His Muse

Interrogating people is one way to find Kieran

Copyright © 2018. All Rights Reserved.

Nic stopped dancing in an instant.

Maybe it was his alcohol-induced mind that convinced him that ducking through the mob was a good idea. He disappeared within the masses of people, distractedly apologizing to the girl he'd been dancing with. He kept his head up, looking around for that fucking Guy—he could've sworn he just saw Kieran out there. But where'd he suddenly go? It was just for a split second, so... he nearly convinced himself that he was just seeing things. He had been drawing Kieran constantly lately; he couldn't really blame his brain for inserting Kieran into this party. He'd been half-hoping to see Kieran around here, but the guy just didn't seem like the type to show up at a frat party.

Nic peered over a few heads until a guy next to him looked around, eyes bleary as he asked, "You lookin' for somethin'?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm just lookin' for a guy—short black hair, looks like he's wearing a flannel. His name's—"

"Oh, you're probably lookin' for Kieran," the guy said, and Nic sputtered out, shaking his head, "Wait—I'm confused. How do you know Kieran?"

"Dude, everyone knows Kieran," the stranger laughed, giving Nic a pat on the shoulder and saying, "Last I saw him, he was out on the top deck smoking."

"Wait—"

"But, like, you know. Not real smoke. The guy's not hardcore enough for that," he explained. Nic just stared at him until he was bumped in the side by another guy. He apologized and stammered out a thanks to the stranger before running off, hearing a faint, "Good luck, my dude!" from behind.

Nic tried to remember where he saw the stairs—by the foyer. He hurried out into the orange light and scrambled to the steps. They creaked under his feet, but he was moving too fast to care. He staggered out onto the half-landing, stepping around people who were sitting around there.

"Oops—sorry, excuse me—" he apologized, nearly crushing a girl's hand on the way up.

"No worries. You lookin' for the bathroom? Around the corner, to the left," she said, pointing up the stairs.

"Uh, no. I'm actually looking for a guy. Black hair, kinda Asian, I think he's wearing a flannel. The name's Kieran?" Nic asked, and one of the girls perked up from farther down the steps. She had her forearms resting on her knees, and she tilted her head back to look at him upside-down.

"Oh! Yeah, I saw him a little while ago! Bit of a mysterious fucker, isn't he?"

"You saw him? Where?" Nic said, hurrying back down to sit beside her. She rolled her head back into place and nodded it towards him.

"I let him try my vape stick. I see him once in awhile at parties—cool guy. Real philosophical shit," she said, and nodded up the stairs. "Said he needed to piss and ran off."

"Bathroom's upstairs, 'round the corner, to the left," the other girl repeated as Nic scrambled to his feet and thanked them all. He got a few solid high-fives on the way, and a "Good luck!" as well.

It was darker in these hallways, and he hardly noticed the chipped paint that seemed to coat everything—the trimming, the door frames, the doors themselves. Even the locks were painted over. There were guys standing around, and there was a line outside the bathroom. Nic skidded to a halt outside the door, and nearly got cussed out by someone who was at the front of the line before he blatantly asked, "Is there a guy in there?"

"Uh, yeah, why?" the stranger asked, squinting his eyes at Nic. Nic retracted a little, and gave a shrug.

"I dunno. Just lookin' for a friend," he said distractedly, and wandered across the hall to lean against the wall. It wasn't until he heard the bathroom door unlock that he realized he had absolutely no plan whatsoever. He didn't really plan chasing down Kieran at all. He started to panic—what the hell was he doing anyway? He didn't have any reason to—