, he turned towards Quinn. "I'm hungry, do you know when the food is coming? You taste really awesome but I want burgers right now."
Quinn hummed to himself for a bit as the others ordered their food. Three burgers was a lot of food. He couldn't imagine eating that many with how much liquid they drank. At least he had that much sense. "She is cute right?" he asked, looking to AJ with a grin. "You should find a girl or guy or whatever," he said with a laugh, leaning against Dustin. "Oh that is pretty," he said looking at the tattoo, poking it quickly, before grinning. "We drank a lot of stuff. I told you the punch was spiked or something," there was no other explanation for why he felt like he was drunk. "So.... there," he poked his boyfriend's cheek. "I am not normally like this," he said to AJ and Lea. "I'm normally not drunk," he grinned, laughing at his own joke. "Also, I know I taste good but you can't eat me, that would be painful and not fun,"
Blanche giggled loudly when Quinn poked her, cringing away. "Doooon't! I'm awfully ticklish! Oooh, I shouldn't have said that--" Blanche looked at Dustin and Quinn suspiciously, before looking at the waitress. She seemed to be exasperated, before rushing off to go get their food. "And I'm not that drunk!" She claimed loudly, "I am only like... averagely drunk. I've never done alcohol before, I've never even smoked. It's 'cause my dad is a doctor and he'd kill me himself if I even tried. And if I don't get a milkshake, I'll probably die...." Blanche frowned and sank back into her seat, looking very upset. "And then I'll become a ghost and I'll haunt the creator of milkshakes! Who do you think is the creator of milkshakes?" Blanche leaned across the table to Lea and AJ. "They can't answer, they're drunk so they don't know the answer. I bet it's the guy with the mustache and the chicken. Colonel What'sit. He probably created milkshakes."
AJ shrugged his shoulders, “I think I’m just going to spend the rest of my life alone.” He couldn’t picture anybody that he would even want to date or even sleep with anyways. Maybe when he started taking some of the college courses this year to get some free credits he would find someone. He couldn’t imagine actually dating someone. He wasn’t sure if it was because of him or them. Dustin made some long speech about not being drunk, which Quinn immediately refuted. Then Blanche leaned over the table as if Dustin and Quinn couldn’t hear them and claimed to AJ and Lea that they were more drunk than her. He was about to make some sarcastic comment that was going to go over her head when the waitress came back to the table carrying the drinks. “The food will be coming right out.” She mentioned then scurried off. The good thing about diners like this, they were quick. “If we are lucky we can get our food, eat and then get you all home.” He mumbled to Lea.
Lea rolled her eyes at Dustin. "I'm your only sister, dumbass. But love you too." She blew a kiss across the table, laughing a little bit when he grabbed her hand again. "You might all want to consider your level of voice, as we're in a public space." Though soon enough she turned and flipped her body to face AJ, moving to sit cross-legged on the booth's bench. "Yeah, as much as I'm none too excited about agreeing with you, the sooner I can get home and to my own bed the better." She looked past him to see if she could spot the waitress - at least they hadn't come at a time that was all too popular with the diner, though Lea had already found $50 in her purse to leave as a tip - as a minimum, to put up with everything that the poor waitress had dealt with.
Dustin shook his head. "I don't wanna eat you, silly," he said, filing away the fact that Blanche was ticklish for future reference. "You're not gonna spend your life alone. I will get you a nice wife. Or husband or any other partner. Or a cat. Cats are good companions." He nodded in determination. AJ would not be alone. No way. When the waitress came with their drinks, Dustin excitedly reached for his milkshake. His milkshake was amazing. He proceeded to tell the others this, twice, because he was not sure that they heard him the first time so he repeated this fact a bit louder for the second time. And then he tried Blanche's milkshake, just in case it was tastier than his own. When the waitress returned with their food, Dustin stared up at her in awe and blew her a kiss. She actually did put down a small plate with pancakes in front of his sister. That was good. "If you don't date AJ can you please marry my sister so I can get a family discount, please?" He took a big bite out of his first burger - for some reason she had only gotten him two, but he couldn't be too mean to her or else she wouldn't date any of them. As soon as he swallowed, he stole a piece of pancake from Lea and dunked it in syrup. "I love you all," he announced before pressing a syrupy kiss to Quinn's cheek.
Quinn leaned against Dustin for a moment, opening his mouth to say something, before breaking out into a large yawn. He was surprisingly tired, and it wasn't even that late. It was probably because he was drunk. Maybe. He kind of just wanted to eat and curl up with Dustin. "Aw man... I should have gotten a milkshake," pouting when he heard Blanche talk about them. They sounded good. He glanced over when Dustin got his drink, looking over at the other two across from him. He didn't hear what they were saying, but reached out to grab Dustin's milkshake and took a couple sips himself. "You are right, they are good. I should have gotten one," he mumbled. Quinn perked up with the arrival of his food, grinning and picking up his fork to dig into the fries. He hummed happily, "Fries are the best," he said, mouth full before swallowing. "Ew you're all sticky!" he whined to Dustin, squirming slightly before laughing. "Don't do that," he teased, before leaning over and kissing his cheek. He glanced over to the food that Blanche got and bit his lower lip. Maybe he should have gotten a burger, they smelled good too.
The one positive that came out of the food arriving was that the group fell mostly silent. Besides a couple of breaks from eating for someone to make some random drunk comment about which food they should have gotten like Quinn or Dustin’s random declaration of love, everyone ate peacefully. AJ sipped his water as he watched the others eat. He supposed if he was being forced to hang around others this group wasn’t the absolute worst. It still sucked. AJ wasn’t sure how, but the five managed to finish their meals and pay, with a very generous tip left by Lea, and make it back to the truck without actually being kicked out of the diner from noise complaints. It was a miracle. He attempted to help Dustin and Quinn back up into the bed of the drunk, afraid that the two wouldn’t be able to make it up by themselves. They all found their previous spots in the truck and soon he was back on the road. “No more stops. We’re going to Dustin and Lea’s. Quinn are you staying with them?”
Lea breathed a sigh of relief (and of fresh air) once the group exited the diner, and pulled herself back into the truck, sitting next to AJ before rolling her eyes and giving a small huff. "Mum's not gonna be happy if you bring home your boyfriend, big brother." Though she knew that even if Dustin could hear her, he might ignore it. "Also, wait." she squeaked, "How do you know where we live?" She turned to AJ, setting a hand on his shoulder. "You haven't been spying, have you?" She whispered to him. But soon enough, they arrived at the Parrish residence and Lea moved to open the door. "Umm, Blanche?" She bit her lip. "Can you move, and if not, do you mind me literally climbing over or around you to get out? That's sort of the only way."
Pouting, Dustin stumbled out of the diner. After having finished his two burgers, the waitress hadn't given him more and instead, they had paid and left the diner. After trying to give AJ a kiss on the cheek for helping him into the truck, he let himself fall back against Quinn. As the truck started moving, he let his head fall down onto Quinn's lap, trying to ignore the fact that he was feeling quite sick now after his milkshake, two burgers and parts of the pancakes. He was also feeling a bit sleepy. And, he needed to pee. "No more stops?" He frowned. "But I need to pee." Still, the car went on driving, and then AJ asked if Quinn would be staying with them for the night. Dustin nodded. "Uh, yeah, cause it's prom and you're supposed to have sex at prom night," he mumbled. "And, like, Quinnnn can always climb up the tree into my window." Once the car came to a halt, Dustin made no attempts to move. "You are comfy," he said, reaching up with his hand into Quinn's hair. "We should totally sleep here. I'm tired."
Quinn the meal went by surprisingly quietly after that. Quinn finished up his fries, quite happy with his choice by the end. He was shocked that Dustin had managed to eat all of that food though. With a laugh, Quinn was able to get up onto the truck with AJ's help and then let out a slight "oomph" as Dustin toppled onto him. His hands immediately went to his boyfriend's hair, playing with it lightly. "You should have gone when we left," Quinn said with a nod, head moving faster than it normally would. He was suddenly a bit dizzy. "Like I did," he mumbled, the bumps becoming more annoying than anything else. He remembered the trip to Al's being more fun, but then he had Dustin had been making out then. "I am totally staying over," Quinn said with a nod. Climbing a tree sounded like a perfectly reasonable way to get into the Parrish house. He'd done it before. With a laugh, Quinn looked into the window at the others for a moment, before gently nudging Dustin. "No it's not soft here. It's a truck. I want to go to your bed," he said with a pout, whining softly as he squirmed and pushed at Dustin to get up.
