He's American (Trames au)

Chapter 14- James' POV

In all honesty, I've never really been one for parties. They're just not my thing. So I was a bit conflicted when Tristan asked me to come to his friend's party with him. "It'll be fun, honest." he'd insisted. I agreed somewhat reluctantly, mostly because Tristan is my friend and he's had such a rough time recently that the least I can do is something small to make him happy.

I have no idea where we're going, but thankfully Tristan seems to. "Thank you for coming with me." he says as we walk through the evening streets. "It will be fun, really. I just didnt want to be alone."

"I get that." I say. "I don't see why you'd be alone if you're literally surrounded by people though."

"It makes you feel more like an outsider, I think." Tristan says earnestly. "Like, if you're hovering on the edge of a crowd with no one to talk to. I'm not keen on other people, I don't think that helps much."

I laugh just as we arrive at where Tristan's friend Brad lives. As we're heading up the stairs, I see that the door is wide open. "That doesn't look very safe." I comment. 

"Oh well." Tristan says. "If a murderer breaks in then, well, we're done for." I roll my eyes at him. Suddenly, he yells "Brad!", and I have to cringe slightly when several people turn to stare.

A short guy with dark curly hair pushes through the crowd and heads over to us. "Hey, how's it going?"

Tristan shrugs. "As well as it can be, so not very. I need a drink."

"There's beer in the kitchen." the guy says, then looks slightly concerned as Tristan heads off. "Jesus." I'm not really sure what to do, but thankfully the guy notices my uncomfortableness. "Oh god, sorry. You're Tristan's friend... your name escapes me though."

"James." I tell him, glad to have some company. 

"Oh, you're the American, aren't you? That's so cool. I'm Brad by the way." I'm not the best at making friends, but luckily Brad is easy to talk to. I tell him about being a photographer and about America, and he tells me about being in their band.

"Tristan told me about that." I say. "I think it's awesome."

Brad laughs. "I wouldn't go that far. But it's fun." Whilst we're talking, he seems to be scanning the room looking worried. When he sees me looking, he says "Sorry, I'm just looking for Tristan. I'm kind of worried about him."

"Really?" I ask.

Brad nods. "Yeah, it's kind of a long story. Can you do me a favour though and try and keep him off the booze?" I obviously look confused at the British slang as he quickly clarifies "Alcohol. I think he has a bit of problem."

I nod. "Sure." I'd been wondering that myself, but I don't really know Tristan well enough to tell if he has a problem or not. As the evening moves on, I've had a couple of drinks myself and am feeling more relaxed. My accent is quite a good way of starting conversations as then I often get asked about home. Tristan's other friend Connor started doing an impression of my voice, and I got my own back doing one of his.

It's more fun here than I thought it would be, and I'm really glad that I found some nice people to chat to. There's nothing worse than being alone feeling like a loser, and I can see what Tristan means about it being worse in a crowd as big as this. Speaking of Tristan, I've been doing my best to look for him but it's difficult. I hope he's ok, given that I agree with Brad about his drinking problem, a party full of drunk people is probably not the best place for him to be.

It's getting quite stuffy in here, so I head out the still wide open door for a bit of air, and weirdly enough that's where I find Tristan. He's sitting on the stairs looking slightly lost, so I go and sit next to him. "You good there?" I ask.

"Sort of." he says. "I wanted space. Too many people asking how I was means too many people I had to lie to." He laughs. "The worst part is I don't even know most of them."

"Snap." I say. "I knew literally no one other than you."

Tristan smiles, leaning over so his head is resting on my shoulder. "I'm still glad I came though."

"Really?" I say. "You don't seem yourself."

He looks up at me. "Yeah, well, I do find people quite draining. Not you though, I like you." This is definitely drunk Tristan, sober Tristan is not this profound. But then I can't think as it all happens at once- I don't have time to worry about my friend's sobriety or anything else. I don't even know what's going on, all I know is that he's suddenly leaning up and kissing me.

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Cliffhanger 😱 But what will happen next? Tbh I have no idea and I'm the one writing this. Please vote and comment if you liked this!

Other than exams I officially finished sixth form this week, which is kind of scary. I didn't bother going to prom though, instead I went to the pub with my best friend 😂 And it's my 18th birthday week, I'm getting old.