Chapter Text
The music was booming out of Gretchen’s speakers. So far, the party was contained to the right house, which meant that it would most likely be less for her and Rodrick to clean tomorrow. Good. The less time she would have to spend taking trash out to the curb with him, the better.
Avril Lavigne started playing, and her eyes found Janis. Of course she liked Complicated. It was so predictable that she could laugh. Janis made her way over, mouthing the lyrics dramatically with a beer in her hand.
Uh-huh, that’s the way it is
”CHILL OUT, WHAT YOU YELLIN’ FOR?” It felt as though everybody was singing along, you could barely hear Regina over everyone else screaming the lyrics. But Janis didn’t need to hear her.
”LAY BACK, IT’S ALL BEEN DONE BEFORE.”
”AND IF YOU COULD ONLY LET IT BE, YOU WILL SEE!”
Damian joined in as they continued to scream-sing the entire song, but only Janis knew every word. The party had been going on for two hours now, and was nowhere close to stopping. She could feel the ever present headache making another appearance, and her thoughts started drifting to hoping she slept well tonight.
When did she start thinking like that? She almost felt like a real adult, caring about her sleep routine. But the thoughts quickly dissipated when she remembered she had yet to do a tequila shot and started searching for Karen and Gretchen.
Karen was really sweet, sweeter than Gretchen and more authentic about it, but she was.. stupid, was the simplest way to put it. But she had somehow scored an internship at the newsstation, wanting to become the weather forecaster. All Regina could do with that information was congratulate Karen, hoping she was smarter than she seemed. She had been drinking, after all.
”Girls! Tequila!”
”What?!”
She repeated herself louder, and Karen cheered as she finally caught the words. The mixtape was now playing Bye Bye Bye, the chorus coming on just as she sucked on the lemon-slice. It didn’t burn the way it used to, but she felt the headache go away just slightly.
I just wanna tell you that I’ve had enough
Might sound crazy, but it ain’t no lie
Baby, bye bye bye (oh, oh)
She was back on the dance floor, moving rhythmically between Gretchen and Karen. Janis seemed to like reacting to the lyrics more, acting them out as she danced, but this was purely moving to the beat. Something she was more used to doing. Her eyes were halfway closed, focused on the ground so she wouldn’t step on anyone’s feet, wedged between the two girls that laughed without inhibitions. The next song came on, and they all screamed the lyrics with their hands in the air.
Soon, air was all she needed. The screaming and mash of bodies had made her thirsty and hot, so she grabbed some water and went outside. The air was still warm, seeing as it was California, not Illinois. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and letting herself feel for a second.
It was easy to get a little sentimental when drunk, and memories of North Shore passed through her mind as she breathed, in, out. Although she was closer to intoxicated than drunk right now, the nearby cigarette smell a nasty odour rather than enticing. Still, her head spun slightly from the heat, and she would stay out for just a second longer…
”Boo!”
She jumped halfway off the porch before recognising the figure. Her eyes needed to adjust to the darkness to make out the tall figure, with messy hair and… was that eyeliner? ”Oh fuck off Heffley.”
”What? You didn’t find that fun?”
”I think you could tell I didn’t.”
The dick that he was, he just laughed in her face. Unfortunately, she let out a chuckle herself. It wasn’t the worst thing he had done.
”I have more stored where that came from. You know, it’s actually really easy not to play on beat and just crash around.”
”Oh spare me, please. Next time you wake me up, I’ll report you.” What little good mood they had was quickly soured over that comment, and he turned right around to walk off the porch. ”Where are you going? Hey! HEFFLEY!”
Her throat was still sore from singing, but he absolutely heard her. She was getting tired of his constant walking away and followed him along the grass. Since only Gretchen’s house had a backdoor that led to a porch, he was walking all the way to the front of theirs to get in.
”What’s got your panties in a twist?”
She didn’t know why she was following him, not really. But something was amiss - she had apologized, he hadn’t accepted it, and now he was running away from her. What a little bitch.
He opened their front door and she was right on his heels. Absolutely no one was here, but people might come over if they realised it was a viable option, so she closed the door behind her. It slammed aggressively.
”I’m talking to you!”
”Can you stop being so bitchy? ”
”What’d I do?!” They were in the living room, and his gaze was fixated on her. There was a heat behind his eyes as he spoke.
Fuck, he’s kinda hot. ”You reported me to Gretchen.”
”No I didn’t?” It was such a weird accusation that she almost laughed in his face. He had… like, really plumb lips. This was the first time she really got to look at him, have a conversation with him.
”Yes you did? Who else would’ve reported me.”
”I’m not a rat, dipshit. Perhaps you woke up the other two. It’s not impossible.”
”You really expect me to believe that?”
”Yes!” She was getting angrier again. Why did he doubt her so hard? ”But while we’re hashing this out, how about you actually clean your dishes and stop leaving fucking pans and pots on the stove. We share around here, if you haven’t noticed?”
