Drunk Without Cause

Prologue.

TW: addiction, sexual assault, sex, drugs, strong language, violence.

Perspectives are established based on a photo that relates to which character's perspective is coming up.

The further you read, the easier it will become to recognize which character is next based on what the subject of the photo is. Some chapters will alternate far more than others.

Nessa had his hands plunged into the large pockets of his overalls, earbuds tucked inside of his ears, and his feet continuously tapped to the beat of a song. The stuffy room smelt of old lady perfume, courtesy of the receptionist. With curious eyes, Nessa took in the unfamiliar territory.

The blinds were hardly open, only allowing a minimal amount of natural light into the artificially lit building. There was a strange stain on the carpet, and a rather large chunk taken out of the small table next to the two waiting chairs.

Be Nice To Me by The Front Bottoms, poured out of his earbuds, flooding Nessa's system as though it were his own blood. He happily listened to it, his foot never ceasing to tap along. What he couldn't hear, were the sighs coming from the receptionist. She was not so fond of Nessa's incessant tapping.

He absentmindedly swished a fresh mint around in his mouth, the flavor so strong that it almost made his eyes water. He didn't bother to conceal his blatant wonder as he studied the room. When he began to, he simply couldn't stop. There was so much to see and learn, he couldn't help himself from trying to grasp as much as possible in one go.

As his head was tilted back and he was in the middle of counting the ceiling tiles, there was a fast movement out of the corner of his sparkling eyes. A boy had quickly rushed in, wearing a bright yellow shirt and dark blue jeans. His curly brown hair moved with him, creating a bouncy and free persona.

Nessa tilted his head down and watched as the boy turned to him with a large smile, and outstretched his hand. He simply stared for a few moments, drinking in the boy's freckles and deep olive skin with an endless desire to not only view every aspect of the world—-but to take the necessary time to appreciate it all. Then finally, he took his hand and shook it.

That was when he realized that he should probably take his earbuds out. Once he had done so, he listened dutifully as the boy enthusiastically introduced himself.

"Hello! I'm Kiwi, your tour guide." Kiwi said, tilting his head and his fluffy hair followed suit. It was so light and airy, that it almost trailed behind his movements ethereally. As though it were a physical representation of how light hearted he really was.

There was a long silence after that. Nessa didn't even realize that he was supposed to reply. He quickly processed that he probably should have, but he had forgotten. Even though he knew that smiling would have been more polite, he instead kept that wondrous look on his face as he replied, "Hello, I'm Nessa."

"That is such a cute name." Kiwi commented, waiting patiently as Nessa stood up from the seat and slung his bag over his shoulder.

Nessa thought that Kiwi was a much more interesting name, but he didn't say so. He had a feeling that Kiwi wasn't actually the boy's name, sort of like how Nessa was only a nickname of his own. They both left the room and began walking down the wide hallway.

"Thanks." Was all Nessa said, turning his head at odd angles to try to take in as many details of the school as he possibly could.

Other students gave him looks of contempt or jealously. That was usually the attention that Nessa received due to his undeniably attractive face. He didn't like it much, especially since he would rather get no attention at all. If that had been the case, then he would have been able to appreciate the world a lot more effectively. There would be less conflict around every turn. But Nessa simply couldn't do anything about it. He kept his face titled away as best as he could, hoping to avoid attracting anymore attention then he already was.