"Move?" Blanche asked absentmindedly. She had been zoning in and out since she had practically wolfed down three cheeseburgers and a milkshake at the diner. Occasionally, she would talk in a low voice under her breath to her Granny when she thought the other weren't whispering. Blanche's throat was probably going to be sore tomorrow from how load she was being all night. Blanche fumbled with the door before doing her best to stumble out so she could let Lea by. "Oooooh, AJ already knew?" She poked her head. "Does he know where I live too? I live by the... The big.... That way!" Blanche's arm pointed down the road. She didn't live too far from there, really. "Oh. Am I gunna have to walk home??? Oh no- wait! I didn't wear heels! Lea!!!! Look at my sparkly shoes!" For emphasis, she held up her leg and pointed.
“Well it’s hard to watch your every move without knowing where you live.” AJ shrugged casually as if this was something completely normal to say. He waited a long moment for the appropriate amount of discomfort or fear to settle in before answering honestly, “Nah, I took your brother home a couple of weeks ago after-“ He paused only briefly, “school one day.” No need to mention the blood thing, everyone knew about. Chances were Lea’s friends had something to do with it. He jumped out of the car when he remembered that the last time Dustin had tried to climb out of his truck he fell out of it. He helped Dustin out, patting him on the back “Maybe you could not try to kiss me this time.” He helped Quinn out after wards. “Your call,” He said to Lea, “Stays or goes. Just remember that if you choose no the two might be just as loud arguing with you.”
"I'm sorry?" Lea squeaked, eyes narrowing. "Oh. Not a funny joke, FYI." She raised an eyebrow at Blanche. "Your shoes are great and I love them, but I also need to leave right now, if you'll excuse me, sorry." She pushed herself up and over Blanche, before landing neatly on the ground outside of the truck. Lea watched AJ help Dustin and Quinn out of the back of the car before raising an eyebrow. "Oh, it's so far from my call, but I appreciate you thinking it is." She crossed her arms and faced Dustin and Quinn. "Can you all make it into the house on your own, or do you need my help?"
"Are you saying I'm a bad kisser? Is there something wrong with me?" Dustin wanted to know, pouting. He took a few steps but it was difficult to walk upright. He nearly landed on his ass as he crossed the distance between him and his sister to wrap his arms around her. "You're still so small!" he exclaimed. "Like, you're small and cute like a tiny sea horse." He tilted his head, looking towards the building. "Is mum still awake?" he asked. "Because I wanna tell her all about prom but I also don't want her to hear us having sex so that would be not good," he said. "Maybe we should all climb in through the window, that is fun! Blanche, AJ, are you staying, too? I think you should stay. It would be super fun and you can sleep on my floor or in my closet. There's lots of space now." He had to snort at his own joke.
"You're the best kisser!" Quinn said, slightly outraged that someone would say that. "He's the best and you are so wrong about it," he said to AJ as he managed to get down out of the truck. He leaned against it, pouting and crossing his arms, giving AJ a glare. Blanche was still in the car though, so he turned around quickly and walked over to her door, patting her on the head. "Bye," he said with a smile. "No more crushing on my boyfriend though," Quinn added before moving over to Dustin. "Your mom will probably kill me," Quinn said when Dustin mentioned her, shivering slightly. "But we can't have sex if everyone is in the room," he complained. Quinn wanted to have sex, but he also wanted to sleep. He wasn't sure which was winning out. "But we should sneak in!" he said, looking Lea. "Right?"
Blanche started to giggle, mostly at the mention of sex. 'Are you five years old?' her Granny asked, exasperated. 'You are most certainly NOT spending the night. Your parents are coming home tomorrow afternoon and you're going to have to drag your hungover butt out of bed to make it look like you aren't hungover'. Blanche pressed herself to AJ's truck, using it to steady herself as she played with her skirt. "Sneak him in! Sneak him in!" Blanche 'whispered' excitedly. "Like ninjas! Oooh AJ. We could be ninjas! Let's be ninjas- or maybe we should do a ninja themed prom next year, yeah?"
AJ wasn’t sure he ended up getting blamed for Dustin kissing him on the cheek. Arguing with two drunk boyfriends wasn’t going to change anything though. “Sorry, guess I just can’t control myself around him.” AJ said completely monotone. AJ had no interest in staying for this sleepover if Dustin had even been sober when mentioning it to the group. Seemed a little too campy for his tastes. He was just getting used to actually spending anytime around other people his age again. “Well have fun with the sex thing. Lea, have fun getting grounded when your mom inevitably catches you. I’m going home. Peace out everyone.” He gave a short wave before heading back to the driver’s side and climbing back up into the truck. “You can be a ninja at your house. I just need directions.”
Lea glared at Quinn, AJ, and Dustin. "I don't even want you to come by, but as you're Dustin's boyfriend, I've got no say in that. I live here, and if mum asks where I've been, I'm only going to tell her I was trying to be a good sister and make sure you didn't freaking die." She whipped her body around and began stomping toward the house, before turning back to them, "and don't make any choices you're going to regret, please?" She attempted to make eye contact with Dustin, before turning her key in the lock and opening the door.
Dustin pouted at Lea's words and the glare she sent in their direction. Unless he was riling her up on purpose, he didn't like it when she was mad at him. And she looked very mad now. "Leave the door open! I'll be.... like five seconds. Or maybe, 50 seconds. Or 51." He was a bit confused by her last comment, what choices was she talking about? He swayed over to the truck to give Blanche a hug. "Goodnight," he said. "You're definitely short enough to be a ninja." He stumbled back towards Quinn, holding himself up by gripping the other boy's shoulders. "You're coming through my window, yes?" He pressed another kiss to his lips, grinning, before letting to and making his way to the front of the house. There was a loud, clattering sound as he fell over a piece of porch decoration made out of metal.
Quinn blinked when everyone was suddenly gone. When did that happen? He waved to AJ when he was in the car and then to Blanche. "Yeah, window," he said with a slight pout. The window was so much more difficult than walking in, and he wanted to just sleep now and cuddle with Dustin. But he kissed Dustin back and made his way over to the window. Wincing, Quinn looked over at the door, darting over to the tree. This was going to be very difficult in a suit.
Blanche giggled loudly and hugged Dustin back as tight as she could. "Not all Ninja's are short!" She declared loudly! She was starting to get pretty sleepy, and she climbed back in, waving to Quinn. "Goodnight!" She practically sang, before plopping herself back into the truck an fumbling with the seat belt. "Take a left!" she saang. "I live three lefts and a right down from here, I think. I've never been here before, but it's on my way home from school, so I think it's the same way. I can take you-- but we can't be ninjas at my house." Blanche pouted sadly. "There's no one to sneak by! The house! It's emmmmmmpty. Isn't that just sad?"
AJ was surprised to see that Blanche was apparently perceptive enough to give direction back to her house from Dustin and Lea's. She made a comment about being alone at the house, but AJ stayed mostly quiet the whole ride to her house. He was afraid that she would start on another tangent if he said anything that might set her off on one. Silence was definitely the best route here. He pulled into her empty driveway and saw the entire house was pitch black. She really was staying here alone tonight. He groaned and jumped out of his, remembering that he still had her keys. He helped her up to the door and fumbled through the keys until finding the one that unlocked the house. He flipped on the first set of lights and followed her in, following her upstairs to her room to make sure she could make it without falling down the stairs or something equally as horrible. She practically face planted onto the bed after flipping on the light. He glanced around, taking in the open journal sitting on her desk and skimming over it slightly. Mostly just talk of her grandma. The same one she mentioned earlier in the night in the truck? "Okay well I'll get you some water and then I'm heading out." He stated, unsure if she actually heard him or not. He jogged down the steps and checked all of the cabinets until finding the one with glasses before filling a glass for her. After dropping it off on her desk and was downstairs again, tossing her keys on the kitchen counter and heading out the front door. He didn't get very far before remembering what his own mother got like on nights like these, and she was practically a seasoned veteran. "Damn it." He cursed himself before digging in his truck and pulling out the book bag with his spare clothes and going back into the house and locking the door. He grabbed the keys off the counter on his way to the bathroom and stuffed them back into his bag before changing. Apparently he was staying there for the night.
Somehow Nobody Died (part one) || AJ, Blanche, Dustin, Lea, and Quinn
Backdated to June 3rd, 2017 - ACHS’s prom night.
Blanche nervously glanced around—sneaking into a high school prom wasn’t rocket science. She had gotten ready early, parked far around the building, and snuck into a far bathroom—At least she had a pretty decent conversation with her date beforehand. Logan was very nice, and if going to some school dance would let one less dead high schooler walk the school… Well, Blanche would be able to live with that. Granny wasn’t allowed to come, but Blanche had a sneaking suspicion she was lurking somewhere, as per usual. Blanche slid in about 20 minutes after everyone else, most teachers didn’t bat an eye and she disappeared into the crowd of people. Logan was beside her most of the time, cheerfully commenting on peoples tux’s and dresses. ‘I don’t under why girls wear heels when they just take them off 10 minutes into the night.’ That made Blanche smile, her own gold sparkly converse were very comfortable, and the mostly matched her dress. She snuck to the punch table, pouring herself a glass as she glanced around—good. No one was paying attention to her. “The heels make their legs look great, really.” Blanche murmured to her date.
