After arriving late to the party, most people were four or five drinks ahead of us already, bodies swinging and reeking of sweat and repressed hormones. Unlike most highschool parties, this one reeked of weed and over-indulgence with red-rimmed eyes and wandering hands.

This was not my scene, yet here I was. 

Luckily a familiar face amongst the sea of teenagers, Aria, dressed in a fitted dress with frilly edges. She looked like a piece of spun sugar in the middle of a dumpster fire. Obviously too sweet and innocent for this crowd of horny helldogs wound up on god knows what.

- Hi! You’re late!

- Sorry, but we’re here now.

- Unfortunately-

- Have you been here by yourself?

Shawn, being the overgrown golden retriever that he is, looked almost ashamed at the thought of her being by herself for more than a second. I wasn’t very worried, knowing that she’d probably gone to the party with Simon and the others.

- Oh no! Simon is here, or well... Around here somewhere.

- Is Eli here too?

I couldn’t help but snort loudly. If Shawn had had a tail, it would be wagging back and forth, hopefully naive. Aria looked at him like a sick dog, ready to be put down as she had to inform him that no, Eli was not coming as he had schoolwork to finish. I could practically see the imaginary tail sease wagging and now hang low in defeat, all is now lost for poor Shawn. 

I gave him a single pat on the back, my version of a consoling hug, before leading us into the large kitchen where we could both pour ourselves a drink or two. Just as most nights go, I spent the first hour or so mindlessly hanging around, observing people. I wasn’t exactly the definition of a social butterfly, more so a reclusive mole rat, peeking above the rim of my cup now and then, seeing so that my friends didn’t get into trouble or do something embarrassing.

Unless I could make fun of them afterwards and use it as blackmail for future purposes. 

Bodies moving against each other, grinding slowly, in a drunken mating ritual of lust and sexual release. I had a growing feeling in the tips of my fingers, I wanted to make it all stop. If I’d had a lighter, I’d set the whole place on fire, with all the liquor strewn about it would probably light up nicely. All figurative of course. I knew I was projecting my mood and inner turmoil on the throngs of people around me, their carelessness put me off, their smiles felt more like a grimace, eyes droopy and unfocused. I pushed away from the wall I’d been leaning against the past fifteen minutes, checking across the room only to see Shawn with a heavy head, trying to listen to whatever the beta girl beside him was trying to whisper into his ear. Sometimes he was too nice for his own good, his body language screaming how much he’d rather do anything else than listen to the girl beside him. I began making my way over when I felt a hand on my arm, it was almost pitiful that I recognised him from such a small touch.

- Caspar.

I turned to face him, which I probably shouldn’t have but by this point I had nothing to lose, simply letting myself be led by him. By this point I’d walk off a cliff with a smile on my face if he’d ask me to. I simply met his eyes, which were slightly red and puffy from alcohol and lack of sleep. He looked like a mess, a beautiful disaster, his eyeliner slightly imperfect and lips abused from having bitten on them out of bad habit. Hair disheveled and unruly, and I didn’t stop the need to card my hand through his hair, letting my fingers gently brush his hair away from his face for a moment. 

- You ok?

- Yeah, I just. I felt like I had to say hi at least.

- Hi.

- Hi.

One of my favorite things about Simon was that his smile always began with his eyes crinkling at the edges, before his lips would curl upwards, revealing a straight set of teeth, eyes slowly turning into small slits. Like sunshine through clouds his smile lit up everything around him, including myself. I could feel the corner of my lips twitch, a telltale sign of wanting to smile but feeling insecure about showing it around strangers. Though I could see Simon knew, and smiled even wider in response, hand still loosely wrapped around my arm, the warmth could be felt radiating off of his skin through the thin fabric of my shirt. 

- I think we need to rescue our baby alpha.

Simon nods with his head in the general direction of where Shawn is likely still suffering through the drunken flirting from the beta girl. Poor thing is probably too drunk to notice that the alpha she’s trying to get in bed with is gay, and also taken. At least that’s likely what his inner alpha thinks by this point. I simply nod, letting Simon lead me away towards Shawn, pushing and squeezing our way through all the people. The moment Shawn sees the two of us, his eyes light up like a lantern in the midst of a stormy sea. A sliver of hope reflected in those big puppy eyes of his. Simon gently tapped on the beta’s shoulder, the girl spinning around, not as gracefully as she probably would have if she’d been sober. 

- Sweetie, he’s gay. Read the room.

The girl’s cheeks turned a fiery shade of red, looking back up at Shawn who wouldn’t meet her eyes. The girl simply whimpered out a small sorry, before scampering off in the opposite direction and likely to the other end of the house. I bit the inside of my cheek in order to not laugh out loud. Simon was beautifully blunt, much like myself, though I would often come off as threatening, rather than sassy. Shawn was mumbling something along the lines of how he didn’t want to hurt the poor girl's feelings, whilst simultaneously being too nice to turn her down on the spot. Before I could have my turn at comforting Shawn, his phone which he was currently holding in his other hand, had lit up momentarily. This made him yank the device up towards his face so fast I was almost convinced he was actually trying to split his face in half. His eyes scanned the screen, once, twice, a small smile growing larger by the second. 

This smelled like trouble. As his eyes were scanning the screen for the fourth time, I pried his phone from his big hands and flipped the screen in my direction.