❛ SUPERMARKET FLOWERS ♪ ❜ - z. herron

sixteen: 8 months and an unopened dm.

(pictured is the layout of the room, I realized sometimes it might be hard to visualize)

I've officially been at USC for a month, and honestly, it's been the best month of my life. Nate and I have been so much better and hit our two-month mark yesterday. He's more restricting about the people I hang with, but I know he's just looking out for me. Right now, Emerson is driving us to a party that one of Nate's teammates is throwing. Emerson still hates Nate and him likewise, but I wish they would just get along for me. I swear whenever we go out, the two are either silent or making snide remarks to the point we just have to leave.

"Kir, c'mon." Em says, pulling up outside the house. I walk out of the car to feel the cold wind prickle my skin. It's never as cold as it is in New York, so the fact I don't need to walk around everywhere with a coat is so relieving, especially at parties.

"You gonna come or just stand out here?" She says, looking back at me, walking towards the loud booming house. The front lawn is littered with solo cups, and the house has some sort of greek letters inscribed onto its porch. As I inhale, the smell of cheap alcohol fills the air.

 Ah, college.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," I saw, jogging up to her.

We walk into the house filled with people smelling of sweat and lingering drugs.

"I left our drinks in the car. I'll be right back." Emerson yells over the loud music. We both know the frat parties' stories, so we always bring our own alcohol to stay safe. As I walk around the room, trying to find my boyfriend, I bump into Ethan, his teammate.

"Heyyy Kira," He slurs, clearly intoxicated.

"Hey Ethan, do you know where Nate is?" I yell. Rick, another one of Nate's teammates, emerges to grab Ethan before he falls and switches out his cup with water,

"Hey Kira, what's good?" he yells at me. I think he's on clean-up duty tonight because he looks painfully sober.

"Hey Rick, do you know where Nate is?"

"He said he wasn't coming," He replies, confused, "He told the whole team he had a project due so he couldn't come through."

What? He literally was raving about this party last week, and I didn't even get a text from him. He knows I don't care much for parties.

I look around to find a clock to see the time. If it's early enough, we can still leave and meet up with Isa after she's finished working. I feel a bing from my back pocket.

-------------------------------------------------

Nathan Anderson 💘

Hey Babe, my team partners dumped the project on me

I have to bail on the party

I'll see you later, I swear

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Cool, now I'm stuck at this lame-ass party without my boyfriend.

Em taps me on the shoulder. "Dude, are you good?"

"Yeah, Nate just bailed," I say, putting my phone back in my pocket.

"Awh, Kira, I'm sorry." She says, "Wanna leave?" she points to the exit.

"No, it's cool. Go get drunk, I'll drive us back." I saw her swatting, "I'll go find their library or something."

"Okay, meet me on the porch in 2 hours. We can go then." She twists the top of our Tito's bottle and takes a swig. "BYE, I LOVE YOU."

"BYE, I LOVE YOU MORE." I start to walk away, "BE SAFE!"

"I WILL!" she yells back, starting to dance.

As I look back to her, my back meets someone else.

"Oh shit, I'm so sorry." I turn around. I look up to see a familiar face. "Corbyn?"

"Hey?" he says, trying to figure me out in the darkest. "Have we met?" he squints at me.

"No, uh, Zach took me on a date a few months ago." I nervously rub my arm.

"OH SHIT, you're Kira," he says. He puts his hand out to shake mine. "It's nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too." I say, taking his hand. I don't think I've ever seen him without his Rolex on, even in pictures. As he starts to walk away, I stand there.

Is Why Don't We here?

"Well, are you coming?" he says, turning around.

"Oh. I didn't know I was supposed to." I jogged up to him. He leads me out of the main party, down a hall; the music slowly fades until it's nothing more than a background sound.

"Not to pry," I ask, careful about my words. "But, what are you doing at a college frat party?"

"Free alc, cheaper than bars, hot girls and we get the college experience without having to go to college." Corbyn says while walking.

I guess they never really did go to college. Much less get the college experience. It makes perfect sense. 

"Turn here," he says quietly as he turns right down another hallway.

"We might as well not be at the party," I joke.

"Nah, we just come here to regroup. Then we go out and rage." Corbyn says, a slight laugh underneath him talking.

We open the door to a room about the size of a small bedroom, three of the walls have at least two bookshelves, but the one directly in front of me has an old painting. It looks like something that belongs in a museum, not a frat house. To both, the diagonals of the image are red cushion chairs that jonah and jack are sitting on, while Daniel is on the arm of jonah's chair. In the middle of the room lies an old rug with the same red cushion ottoman in the room's center.

"Yo," Corbyn says, walking in. All 3 of their heads snap up and whoever is sitting on the red ottoman turns around. There they are.

Those big brown eyes.

I wave to the group. Daniel gestures his hand towards me, "Who's th-?" he's cut off by a breathless Zach. "

Kira." he says, staring at me.

After 8 months and an unopened dm, I get only my name said to me? Civil, Kira, Civil.

I smile at him, "Hey Zach."

This night just got WAY more interesting. 

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word count: 1049

ZACH???

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much love,

~ nish