Quinn was nervous. There was no doubt about it as he walked into the gymnasium with Dustin. He hadn't been at first. When they were at the Parrish house with all the pictures that both sets of parents wanted to take. It was easy to be distracted. Plus, Dustin looked far too good in the tux for him to be distracted there. But now they were walking into a room with the entire senior class, together, as a couple. Maybe Dustin was right to be a bit nervous about this. Looking around, he was glad to see that most people weren't actually staring at them though. Granted, they had pretty much just walked in. Reaching out, he took Dustin's hand, looking up at him with a grin that barely concealed his nerves. "So, I think my computer club friends are here already. We can go and sit with them if you want?" he asked, nodding his head towards where all the tables were. "Let's do that and not deal with your sister glaring at me the whole time,"
Walking into the gymnasium, Dustin wasn't sure what he should be worried about more: looking like a sad penguin in his tux or everyone staring at him because he was arriving with a boy. He was biting on his lip so hard that he was basically chewing on it, almost. Why had he agreed to come here again? Oh yes, because Quinn had been very cute with the way that he asked him to. But once he set foot inside the building, he this wasn't what was on his mind, no. For a moment, he just had to take in the way that the gym had transformed from their usual gym class. He could barely recognise it. He wasn't much into decoration, but the theme of the room just looked amazing. When Quinn squeezed his hand, he held it tightly, giving him a nervous smile. "Oh yes, let's do that." At least, he was familiar with Quinn's computer club people. They were pretty nice. "Just... Lea!" he called out to her sister. He was still a bit baffled that she had snatched a Senior as a date, although he'd completely forgotten the poor guy's name. "Please remember to stay inside the gym and don't run off, mum and dad said." That had kind of been a lie, they knew she wouldn't run off. "And they told me to let you know that if you need them, they're just a call away. So if you get sad or shy about this you can just call them, or come to your big brother." He was grinning now, god, he loved embarrassing her, especially in front of her date.
Lea smoothed out a small wrinkle on her dark green dress as she and her date entered the gymnasium. She'd been a bit puzzled when Kevin had asked her, but it was something pretty awesome to be able to do, even if Jenna couldn't come given that her girlfriend, Kira, was also a freshman. But she spotted at least one other freshman girl she knew, and besides, she knew some other kids who were here. Even if she did have to enter the dance with her brother as well as her actual date. But it was a small price to pay - and besides, anything she could at least somewhat hold over Dustin's head was always good. "Hm?" She commented, glancing over to him as he called out to her, shrugging out from under Kevin's arm over her shoulder. "Don't you worry, big brother," she replied, "I promise not to run off, that's not polite." She glared when she was sure that their respective dates couldn't see. "Don't you forget to check in with them every half hour, just like they asked!" She blew him an air kiss, before grabbing Kevin's hand. "And make sure to dance when your favorite song comes on!"
Quinn snickered when he heard Dustin tease his sister. To be honest, he'd never been particularly close to Dustin's sister, probably because of Dustin's own opinion of her. But ever since he found out about the magic int heir family things had been significantly worse. He leaned against Dustin slightly as the spoke, eyes focused more on finding his friends than anything else. It really did seem like the entire class was here. There were even a lot of people that weren't seniors. Was what Blanche he saw? And Aj? Just when Lea was leaving, Quinn finally managed to spot his friends. Well, one of them, over by the punch. "Have fun," he called out to Lea, glancing over. "She really doesn't like me for some reason," Quinn mumbled to Dustin, before pointing over to where the drinks are. "Let's grab drinks and then see where my friends are sitting. Greg is over there."
Dustin rolled his eyes at his sister. Of course she would return the favour and try to embarrass him right back. But it would be clear to anyone listening in that he wasn't required to call home every half hour. Right? Frowning as he was watching her grab the hand of that Senior boy - he was okay with his sister dating but that guy was a Senior - he turned back to his own date. "She's just mad at me that I told you about... you know." Despite the music being loud, he still couldn't risk anyone overhearing their conversation. When Quinn suggested getting drinks, Dustin nodded and smiled, a little relieved. Maybe he could go the entire evening without having to dance once. Hand in hand, they walked over to the punch table, when he suddenly spotted a familiar face and a familiar blonde head. "What are you doing here?" he asked Blanche, a little confused. "I thought you said you weren't coming."
Blanche had just taken a sip of her punch when Dustin interrupted. Jumped slightly, whirling around to stare at Dustin and his date. So it had been Quinn. Blanche tired her best to look innocent and not look at Logan snickering at her. "Um- change of heart!" She laughed awkwardly. "That flashing sign really, uh works!" She drank more punch, and decided to pour herself more. That stuff was good, at least. "How are you guys, you look nice."
The only thing worse than attending prom un-ironically was being forced against his will into going to prom. The newspaper class was a sort of reprieve from the regular hell AJ endured roaming the halls of this school. Most of the students there were neither popular nor bottom of the food chain, but they typically left him alone. When the idea of writing an article for the prom came up, there were all sorts of volunteers, but when the idea of taking pictures for it was introduced everyone suddenly fell silent. Everyone in class was already attending, but for pleasure not business. That left just one student that was free to take the pictures. It was enough to get him a free pass into the prom, but unfortunately he was forced to adhere to its dress code. He dressed it down as much as he possibly could, a black and white button up short sleeve with dress pants and suspenders, finished with his converse still stained from the pig's blood. The admin had given him a troubled glance at the sight, but had eventually let it slide. If anybody was going to mess him with tonight he wanted them to know that their threats and little tricks didn't phase him. Considering it was his job, he took the obligatory pictures of the as of yet announced, but shoe-in for homecoming King and Queen, the jock types, the head cheerleader, plus some shots of all of his fellow newspaper classmates. A few times his lens passed over some recently familiar faces, Dustin gripping tightly onto Quinn's hand which AJ couldn't say surprised him much. Lea had apparently locked into a senior willing to bring a freshmen to prom. Interesting choice. his camera eventually landed on a large flask, held onto by a student with his back turned to AJ's camera, emptying into the punch bowl. Well that can't turn out well. But it also wasn't AJ's problem or any of his business. So he moved on, attempting to get some shots of the dance floor that was slowing starting to fill.
Lea watched Dustin as Quinn lead him away, giving a small sigh. Part of her had wanted to still talk with her brother, but soon enough Kevin was asking her something and Lea gave a small shake of her head. "Hm? Sorry, got distracted." She replied, turning so that she was facing him more fully. "I was just wondering if you'd like to go over to the table where my friends are?" He said, using his free hand to give a small wave to a group of boys and girls - some Seniors, some Juniors, many of whom Lea recognized at least by sight, even if she didn't actually know them. "Sure, works for me." She quipped, following him over, her smile growing when she saw Amanda coming back over to the table with a few cups of punch. "None for me, thank you." She said when Amanda held a cup up to her. "Never liked juice much at all." She bit her lip and glanced over to the table Amanda had just come from - where Dustin was, before turning back to Kevin's friends.
Quinn frowned again, shrugging. "Yeah I kind of figured that," it was certainly when things had gotten worse. "But that's not exactly your fault right?" he added. It was if you counted the fact that he didn't need to heal him. As they walked over to the punch bowl, Quinn tried his best not to just keep looking at Dustin, he really looked too good in the tux, and focus on what else was going on. But in the short walk his eyes were drawn back to his boyfriend. He was staring and didn't really care. "Oh," he blinked, looking when Dustin spoke again. He recognized the girl immediately and smiled. "Hey, I didn't think you were coming," Quinn said, squeezing Dustin's hand at the compliment. "Thanks," he grinned, looking at Dustin. "See? We're a cute couple," he teased, voice low so just Dustin would hear.
Blanche kept the smile on her face, nervously looking at Dustin and Quinn. Sure, they really did look nice. But she hadn't actually thought she was going to run into themB. She saw AJ in the crowd snapping pictures, and she was totally ready too panic-- 'I think your date could use some punch', Logan said, cheerfully. Blanche glanced at the empty space that was her date, and she gave a small smile. Thank god for Logan. She looked to Quinn, trying to keep that easy smile n her face as she watched them interact. They really were a cute couple-- for once, she would have the gossip to tell Granny when she got home. Blanche smoothed down the skirt of her dress. "Well-- uh--" She downed her cup of punch and went to pour two more. "My date-- he, uh.... Is that way! I have to bring him punch! Gottagoseeya!!" Blanche's words muddled together as she hurried away, praising whatever deity above that there was a swarming crowd on the dance floor. She looked at the two punch cups in her hand. "What am I supposed to do with two?!" She mumbled to Logan, who had hurried after her laughing. 'Drink'em up for me!!'
