Mixtapes & Polaroids | Sam x Deena

5

Okay, so maybe being young and stupid isn't so bad.

Deena thinks maybe it's not bad at all, because when the moon is high and the street lamps flicker on, Simon's voice is booming from outside her house. Everyone on the block could probably hear him screaming, and Deena is bumping into everything trying to tie her laces all while stumbling out.

"Shut him up." Josh groans, halfway up the stairs from the basement as Deena struggles to put everything together.

"I'm fucking trying." Deena grumbles, nearly landing on her face when she almost slips on a half empty can of beer.

"Pizza in the fridge, don't wait up!" Deena calls out, stumbling out to the porch to find Simon hanging out the passenger side window of his car, holding up a bottle of god-knows-what with his messy blonde curls peppered over his forehead.

And of course, Kate is beaming behind the wheel.

There's that feeling in the air, and even Deena couldn't deny it. As much as she wanted to feed her pride and plaster on a scowl for the night, the moment she steps out to see her friends in that car, the smile that comes onto her lips was one she couldn't deny. The air was cold, and Simon was chanting some dumb rhyme he probably made up on the way there and he looked buzzed already.

It was the kind of feeling like they were about to be on top of the world, and Deena was actually kind of excited. Well, maybe knowing Sam would be there had a lot to do with it, and the way she spent hours trying on clothes and tearing them off in an attempt to look just right. Not like she cared too much, but not like she didn't care at all.

So deena settles on an oversized sweater and her torn up jeans, cuffing them by the ends to go with her ratty sneakers that she loved anyway because she thought it had character, with all its stains and tears. It looked like the nice kind of used, and Deena is running towards the car because it was drizzling and Simon was getting wet but he didn't care at all, because he was going to have the best night of his life with his two favorite people in the world.

"Deena! My dear friend Deena! We have been waiting for you to grace us with your holy presence!" Simon calls out happily as Deena draws near, holding a hand up to stop her right before she gets in the car.

"What, you think this is a free ride?" He smirks, holding out the bottle in his hands to a very confused Deena.

"Drink up, ladykiller." Kate calls from inside, and Deena weighs her options but she loved that dumb sweater too much to let it soak in the rain and she spent like, half an hour on her hair.

So she grabs the bottle and takes a swig, quickly realizing it was cheap vodka Simon probably poached from the store and Deena cringes as the warm liquid traces down her throat. She hands the bottle back to a cheering Simon, and slips into the backseat. The car smells like rainwater and vanilla, which is really a familiar scent for Deena.

"What the fuck is that? Fuck." Deena coughs, reeling from the sharp aftertaste of the alcohol still lingering on her tongue as Kate wastes no time in flooring the car.

"I don't know, I just grabbed the first bottle I saw in storage. It's got a kick, doesn't it?" Simon had slipped back into the car, a bleeding ball of energy as he takes a brave sip without ever cringing away.

"It tastes like toxic toilet water." Deena grumbles, shuddering as she waits for the aftertaste to wash off.

"Exactly my point. Which is why i'm waiting until we get there." Kate hums happily, and Deena meets her eyes through the rear view.

"Wait— why did I have to drink?" Deena complains, but Kate only sends her an innocent smirk.

"Driver duties. I have the privilege of choice." She proudly responds, all while Deena slumps in the backseat like a scorned child.