Chapter Text
Fallbrook University was the type of place dreams went to die, Simon thought cynically to himself. Especially tonight, tonight was bad because of four things: One, hiss roommate convinced him to come to this stupid party. Two, three and four were the Grace triplets.
“Ryland, don’t you fucking dare!”
Speak of the devils and they shall come, Simon thought. He sighed and looked up to see Ryland Grace racing through the cramped house with Colt in tow.
Ryland looked to be having the time of his life, he felt like Simon’s polar opposite right now; which to be fair was quite often. Simon didn’t particularly hate Ryland Grace, it was the other two that lost the prettier Grace some points.
Prettier? What am I, Smitten? Simon scolded himself, he shook his head briefly before the sound of his name being shouted with such an urgency that he looked up to see Rocky waving his arms in a ‘get out of the fucking way’ manner.
He realised too late, however, that he was signalling for him to move because an extremely drunk Ryland Grace was headed straight for him and wasn’t changing course. Attempting to save himself, Simon turned to the side as quick as he could, but not quick enough. Ryland hit him with the full force of his body weight and sent them both crashing into the ground, a strangled sound left Ryland’s mouth that almost didn’t sound human.
“Oh for fuck sake.” Colt murmured upon arrival, Simon couldn’t help but agree with the sentiment. “Jesus Christ, Ry; did you aim for him?”
Ryland, still atop Simon, groaned and told Colt to fuck off. He tried to right himself, but Simon could see the effort he was putting in was not working in his favour. Simon figured the amount of alcohol he’d consumed probably didn’t help.
“Did you get him?” Courtland Grace asked from the doorway as he walked in. His eyes swept over the scene and he muttered a small cursive and moved toward his brother pulled him up off of Simon by the back of his shirt collar.
A hand was suddenly thrust into Simon’s face, he almost told them to go fuck themselves, his eyes looked up to find Adrian Keid; Rocky’s partner.
“You okay?” They asked softly, their eyes tracking up and down his body looking for injuries; they found nothing but Simon’s drink now occupying the cotton of his shirt.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He murmured, turning toward the Grace’s with a fury he usually reserved just for them; the thing that stopped him however was Rocky Eridani already standing in front of Ryland and shooting Simon a warning look.
“S-sorry..” Ryland slurred, already perked up more than before; though his consistent drunken sway told Simon he would not remember this tomorrow.
“It’s fine.” Simon said, “I’ll see you in class, Rock.” And either that, Simon made for the exit. His shirt still drenched with whatever was in his cup before the catastrophe and his anger still quite high.
Simon hated the Grace twins, they didn’t have a care in the world about anyone but themselves. It was a wonder Rocky and Adrian spent so much time with them.
They’re literally called Hurricane Grace by everyone, I don’t understand. Simon thought to himself. He couldn’t fathom how anyone could actually befriend the three, let alone date them. He directed that thought at Jody Moreno.
Jody Moreno was Colt’s girlfriend, she was also an aspiring director, which Simon always thought how childish that dream was. Hell, every major in college is a stupid dream in Simon’s opinion. He’s just here to get his GPA and get out.
“W-wait!” A voice called from the front entrance of the house, Simon didn’t slow. He knew that voice, he knew that it would get him into trouble again.
“Simon! Wait, please!”
Simon sighed, he stopped and slowly turned around to face the drunken idiot that was Ryland Grace.
“What do you want, Ryland?” Simon asked in exasperation. His eyes searched behind Ryland to make sure the other two weren’t there.
“I wanted to apologise for earlier, I didn’t mean to-”
“Didn’t mean to run into me? Yeah you already apologised man, I said it’s fine.” Simon said, already turning to leave.
“Rocky said you looked pissed.” Ryland said.
That stopped Simon, Ryland came all the way out here to make sure he was okay because their mutual friend noticed his emotions. Why would he do that? Graces didn’t do tha—well clearly them does.
“I’m fi-” he started. “Look, Ryland. Yeah it was a bit irritating having my drink and your body weight meet gravity tonight, but honestly…it’s okay.”
He didn’t know why he didn’t just brush Ryland off, maybe it was something in the way Ryland Grace looked genuinely sorry. Simon couldn’t think of a time he’d ever seen genuine sorry written on the Grace face. But now that he’s seen it, he feels unsettled and uncomfortable.
Ryland seeks to accept Simon’s answer and nods, starting to turn back to the house. “Okay.”
Simon watched him go, not sure why but couldn’t bring himself to ask that question; that was too high a can of worms.
For now, he’ll have to settle with the fact that a Grace was actually sorry and maybe parties weren’t bad after all.