"Well, it kind of is," Dustin replied. "I mean, so far she hasn't told anyone, not even her closest friends, so I can kinda understand she thinks it's unfair that I told you," he said. When Blanche complimented them, he smiled at her a little. "Thanks, we're good, and you look great, by the way." He rolled his eyes at Quinn's words, not sure if he believed what he was saying. "I don't really believe that you did the whole sign thing," Dustin teased Blanche, frowning when suddenly she started speaking very fast, practically running off. "I swear, there is something off with her," he told Quinn, remembering the time she had practically fled from him in the nurse's office. Just like she had now. He craned his neck to see where she would go, he was more than curious about who her date was. "Do you think she has a crush on one of us?" Wow, did he have to sound so arrogant and self-centered? Dustin turned towards the punch bowl to pour them two big cups.
"Punch?" AJ turned towards the entirely too perky girl behind the table helping fill cups. He thought he had kept a safe distance from the table of food that they would leave him alone, or that him taking pictures would make him look too busy to be bothered. "No thanks." he mumbled before making a quick escape to towards the entrance to photograph a few people just walking in. On his way towards the entrance a football player stepped in his path. "You trying to catch pictures of us when we go into the bathroom or something freak? Or are you scoping out your next victim?" AJ rolled his eyes and sidestepped to get around the tool. "Stop talking to me or the only picture you'll see in the school newspaper is that very racy photo of you 'studying' with your best friend's girlfriend." The dude looked pissed, but he stayed quiet and AJ patted the guy on the back and continued walking towards the entrance. He wished the crowning wouldn’t be so late into the night and he could skip out early. If he had to take pictures of the same popular kids all night long he might actually need some of that spiked punch. He needed to find some people that weren’t as insufferable.
"I guess so... but it was more of an accident. And I guess it," he grumbled with a slight frown. It was so easy to get along with Quail, why was Lea still so difficult? Quinn watched as Blanche pretty much chugged the punch and then ran off with two more. "She's weird," he said simply with a shrug. He hadn't spoken with her very often, but from what he'd seen, and heard around school, she was just an odd girl. "Have you still been thinking about that?" Quinn asked, arching an eyebrow and taking his cup from Dustin, sipping it slowly. "I doubt it. And she obviously knows we're together now," he said after taking another sip. "Oh!" he said, turning around, remembering why they had come over to the punch bowl in the first place. "I think we missed Greg," he said with a frown, before spotting him at a table with his other friends. "Oh, there he is. Want to go over and say Hi?" he asked, taking Dustin's hand again and tugging in that direction, across the dance floor.
Blanche grumbled slightly, finishing off her forth glass of punch. She wasn't usually so into drinking such sugary drinks, but drinking this was better than talking to anyone— speaking of, her date seemed to be enjoying himself. 'Hey! Let's go somewhere quieter- so we can actually talk. Plus this enchanted forest thing is kinda...' Tactless. Blanche nodded in agreement— she was starting to feel a little funny, but that was fine. She looked at the decorations with a frown. He was t wrong, considering what had happened two years ago, maybe the forest wasn't that good. Shaking her head, Blanche started to weave through people- she could get the the entrance and talk to Logan in the adjacent hallway. She smoothed down the front of her dress, and stumbled slightly going around. And then there was a glass of punch in front of her face. "Punch?" A perky girl offered her. Blanche blinked, took the drink mumbling a thank you as she started sipping at the drunk. 'Is it good?' Logan asked, peering in it. "Decent, yeah!" Blanche replied. She was feeling pretty cheerful, and she slipped past someone, trying to keep an eye out for cameras. She did look nice, but she'd rather avoid photos.
"Don't forget that time when your sister refused to talk to me because of a joke that I had made," Dustin pointed out. At least Lea's reason for being mad was a bit more understandable. "Uh, a little, yeah," Dustin said, starting to sip on his drink. It was nice and sugary. "Just because she'd literally only be the second person in this universe to have a crush on me. So that would be important, kinda. At least to my self-esteem. And maybe that is why she ran off, maybe she didn't like seeing us together," he pointed out. Holding Quinn's hand, he nodded as they walked over to Quinn's friend. "Hi," Dustin said with a small smile. He didn't know if he was any good at smalltalk - often, he was simply too direct or too odd. And he didn't want to make Quinn's friend think that he was strange. Which was why he started drinking more of the punch - as long as he was downing his drink, he didn't have to talk, he could simply nod along to everything that was said. He turned his head a little to look around the gym. His eyes fell on his sister, who had been joined by one of her friends.
The idea of prom had seemed a lot more fun in TV shows and movies - though in Pretty Little Liars, the dances had often seemed to end with some sort of danger, which Lea was not especially keen on having happen right now. She grinned over at Kevin and his friends as they talked, laughing along at something they'd said. Kevin's arm was draped over the back of her chair and Lea glanced over to him, catching a small sight of Dustin as he walked over to another table and AJ - out of the corner of her eye. She sucked in a deep breath and coughed briefly, hitting her chest lightly with a balled up fist. "You okay?" Kevin raised an eyebrow, handing her his almost all the way drunk cup of punch and Lea took a tiny sip, making a face as she sipped. It was way too sweet and she handed it right back. "Thanks, sorry. All good now." She glanced back over to where AJ was, hoping he hadn't noticed her.
AJ could slowly watch the effects of the spiked punch kicking in across the crowd. Kids were dancing a little more wildly, the talking was louder and the laughing was more obnoxious than usual. He watched a few people stumbling around the dance floor or bumping into others. Could these people have no idea that the alcohol was spiked? How did anybody not realize that someone had slipped alcohol into their drunk? Curiosity got the better of him and he strolled over towards the table, the same perky girl from earlier, holding a cup out towards him "Change of heart?" To most her smile might have seemed warm or welcoming but to AJ it just felt condescending. "You got me" he smiled back at her, hoping the contempt could be heard in his voice. He took a small sip and began wondering if he had just imagined the whole thing earlier because there was no alcohol taste at all in that punch. Deciding not to take the chance, he tossed the rest of it into a trash can and spotted Dustin and Quinn at a table with some other students that he knew by name but nothing else. He made his way to them and held his camera up as evidence, "Hey I'm taking pictures for the newspaper, you guys mind posing for a picture?"
"Right... I forgot about that," he mumbled, before laughing. "Well now she has to talk to you because your'e my boyfriend," he pointed out, breaking out into a big grin. It was always nice calling Dustin that. Quinn sipped on his drink more, it was very sweet and he wasn't sure how much of this he could really drink. Chuckling, Quinn moved in front of Dustin with a small smirk. "What? Am I not enough for you or something?" he teased. "Since when did you become such a player? "Hey guys!" Quinn said happily as he greeted his friends. He got introduced to the girls, most of whom he didn't know, and he accordingly introduced Dustin to them, sipping on his drink as they spoke. Quinn wasn't usually the most social, but for some reason he wasn't doing that bad today. Maybe he just wanted to impress Dustin. He was pulled away from talking when AJ came over to them. "I didn't think you'd be here," he said with a small smile. He'd always tried to connect with AJ, but for some reason it never worked. Well, he knew why it didn't. So he was a bit surprised he came over here. "Ugh, yeah, totally," he said, looking at Dustin and smiling. "Right?" he asked, setting his cup down and wrapping an arm around Dustin's waist.
"Not technically. I mean, she could ignore me if she wanted to." Just because Quail was his boyfriend's sister didn't mean they had to talk, or that they had to necessarily get along. Although, apart from interrupting, Quail wasn't so bad. Maybe it was because she was 20. Dustin was about to protest that no, he was not a player at all, shouldn't Quinn know that, they were already talking to his friends and their dates. He was gulping down his drink so quickly to avoid smalltalk that by the time that AJ came over to them, he had already finished his cup so he set it down at a table, resisting the urge to wipe his mouth with his sleeve. "Oh, hey!" he said, smiling at AJ. "I don't think we mind, no," he said, trying to keep his nervousness from showing as Quinn put his arm around his waist to pose for the picture. Sure, he'd expected people to see them interact as a couple, and also his parents had made them take pictures at home, but this was something else. This was going to be in the newspaper. "So, uh," he said, glancing at AJ and his outfit. "No date?" he asked. It seemed sort of hard to believe that no one had wanted to be his date. Maybe it was because most of the students thought he could be a serial killer, though technically for some people that whole mysterious bad-boy thing might just increase attraction.
