Endless

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SAGE'S POV

"Shit, sorry Sage, sorry, sorry," he mumbled, standing up first and wobbling a bit. He reached his hands out to help me up, swaying unsteadily as he did, so I just shook my head and stood on my own. The boy in front of me was Angel Cole; I'd met him once and he was often at my parties. As far as I was concerned, he normally never drank at them, but he always came with the same two people. They were usually the ones who drank. I locked eyes with him and he smiled softly, before giggling.

"What?" I tilted my head to the side and smiled a little.

"I spilled my drink on you." He motioned towards my shirt. I looked down to find that he did, indeed, spill his drink on my shirt. Whatever it was, it was clear and sticking to my chest. "I spilled it on myself, too," he added, sounding like he was trying to be comforting.

"Oh," I blinked. "It's all good." He began looking around the room blankly, like he was lost in a trance. His honey brown eyes and curly brown hair changed from red to green to blue and back to red with the lights, and I watched the locks move with him. He moved his gaze back to me and scanned my face, his eyes unreadable. Abruptly, he attempted to turn around, but he stumbled again and nearly fell for a second time. I caught him by the waist, standing him up and helping him regain his balance.

"How much have you had to drink?" He laughed.

"Not much." I lowered my eyes at him. "F-Fine. A lot. Too much, probably." I sighed and glanced around for a moment.

"Follow me."

"Yes sir." He lowered his voice to give the effect of a sports announcer. I bit back a smile as I led him to my room. I quickly unlocked the door and let him in, cracking the door behind us.

"Here's a shirt." I grabbed a white tee out of my dresser and handed it to him. I pulled one out for myself and shook my jacket off, followed by removing my shirt. I grabbed a towel and patted my chest dry quickly before throwing it on the bed. I glanced at Angel, standing beside my bed and looking around impassively. I put the new, dry shirt on, then slid my jacket back on. Angel was moving a bit slow as he changed, amusingly so. He had finally gotten his shirt off, but before he got himself to put the new one on, he plopped onto my bed.

"I hate parties. A lot."

"Then why do you always come to them?" I inquired.

"My friends love parties and I'm the one who helps them get home." I nodded in understanding, having been both the friend who's taking the drunk people home, and one of the drunk people.

"Alright, well put the shirt on and we'll go back out." He huffed.

"I just told you I hate parties." As he complained, he sat up and slid the shirt over his head.

"You did, which is exactly why we're going back out there. Tonight can be your one timer."

"My one timer?" He echoed, knitting his eyebrows together.

"Yeah, let loose just once. See how it feels," I suggested. He sighed and stared at nothing before standing from my bed, stumbling more.

"Fine. I'll go." I smiled at him and opened the door, letting him out first. After locking the door again, I walked around my apartment with him as we searched for his friends. I knew we'd found them when he started skipping over to a guy and a girl. The guy was around my height, with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. He had thick eyebrows and skin that resembled the color of caramel. The girl — whom his arm was wrapped around — was shorter than all three of us, her hazel brown eyes examining everything all at once. Her dark black hair was tied up in a high ponytail, with wispy bangs spread across her forehead and longer pieces framing the sides of her mahogany-toned face.

The two spun around, the girl glancing behind Angel at me and sending me a smile. I smiled back, platonically, not wanting to send the wrong message to what seemed to be her boyfriend. I stood behind Angel for a moment longer, which caught his other friend's eye. He whispered something to Angel, who smiled and turned his head, glancing back at me. My heartbeat quickened, but I immediately shut that down, whatever it was. Heat spread from my chest up to my cheeks, and I was grateful for the dark room.

"Carlos, you know that's not true," the girl blurted out, not so subtly glancing at me again and earning a soft nudge in her side from this Carlos guy.

"How would you know?" He was frowning at her, but there was a glint of amusement in his eyes.

"I'm Terry. I know everything about everyone in this school," she responded. Angel had been quiet up until now, just listening and observing, like me.

"Okay guys, let's leave the boy alone, he's got girls to attend to. Isn't that right, Sage?" Angel had a tinge of — dare I say — bitterness in his tone, which bemused me, but in a split second his mood was back to lighthearted and he just giggled, turning back to his friends. I had a feeling he was a much quieter person when he was sober. I was curious to see what that looked like.

I smiled weakly at them before dismissing myself, deterring Angel's question.

"Alright, well I'm going to get back to the party but, um, remember what I said." Angel tilted his head to the side in confusion, earning a smile from me. "About the one timer." His eyes glistened with realization and he nodded happily.

"I won't forget," he promised.

"You will tomorrow." He laughed with bright eyes and I smiled before glancing up at his friends, who were staring at us in silence. "It was nice seeing you guys," I said honestly. "Even if it was kind of indirectly." I sent them a smile, which they returned before I turned on my heel, making my way into the kitchen.

I grabbed a Dr. Pepper, no longer in the mood to drink. I sipped on my drink for a few minutes as I wondered about the boy I'd just met. I shook my head, pushing my thoughts away because I'd most likely never see him again.