⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨ 1st January, 2006 New Years Party 2 ୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹
Lizzy felt her hand get caught as she went to throw another bottle away. “Seriously, you have got to stop,” Beck’s voice said from beside her, barely audible above the blaring music and various other conversations going on around them. They were in the early hours of 2006, in the midst of celebrations at Lottie’s house. While reminicent of the last, this new years had been different from the last. For one, Lizzy had become more in the minority as a soda drinker. This naturally created a louder tone and more chaotic classmates that left Lizzy instinctively trying to clean up after. Since it was her friend’s house and all.
“This is completely not your problem. In fact, they probably even have cleaners coming in tomorrow or something,” Beck told her with the slightest head shake. Another development since the last party, cheerleaders not only acknowledged her as one of them, but even considered Lizzy a friend. Maybe. She liked to think so, anyway. “I was just walking past, it was on my way,” Lizzy responded, her hands up in mock-surrender, it being around the third time Beck had caught her doing this during the party.
Hand still gently on Lizzy’s hand, Beck pulled her out of the kitchen, closer to the centre of the crowd in the living room. The bass from the speakers grew heavier as they weaved through, coupled with cheering and laughter from every angle. “But there’s so many empty cups,” Lizzy said, just loud enough for Beck to hear as she looked helplessly around the scene she was being forced away from. “I’m kidding,” She exclaimed through a laugh when she caught the sharp, but playful glare of Beck from in front of her.
They were stopped when Lottie caught sight of the pair, beckoning them over. “Whereee have you guys been I missed you!!” She said excitedly, pulling both Lizzy and Beck into a hug. Then she pulled away, as a gasp of realisation escaped her. “Oh my god, totally caught Jack and Sarah kissing at the countdown,” Lottie shared before taking a sip from her drink. Lizzy’s jaw dropped at the confirmation of the predictions they had made for the party weeks prior. “We so called that. How did I miss that??” Lizzy questioned as she looked around in hunt for the subjects of the matter. “Yeah, you were probably too occupied mopping the floor or something,” Beck mused, laughing as Lizzy put her hand on her chest in mock-offence.
“That does almost make it a full house of our party predictions, though,” Beck added pointedly as she held up her cup for a cheers. “Guess it’s time for us to really start up that fortune teller side-hustle,” Lizzy added, tipping her drinks to meet Beck’s. “Yeah, I’ll be on the look out for the rest, though,” Lottie told the pair, her eyes already scanning the sea of people around them. “The night is still young, someone’s gotta fall on their face. And-or have some sort of drunken meltdown,” She continued, relaying the ideas she had contributed to their list. Lizzy let out a small laugh, shaking her head as she said, “I do not want to be wishing that upon anyone.”
The instant Lizzy’s head turned in the same direction as Lottie’s, she saw him. Even from across the room, his presence was unmissable, laughter easily distinguished amongst the masses. Lizzy felt her chest tighten and world go quiet for a moment. Except now, looking at Rudy Maddox didn’t carry the same nervous excitable buzz it did before. Only impending doom from the glimpses of him distancing over the last couple of months.
Lizzy had tried not to think much into the less frequent phone calls, the sudden spike in long football practices, the last-minute cancellations of plans from him. But as time went on, it was becoming clear what was happening, and his slipping away was becoming inevitable no matter how hard Lizzy was trying. And in case it had been ignorable before, the situation became blaringly obvious when it progressed to complete lack of acknowledgement in the hallways, and times she’d see him out with another girl.
She had spent countless nights trying to retrace her steps over the last year, gathering up the moments she had maybe misread his signals or pushed too hard with him, trying to find an explanation. Telling herself she knew deep down the whole time that it was probably one-sided, that this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Yet it still did, and nothing ever eased the ache.
Despite the hurt, Lizzy couldn’t take her eyes off Rudy, working his way around the centre of the party, exchanging handshakes and niceties with everyone he passed. Though the longer she looked, the more she noticed about the way his arms swang in conversation, his words were loud and slurred, and his posture was off-balance, he was drunk. Extremely so. Before Lizzy could even process that Rudy was getting closer, he had stumbled forward, succumbing to the probably high levels of alcohol, and hitting the ground.
“Lizzy, don’t,” Lottie’s voice appeared in a low voice, clearly noticing Lizzy’s step towards Rudy before Lizzy herself even had. Lottie had heard her friend’s feelings of confusion and upset for weeks, so it made sense why she would want to step in and prevent her from doing this. But, Lottie’s warning was disregarded. Just because Rudy wasn’t interested in Lizzy in the way she had thought, it didn’t mean she wasn’t going to be there for him.
“Hey… Rudy?” Lizzy started quietly, as she stepped into the circle that had naturally formed around the fallen figure. “You okay?” She then added, trying to sound as casual as possible as she held out her hands for him, realising that maybe this was a stupid idea, she was the last person he probably wanted to see right now. Then she shook her head slightly; he probably wasn’t caring to read too much into it right now. “Come on, Rudy,” She said as she went for his shoulder. Lizzy looked around, a trace of desperation on her face before noticing someone among the facing crowd. “Jesse? Could you he—” But then Rudy found his footing by himself.
⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹
@Caticorn Beck mention
@CerealKiller Jesse mention