You of all people - Stosuh

I fell and broke my body - Hosuh

Stephen seemed alarmed when I walked over, but he quickly seemed to calm down and act like he hadn't almost dropped his drink. He was sitting in a side room off of the living room, which had guys screaming at whatever sport was on tv, and the kitchen was full of clanking of bottles and cans as some kids decided to play cards against humanity together, or something like that.

I wasn't used to these kinds of parties, but it was a nice change. "Why are you sitting alone?" I asked as he looked out the window for the third time in a row, even though I knew exactly why he kept checking outside. "I don't know. Er- I mean I do! But I just- uh.." He seemed unsure about it before quickly saying: "Jay said somebody wanted to meet me!" Though his hand quickly flew to his forehead as he cursed himself mentally.

"What? I'm not judging. I'm not surprised either." I mumbled. I couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy as I took a sip of my coke, deciding against beer for tonight. Because if I were to go home, I wouldn't hear the end of it for at least a week. "What do you mean by you aren't surprised?" He asked, gently fingering his earrings. It seemed to be a habit of his when he was bored, nervous, or thinking. Like when people twiddle their thumbs or bounce their leg. But his go-to thing was his earrings. "You're handsome. Girls like you, Stephen." I said simply, before kicking my feet up onto the couch we were both sitting on.

He was blushing but he didn't speak, looking out the window again. "Did you want to hang out until your mystery date shows up?" I asked, but he seemed alarmed. "This isn't a blind date Hosuh!" Stephen hissed defensively towards me, but I only laughed. "Yeah, whatever you say lover boy."

Nobody was coming to see Stephen. So, I probably shouldn't have felt jealous that 'somebody was meeting him', but I couldn't help it. I was just talking to Dan again after my parents had bothered me where I had been going after school. Not that I would let them know I was paying money to get tutored. Dad wouldn't be proud or anything. He'd just find a way to bite me out about it. And his wife would just end up smiling at me and nod, before offering to help me instead. I couldn't stand her.

In general, I wasn't even supposed to be here. But like I usually did, I didn't give a fuck and left without asking. Wait, okay.. So Jay was going to tell Stephen about somebody wanting to meet him- for Dan, as a favor. Well, in reality it was really a favor for me but Dan was Jay wasn't in on the plan of course, but Dan was very persuasive about it seeing as he had helped Jay with getting a new instrument without his parents finding out, after Jay had accidentally broke his when fooling around. Fuck- rambling. As for receiving the favor of getting Stephen over here, I was on que for spreading information some time next week. Didn't matter what kind of information. Gossip, transporting messages, party invitations. And sometimes directing people to bring certain things to Dan's parties. It was always something different.

More rambling. But Jay didn't know that about Dan and I's business, and probably wouldn't care. Anyway, the whole point of this particular plan was that Stephen would end up coming to the party and I would ask him to hang out until the mystery person showed up. It was a way to get Stephen to hang out with me, without directly asking to hang out.

I had to hand it to Dan, that his idea of making Stephen tutor me didn't end up in a burning heap like.. Well, not like his usual plans. I had never seen him make a plan that went down in flames. Usually it either worked out perfectly, or something had gone wrong and it turned out fine, or sometimes even better in the end.

I grabbed Stephen's hand and pulled him up from the couch with a smile. He seemed worried and was staring at my lips, that happened to have a certain kind of smirk on them that worried him as I dragged him into the carpeted floor of the living room. The couch was pushed up against the wall and so were a few other things, and a large horizontal speaker sat up against the wall, playing music for us. I kicked off my shoes and kicked them to the side. "You're going to dance in your socks?" Stehen asked, surprised.

"Yeah! They're comfy. Besides, I can do this!" I said as I ran away from the living room, down the hallway towards the kitchen. I was sliding across the wooden floor hollering a loud battle cry, then I slipped and fell. Stephen laughed, but I could see him also kick off his shoes out of the corner of my eye, before following in my footsteps.

* * *

"Well. They were a no-show." I informed as both of us stood in front of the house. Couples and friends were leaving in small huddles together, and some cars pulled up to grab a person or a group to take home. Stephen just stood beside me, tightly gripping himself and breathing heavily into the cold air of the night. It was about 10:50 or so. He was staring up at the sky at the stars, soon nodding. "Yeah. I guess.." He said, taking in another loud breath before slowly letting it out. "Crisp." He commented.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" I asked, scratching beneath my ponytail, unsure if it was weird to ask that. "No! What is this, a date?" Before laughing at my comment. 'If you want it to be.' I would have liked to say. "No, I was just offering." I quickly replied, as he sighed and treaded his fingers through his hair. He gave me one last look before scoffing and leaving me behind. But I could tell from behind, that he was smiling.

But I didn't let him go, and quickly followed after him. It was like a lost dog who was following a stranger, but he didn't say anything about it as we walked through the cold together. The lawns that lined the sidewalk had lots of leaves, some of them raked up into piles along the sidewalk, and for the lawns that didn't care, simply had leaves scattered along the blades of grass. Stephen seemed to be ignoring me as we walked past the houses together, but then again I too was staring at the houses. So maybe he wasn't ignoring me.

We crossed the street and walked on, eventually reaching a familiar light egg-shell colored house with white shutters and a grey roof. Both of us stared at it for a second. It's lawn was completely covered in leaves, as though it had been months since it'd been raked. It's grass also hadn't been mowed in almost half a year.

"Your house looks like shit." Stephen informed, looking at me. I didn't meet his gaze before saying: "I don't live there anymore." I responded, turning to look at him. He froze, looking at me quickly before looking back at the house. "Oh. Why? Did you move?" He asked slowly. I wanted to give back a sour response, but decided against it. "No. Well, I guess. I'm staying with my dad." I said slowly, before quickly covering his mouth. "No. Just my dad. My mom's out of the picture."

I had expected him to shove my hand off, but he stood still. Slowly, I let my hand off of his face and we both stared at the sad house. "She's lost. Missing I guess. Not kidnapped or anything, but she kind of just.. Left." I eventually said, Stephen soon nodded. I looked up to the sky, noticing how cold it had been now.

"Hey, did you want to come home with me and like, I don't know. Hang out?" Stephen suddenly asked, looking at me with a kind of interest in his voice. But he still seemed casual about it all. I didn't know what to say, but then I couldn't help but smile and make it a challenge. "I've been training for smashbros on the wii since you've been gone. Five bucks says I can kick your ass."

"Fine. But ten bucks says I can get to my house before you!" And then he punched me, and started running. The neighborhood was filled with two laughing, and shouting voices that chased after each other that night.