The party itself wasn’t too overzealous, mainly cruising around with friends and acquaintances of Brielle and Landon. The lights varied in their colors and music played on a speaker in the main room loud enough to a point you’d need to raise your voice slightly to be heard. Landon sat on a dining room chair, somewhat zoned out holding his drink listening to the music.
“So, when’s he coming?” A pesky, energetic voice fills his ear.
Landon jolts, “WHAH—Oh, you bitch. You did that on purpose…”
Carlos laughs—he’d probably been slightly tipsy from the looks of it.
“Hehe, not to be the bearer of bad news, but I hope you’re not too drunk, ’cause I’m not driving us home tonight.”
“Not even for my birthday?”
“Not unless you want your birthday present to be a hospital bill.”
Then, a man with long, curly hair and a blue-haired person following him walked up to them.
“Seriously, how does Brielle put up with you…” he says—more of a statement than a question.
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Both of you. You.” He points to Landon, “Ignoring my texts. And you.” Now, points to the other person, “Drinking my drink?! Why?!”
A collective laughter fills the area.
“Sorry, Liam. I guess I mentally responded to your messages.” Landon says.
The blue haired fellow adds, “Yeah, and I was thirsty. You gave me a drink!”
“To HOLD.”
“Bahh, potato-tomato. Hey, what’re you guys just doing sitting? Hate games, hate.. people?”
“Nah, just… sitting and listening to music. Name’s Landon.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m, like, best friends with your girlfriend. I’m Tracy—you won’t forget it.”
“Oh, so then you know why he’s just sitting here, rotting while he waits to get older tomorrow?” Carlos asks.
“Awhh, so this is like, your birthday party then?”
“Not ’til tomorrow. I guess this is just Bri’s way of celebrating anything big.”
Tracy puts a smile on, but their tone is misleading, “D’aww, you know her so well… It makes me sick. Hey, Liam, let’s go to the games.”
“Huw—Uh, alright…”
The two walk away seemingly aimless, and Carlos continues to talk with Landon in their own little section.
Carlos continues, “Hey, you never answered my question.”
“What’d you ask?”
“When’s your new friend coming? Told you, I’d meet him.”
At that moment, it was as if Landon remembered he’d left the stove on. He shifts in his seat and gets up, moving towards the front door with Carlos trailing behind him. About 30 minutes had passed, the room wasn’t extremely full, but he was unsure on if Rodger had even showed up. As he looks outside, he feels a hand on his shoulder and turns around abruptly.
“S.. Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Rodger looked down at him.
“It’s—It’s cool, uh… This is my roommate, Carlos.”
“Not just that, I’m his beeessst friend.. he looooves me. Don’t believe—”
Landon attempts to interject, “Man, shut up!”
“Sto-op… Don’t believe him if he says otherwise.” Carlos pushes through his drunken hics.
They laugh and push each other around, but Rodger stands awkwardly in front of them. Carlos takes notice of the situation derailing, so he continues.
“It’s, uh, nice to meet you.”
He holds his hand out to shake, but as Rodger goes to shake it, Carlos claps their hands together in a lo-five motion and smiles. Surprised, Rodger musters a small, confused smile.
Landon asks, “Alright, you want anything? Like, snacks, drinks, maybe wanna see the games…”
“I-I..” Rodger shakes his head. “I don’t know, I figured I’d just stay by you.”
“Oh..”
“Is.. Is that—”
“Oh, no!—That’s totally fine. You could maybe, like, meet my crew.”
It clicked a little too late to Landon that his new friend wasn’t as extroverted as the rest of his friends. His thoughts couldn’t linger very long, though, as Carlos was practically pulling him to stand by his word, and leading him towards the rest of their friends. Rodger silently and swiftly followed the two.
Sitting at a table with 3 other unfamiliar faces was Tracy and Liam, playing a card game. Liam looks over, while Tracy scratches their head, frustrated.
“Oh, hey guys. Wanna join?” He asks.
“NO. They do not.” Tracy insists.
The other 3 faces laugh, and Tracy shuffles their cards impatiently.
“Naw, not right now. Came to introduce you to a new member of the group, actually.” He gestures to Rodger, who waves.
“Oh? I’m so sorry for your gain.” Liam laughs, Landon elbows him.
“I’m Liam, that’s Tracy. He’s currently pretty upset I’m winning.”
“SHHHHH—SHUT UP. You KNOW you’re gonna lose, that’s why you’re taking forever…” Tracy counters.
“Dude, if you’re a sore loser—”
“NOT.”