AJ knelt down one knee to try to get the best angle for the shot. If AJ was going to be forced against his will to take these pictures tonight he was going to at least spend it getting pictures of people he didn't despise. "For whatever reason no one promposed to me," AJ shrugged his shoulders as if this truly perplexed him and then stood back up, "It was either this or failing my newspaper final, so not by choice." He pulled the picture up on the screen of his camera and turned it towards the two. "You guys look good. Like it?" The ease AJ used to have talking to other students had been gone for a year or two. In its place was a subtle unease that every one was seconds away from making some comment about his father. "How'd your sister rope a senior into bringing her?"
Blanche laughed loud, covering her mouth to keep the sound echoing around the hallway as she stumbled slightly. Logan was a funny ghost- she wished he wasn't dead. 'You look really pretty tonight!' Logan commented. They found a secluded area of the hallway. Blanche smiled, her face flushing. It was much cooler out here. "Thanks- I've gotten a few nasty stares from the teachers for my bare midriff though." Blanche snorted slightly looking down at her dress. The two piece was the best she could do in the short span of time. 'Ah, yes, and if this were two years ago you'd have been crucified by the girls— and not a long dress?? You're showing your legs!!! What an absolute nightmare!!' Logan laughed at her, and Blanche joined in. "Nothing can be as bad as- oh?" Blanche heard the music shift inside the gym to something slightly slower. She was feeling weird, and shakey slightly- must have been some sort of adrenaline rush. "Here, dance with me, or try!" Blanche giggled slightly, and Logan snorted. Blanche mock put her hands on her shoulders and he attempted to put his on her waist-- she would never get used to the cold feeling when a ghost put a limb through you. Under normal circumstances, Blanche would have never done this in public- but the hallway was empty, no one was coming, right?
Lea tapped her fingers against her thigh, nervously, as AJ took a picture of Dustin. He didn't know she was here. He couldn't. Maybe - she could only hope - he'd ignore her friends and her, by extension. She couldn't hear his conversation with Dustin and Quinn over the music - but that didn't matter, not right now. "Um!" She exclaimed, suddenly. "Sorry, I realized I need to get something - that's out in the hallway." She grinned at Kevin. "I can come," he offered, hand tapping her shoulder. "Or any of us can - make sure nobody bothers you. Especially not that freak Amanda was telling us about the other day." Lea coughed. "I'm really fine, honest. I just need to use the restroom, that's all! Plus, he's over there." She pointed, standing up. "So, uh, just watch him there and I'll be back in a moment." She made her way quickly out of the gym and sucked in a deep breath, pulling out her phone to text Jenna. After sending a text, she glanced up, noticing another girl in the hallway who appeared to be dancing by herself, though her arms were draped as though there was someone else there. Lea pushed herself off the wall and made her way over, noticing, upon further examination that it was Blanche - the girl she knew some said always talked to herself. Lea tapped her on the shoulder. "Sorry, but you know you can hear the music better inside, right?" She offered a careful smile, after a quick glance around to make sure Kevin hadn't followed her. She quirked her lips to the side and drummed her fingers on her thigh.
Now that AJ was no longer pointing his camera at them, Dustin felt himself relax a little. "Yeah, I like it," Dustin said, smiling a little and resting one hand on Quinn's back. "You managed to make us look look, thank you." He looked up from the screen of the camera just in time to see Lea pointing into their direction. He frowned. What was this about? His eyes followed her as she walked towards the exit of the gym. Hopefully, everything was alright and hopefully Kevin wasn't being a jerk. Or maybe she just had to use the toilet. He'd definitely keep an eye on her to make sure she'd come back soon. When suddenly, AJ asked about her, Dustin was sure that he was able to read his mind. But that was bullshit, wasn't it? "Beats me." He shrugged. "Black magic, probably." He could feel arms feeling a little sweaty in the gym stuffed with people. Wearing a tux wasn't exactly the best thing for these types of situations, especially with all those lights generating a lot of heat. "Um, I'm gonna get something more to drink," he announced, then glancing at Quinn and AJ. "Can I get you two a cup, too?" He wasn't sure how he would manage carrying three cups, but he was certain somehow he'd do it.
Quinn looked at the picture with a grin. It was really good, probably better than the ones their parents had taken. The fact that it was probably going to be in the newspaper, or possibly at least, didn't really occur to him. "Yeah, it's great man," Quinn said with a nod. He leaned slightly against Dustin when he kept the hand on his back, before frowning slightly up at him. Sometimes Dustin could be a little naive. It was fairly obvious why AJ didn't have a date to prom. He had gone through something similar when his parents were first arrested. Granted, he was only 8 at the time, so there wasn't a dance or anything. But people the kids knew at his old school died because of his parents. You almost always became a pariah aver that. Glancing over, Quinn saw Lea leaving to go outside, but didn't think much of it. "Oh, yeah, I'd love one," Quinn said, looking at his half empty one. He finished it pretty quickly before setting it on the table. "So you got roped into this for class?" he asked AJ.
Blanche and Logan were giggling when she was tapped on the shoulder, and Blanche yelped, whirling around to look at Lea. However, instead of the mortifying feeling building in her stomach, she started to laugh, cheerfully waving. "I was just practicing for a-" she was gunna say job interview, but she was laughing too hard to finish the sentence. Blanche covered her mouth, a little unsure why everything seemed so shakey, but she soon controlled herself. "Sorry, I, uh, was distracted by something else. I was just waiting for my date." Logan started laughing himself, and Blanche fought not to look at him. "I like your dress though, you look nice— uh—" was Lea going to wait with her for her ghost date that was right there. "I was just gunna go get some punch for me and my date." Blanche pointed back towards the entrance. "Am I in your way??"
Lea bit her lip, looking quizzically at Blanche. "You're awfully cheerful." She ran her tongue across her teeth. "I hope your date comes out soon." Something seemed off, though Lea couldn't totally place just what it was. Or maybe there was more than one thing. "Thanks." Lea glanced down at her dress. "I like this color green, and I thought it'd work well for prom, though not so much as to take away from any actual proper seniors, hah." She let out a small, nervous giggle. "No, you're not. I probably need to go back before my date comes looking for me." She shrugged. "Are you going now, or...?"
AJ actually laughed at the black magic comment. It was too casual for it to be the truth but it humored AJ none the less. Truth was, AJ as a freshman had been in a similar boat as Lea seemed to be. Already having the protection of Amanda was a good sign for someone's popularity. He waved his hand dismissively at Dustin's offer of punch. "Nah I'm good." Maybe he should have warned them, but if it didn't taste like alcohol and it couldn't be that strong in the first place right? As Dustin took off AJ called back out to him, "Just uh- don't go overboard. Sugar high you know?" AJ became acutely aware that it was now just him standing there awkwardly with Quinn. He didn't seem like the other kids at school, hell the two probably had more in common than AJ with anybody else at the school. Not that AJ was willing to say it out loud. He could barely admit it to himself. AJ had been kind of a dick to Quinn, but he could at least recognize that the guy had good intentions. Maybe he could restrain himself from being an asshole for the night. "Yeah, everyone else in the class didn't want to take pictures on account of actually being here to have fun. You guys look you're having fun though."
Dustin smiled when he saw AJ laugh. At least he wasn't having a terrible time despite the fact he was kind of forced to be here and take pictures of everyone, probably even the people who talked shit about him. That had to suck a lot. Hopefully, if his grade didn't suffer for that, he might manage to take super unflattering people of those that bullied him. "Okay," he said when Quinn said he wanted a drink, too. He took a step away and then, impulsively, leaned back and pressed a small kiss to Quinn's cheek before leaving, cup in hand. He was about halfway to the drink table when AJ called for him. Dustin turned around, thinking he might have changed his mind, but no, he was just warning him about a sugar high. Dustin scoffed. AJ sounded too much like his mum, and so he just shook his head and rolled his eyes before proceeding. He was so goddamn thirsty and hot in this tux and in this stuffed gym, he better stay hydrated. So he filled his cup again and then started sipping it while watching Quinn and AJ at the other side of the room. After finishing the cup he filled it up again, and then another one for Quinn.
She grinned at Lea, brushing a blonde curl that was getting in her face away. "Fairly, yeah! And dark green is a good color no matter who you are-- I'll guess you didn't blow $700 on a dress, then?" From what she knew about Lea, she was Dustn's sister. And Dustin's sister meant freshman. Blanche couldn't seem to stop grinning and she nodded slightly, pointing to the entrance. "I was gunna go get him more punch, yeah! Let's, uh, head that way." Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a light flash and then fizzle out, as well as something phase through a wall-- a ghost that was in prom dress. How fitting. Maybe she went shopping at a ghost store-- Blanche tried to halt the ridiculous thought and shook her head. "I'm going now!" Blanche almost sang. She had never felt like this before, and she almost got motion sick while walking. She paused, and looked back at Lea. "You coming?"
