"You really sure it's okay I came along? Did you tell her you were bringing someone else?" D asked Max as they walked along the black brick path. Max just shrugged without looking at him, as he was fully focused on figuring out where they were going.
"Izzy probably won't care, you met on the plane, so she knows you". Max toyed with his V-Band's holo-screen. D caught glimpses of him zooming in and out on the open map on the screen.
'We are so fucking lost,' he thought. It was so dark out that it had become hard to see some of the black buildings against the darkness. D had watched Max nearly walk into at least 3 different walls because of it.
D scowled, his stomach tightened with each step they took away from their new dorm. He stretched out his body as best he could and looked back to see if he could still see Rookman Hall.
They had passed so many different buildings that he was sure he wouldn't. Much to his relief, he could barely see the top of the large black tower peeking over what he assumed was some sort of student union building. Mostly because it had a sign that said Student Union in big white letters.
Silence hung in the air between them as they walked. Both of them sank into their own thoughts as the seconds passed. D periodically checked his outfit for any imperfections or anything that would embarrass him.
He was pretty sure he'd checked that his fly was up at least seven times, but checked once more just to be safe.
D had somehow managed to keep pace with Max. Even though he didn't know where they were going, Max's legs were longer than his by at least half a foot. He not only kept pace but managed to make it seem like he was leading at points.
They turned at the corner of an old brick building with large glass doors and came to an adjacent field of tall grass.
Max began charging straight through as D looked at him in disbelief. "Soooo what's wrong with us taking the sidewalk?"
Max stopped and turned, his bright blue eyes shining with excitement. "This way is a shortcut to her place, trust me".
D put a hand over his eyes and let out a nervous sigh. "You've never been there, how do you know-". But Max was so far into the grass that D knew he had long stopped listening.
The slightly wet grass felt as if they were walking on a water slide. D tried to steady himself as he walked through the slippery death trap till he tripped over his own feet and grabbed Max's shoulder.
The sudden grab made Max drop his holo-screen and nearly slip with D. They both stopped walking for a moment, steadied themselves, and looked at each other. Max gave him a smile and a nod, but D still scowled. "
They eventually made it out of the slick, tall grass, much to D's delight. Max, who had luckily been waiting for him, began walking as soon as he saw D also make it through the grass.
D wiped his feet on the concrete path and continued in stride with Max. With each solemn step on the path, the small kernel of doubt in D's mind grew larger.
On the path they were on, now D could just barely make out new buildings at the end of it. He didn't recognize them, and they had a different architecture compared to almost every building on the island he'd seen.
Where every other building looked as if it were almost handcrafted to instill fear. These buildings were much more...normal?
They were definitely dorms, but they looked like normal houses, albeit a bit larger than your typical home.
One in particular stood out to him. It had a few gatherings of students in different parts of its exterior. One group played some form of ping-pong on the front lawn. While another group on the second-floor balcony took turns passing back and forth some sort of bong.
His eyes flicked from the party house over to Max. "Please don't tell me that's where we're going". He already knew the answer before Max responded in something akin to friendly sarcasm.
"No, we are actually going to the super uncool party behind that one".
D pointed a finger towards the house in protest and stopped in his tracks, which made Max stop as well. "We don't know these people, man, they could be killers or cannibals, or-or..." He stammered, trying to come up with something worse than cannibals before giving up and groaning to the sky.
Max, not wanting to be any later than they already were, continued walking ahead but turned to face D.
"I thought you were excited to finally get to meet some new people?" He put his muscular arms behind his head in a show of relaxation. "We step outside, and suddenly you're stressing out".
D's eyes fell to the pavement at those words. Memories of his fight with Scarlett and the absolute clusterfuck it had been.
"Let's just say the one other person I've met here besides you and Roxanne wasn't as cool as you guys are." D couldn't tell if Max knew there was more he wasn't telling him; if he did, he didn't pry. D wouldn't admit that the reason his demeanor had changed so abruptly was purely because of her.
If he saw her here, he didn't know what would happen. After what happened between them, he figured there wasn't much else to do. Being homeschooled had its disadvantages, one of them being that he'd never really been close to anyone besides his father. Close enough to have the absolute hurricane of emotions that he now felt raging inside towards her.