”That’s not me, Barbie.” His arms were crossed against his chest and he leaned down slightly, letting her get a whiff of his cologne. He didn’t yet stink of sweat, but the slightest aroma of it was hiding underneath the musky scent he had applied.
”Who the fuck could it be then?”
”My bet was on you, to be honest. You don’t look like you’ve cleaned a damn thing in your life.” Her jaw fell open at his comment. She quickly closed it again, since he was right.
”So for the last week we’ve both just been making assumptions about the other? Fantastic, great start.” She took a deep breath. ”You know, I do want this living situation to work out, so if you could maybe stop being a little bitch, that’d be great.”
He laughed at the suggestion. ”That’s very rich coming from you.”
She just looked up at him, pale blue eyes fixed on his dark brown ones. This conversation was going nowhere, and yet, she wanted to keep it going. A strange sensation washed over her, and she slowly realised she had never argued with a guy before. They always gave in, before she even got to voice her frustrations.
”Why don’t you believe me? Have I given you any reason other than wanting to sleep, to make you distrust me?”
”I know your type,” he scoffed. ”You believe you’re above everything, that everything needs to go your way, and when it doesn’t you destroy people’s hea- lives.”
It was an awkward transition as he mixed the beginning of a word that sounded dangerously close to hearts with lives.
”Your aching heart doesn’t move me, Heffley. Do you want a peaceful living situation or not?”
His eyes were still fixated on her, searching for deception. When he seemingly couldn’t find it, he finally broke off, turning his head to the side and tightening his jaw. ”Fine, yes. I do.”
”A truce, then.” She held out her hand as a show of good faith, and he reluctantly took it. ”I won’t ever report you for noise after 11pm, if you stop judging me based on your ex girlfriend.”
”She wasn’t my-”
”Does it look like I care?” She rescinded her hand, wiping it on her skirt to get rid of the feeling of his sweaty grasp. Her mind shut down all thoughts of how calloused they were, rough against her smooth skin. The motion of wiping off his sweat made Rodrick laugh, just a little.
It felt a bit jarring, getting back to the party. After managing to avoid it for the last three hours, the first guy in there tried to ask her out. A face of utter disgust was enough to shoo him away, but she quickly realised she was in the danger zone, where all the men who had gotten in very recently and were looking for one thing only were hiding. She suddenly hated her short skirt, as the men ogled her ass. She dived further in, hoping to find someone, anyone she knew.
She hadn’t noticed just how packed it was, and thought about how many people Gretchen had to know for it to be like this first week of school. Searching up and down for a redhead in the sea of blonde and brunette, feeling slightly claustrophobic, like all the air in her lungs vanished. It was so warm.
”Cady!” She had finally found her after climbing up the stairs. The redhead was sitting with Aaron on a bed, in the room furthest away from the party. Probably Gretchen’s.
”Having a good time?”
”Yeah, sure. The top looks really good on you.” The excitement over seeing her died down as she looked from Cady to Aaron, and back at Cady. What were they doing here? Talking?
”We were just talking!” Aaron held up his hands, and she got really close to laughing.
”Okay, whatever. I don’t care, I’m not a rat, no matter what Rodrick thinks.” She rolled her eyes and sat down next to them.
”Why does he think you’re a rat?” Cady looked concerned, most likely about her living situation.
”So, he woke me up two… three nights ago? I don’t remember- anyway, woke me up with a bunch of noise, and someone reported him because it was after 11, so now he thinks I did it.”
”Oh, that was me,” Aaron said, way too casually.
”Why would you do that? I fixed the problem, he turned it down,” she said, much too aggressively.
Aaron just shrugged, like all her ex-boyfriends, but didn’t say anything. Regina was starting to think the only good guy in the world was Damian.
”Great. So, I'm going to go. Have a fun little makeout sesh or whatever.” Judging by their silence, she was absolutely correct in her assessment.
The party had started out so great. She needed to find Janis, or Karen, or maybe she should just do what was actually necessary and study for classes on Tuesday. Everything pissed her off, everyone was too close, and every time someone bumped into her the rage inside her grew. Why couldn’t things just go her way? Why couldn’t people just be normal and listen to rules? It was the first fucking week, Rodrick wouldn’t hate her if he had just stayed quiet, and Aaron was on such a high horse for reporting him whilst trying desperately to hook up with Cady. They were all stupid, every last one of them.
Fuck, she needed another drink. She was nicer to people when she was intoxicated, and every last drop of alcohol seemed to have evaporated from her blood.
She made her way over to the table with drinks, having stood in a corner of the kitchen for the last few minutes. She wanted to go back home. No, she didn’t, she wanted to sleep. Get away from everyone, the deafening music, the headache that had returned, the hands trying to touch her-
”Regina?”
It was a voice she recognised. From high school. No. Fuck no. She slowly turned around, standing face to face with her old boyfriend, Shane Oman.