Party Time!

[Bartholomew "Mew" Fischer]

Mew shook the proffered hand, feeling more and more uncomfortable. This was definitely not his scene, not at all, and he wasn't exactly sure how to explain that he hadn't known who Sloane was until just recently, when she had inexplicably insisted that he attend this party with his friends. He still hadn't the foggiest idea why she was interested, but from the way she was hanging onto this Nolan, it had less to do with flirting than his brother had insisted. He wasn't sure whether he was disappointed or not. "Ummm. No, we don't have any classes together..." He shook his head, eying the girl. How had she found out about him again? Unless his reputation as that nerdy guy with the anime had spread beyond his own grade. She wasn't even in any of Libby's classes, either, so he couldn't even claim to know her that way. This was all together awkward.

"You're from Silver? Your team is really, really good." So much for team spirit! But it was quite true; Silver seemed to always win their football matches, which made being enthusiastic about games slightly difficult. But only slightly, because attending with friends was always fun, no matter whether their team won or not. He would have continued, but at that moment Maggy marched over to him with more determination than he had ever seen in her before.

"We're leaving," She told him brusquely, barely sparing a glance at Sloane and Nolan. "C'mon."

Mew gave Sloane a nervous look, as though she would tie them there. He had tried to drag his friends along like he'd promised! He couldn't help it if they were all crazy! "Err but we just got here..."

[Sloane Taylor]

Sloane didn't bother correcting Nolan when he mustered up 'friend' to be what he was. It was the best she could offer especially since even with Tyler, whom she had done more than made out with, she hadn't labeled what they were yet. She couldn't label any kind of relationship (or lack thereof, depending on who's saying it) she ever had with another person except Bree.

She smiled up at Bartholomew as he spoke with Nolan. She let them chat and before she knew it, a disgruntled dark-haired girl coming from the direction where she had thought she saw Tyler suddenly stormed in between them. The way she was dressed and the way she was talking to Bartholomew, Sloane immediately arrived to the conclusion that this was the object of Tyler's desires. She was quite the looker. And the Jack Skeleton robe pajama thing looked charming on her.

"You must be Maggy. I'm Sloane. I'm so glad you could join us. I take it you're not enjoying the party though...?" Sloane gave her a questioning glance, noting the other boy by her side. She supposed that was Phil, completing the trio. "Hello Phil. It's nice to meet you." She nodded politely eventhough her words were fake. Although she supposed she didn't have to be fake. Just because she didn't hang out with them, it didn't mean they didn't exist. She might as well be courteous and mean it. They might turn out to be powerful connections in the future.

[Nolan Ahlstrom]

The more Nolan thought about it, the odder it seemed that Sloane knew a guy like Bartholomew. Sloane seemed to be fairly popular, and Bartholomew seemed particularly out of place in a setting such as this party. Though one could never guess how some people knew each other, perhaps he was a friend of one of Sloane's brothers, or was somehow related in that way. She did seem to be quite familiar with the boy.

Nolan was distracted from his thoughts when Bartholomew brought up football. The last thing Nolan expected to hear from a Gould student was praise. It stunned him for a moment. “Umm... thanks,” he stammered, not really sure if this guy was being serious or not. Nolan had to assume he was, since he most definitely did not sound insincere at all. “I can't take very much credit, I didn't get much playing time the last two seasons.” It still made Nolan feel a bit proud, though. He had a few pretty solid plays, particularly one against Gould. Just thinking about it made him smirk.

Suddenly a familiar figure burst into the conversation, attempting to drag Nolan's new acquaintance away. “Maggy?” She didn't seem to pay any attention to Nolan however. She seemed upset, and Nolan figured it was best to stay out of her way. He hoped that she wasn't upset at him. They had hung out once, but he didn't think it really meant anything other than friendship. He did feel slightly guilty, though, for not having talked to her since. The next morning he had met Sloane and there was the shooting, and his time seemed to be mostly occupied with either family or Sloane since then.

