With no better options in sight, Giovanni showed up to Kat's house a few hours before the party started. It was just him and Kat.
"Wanna fuck?" Kat asked after a very long, very awkward silence.
"Excuse me?" Gio asked.
"It would pass the time. I have condoms, unless you don't want to wear them. I'm on birth control too. It'll be fun. What do you say?"
"Right now?" Gio asked.
"Sure, anywhere you want me!" she said as she spun around.
"I've never... you know."
"You're a virgin? This won't take long then. Shall we try your bed first?"
She led him to his room while showing him around, they had sex, in which Gio surprised himself at how well he did, and they cuddled and talked until the doorbell rang for the couple of people who showed up early.
It was a large cast of different looking people, some species Gio didn't even know existed. He came walking down the hallway to see the guest. He recognized Garb, but the other three were a mystery to him.
"The guest of honor," a purple humanoid with a beak bowed.
"Do I know you?" Gio asked.
"I'm the biggest Turtle fan in all of Chortle. I could tell you, down to the minutes, how much each player has played. And you're the man of the hour, and we're hoping you're the man of the decade."
"Right," Gio rubbed his head, "what's your name?"
"I'm Jairo," he said as he offered him a hand.
"Stop scaring my guest away, Jairo," Kat said as she slapped at Jairo's beak.
Everyone funneled in and started drinking. Gio hung closely to Kat. He felt comfortable around her. He really was more of an accentuating piece. He didn't stand alone amongst people, despite being the youngest focal point any team had.
Gio was anything but the life of the party. He drifted towards the sides of the rooms as he sipped a glass of water. Everyone was starting to get more and more patsied, and he was just observing in his element. Then, the rest of the three he'd met earlier showed up and the party soared into life.
The music, which was at a comfortable level to Gio, was turned way up. And everyone started dancing, all but Gio. Giovanni was felt to be made like an outcast, but he wanted to conserve his energy for his practice tomorrow. After all, he had a team on his back, and he knew Saleem would be on the hot seat after the first third of the season.
He kept sipping his water, watching body gyrate against body. He'd never been to a real party with drinking and drugs. He didn't know what to expect or how long to expect it, but after three hours, he was getting really tired. He asked Kat if he could go ahead and go to sleep, so she took him to the hall closet.
"You sure you don't want to stay and wait for my brother to show up with the good stuff?"
"I have to be up in six hours," Gio fought off the urge to be normal. "Thank you for letting me crash here a few nights."
"No problem," Kat said as she did something that would solidify her as his new crush: she kissed him on the check. That tender softness was exactly what he wanted in a relationship, and he would find it with someone, and he was hoping it would be Sadie.
Gio slid past the cracked door, shut it, locked it, then curled up in bed. When he rose, Kat was pressed against his chest, and he knew she had to be his next target for a girlfriend.
