purity ring / lashton

03 / holy boy

five max turned into about ten.

it wasn't a party, per say, but it was more than a crowd. luke sat on the couch nervously, sipping at a drink michael had made for him that included dr. pepper and something called fireball. he wasn't too fond of the way he gagged every time he took a short swig.

he had gotten his purity ring. it was elegantly simple, just a gold band with his initials engraved on the inside. his mum convinced his dad to allow him to have it, and it took much argument to finally take luke to the jeweler. he twisted the band around his finger as he eyed the people around michael's living room.

there were many different kinds of people here: a girl in his english class who hardly showed up, her boyfriend who'd dropped out, some kid who'd brought beer, luke's lab partner from grade six, a pair of twins that were wearing the same shirt and both leaning on the same guy, a girl named noelle who he always thought was strange, but the strangest of all, calum hood.

he had brought his friend as well, though luke didn't know his name and kept mentally rolling his eyes at his loud laugh. michael wasn't paying much attention to luke, which upset him, but he didn't call his mum to pick him up because he couldn't have her know he'd been drinking this fireball stuff. suddenly, one of the twins shouted, "let's play a game!"

there was no reason to shout, luke thought. there was music playing, but not loudly.

the other twin suggested kiss the bottle, but the one girl's boyfriend rolled his eyes, saying something about a sausage party. another person said something about circle of death, which was apparently a drinking game requiring drinks and a deck of cards. it was rejected when michael didn't have a deck of cards. they settled on truth or dare.

luke wasn't going to participate until michael forced him to get off the couch and sit on the floor with the rest of them. they began with the girl noelle asking calum if he would ever get his nose pierced, and he said maybe. it went along like that, useless questions being thrown around, dares that were boring like chugging a beer or something called, "chiefing the blunt," which luke found out was something he did not want to do. it was then his turn, and he was asked by the girl in his english class, "truth or dare."

"um," luke furrowed his eyebrows, "dare?"

the girl smiled mischievously, thinking for a moment. "i dare you to run around the neighborhood naked," she grinned, and he was horrified, demanding a new one. that killed the excitement that had risen after the first dare was given. "fine. i dare you to go get us some snacks, you wuss."

luke was hurt and embarrassed by the way she rolled her eyes. he sighed and got up, strolling into the kitchen. he already knew where everything was, as he'd been to michael's house hundreds of times. he opened the pantry and looked up and down, reaching for a bag of pretzels. he jumped when he heard a voice.

"need help?"

he turned around, his eyes wide with surprise. the boy that calum hood had brought was sitting in a barstool at the island, lighting a joint. it was clear he didn't actually want to help. luke furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance, placing the pretzels on the counter. he just ignored the boy and let him smoke his marijuana.

"do you want a hit?" the boy asked, and luke shook his head without turning around, grabbing a bag of crisps. "are you sure?"

luke turned around fully, planting his feet and crossing his arms. "i meant it the first time i said no," he said, eyeing the boy. he hardly looked at him before, so now he was getting a good view of him.

he had dark, dirty blonde girls on his head, pushed back by a bandana. he had a structured jaw, and dimples on either side of his mouth. his eyes were hazel, and luke was always fascinated by hazel eyes, liking how they were both green and brown at once. he wore a loose white t-shirt, a flannel around his waist, and black jeans with some black boots. he had tattoos littering his arms, though luke couldn't get a good view of them.