Giving a small shrug, Lea nodded. "Um, yeah. Absolutely did not spend $700 on this." She tugged briefly a the skirt, offering Blanche a brief smile. She knew that the other girl was in Dustin's grade, but hadn't heard him mention her much, though Lea was pretty sure that Blanche might be even better at math than Dustin was, though Lea was also fairly sure that was impossible. Caught up in her own thoughts a bit, she didn't quite pay attention to Blanche, though she did jump when a light went out. It was all fine, Lea reminded herself. There was nothing too much to worry about right now, except for the fact that AJ was still in the room and might have gone to talk to the populars. "Yes!" Lea replied with perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm, rushing to catch up to Blanche. "Though I thought the punch was quite a bit too sweet, but it seems to be a hit, so that's good for the rest of you all."
Blanche waited for Lea to catch up to her in her little heels before going heading back towards the entrance. It would be less suspicious heading in with someone who was actually supposed to be there anyway. "It is a little sweet- there must be a lot of sugar in it." Blanche agreed, "I don't usually binge on sugar drinks like this but–" Logan and her glanced at each other. "My date loves them, and it really isn't too bad." Except for the sugar rush it was making her have- that's what it had to be, right? She was fine. They entered the dance again, and Blanche glanced at her, unsure if she was going to follow her. Blanche stumbled slightly but caught herself as she went to go accept another two cups from the perky girl. "Enjoy!" the girl grinned, and Blanche couldn't help but grin back, starting to sip at one. She would definitely enjoy.
"Yes, lots of sugar. Also it's hardly a natural color for a juice to be. Far too vibrant, but hey. I guess that's what parties have, right?" Lea replied, with a bit of excessive enthusiasm forced into her voice. "I like some juices, but usually when they come in smoothie form. My date and friends seem to be way into the punch though, so kudos to whoever had that idea." She pushed open the door and the two of them entered, and Lea glanced back over to the table where Kevin and Amanda and the others sat, and when she'd looked back at Blanche, another girl had seemingly bombarded them with excessive levels of enthusiasm and more drinks. "I'll get one for my date." She grinned to the other girl, grabbing a cup and waving a goodbye to Blanche as she scurried back to her table. When she arrived, she handed the cup to Kevin and sat back down with a grin. "Nice music selection they've got!" She commented to him. "Are we supposed to like, dance? Since we haven't done that yet." She wrinkled her nose. "Sure, whenever you'd like." Lea glanced over to Dustin - at least he was having fun - and to Blanche, whose date still hadn't shown up again - and she grabbed Kevin's hand. "Now's good." Spoken too quickly again, she'd have to calm her nerves down at least a bit. AJ wouldn't try anything right now, especially not if Kevin or Amanda were nearby. She tugged him until they were to the dance floor and placed her hands on his shoulders as another song started up.
By the time two hours had passed Quinn had drank a lot of the punch. His head was swimming and he found everything funny and fun. Despite that, he still hadn't managed to convince Dustin to come and dance with him. "C'mon," he said with a grin, arm tugging lightly at Dustin's arm. "Everyone else is dancing, I want to dance with my boyfriend," he laughed, words slurring slightly. Quinn could tell he felt funny, but right now he had one goal. He glanced over to the rest of the people dancing. It seemed like everyone was dancing weirdly, like they were all drunk. Quinn moved closer to Dustin, standing in front of him and putting his hands on his hips, leaving in close. "It'll be fun," he said, giggling slightly as he kissed his cheek.
Dustin had a plan. Every time Quinn would convince him to try and dance, he would pretend that he was dying of thirst right now and immediately needed to fetch them more drinks. So far, it had worked, but now as he sat down his empty cup and he was being persuaded, he wasn't sure if he could drink any more or else his head might explode like in that weird science articles that proved that yes, you could actually die from drinking too much water. "But I'll look like a baby penguin when I dance," he protested, then had to laugh about his own comparison. He sighed, pulling his hands around Quinn's neck to hold himself up. Why was standing up so difficult? Maybe it was all the lights, making his head feel weird. Too much light exposure could do that right? Wait, he wasn't a vampire. "Fiiine," he sighed, moving a little in what he hoped was dancing. "But only if we can make out in the bathroom later. Promise me."
'YOUNG LADY YOU PUT THAT PUNCH DOWN RIGHT NOW!' Normally, Blanche would be totally bummed out to have her Granny with her during prom, but now she just looked her in the eye and and chugged her punch. She didn't know how many she'd had at this point, but Granny appeared a while ago and informed her some idiot had spiked the punch. And her she was, in the abyss of people dancing to the music. There were a few angry ghosts about making the lights flicker erratically but it made most people dance even more erratically. Blanche was, for once, ignoring every presence of ghosts except her date. She danced with most people that had even made fun of her in the past, she didn't care. She was barely even aware of how drunk she was, and barely registered she was probably in some nasty snapchats. She'd care in the morning. Blanche saw Dustin and Quinn and she waved wildly to them— Logan was by her side trying to calm her down to no avail. "Dustin!!! Quuuuuuuinn!! Come dance with meeeeeeee!!" She was hobbling/dancing her way to them.
AJ had been very, very wrong about the alcohol content. Which didn't make any sense to him, considering the taste. But apparently the entire crowd had thought the same because by the time the administration was setting up the microphone to announce the King and Queen the dance floor was a mad house. People were stumbling over each other and crumpling to the ground only to burst into laughter and crawl right back up into another dance. AJ didn't miss the opportunity to snap as many pictures of the drunken crowd as he could and being extra patient with his shots so that he captured the most flattering pictures of the popular crowd as possible. Mid-snap he caught a glimpse of Blanche stumbling her way across the floor towards Dustin and Quinn, both of whom looked equally drunk in their own right. AJ shook his head and looked away from them. Not his problem. He just needed to keep reminding himself that. A tap on the mic distracted him as the principal took the stage to announce the winners. AJ blocked out the talking and distracted himself by looking strictly through his lens. The winners were unsurprising and exactly who AJ had expected would win. What he hadn't expected was for the king to trip and fall flat on his face on his way up the steps. AJ laughed out loud hysterically for a few seconds making sure that he didn't miss that photo opportunity. Half the crowd gasped while the other burst into laughter. The King eventually made it back onto his feet but both him and the Queen who was announced seconds later were both trashed. The Principal wasn't the brightest man alive, but he wasn't an idiot either. By now the administration was finally starting to catch on to the rest of the crowd, which could only spell trouble once they figured out what had happened to the punch.
Lea had taken a small break from dancing but Kevin had, for some reason, decided that taking a break was not at all exciting and had asked Lea to come and hang out on the dance floor, even though his dancing abilities had gone down hill the more punch he'd had to drink. When the Principal tapped on the microphone to announce the winners, Lea swung out of the position she and Kevin had been in as they were dancing, but let him keep his harm around her shoulders - he seemed to need steadying, and his breath smelled a bit sweet with something more mixed in - alcohol, it hit her, just as the Queen - Hannah - announced that she and her boyfriend William were both incredibly trashed and Lea's eyes wandered. Dustin had been drinking a lot of the punch too, and so had that girl Blanche who she'd run into in the hallway. Maybe that was why she'd wandered off. "You okay?" She turned back to Kevin, placing a hand on his chest to make sure he was steady. "Do you need help, or anything?" He shook his head. "No, no need, we can just dance more. Your dress is great, did you know that?" Lea smiled up at him. "Thanks, glad you appreciate." She let her eyes wander, trying to take in the rest of the room. Their parents were gonna kill Dustin if he showed up at home like this.
Quinn's smile immediately grew when Dustin tried to make another excuse. "But you'll look like a cute penguin," he countered. It seemed he had finally worn Dustin down enough to dance though. With an even bigger smile, he leaned into Dustin as he stood, wrapping his arms around him and moving along with the music. He wasn't a great dancer either, but this was still fun. "You don't need to convince me to go make out with you later," he laughed, shaking his head and letting it rest on Dustin's shoulder for a moment. He hear someone calling his name out though, and pulled away for a moment, still keeping close to Dustin and dancing but looking around and spotting Blanche making her way over to them. His attention was pulled away later as the king and queen were announced, snorting in laughter at what happened. "They look drunk," Quinn commented to Dustin before blinking and frowning. "Wait... I feel drunk. Fuck. We're drunk!" and then he burst out into laughter and kissed Dustin.