D snapped back from his inner thoughts, realizing that they were nearly at the front lawn of Izzy's place. Maybe he'd sunk into his mind on purpose, maybe he was too afraid to walk up here, so he dissociated. As he and Max walked up the sidewalk leading to the front steps, D felt the stares of everyone on the lawn pierce into him.
He swore the guys playing ping-pong suddenly played slower, and the people on the balcony peered over it at him. Perhaps it was all just in his head, maybe no one remembered that he'd jumped off a multi-story building on day fucking one. Who was he kidding? They definitely remembered.
With each step he took up the concrete steps, his feet grew heavier, the sheer urge to run from this place barely suppressed. With one final step, he and Max finally made it onto the front porch. Max walked up and knocked on the pink colored door that had a crude paper sign hanging from it. The sign read 'No Narcs!' in big, bright red letters.
Max threw an irreverent look at D over his shoulder and asked, "What's a narc?"
Before D could put his face in his hands and reconsider this entire situation, the door flew open. The man who stood at the door was around the same height as D but was considerably more muscled and fairer-skinned. His slicked-back white hair, bright red eyes, and cocky expression didn't do much to help D's bubbling sense of insecurity.
The guy in the doorway held out his hand to them and said, "20 bucks each for entry, fellas, let's see it".
Max, who was certainly not told this was a paid party, began scrounging around in his pockets to see if he miraculously had twenty dollars. D stood there trying to think of some lie about accidentally leaving his cash in his other pants when a familiar high-pitched voice came from inside the house.
"Flynn!! Who's at the door?" Flynn placed his arm across the door frame and looked to whoever was approaching from his right. He placed his arm in the doorway, trying to block the two from view. "Nobody, Izzy, just let me handle it-" A hand with red painted nails appeared from the left and palmed Flynn's face, pushing him to the side.
In an instant, Izzy's tall frame stumbled into view. Her long arms gripping on each side of the doorway in an attempt to hold herself upright. The woman before them looked different than when they'd met her on the plane.
Her long hair had been a tangled white mess, but it now sat neatly brushed and preened. Her outfit was definitely an upgrade from the ragged jersey she had on the plane. She wore a high-cut black top with matching black shorts.
Izzy let out a shrill shriek at the sight of Max and leapt onto him with a fiendish bear hug. "Maxy, you made it. I was starting to think you wouldn't show."
D swore he heard something in Max's back crack from the force of her embrace, and knowing Max, he probably enjoyed it. Her eyes suddenly flashed like she'd remembered something as she released Max. She sighed and pointed a hand over to the white haired man standing just inside the door.
"I see you've had the pleasure of meeting my older brother, Flynn".
Both Max's and D's eyes left Izzy and looked over to Flynn, who was now scrolling on his holo-screen. He acted as if he wasn't just trying to swindle them out of forty dollars.
'I guess scamming freshmen in a place like this would be commonplace,' D thought as his attention went back to Izzy, who was now pulling Max by the hand to come inside.
Flynn continued to scroll until his eyes widened, and he put his arm in the way of Izzy, stopping her. "These guys are hench, Izzy, you know that right?"
Izzy just shrugged and pushed his arm down, "Who cares if a few Hench want to come?" She got dangerously close to shouting in Flynn's face. "Plus, it's my party, that no Hench allowed shit is your thing".
Flynn put his hands up and stepped away from the door -- an agitated look on his face. "Fine, but don't expect me to share my stuff with...them," he said as he walked up the stairs to the left.
Izzy began pulling Max by the hand into the house again, this time uninterrupted. Max, feeling like he could actually speak now, looked out the doorway where D just stood waiting to be acknowledged.
"Oh yeah, Izzy, I also brought my roommate along. You remember D, right?" He motioned with his muscled arm to the open doorway.
Izzy popped her head back through the doorway and looked D over from head to toe. She squinted at him and turned her head to the side as a flash of recognition spread across her face.
"Oh shit yeah I remember dreads". She smiled a feral smile, showing off her too-sharp teeth. "I thought you died jumping off that building, what was up with that anyway?"
It took D an incredible amount of effort to keep his eyes from falling to her bare mid-driff as he said, "Let's just chalk that up to first day nerves". He gave a nervous smile that didn't reach his eyes.