[Magdalena "Maggy" Veloz]

Magdalena did not look at Sloane, as that meant acknowledging that the other girl had asked a question, and it was certainly one she didn’t want to answer. Fortunately, Nolan brought attention to himself by speaking her name.

“Nolan!” She looked up at the younger boy in surprise. She hadn’t expected to see him there. In fact, she had hardly thought of him at all since they’d met; the horrible events of earlier in the week had chased him out of her mind entirely. Oops. She had to privately admit that she felt terrible about this.

And why hadn’t she expected him to be there, anyway? Bree was a cheerleader, which meant hanging out with the football players, which happened to include Nolan. True, he was a Silver student, but the invitation Bree had sent out hadn’t discriminated as far as she could tell.

“Umm.” Was that really the best she could do? After all, they’d driven around in his car together. She ought to try and be a little friendlier to the poor boy, even if he did seem taken with the scantily clad girl beside him. “Hi.” Yeah, that was better all right. “How’ve you been? Umm.” She tried again, “How’s your car? I uhhh haven’t seen you around lately.” Not surprising, considering that they had hung out exactly once, but maybe she should have made some attempt to hunt him down after that. Or maybe not? He was a football player, after all, and she was quickly learning that those were the most unreliable, confusing creatures on the entire planet. Or maybe that was just boys in general. Couldn’t they be nice and easy to understand? That was how so much of popular fiction portrayed them; simple, easily satisfied and lead. It was not true, though, and she cursed whoever had begun the ridiculous rumor that they were.

[Sloane Taylor]

Sloane recognised a brush off and what Maggy did was certainly a brush off. It was definitely something she was used to so she let it slide. Then Nolan's surprised look and voice when he said her and her sudden recognition of him piqued her interest again. First Tyler, then Nolan. Was Magdalena Veloz popular? Sloane certainly saw the appeal. She was beautiful, no doubt about it. Albeit a bit awkward and she obviously wanted to downplay that beauty but it was still there. She supposed that was the first attraction she got with the two football players. Her quirkiness and awkwardness might be the next appeal for Tyler and Nolan. And somehow, Sloane felt a bit odd standing beside her. Sloane was not perfect by any means and if she didn't wear make-up, she would most probably be any more prettier than Maggy was in fact. And she hardly thought if she started covering up, guys would even notice her. Well, that was certainly a revelation.

When Magdalena mentioned a car, Sloane frowned just slightly but it was there. Did Nolan and Magdalena have a...thing? Sloane hid her disappointment at that fact very well and smiled graciously even though no one was paying any attention to her.

Her grip on Nolan's arm faltered though and slowly she found herself dropping it slightly until she was standing beside him, nothing connecting the two of them. And even though her smile was still intact, if anyone were to really look at her, they would definitely see the hollowness of it. She let the two continue their talking.

[Nolan Ahlstrom]

Nolan nearly breathed a sigh of relief that Maggy wasn't upset that they hadn't been in contact since the two had met. To be fair, she hadn't attempted to get a hold of Nolan, and that thought made him relax a bit. That next day had been so crazy of course they hadn't hung out! But Nolan was glad to see her.

“I've been okay, I guess. Lucky.” He had made sure to wrap his wound tight, and purposefully put less gauze on it to keep it from looking like a weird bump in the back of his boxers. He hadn't planned on sitting much, anyway. “How about you?” Nolan perked up a bit at the mention of his car, then a sad look crossed his face. “I actually haven't been able to drive much, I've been a bit laid up. I guess I don't know if you knew, but I took a bullet in, uh...” He realized it was a bit embarrassing to say where he got shot. Everyone probably knew anyway, and he was in mid sentence. He better just say it. “In the butt. So yeah, I've been kinda busy with that, and family, and...” His girlfriend? He almost said it again, but he still had no clue if it was true. And he just realized Sloane had stopped holding his arm. He looked down at her, and she seemed oddly uncomfortable at his side. It wasn't obvious by any means, and no one else seemed to notice. But there was something not quite the same about her all of a sudden.