Dustin smiled happily when Quinn agreed to make out with him later. That's what prom was all about, wasn't it? He kept his arms tightly around his neck to keep standing, rhythmically swaying along to the music. When he heard his name being called, he turned his head to stop Blanche making their way towards them. Dustin gave her a small wave before his attention was captured again by his boyfriend. "We're not dru-" he was about to protest when suddenly he was kissed. Hands gripping at his neck, he kissed him back with no care about who the hell saw them when suddenly, he remembered Blanche. "Oh!" he said, pulling back. "Blanche!" he yelled at her. "I need to- what do I need to- oh right, I need to ask you something!"
Blanche was stumbling, but was pushed back with the rest of the crowd to watch the king and queen get crowned— only to realize that they were totally trashed too and they totally just announced it to the entire gym. Blanche began laughing- she was trashed too!!! Wait- horror filled her for a second. She was trashed too! She had never been drunk in her life!!! She heard Dustin yelling for her and she turned to find them, feeling wobbly all the way. "Whaaaat?! Dustin???" Oh no she definitely couldn't walk in a straight line. She felt herself being easily swept by the crowd, but she broke free trying to reach Dustin. Her mind saw an empty stretch of floor to Dustin and Quinn. She ignored whatever her Granny was telling her, and decided to get to Dustin and Quinn as fast as she could--- cartwheels were fast. At least they were when she still did dance classes. Blanche ignored whatever her granny had to say and tipped herself over— the result was her Granny cussing while she did a somewhat of a somersault and landed on her ass. Tomorrow she'd be thankful she wore teeny shorts under her short prom dress. Blanche blindly looked up, trying to reach for something to steady her. "Dustin??"
The administration was definitely taking notice to the fact that everybody seemed drunk off of their asses, which was because everybody was in fact drunk off of their asses. He spotted a few of the chaperones casually walking through the crowd now, walking over to listen in on conversations or talking to those obviously too drunk to realize what was going on. They were taking names. Those people were at risk of being in big trouble tomorrow, and AJ knew how shit like this worked. Whenever something bad happened fingers were immediately pointed, and what better proxy than himself? Half the high school was out to get him, and probably half by now had a legitimate reason to hate him, he had made sure of that. If they were going to hate him regardless he might as well actually do things to deserve that hate. He stuffed his camera back into the bag that had been slung over his shoulder. He had gotten the shots that he needed and now it was time for him to dip out before things got too crazy. He started going for the exit when he spotted Blanche cartwheeling right onto the floor. She landed on the floor right in front of Dustin and Quinn, both well on their way to being as drunk as Blanche obviously was. And then there was one of the chaperones, Mrs. Miller, making her way right towards them. Just leave AJ. You don't owe them anything. Just leave.... Damn it. "Mrs. Miller..." He rushed to her side, putting on a confused face, forcing his muscles to contract and tears to rush to his eyes. She seemed to have her eyesight trained on the only three people in the school that didn't seem hellbent on hating him. "Someone is puking all over the hallway... I think there might be blood." He wiped at his eyes dramatically and watched his her eyesight finally turned from Blanche, Dustin and Quinn and stared directly at AJ. Oh no sweetie. Stay here I'll go check it out. He grinned when she turned her back and walked towards the hallway and then did a 180 to make a beeline for the three of them. "Administration is coming around and looking for drunk people. You all need to leave. Like right now, let's go." He pointed toward the exit, which seemed to be clear of administration at the moment as they all seemed busy investigating the crowd.
Quinn was surprised when Dustin kissed him back like that. He'd been expecting just a quick peck and then for Dustin to get all shy like he did in public. This was a far nicer response. Quinn actually let out a slight whine when Dustin pulled back, glancing over to Blanche. Pouting slightly, he kept his arms wrapped around Dustin. They were definitely drunk he decided, looking at the way Blanche was stumbling over to them. "Did you just... What just happened?" Quinn asked, bursting out into laughter and leaning onto Dustin for more support than he'd usually need. And then suddenly AJ was coming over to them. In his current state of inebriation, it was hard to keep track of everything going on. "I told you we were all drunk!" he said with a laugh, poking Dustin slightly, but stumbling and using his boyfriend once more to keep himself up. "But it's prom, we can't just leave early,"
Dustin let out a loud laugh as he watched Blanche land on her ass, fuck, that had been far too funny. He reached out to try to pick her off the floor, but with Quinn's arms around him he didn't get very far. And then suddenly, AJ was with them and wanted them to leave. What a party pooper. "Admino- administration can look at us all they want!" Dustin exclaimed. "Because we're not drunk. To get drunk, you need to consumate alcohol. We did not consumate any alcohol. Gosh, Quinn, I thought you were smart." He gave him a pout before unwrapping his arms from his boyfriend, stumbling over to Blanche. He tried to both help her up and give her a hug, which ultimately resulted on him landing on the floor, arms sprawled out behind him. "Blanche!" he said loudly. "I was gonna ask you- you have a crush on me, right? Because you always run from me. Why do you always run from me. I'm nice." He looked up at Quinn. For once, his boyfriend was actually taller than him. "But you can't date me because I am seventy percent gay, I think. You should date Lea instead, you're both short. Speaking of Lea, where is she? I can't leave without her. Mum would hex me. Literally. Like, she would literally hex me so much and turn me into a frog. A literal frog."
Blanche had erupted into giggling, which only worsened as AJ arrived onto the scene. Granny was still talking and she was certain she saw Logan about, trying to calm the other ghosts down. The dance had clearly erupted into chaos--- But Blanche tried to accept Dustin's help off the ground, only to fall back on her ass, absolutely howling with laughter, her face absolutely flushing when Dustin asked his question. "Nooooo!! I just like.... Uh... I'm always talking too.... hahahaha--" Blanche was laughing again, shaking her head. "I always gotta talk to--ooo!" Blanche had to stop herself from speaking, somehow. "My boss! Job interview! I always say job interview! HA!!!" Blanche snorted, shaking her head-- for a second, she was entertained by her blonde curls bouncing from side to side before she looked up at AJ. "You're my biology partner!!" Blanche tried to scramble to her feet then. She would be thankful she opted for her sparkly gold converse in the morning, even if she was swaying dangerously. "We have to leave? Ooooh by the way, we are drunk! Gran- I mean my date said someone spiked the punch! HA! Oh no I've had way too many glasses-- I met Lea!" Blanche said, suddenly. "I think she's over--- she's over--- over--" Blance began going in circles, circling first Dustin and then AJ trying to look, while simultaneously digging through the clutch that she had for her keys. "OVER THERE!!" Blanche stopped, and pointed with one hand. "Do we have to leeeeave! Wait, I'm not supposed to be here." Her other hand had dug out her bright pink land-yard that had her car keys on it. "I don't wanna leave!!"
Jesus Christ, I should have just left them to fend for themselves. AJ smacked the palm of his hand onto his forehead and slowly drug it down the entirety of his face. This was why he had tried to talk himself out of coming to help them in the first place. They didn’t seem to want to leave anyways, each making some comment about not wanting to go. AJ had the opportunity right now to turn and leave the three behind and go home. That option was easier and would not be as headache inducing. He was almost ready to until Blanche pulled out her keys and AJ heard the rattling. Fuck. Snatching the keys out of her hands and stuffing them into her pockets, AJ looked the three over to find the one that looked the most responsible. All three looked drunk, but Dustin and Blanche had just tumbled to the floor moments before, so AJ turned to Quinn. “I get you don’t want to leave and I get that you might be too drunk to understand consequences. But focus for a second,” AJ pointed right between his eyes to try to get his attention, “Get in trouble tonight and you can forget about walking down that stage and getting your diploma in a couple of weeks. Now take these two and head towards the exit.” Now he turned to Dustin, “I’ll go get your sister.” Hoping that Quinn would take the hint, AJ turned to find Lea. Considering the crowd she hung around it wouldn’t be hard. “Why- fuck- what are you?” Kevin bumped against him, slurring his insults together in a string of unintelligible babbling as he continued to dance against the music. “Enlightening.” AJ smiled towards him, ignoring him to look at Lea. “Someone spiked the punch. Your brother is drunk and we need to go.” This time, Kevin’s hand found AJ’s shoulder and pushed against it hard. “Get the hell away from her you freak. She’s my date not yours.” At least this time he was able to find his words. AJ just rolled his eyes and continued to ignore him. “I get that you’re busy with Prince Charming over here, but I’m taking your brother home. I don’t really give a damn whether or not you come along honestly.” Kevin was getting annoyed, either by the fact that AJ continued to ignore him or that he continued to talk to Lea. If he started throwing punches, they would both get in trouble.
