The Writing Conference | Conneree AU || ✔

Chapter VIII

(le cheap divider)

When they rolled up to the house, Conner started getting bad vibes. Not because it wasn't a pretty neighborhood.  It was beautiful.  It's just that the loud music and shouts weren't appealing to him.  He was more for a quiet time sitting on the couch writing. 

Bree led him into the ginormous house and to the host of the party.

"Dominick!" she said, punching his shoulder. "How you doing? Good. This is my friend, Conner.  Conner this is Dominick, the owner of this house."

Dominick was medium height with curly sandy blonde waves.  He had bleach-white skin with many tattoos.  He had a stupid looking grin on his face, a tell-tale sign of his drunkenness.

"Wassup, Conner?" he said slowly, the slur apparent.

Conner stiffened and said 'Hi'.

"Yep, that's Dominick, and that's his girlfriend, excuse me, wife," she said and pointed to a short girl with bouncy blonde curls that hung mid-back.  She had on cherry-red lipstick and way too much blush and eyeliner for anyone's good. She waved with fake interest in their direction.

"Yep," Conner said.

"Yeah, and the rest of the people here are from the conference."

Conner looked around at all the half-drunk people oddly trying to dance to the too-loud music. He didn't know where to fit in.  The music was too explicit, the drinks to potent, the atmosphere to intoxicating. 

Bree walked over to someone she knew and they struck up a conversation.  Conner went and sat down on an empty part of the couch.  He was shoved off the couch a moment later by a couple making out.  He decided he didn't want to be in that section of the house.  He tried to find a place to sit, but the more he tried to push past drunk people, the more he became lost.

He wandered around the house, finally finding the door to the outside in hopes to get some fresh air. He walked out, saw two heads in the hot tub, and turned right back around to go back inside.

He must have explored the house for an hour until he ran into Bree.  Bree took one look at his face before realizing his problem. She took his hand, shocking him, and led him outside the front door to the car that was parked half a block away.

She unlocked the car and let go of his head, stepping around to the driver's side and got in.  Conner followed suit, confused.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't realize you would be so out of your comfort zone."

"That's okay," Conner said, his head still reeling from the alcohol toxins. "I didn't realize it would be, either."

Bree waited to start the car for him to take a few more breaths.  She put the top up and breathed out heavily. 

"Did you drink anything?" Conner asked, the thought just coming to him.  He stopped her a second before her foot would have hit the pedal.

"My preferred beverage is water," she said without any malice or surprise and pointed to her half-empty water bottle she had just put in the cupholder.

"Whew," Conner said. "That's good."

Bree's foot hit the pedal and she started driving. Conner's mind was still reeling and he didn't think about where they were going until she stopped in front of the Statue of Liberty.

(le cheap divider)