Starstruck (the Idea of Always)

Vrijdag 22:47

LUCAS
     The party was much more comfortable than he had been expecting. No one forced conversation or smiles and asked him what he thought of conversations that he wasn't involved in, but was obviously listening to. This was mostly Noor and Zoë, as they were closest. Ralph had taken up a conversation with Milan, about things they had in common that they didn't think anyone else did. (Lucas avoided letting them know that yes, other people do do that, it's normal, and decided to just let them be.) 

     At one point he decided to go chill in the kitchen because it looked like everyone was in the living room. Eight guys, including himself and Ralph, and six girls, and Lucas thought the odds were in his favor that they were all scattered across the sofas and floor, and none were in the kitchen. 

     No one asked him anything about where he was going when he stood and walked quietly across the room, probably assuming he was on his way to get a beer or something. The party wasn't as loud as it had been when he and Ralph arrived, but when he shut the door behind him, and he heard just himself breathing, it was strangely calming to him. He backed away from the door and pulled himself up onto the counter, his head forward to avoid the cabinets, which was a bit uncomfortable, but not too bad. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and messages Isa and Kes, saying things like "we're at some party I don't know anyone here" and "Ralph is hanging with a guy he knows and I'm bored". He sighed. 

      Parties were all the same.

JENS
      They weren't being too loud, but listening to Luca talk about masturbation was a little bit uncomfortable for Jens. So he left. 

     He decided to go chill in the kitchen, where he assumed no one would be, as everyone was in the living room. 

     How wrong he was.
     When he swung the door open, he saw that the younger guest Milan had invited was sitting crisscross on the counter, on his phone. He looked up when Jens walked in and gave a little smile. The smile started as a hey smile and then turned into an oh, you too? smile when Jens shut the door behind him. Jens took in an exaggerated breath and huffed as he turned toward Lucas. "...Yeah," he said as he made eye contact with him, referencing listening to the others talk, surely. He didn't really know what Lucas was asking him without words, but "yeah," was sure to suffice for whatever it was. 

     They stared at each other awkwardly for a second, and then Jens said, "Lucas, right?" and held out his hand. 

      "Uh, yeah," Lucas responded, reaching his own out and shaking Jens's lightly.

      "Jens." Lucas nodded. 

      Jens pulled himself up onto the counter beside him and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He didn't want to be rude and start texting someone or scrolling through memes, but he didn't want to force a conversation between them. He didn't really know what to do, exactly. They could still hear the music through the door, the bass pumping through the speakers, and they could hear people talking, although they couldn't make out exactly what they were saying. 

       "How do you know Milan?" Jens asked. 

       "Uh, he's friends with Ralph, and Ralph is friends with one of my friends. He asked her to visit Belgium, but she didn't want to go, so..." Lucas trailed off and tapped his phone against his open palm, signaling that that was the end of his story. 

       "So you did instead?"

       "Yeah." 

       "Cool."

       At this point, Jens did start scrolling through memes, because he couldn't think of anything to say. It wasn't that awkward, and instead, the room felt weirdly chill, peaceful.