[EVENT] BACK TO SCHOOL BASH: MAIN THREAD

[elijah aaron campbell]

and just look at that social clique
DO YOU REALLY WANT TO BE A PART OF IT?
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It was safe to say that the party scene wasn't really Elijah's thing--at all. He wouldn't really turn down an invitation to a party, but don't expect him to stay there for very long. There was only so much he could take of large crowds of drunk high schoolers stumbling around and screaming and carrying on and throwing up. Which was what had happened at most high school parties he'd ever been to. So no, he didn't avoid them like the plague, but he tended not to enjoy them that much either. Going out to bars or clubs with his boys was a lot better, in his very honest opinion.

But he'd been invited to this party and then Ara wanted him to come, so there was no way he was saying no. And the party seemed to just be getting into swing--he figured it wouldn't be too bad for now. If he needed to escape though... Well, he couldn't leave Ara and he doubted she'd want to leave and he wouldn't tell her he'd want to leave because he didn't want to be a party pooper... If he needed to escape then, he'd probably just head for the bar.

Yeah, that seemed like a good plan.

First, he had to figure out where he was starting off for the night though. Because well, starting and ending at the bar would probably be a bit much. Anyway, he needed to know where Ara was going to be--or wanted to be--because he came with her. Well, he came for her and it wouldn't be much of a night if he just left her. Or if she left him, which he hoped she wouldn't. Because that would make this party very awkward very quickly.

Not that it wasn't already.

From the sounds of it, Ara didn't really know where they should go either. Elijah might've chuckled at this if it didn't upset him so much. He knew it was his fault that they were unsure of where to begin. Getting to the party had been one thing, but actually being there was proving to be more difficult. But it was because of Elijah; he was throwing things off balance. Elijah knew that Ara was popular--she was sweet and gorgeous and was basically a natural people magnet. Unfortunately, this placed her and Elijah on almost polar opposite ends of the social sphere. Generally, the people who liked Ara didn't like Elijah--and oddly enough, visa versa. Elijah wasn't sure why this was or how he and Ara had come together despite all this, but it was just the way things were. He'd spent countless time and effort trying to convince his friends that Ara was as fabulous as he thought she was (and he was sure Ara had done the same with her friends--hence why he was even here tonight), but it seemed that people were simply stuck in their ways.

Unfortunately, that made it hard for Elijah and Ara to go anywhere (like this party) together. Where Ara could usually go had she been flying solo was now dangerous territory because Elijah was with her. He could already see the death glares and pursed lips, the accusing eyes and hear the bitter tones. Yeah; not what he came to this party for. If he wanted all that, he really could've just walked around Eisley for a bit; maybe make his way to the East Quad.

But no--Elijah realized he couldn't be so pessimistic. Besides, he'd come here to meet Ara's friends, hadn't he? To actually socialize and mingle with them and all that. The thought of mingling with them both terrified Elijah and amused him--amusing mostly because of the word choice. But he and Ara had come this far; he couldn't get so scared now. He was about to suggest that they go upstairs to see if all of Ara's buddies were there when Ara hugged him.

He was totally caught off guard; any sound that was going to slip out of Elijah's mouth never made it to his throat. Blinking, he slowly wrapped his arms around her and returned the hug, not really caring about what had compelled her to do that. And then what she said surprised him even more. “Maybe we should get a drink! Come on; you can have one! It’s early in the night. And if it gets out of control- we’ll get a cab or something!”

Elijah raised an eyebrow as he let Ara go. "Are you sure?" he asked. He'd kind of expected her to want to go see her friends now. Had she picked up on how nervous he was already? And he thought he hid it well... "I mean, we can go up--" By the time he'd said that, Ara had already started dragging him toward the bar, so Elijah figured he had no choice in the matter anyway and shut his mouth.

So they went to the bar and when they got there, Elijah was no longer sure of whether or not he did want a drink. Mostly because now that Ara wanted to drink, he was slightly worried. What if she got carried away? What if he got carried away? He was such a bundle of nerves and all these different feelings tonight that he was worried about what he'd turn into if he got a couple of drinks in him. The image of him blatantly making fun of her friends in front of her flashed through his mind; definitely not a good impression to leave.

So Elijah tried to convey this to Ara before they got all settled down at the bar. "I don't think I want--"

And then came Hayden. Hayden fucking Kelley. Also (not so affectionately) known as the Golden Boy. Elijah secretly called Hayden the bane of his existence. He had major issues with Hayden, mostly because Ara was so in love with him and Elijah was so jealous. Of course, it was hard to explain these feelings to anyone without revealing his feelings about Ara, so Elijah kept the jealousy bottled up. Most of the time.

Tonight was not a good night for him to be seeing Hayden Kelley. Or rather, right now was not a good time. Not that there ever was a good time for Elijah to be seeing Hayden... Elijah was just glad he hadn't seen Hayden when he and Ara were coming into Southpaw; he would've turned around and gone back home right there and then, no explanations. Well, maybe he'd tell Ara he was feeling too nauseas.

At least that would've been true.

"Ara!" Elijah internally cringed at the very sound of Hayden's voice. Oh well, there went his wonderful night with Ara. Maybe he would need that drink after all... "Hey Elijah. How's it going?" Elijah turned to look at Hayden, his expression blank. Oh yeah, he'd definitely be needing that drink now.

"Hayden. How nice to see you," Elijah said, his voice as empty and blank as his expression. Hayden was probably the one friend Ara had that Elijah absolutely could not force himself to be nice to. Civil, maybe. Nice? No. He could even be nice to Penelope--okay, maybe not. But still.

Elijah was amazed. A minute in Hayden Kelley's presence and his eye hadn't started twitching nor had he spontaneously combusted. Truly the work of God.

Hayden's attention went back to Ara and Elijah tried not to visualize Hayden's face on a punching bag. It was hard, man. But he had to stay the ever pleasant, ever polite Elijah...at least for Ara's sake. Besides, apparently Mr. Kelley here was a lover, not a fighter. Elijah had tried that route once and had quickly learned that he needed to be both to survive.

Hayden said something about him and Ara matching and it took all of Elijah's will not to snort out loud at that. "What a fucking coincidence," he muttered lowly under his breath, his words barely audible to him. What kind of self-respecting man wore pink anyway?! (Elijah had before; he couldn't talk...)

But it was when Hayden suggested that he and Ara go off (without Elijah) to dance (without Elijah) on the dance floor upstairs (without Elijah), that Elijah had to step in. "Whoa, buddy," he chuckled, saying "buddy" in that way that signified that this person was really not your buddy at all, "we just got here! We were gonna get some drinks... Hey! You've got one!" Elijah exclaimed as if he'd just noticed the drink in Hayden's hand. "Why don't we all just sit down and have some drinks and talk, huh? C'mon--you two have plenty of time to dance, right? I don't know about you, but I could use a Jager Bomb..."

And just his luck; the bartender was coming around their way! Elijah nodded at his uniformed friend. "Yo! A Jager Bomb and whatever this lovely lady's getting." The bartender nodded and Elijah turned to Ara with a small smile on his face, the kind he tended to reserve for Ara because she basically made him smile all the time. "What do you want? It's on me." He grinned then, a very sly, snakebites-full grin, as he thought to himself, Take that, Golden Boy!

Maybe tonight wouldn't be so bad after all.


tagged » all 'o ya'll !
outfit » here
words » 1,553.
lyrics » newport living -- cute is what we aim for.
music » buy u a drank -- t-pain.
notes » it's on!

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