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EPIGRAPH, brief encounter
italics — rue's narration
————
"you're so disgusting. i can smell it. i hear you taking a shit." maddy taunted nate, who was taking up more time than usual using the restroom. liana stood beside her, pressed against the wall with her legs clenched. "oh my god, i'm gonna pee myself." she rested her head against the wall. although they both really had to pee, liana was obviously more patient than maddy.
"hurry the fuck up!" maddy banged both of her fists against the door, "what are you fucking doing?" she asked. without an answer, maddy continued to bang on the door. "wipe your ass and come out. i need to pee!" she yelled. "i'm gonna break this fucking door, nate. open the fucking door!"
if this isn't stressing you out, it probably would if you were in lianas shoes— because she really fuckin' had to pee. she arrived to the party with maddy, kat and jules which was a train wreck in itself. they found themselves driving around in circles for a while per maddys broken gps, so they were already late. later than they had expected.
and because they were late, the party was already jam packed by the time they did get there. but liana didn't expect anything less, it was new year's eve and east highland was ready for the new year.
"i'm gonna go try to find a different bathroom, i'll text you if i do." liana walked away from the wall and earned a nod from maddy, who began to bang harder on the door that nate refused to open. she walked down the hall and took a turn, and found herself making multiple turns until she finally found a flight of stairs that led to the basement.
i wasn't sure if i was ready for this party or not, but i went anyway just to get a high for the start of the year. i knew jules would be there and that was tough to swallow since i hadn't seen her since christmas. i regretted seeing her then and i was gonna regret seeing her now, but it was nothing with a little drugs in my system anyway.
it was just embarrassing, but at this point i felt like majority of the shit i did was embarrassing. but the most embarrassing thing i had done this year, was passing out in fezcos car before i even stepped foot into the party.
she walked down the flight of stairs and was welcomed by people making out and dancing to music that was no longer audible since they were so far down in the house. it didn't feel like a party anymore and liana was confused why people were down here but she was too panicked to think much about it.
she opened random doors and apologized to people she had walked in on that were fucking until she opened the door of a laundry room on a guy who was very obviously snorting a line. she let out a gasp and his reaction time was almost as fast as hers, shoving any evidence behind him and resting his elbow smoothly on the dryer.
elliot was new in town. he had just moved in from ohio, which was a really random place and i wasn't expecting him to tell me that so when he did i'm pretty sure i laughed in his face. he didn't have many friends, so he invited himself to the party to meet new people.
his anxiety kicked in though and he ended up in the basement alone, doing something that nobody had caught him doing until liana walked in.
"oh shit, i'm sorry. are you snorting?" she asked. "i wasn't. i wasn't snorting anything." he said. "yeah, you were." she raised a brow. "nah... fixing this washing machine, actually. i work for, uh... whirlpool. yeah. you see it? it's all messed up, so i'm just." he messed with random button on the machine, which gave liana more reason to be skeptical.
"you're like, seventeen. you can tell me you're doing coke." she giggled under her breath. elliot liked her laugh and cracked a smile, inevitability breaking his character. "it's not coke, it's uh, adderall." he corrected. she nodded her head and welcomed herself inside, shutting the door behind her.
"well can i have a line?" she asked. he nodded his head, patting the seat next to him and holding the rolled up dollar bill out to her, which she kindly accepted.
liana was the first nice person elliot met in town, of course before me. he liked that she wasn't awkward, he struggled with other peoples energy being off. there wasn't that imbalance with her and he found that comforting.
"what's your name, by the way?" she asked. "elliot, yours?" he asked. "liana." she replied. "pretty."
"you go to east highland?" she asked. he shrugged his shoulders, "i don't know yet. i just moved here." he said, cutting up more lines as he spoke. "so what if i never see you again?" she joked. he chuckled, tilting his head to the side as he worked with his credit card. "then i guess this will be our little brief encounter, liana."
comfortable silence fell between them until elliot spoke up again. "were you down here the whole time? i would have noticed you." he muttered. she shook her head, leaning against the washer once she snorted her line. she wasn't big on drugs so she knew she wasn't going in for more, but she watched intently as elliot continued to snort. "no, i was looking for a bathroom."
"there's no bathrooms down here." he said. "figured." he furrowed her brows, "well, don't you have to piss?" she nodded. without another word he quickly emptied his tray out into the baggie he had on the dryer and stuffed everything away in his backpack which confused liana. "where are you going?" she asked. "to find a bathroom." he said.
"you have to pee too?" she asked. "no, you do." he said. "i can find myself a bathroom." she objected. "but you didn't, so i'll find you one." he slung his backpack over his shoulder and stood up. "you don't—" elliot glared at her, "you're gonna start your new year with a uti?" he asked. "i don't want you to piss yourself right now, get up."
liana couldn't remember the rest of that night, except the fact that she did get up and he found her a bathroom, stood outside until she was finished to make sure nobody bothered her and didnt let go of her hand while he searched the entire house with her to find a bathroom.
he was glad he found a friend, and as much as liana didn't want to admit it— she hoped she would see him again, and it wouldn't be a brief encounter.
