@thedanicastro
In and out. That’s it. He was here to dump Beaux’s stuff with Lily and double back home. No matter how tempting or inviting, he couldn’t stay. Nikolai adjusted the box under his arm, glancing at the mixture of movies, cds, and just random shit he’d collected from his friend over the years. It was stupid. He had to give it back. Holding onto it wouldn’t help. It’d just remind him of a life that wasn’t his anymore. Friends came and went. It was normal. Natural. He’d get the fuck over it. Just like he’d get over-- Not a good comparison. And that was the other thing. Not only was there one mine hovering around, there was potentially a second, much more aggressive one lurking somewhere within the apartment. Because as pissed as Dani could get, she didn’t bail on her friends. Not even when it came to ridiculous parties. With stupid fugly sweaters.
Taking one last drag on his cigarette, he snuffed it out, tucked it behind his ear, and opened the door. Being this late, he knew it’d be open for easy flow. All he had to do was get far enough in to ditch it. The second he stepped inside, Niko immediately regretted it. There was a sea of people decked out in their ugliest apparel. His jaw twitched, feeling that nagging feeling in his gut. He recognized so many of these faces, some he hadn’t seen since he left and others more...recent, but he didn’t speak to them. Yeah he could pretend things were ok. That he was moving on. But being here was a reminder. A painful one. That maybe he wasn’t.
Dropping the box by the door, Niko shoved his hands in his pockets and started to the kitchen. Fuck if he wasn’t getting a drink for his trouble. And a strong one. It took less than a second to spy the strongest bottle of liquor and stash it in his black bomber. They wouldn’t miss it and if they did, he’d buy Lily a new one. Bottle tucked in his arm, he weaved through the chattering masses and he was nearly to the door--
“Nikolai?”
The sound of her voice stopped him in his tracks and he cursed, not so under his breath as he spun on his heel. His right eye was still swollen, but better, not completely shut at least. His bruises still held deep blue and red violet and indigo hues. A cut lay over his left eyebrow, the bridge of his nose and his lip, well at least that’d gone down enough to toss a sheepish smirk in her direction. “No worries. I’m leaving. I just dropped something off,” he said, nodding to the box near the entrance before pulling the bottle from his jacket to take a swig. Niko passed it to her and took a step backward toward the door. “Here. Give this to Beaux for me,”