Was it the public pressure of being seen with him? The only real time they had been around each other in public was at Bass' birthday party a few days ago. They had arrived and left together, but other than that they weren't around each other too often. Nolan talked football with a couple of his teammates almost all night. He didn't see that much of Sloane. Was she mad at him for that? Was she mad at him for talking to another girl? Nolan's mind was racing a mile a minute. Barely seconds had passed since he had stopped talking, and the hint of awkward silence was barely beginning to grow. His mind raced through all his inadequacies, memories of his brothers' success in football as he sat on the sideline, images of the stern face of his father showing no approval at Nolan's own victories.

Nolan wanted to leave. He had to get out of there. Did Sloane even care? He wasn't sure and that thought was driving him crazy. He pulled out his phone and faked a glance at it. “Oh, I completely lost track of time.” Nolan was speaking much quicker than he usually did. “I gotta go. But good to see you Maggy. And nice to meet you, Bartholomew. I hope you guys have fun tonight.” Nolan spun around, then paused for a second and turned to Sloane. “Umm, goodnight. Sorry. Tell Bree I said happy birthday.” With that, Nolan began walking very quickly towards the exit.

[Sloane Taylor]

Had she paid attention, Sloane would have noticed that Nolan had suddenly started to act very uncomfortable. His voice was a little strained when he continued to talk to Magdalena and for a second, she wondered if it was actually because of Sloane herself.

When Nolan started to excuse himself, Sloane reacted almost immediately as she grabbed his arm and held him back. She did not know why she was so invested in this boy. All she knew was she felt something for Nolan, something indescribable at best and she wanted to find out why. He had done things that most of her conquests had never done and she wanted to know if it was genuine interest or he wanted something else from her like most her conquests always did.

The phone glance did not fool Sloane and she took a deep breath before smiling widely at him and then at Magdalena, Bartholomew and Phil. "I'm so glad you all could come. Do enjoy the party." She said to the three friends. She turned to look at Nolan and was surprised that he had already made his way to the exit. She smiled once more to the three and walked to Nolan, intercepting his exit.

She placed a hand on his chest without any force. "Whoa...Nolan." She gave him her best smile. "Why are you leaving your date here all alone?" quirking her head slightly, she bit her lower lip in pretense of a frightened girl. "It's not even one yet and...I haven't properly thanked you for the date the other night...the least you could do is spend more time with me..." Sloane's hand traveled down Nolan's side excruciatingly slowly before settling on his hips. "Don't leave me here, Nolan." She settled her bright blue eyes on his and smiled softly. She was actually not certain if this was all a ruse or if she really wanted him to stay.

What was she doing to herself?

[Nolan Ahlstrom]

In his own mind, Nolan was not one to play games. When he imagined a perfect relationship, all of the crazy girls tricks you'd see in a movie were not there. However, the instant Sloane came running after him he realized he was doing just that, playing games with her head. He didn't mean to, but because of his own insecurities it was happening, and it only made him feel worse.

Here was this gorgeous girl that seemed to want him, but the second she wasn't showing it he became all paranoid? It wasn't like him. But now that her hands were back on him, and she was nearly pressed against him, and all he could smell was her. He liked her, and he didn't want to mess this up.

Nolan knew he wasn't the most eloquent and he usually wasn't one much to make speeches, but he wanted Sloane to understand he wasn't just messing with her.

“I'm sorry.” An apology, a start. “It's just... I mean, I...” He was trying to find the right words, great words that would make her putty in his hands. But those words weren't his. “I, well, I really like you. I'm just... I don't date a lot. Very little. It's just that sports has always been such a big thing for me that I focus on that and... I guess I just don't really know how to do this. I mean, I don't know how you see this or anything and all I've wanted to do all night is kiss you but I don't know if that's right or not or even if you really want me to.” Nolan hadn't realized it but once he started talking it was like he couldn't stop. But when he did, he realized there was nothing more to say. Instead, his instincts took over.

Nolan leaned down and kissed Sloane with all of the intensity he was feeling, not even really knowing what he was doing but knowing that he wanted it more than anything at that moment.