She just gave one back and beckoned him inside with a wave of he hand as she walked farther into the living room. "Well, come on in, unless you want to play lawn-pong all night". D quickly stepped into the house, shutting the door behind him as he did.
The muffled music they had heard from the outside now thrummed with a clarity and sharpness that was almost too loud. D wondered if this is what all parties were like. He looked around the living room as he followed Izzy and Max. The place seemed like the set of the most stereotypical party movie ever.
The only lighting came from multiple strings of neon colored lights hung up across the walls. There was a long brown leather corner couch that had every seat filled, with some people opting to sit on laps or on the armrests. Some of them, mostly the three guys in sports jerseys, watched the soccer game that was on the flat screen across from the couch.
D also noticed almost all of them had red solo cups filled to the brim with what he assumed wasn't fruit punch. Following Izzy and Max into the dining room, there were three different tables. One for beer pong, one with drinks and food, and another where people set their stuff.
"What do you guys want to drink?" Izzy asked as she riffled through the different bottles and plates on the refreshment table. "We've got all kinds of stuff, plus non alcoholic drinks too if you're feeling lame".
D found his eyes slowly gravitating towards her bare abs as she held up the drinks, and reminded himself that she seemed much more interested in Max than in him. Before either of them could say what their preference on drinks was, she handed them both a cup each and began pouring one for herself.
Max began immediately downing the drink she gave him without asking what it was. D looked at him, utterly appalled at the absolute balls on Max. D might not have been a partier, but even he knew better than to down a drink from a stranger.
A guy's voice called out from the kitchen, "Izzy! Where is the goddamn bong?"
Izzy's head popped up from the refreshment table, and she looked back to the kitchen before yelling, "I don't know, Jasper had it last!" Upon not hearing a response, she groaned, got up from the table with her drink, and walked into the kitchen.
D took the time alone with Max to finally speak up about what the hell was happening.
He lightly tapped Max in the ribs with his elbow. "So...are you and Izzy gonna be a thing or what?" His voice was a bit above speaking level due to the music, but he tried to make sure no one else would hear.
Max almost spat out the copper colored liquid from his mouth. "A thing? No, no, no man, she's just friendly, y'know?"
D just blinked at him, and tried to sound as sincere as possible as he said, "Man, I know what friendly looks like, and that is definitely more than friendly".
Max just shook his head and smiled before lifting the drink back to his lips.
D continued jabbing him and teasing. "Dude. She. Is. Into. You--" He stopped his teasing as Izzy strode back into the dining room, bong in hand.
"My friends and some friends are going up to the roof, wanna join?" She was speaking to Max rather than D, but the invite was to both of them out of courtesy.
Max excitedly finished his drink and threw the plastic cup onto the table as he said, "Of course, we would love to!"
D wasn't exactly sure where Max had gotten the notion that they both wanted to go do whatever debauchery was occurring on the roof. D chimed in between the two tall figures.
"Actually, you guys go ahead, I've got to catch up with a friend here". He gave his trademark fake smile, which Max knew meant he definitely didn't have a friend here.
Izzy grabbed Max by the hand and began dragging him to the stairs. "Oh, okay, cool. C'mon, Max, let's go." Max lightly pulled against her grip as he tried to talk to D. "Alright, dude, you know where to find me if you need to..." His voice trailed off as he disappeared into the living room and up the stairs.
D didn't exactly know why he didn't go with them. Maybe he was a bit jealous seeing Izzy practically throw herself over Max, or maybe he'd fully warmed up to Max and wanted him to get some alone time with her.
All he knew was that now he was completely alone, surrounded by people he didn't know.
After a few seconds of staring down at his drink, he decided to bite the bullet and took a sip. Surprisingly, it actually tasted pretty good. It also seemed to not be laced with poison, much to his relief.
He decided to try to find a spot on the couch to sit down. He figured he'd spent most of his life watching TV, maybe he could pass the night by doing just that, but as he went to walk into the living room, someone else had come from behind the wall, and they both collided.
The force of the collision not only sent D back on his ass, but also sent his drink into the face of the white haired man he'd met at the door. Flynn scowled down at D, his graphic shirt now stained with liquid.
The only thought in D's mind as he looked at Flynn's anger-filled face was a simple, singular phrase. 'I really should've stayed my ass home.
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