Chapter One: First Meeting

A Chapter by Melancholydreams

'We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.'

Boston

I - First meeting

Not like I was expecting much. I wouldn't have put it past the host to spike the punch bowl, blatantly placed grindlines, rings of people getting high, the norm. But I was surprised that on the surface, it looked like a normal party. I didn't know anybody, nobody knew me. I was the one misfit here, it was an early graduation party after all. I sat on a stone ledge as seniors stripped and howled, groups jumped into the pool, probably tripping on some leaked drugs. If it was up to me, I'd be at home wearing my usual smoke scented hoodie, on msn, and playing computer games all night while pigging out on the white buttercream cake left over from my birthday. Oh yeah, my prom was on the same day, convenient huh? I stared at the Winston's hedges, solar powered lamps extremely fluorescent in the darkness. The click of a shutter interrupted my internal brooding.

I glared at the senior, a Pentax camera poised in front of his face, encouraging him even more to snap another picture. The brunette flopped down beside me unwelcomely. He turned to me, camera in hand with a sixty-kilowatt bright smile with straight pearly whites that spoke of years of enduring braces, devilish blue eyes, and gelled dark hair. He was pretty to look at but..."And we now observe the wild underclassmen. You must approach this specimen with the utmost caution or forever be ensnared in its hateful gaze."...but that was about it, and he was a little too late for that. Oh. And he had a sharp jaw too, but that was besides the point. He had a finger aaround my dyed curls and I slapped it away, only adding to his too-bright smile.

"Did it hurt?" Oh god, kill me now. I stared impassively as he continued to be a complete dork, waggling his eyebrows for some kind of reaction. I hated flirts. I didn't know how to deal with them, considered if it was a joke. I slowly turned away and hopped off the curbed rock, leaving the sputtering senior behind me. I heard him trip over his own feet as he let out a sound, probably trying to save that dumb camera. He caught the sleeve of my yellow tee, throwing his weight over my unprepared shoulder. I stared at him in what I thought was disbelief, but probably appeared like an expression that depicted that I thought he grew a second head. "-when you fell from heaven?" Jeez this guy was persistant. Not my type in the least.

Clearly seeing my discomfort he backed off and rolled up the sleeves of his grey shirt, as if he was preparing for some life-changing race. He looked up with a calmer smile this time, looking a tad bit sheepish as he scratched his head. He looked like he had gone from man to child, which looked ridiculous for a guy that height. Well, compared to mine. "Maybe I came off too strong?"

I cocked a brow. "You think?" Ok, I admit feeling a bit guilty for not taking it with better grace. He ignored the sarcastic remark like I hadn't spoken. "I'll start; I'm Hugh Heffner, heir to the Playboy Estate and I noticed your unparalled beauty and I was hoping to employ you-is that a smile I see?" I tried to fight the tugging at the corners of my mouth. It was a losing battle. "You win, I'm Avery."

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