Kumquat #12
Rating: PG
Flavors: Kumquat #12 (the greatest show on earth)
Extras/Toppings: --
Word count: 547
Project: Tachycardia
Notes: University. Cody steps out of his room, only to wind up at a party that he hates every moment of.
He didn’t want to be here.
He really didn’t want to be here.
That was the only thing clear to Cody, the only thing he could focus on over the drunken cheering and loud beats that shook the apartment.
The hazy air was filled with the scent of alcohol and smoke (not from only cigarettes) mixed in with sweat. The room was too damn hot, too many bodies confined by four walls. Everything seemed to spin in slow motion. The strobe light that the apartment owner had turned on a moment before wasn’t helping the situation. The whole combination was hypnotic and lulled him into a strange sort of numbness that left him, alone, sitting upright in a chair with a red Solo cup loosely grasped in his right hand.
Cody hadn’t even taken a sip of anything remotely alcoholic. His cup was filled with some fruit punch that everyone else had used as chaser. He hadn’t even drunk the thing beyond the first sip to kill the scratching thirst in his throat. Really, the cup was only in his hand to stop the others from bothering him, encouraging him to take some shots or a beer with them. Cody hated everything that alcohol was or represented, aftermath included.
Looking across the room, he could make out the blurry shape of Allie talking with some guy that must have been from a frat. Everything about the guy screamed “Frat Brother”, from his looks to the way he was hovering and chatting up Cody’s best (only?) friend. She was the reason that he was here tonight, suffering in this stuffy box that everyone labeled an apartment.
It had been a lot of work on her part to coax him into accompanying her to the party. Ultimately, what had sealed the deal was that her usual girl friends who watched her back at these kinds of events were all busy studying for an exam in a class she wasn’t enrolled in. That left Cody as the only one she could count on to watch her, since (obviously) she couldn’t skip this one party or decline free drinks.
Cody wasn’t sure what it was that made this whole thing so draining, so upsetting.
Maybe it was the lighting and the smoky haze. His eyes burned from the fumes of lit blunts and cigarettes. Secondhand smoke was a serious thing; it killed.
Maybe it was the smell of alcohol that permeated the room. It reminded him too much of home-of the fights amplified with the presence of vodka, wine bottles lining the shelves, beer cans crumpled in the trash can-and the story of how he came about from a drunken night or two of fun.
Maybe it was watching Allie give her number off to the guy she had met no more than two hours ago. The flirting was not subtle in the slightest. The guy was obviously a scumbag with the roaming eyes. He couldn’t figure out how she didn’t notice all the attention being given to areas on her body other than her eyes.
The room was still spinning; the air was still suffocating.
Cody wasn’t sure what it was that made the whole party downright miserable. He just knew that he didn’t want to be here.
Flavors: Kumquat #12 (the greatest show on earth)
Extras/Toppings: --
Word count: 547
Project: Tachycardia
Notes: University. Cody steps out of his room, only to wind up at a party that he hates every moment of.
He didn’t want to be here.
He really didn’t want to be here.
That was the only thing clear to Cody, the only thing he could focus on over the drunken cheering and loud beats that shook the apartment.
The hazy air was filled with the scent of alcohol and smoke (not from only cigarettes) mixed in with sweat. The room was too damn hot, too many bodies confined by four walls. Everything seemed to spin in slow motion. The strobe light that the apartment owner had turned on a moment before wasn’t helping the situation. The whole combination was hypnotic and lulled him into a strange sort of numbness that left him, alone, sitting upright in a chair with a red Solo cup loosely grasped in his right hand.
Cody hadn’t even taken a sip of anything remotely alcoholic. His cup was filled with some fruit punch that everyone else had used as chaser. He hadn’t even drunk the thing beyond the first sip to kill the scratching thirst in his throat. Really, the cup was only in his hand to stop the others from bothering him, encouraging him to take some shots or a beer with them. Cody hated everything that alcohol was or represented, aftermath included.
Looking across the room, he could make out the blurry shape of Allie talking with some guy that must have been from a frat. Everything about the guy screamed “Frat Brother”, from his looks to the way he was hovering and chatting up Cody’s best (only?) friend. She was the reason that he was here tonight, suffering in this stuffy box that everyone labeled an apartment.
It had been a lot of work on her part to coax him into accompanying her to the party. Ultimately, what had sealed the deal was that her usual girl friends who watched her back at these kinds of events were all busy studying for an exam in a class she wasn’t enrolled in. That left Cody as the only one she could count on to watch her, since (obviously) she couldn’t skip this one party or decline free drinks.
Cody wasn’t sure what it was that made this whole thing so draining, so upsetting.
Maybe it was the lighting and the smoky haze. His eyes burned from the fumes of lit blunts and cigarettes. Secondhand smoke was a serious thing; it killed.
Maybe it was the smell of alcohol that permeated the room. It reminded him too much of home-of the fights amplified with the presence of vodka, wine bottles lining the shelves, beer cans crumpled in the trash can-and the story of how he came about from a drunken night or two of fun.
Maybe it was watching Allie give her number off to the guy she had met no more than two hours ago. The flirting was not subtle in the slightest. The guy was obviously a scumbag with the roaming eyes. He couldn’t figure out how she didn’t notice all the attention being given to areas on her body other than her eyes.
The room was still spinning; the air was still suffocating.
Cody wasn’t sure what it was that made the whole party downright miserable. He just knew that he didn’t want to be here.