“Holy shit, you’re losing!” Carlos shouts from behind Tracy, staring at their cards.
Liam plays and Tracy’s demeanor changes again, now to a defeated one. Quietly, Rodger had been observing the whole game and zoned out watching them.
“So, what’s your deal?” Liam asks, turning to Rodger.
He snaps back to reality, “Oh, um, I’m Rodger…”
“Mhm…”
“… Ahm..?”
“So, are you or Bri the reason Landon’s been ignoring me?”
Rodger turns to Landon, confused, but Landon continues to look towards Liam.
“Hey, where is Bri, anyway?” He questions to him.
Liam turns back to the game, “Kitchen. Talking to some of our friends, I think.”
“I’m gonna get a drink while I watch the outcome of this.” Carlos says, walking off.
Landon nods, now turning over to Rodger and smiling. Rodger continues to look somewhat confused, yet looks him directly in the eyes for a moment. As the game resumes with the frustrated grunts of Tracy and the smug laughter of Liam, Landon motions towards Rodger to follow him, and he complies.
The two walk into the kitchen area, past a few smaller groups of people that Landon waves at, yet his attention seems focused on scanning the room. Left, right, then left and right again, and again, and again…
Until he sees her. The faint lighting and music made her look almost unreal, yet all she did was lean against the countertop and speak to one of her friends. And even so, she still looked magical to Landon. Brielle—his Brielle.
“Hey, babe”
She looks towards him, “Awh, hey baby. You havin’ fun?”
He smiles as they share a brief kiss. Rodger stands behind, awkwardly waiting for them and picking at his fingernails.
Landon clears his throat, “This is, um, my new friend, Rodger.”
Rodger nervously looks at her, “… Hello.”
Brielle gives a curious glance, then her smile resumes and she says happily, “Ohh, so you’ve been sent to take care of Landon, too? I knew just 3 people wasn’t enough, he’s a handful, isn’t he?” She laughs.
Landon looks around at the interior, embarrassed. Rodger doesn’t comment and decides to just nod and play along.
Introductions were never Rodger’s strongsuit. In fact, he wasn’t sure how he felt about the whole party ordeal as a whole. While he wasn’t having fun, it’s not like he hated it now—the lights were nice and it wasn’t too crowded. Now, he sat at the table with Landon and his friends as they laughed and joked about things he didn’t understand, but nodded and smiled with them. At some points when they’d asked him questions or joked about him to his face due to the liquor, Landon would look over and raise a brow as a form of questioning his mood. He never answered to these, as he didn’t understand the gesture. Then, Landon got up and tapped his shoulder, signaling him to follow. The two walk to a somewhat emptier corner.
“You okay in there?” He asks.
Rodger almost looks horrified, “What? Why? Am I not fitting in?”
“I mean, I don’t care about you fitting in or not, dude. You seem antsy, if you’re uncomfortable just let me know. I know my crew can be a bit… much. But by all means, if you don’t like it, I’ll tell them to lay off.”
The words of reassurance lit a light in Rodger’s eyes for a moment. He didn’t respond verbally—to collect his thoughts—but nodded in agreement.
“I… I’ll, um, pull you aside… if I feel uncomfortable. Th-Thank you.”
Landon grants him a quick nod and motions for the two to return. Rodger hesitates, staring at him in awe for a split second before returning to his senses and following him. As they get back, the group has a mixture of expressions; some due to the alcohol and some due to the gossip and joking. Brielle’s face goes from plain to a subtle smile at her boyfriend’s return. As if no one left, the group continues to chat among themselves about their lives.
Maybe about an hour or two, or at most a few drinks in for everyone (excluding Rodger), Brielle whispers in Landon’s ear.
{Meet me outside.}
As she excuses herself, he watches her leave out the front door and onto the porch. Confused, he tunes in for a second on what his friends talk about and excuses himself as well, exchanging a promising glance to Rodger to let him know he’ll return. He opens the screen door and stands on the porch next to Brielle. The porchlight shone dust particles around her, and the cold bitter night made him feel nostalgic.
“Landon, I love you.”
“Ah, yeah, I love you too, Bri, but… wh..why’d you call me out here..?”
She looks out onto the street, where the streetlights reflect on puddles the rain had made over the season.
“It’s gonna be your birthday soon.”
The silence fills his ears.
“I think… you deserve to spend it with people you love.”
“Huh?”
“… I’m not your everything. I can’t be your everything—I mean. You…”
She loses her words, not that it matters. Landon is already giving her a distraught look that causes her to avert eye contact.
“Wh-what’re you..”
“I think…
We should, um… break up.”
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