Paper Hearts || Krii7y

8. You're Some Fashion Whizz

Jaren was sitting on the floor, watching TV with Bear when the door opened to Penny. Bear barked and raced toward her.

"Hey, there's my favourite boy!"

"I'm here!" Jaren joked.

"Not you, silly. My big fluffy boy!" she said, her pitch rising when she spoke to Bear. "Sam will be home soon if you want to stay for dinner, Jaren."

"That would be great, thank you."

Sure enough, Sam came in a few minutes later carrying a few bags of fast food. "Jaren!" He grinned when he saw him. He was still dressed in his vet scrubs, with a coat thrown over the top.

"Hey! It's nice to see you again."

"You too, man. It's been a while. You should have come to see me before."

They heard Penny snicker from the kitchen. She appeared with a glass of water in hand and leant against the dining table. "He's only here for the dog, Sam. When will you learn?"

"Ah, probably should have figured that out."

They ate while watching TV and making small talk. Bear sat on the floor between Penny and Jaren, eyeing their food. When they were done, Jaren checked the time. It was already almost 9:00.

"It's getting late. I should get home," he sighed, looking at Penny and Sam. His mom would definitely question his whereabouts when he got back.

"Alright, Jaren. I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for taking care of Bear. He loved spending time with you," Penny said, smiling.

Bear barked in confirmation and the trio laughed. Jaren put his jacket on and made for the door after bidding Penny, Sam and Bear farewell.

It was late and the sun was beginning to set. As he walked, it got dimmer and dimmer until everything was basked in that blue-ish haze that told of the sun's imminent disappearance. Jaren liked the way the world looked in this light, but he wanted to be home before it got too dark.

He jumped when his phone started ringing. It was a video call from John. He grinned and answered, holding his phone in front of his face.

All he heard when he picked up was extremely loud music. He gritted his teeth and put the volume down, putting his AirPods in to hear better.

"...you there? Jaren?" He heard John's voice when his AirPods were finally in.

"Yeah, I'm here. Where are you? It's so loud."

"At the party," his friend shouted. He finally turned the camera away from the floor and let Jaren see his face. It was a sight. His hair was wild, likely the humidity of the room making it frizzier than usual. His expression was something between excitement and exhaustion and his eyes were bloodshot.

"Are you drunk?" Jaren asked incredulously.

John giggled. "Me? No way."

He was clearly tipsy but Jaren didn't call him out on it any more. "Be careful, okay?"

"Okay, Ren. I wish you were here."

Jaren looked behind John at the sea of people dancing and grimaced. "From the amount of people around you, I'm glad I'm not."

John squinted at the screen. "Are you outside?"

"Yeah, I'm going home."

"But it's getting dark out. I'll come drive you."

"In the state you're in? Not a chance," he said, laughing in disbelief.

"Who are you talking to?" came another voice from the other end of the phone. Jaren watched as one of the guys from earlier- Tyler, he recalled- and an Asian boy appeared in frame, peering at him. "Oh, it's, um-," Tyler clicked his fingers in thought, "-Jaren." He swung his arm around John and grinned at Jaren, who smiled politely. He seemed friendlier than he had earlier.