Lea had hardly kept her eyes off of AJ when he'd approached Dustin. Kevin's arm was still around her, and he was undoubtedly drunk at this point, which meant that she was supporting a good deal of his weight - which was a bit tough when he had to be at least a good seventy pounds heavier than she was - at a minimum - there was likely more of a difference. AJ left Dustin, but before Lea even had the time to breath in a sigh of relief he was over by her and Kevin. "No - it's -" She turned to face Kevin, pushing a hand against his chest. "It's fine." She said, raising an eyebrow. "Dustin's gonna get in big trouble and I probably need to go with him." Kevin cut her off before she could finish, looking right at AJ. "Don't think this is some way to get her to you, she came here with me. Me!" He said, his voice rising too loud. Lea rolled her eyes. "Yes, and AJ's not flirting with me, holy shit, it's fine. Forget about him. I have to deal with my idiot of a brother so he doesn't get the both of us in trouble. Tell Amanda that to text me when you all Uber home or whatever, and Jenna and Katie and I can come hang out tomorrow. Okay?" Lea wasn't sure how much Kevin was even comprehending but she took his small nod as an OK to go, and turned, stalking past AJ. "Fine, we can go now." She said without even looking at him, her eyes narrowing.
Everything was spinning a bit now, especially when Dustin pulled away from him. Quinn stumbled a bit when he was let go and looked for something to hold onto, managing to grab a chair to steady himself. At least he wasn't on the floor like Blanche and his boyfriend. Which, when it happened, he burst into a fit of giggles, glancing at AJ. "I'm smarter than you, and not on the floor," he stood, taking a few steps closer. He had to take a deep breath to steady himself. He pouted slightly. "You also have a boyfriend," he pointed to himself and then glanced at AJ. He tried to focus on him, but it was a little harder than he figured it would be. He was able to absorb most of the information though. "Oh... shit...," Quinn mumbled, glancing around to see the administration definitely was doing that. There was no way he wasn't going to graduate with the rest of the class because someone spiked something and got them drunk. "C'mon Dustin," he said, reaching out to grab his boyfriend's hand and try to pull him up. Blanche was definitely drunker than Dustin, so it would be better to get a little help.
Dustin frowned as he was trying to piece together Blanche's word, trying to give them some meaning. Job interview? It made literally no sense. "You make no sense," he told her, shaking his head. "I think you might be drunk, Blanche." When Quinn reached for his hand, Dustin tried to entwine their fingers instead of letting himself be pulled up properly, but after some moments he finally got to his feet. Everything was swaying a little, like they had turned the gym into a very slow ship on the sea. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a few lights flickering and then exploding. Was this part of the prom theme? It truly was enchanted. Dustin wrapped his arms around Quinn to keep himself steady, hugging him tightly. "I don't wanna go home," he protested. "You promised me to make out in the bathroom. I wanna do that now. And I can't leave Lea, so. We have to sleep here."
Blanche blinked, and then her keys were gone!! Her eyes went wide as she started too look for them-- had she dropped them?? She stumbled, looking around. "Magic!!!" She cried. "Is my car gone too?? I need that I have a joooob!" Blanche said, upset. But she looked to Dustin and Quinn, frowning. "Ewww! I don't wanna sleep on the dirty school floor that's gross!!" Blanche's bottom lip jutted out, and she could hear her grandmother practically yelling in exasperation. 'Blanche Harlow!! You get your butt home this instant! Head towards the entrance like that boy told you too! "Head where??" Blanche asked, seemingly talking to thin air beside her, confused. "Oh-- hey look!! I see Lea!! And PJ! I mean BJ! Uh--- AJ!!!!" Blanche said, loudly. She turned to Dustin excitedly, reaching to pull at his sleeve, almost tumbling into him. "This way this way this way!!" Blanche tugged lightly, stumbling backwards. "Let's go thissssssssssssssssssss waaaaaaaaaaaaay!"
AJ could feel the hatred from Lea as he lead her through the crowd and towards the exit, but he was too annoyed with himself for getting involved too really care at the moment. He could have been home already and away from all of the obnoxious kids that he loathed so much. Instead, he had willingly wandered into enemy territory probably giving Kevin a new reason to make AJ’s life hell on Monday just because he was feeling generous that evening? Maybe because he thought he owed Dustin a favor after the whole pig blood incident and he hated owing people favors. Or he realized that Quinn probably had not deserved the backlash from AJ for trying to talk. Regardless, he was quickly running out of patience. “Look, I get it, you don’t like me. Join the club, good luck finding an empty chair. But your brother has made it very clear that if the two of you get in trouble your mom will put a literal hex on him. So pick up the pace and drop the attitude for the next hour so I can get you home.” He found the three of them, making small but noticeable progress towards the exit when the lights above them started flickering and then shattering. Gasps let out across the crowd. That obviously had nothing to do with the spiked juice. “Look, Dustin I got Lea. Hooray. Now can we please get the hell out of here?” The lights had actually provided a pretty good distraction from administration so that the five could sneak out mostly unnoticed.
Lea stiffened at AJ's comment. "Dustin said what?!" She half squeaked, before glaring in front of her and stomping across the floor, towards her brother though with at least a bit of distance between herself and AJ. She turned her head back to face him briefly, "No, I don't, and I was also having a good time with my friends - so don't you dare touch me." She scoffed. "I don't have an attitude, but thanks a lot for your advice." Once they arrived, some of the lights seemed to shatter and Lea jumped again. "Yeah, big brother, I'm here and alive, so let's go so mum doesn't kill us both, right?" She snuck a small glance back over to where Kevin and Amanda and the others were - and frowned slightly, giving a quick wave to Amanda when she looked over. "How are we getting home?"
"Blanche is definitely drunk," Quinn giggled, watching with a smirk. "Like, the most drunk I've seen anyone," he said. "She's drunk, of course she doesn't make sense," Quinn added, because an interview? That was weird. Quinn leaned in against Dustin as he was pulled into him, before grinning up at him and kissing his cheek. "Okay, yeah, making out sounds really good right now," he said, wrapping his own arms around Dustin's neck, pulling himself closer. "We could make out now. But I'm- I'm not gonna sleep on the floor," he wrinkled his nose, " 'specially not in this suit." Shaking his head he grinned. "Just come back and stay at my place. Then we can cuddle and make out all night," he continued, though was soon interrupted by Blanche. "Okay, okay!" he laughed, letting Blanche pull them along slightly. Just then both AJ and Lea returned "Hi Lea. You look particularly angry and should be happy becaues it's prom," he said with a nod.
"Yeah, definitely haven't seen drunker," Dustin agreed. He wasn't sure why they were following the drunk girl, but maybe it wasn't the worst idea. Drunk people could be fun. Or so he'd heard. He actually hadn't had too much contact with drunk people before. Of course, she was drunk and he was sober, which he thought should make this a little awkward, but no. He was actually having fun. Dustin was testing out whether he could kiss Quinn's neck at the same time as walking - that was a maybe, did end up walking into a table, but other than that he was unharmed - when he suddenly heard him mention his sister's name. "Lea!" Dustin exclaimed, turning around to position his body in her direction. "This decoration is amazing! Also, I don't know where we are going, but Blanche is drunk, apparently, so she's probably gonna lead us somewhere fun," he told her, before staggering forward and wrapping his arms around her neck, engulfing her into an octopus-like hug.
The lights started to pop and explode, and Blanche's gaze went upward. 'Hunny, you have to ignore them and let AJ take you home-' Blanche ignored Granny for the upteenth time, seeing the angry ghosts in prom clothes with Logan flittering about. They had paused while Dustin death hugged Lea, but she was distracted watching them yell angry things-- things about disrespect and how unfair this was. Lights wre popping and shattering, and if they weren't careful, and the speakers were now playing ugly music. Blanche's eyes didn't leave the the angry ghosts, and suddenly, she felt fear strike her. 'Blanche?' "I wanna go home!" Blanche announced, loudly, panickedly ripping her gaze from the ghosts and looking towards the others. "Before they get more mad!" They could have meant the administration-- at least, that's what her Granny would try to assure her. But Blanche suddenly charged ahead towards the entrance, stumbling on her feet all the way-- it looked like she was going to fall any moment. "Let's go home! I wanna go home! Hoooome! Dustin! Quinn! Leaaaaa! AJ c'mon!" Blanche was trying to take charge and she had absolutely no idea where she was going.
AJ let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed at his temples. All he had to do was get them all home. All he had to do was make it through Lea’s attitude, Blanche randomly screaming directly into his ear about conversations held ten minutes prior, and the very real possibility that Quinn and Dustin were going to do it in his truck. That wasn’t so bad right? He was suddenly reminded why he spent the last two years with no friends. Not that that had been by choice or anything, but the peace and quiet had definitely been a plus. “My truck” he replied to Lea, since everyone else seemed to incapacitated or occupied to speak up. Blanche started rushing out the door and another groan escaped AJ as he started pushing the other three forward again, “We need to go before Blanche runs out into traffic.” The sooner he stuffed them all into his truck and finally got them home, the sooner he could get back to being the friendless loner that had saved him from so many migraines.
