"God Dammit, did I drop my house keys?" He mumbled, spinning in circles and furiously patting his pockets in an attempt to find them. He stopped suddenly when he heard a chuckle from behind him.
"Missing something, Ray?" the voice chuckled quietly from behind him. Ray turned to face Joel holding his keys up in his left hand, "Found these on the begining of the walk. Are they yours?"
"Yeah, thanks for finding them." Ray laughed a bit, slightly embarrassed because dropping your keys is so NOT a cool thing to do. Especially in front of the most popular senior's house that he somehow got invited to.
He begins to reach out for his keys tentatively, but before he can grab them, the football player lifted them up and out of his reach. Ray attempted to jump and grab them but that only made Joel lift them further out of his reach.
"Come on Joel! This isn't funny, give them back!" he said with Joel standing there laughing in his face.
"It's kinda funny." he said, staring down at Ray with an enormous smile, showing off his perfect white teeth. Stopping his jumping, Ray looks at Joel, his head slightly tilted back about to speak before he hears the front door open behind him.
"Joel! Ray! Hey, glad you guys could make it! There's beer in the kitchen but if you don't want any, Ray, you can just have whatever." Burnie smiled before winking at Joel, squeezing Ray's shoulder and walking back into the various groups of people in his living room.
"Dude, you have to hear this." he says, pushing on Geoff's shoulder, annoyed, the tattooed man turns around.
"What do you need, Burns?"
"Look at Joel and Ray. I think they finally got together." Burnie mumbles with a half smirk on his face, gesturing back to the two standing in front of the kitchen. Joel laughing and Ray still attempt to grab his keys with the deepest blush on his face.
"So, they're... together now?" Burnie only shrugs and walks away to get another beer.
"Look at those two." Geoff says, slightly more drunk than before, now hanging off of Ryan, a running back for the team and Gavin, a foreign exchange student his family was hosting.
"Who two?" the Brit asks, peering around the house and into the kitchen.
"Ray and Joel, they're totally *hic* they're totally dating." he says, pointing to the kitchen where Ray is leaning against a counter, Joel standing in front of him, back to the trio. One hand resting next to Ray the other not visible.
"So they're finally dating?" Ryan speaks up, glancing at the drunkard hanging off of his shoulder who only nods and wanders off for more alcohol.
Yawning, Ray stretches his arms above his head, tired and confused as to why he agreed to come to the party but happy he got his keys back from Joel. And speaking of the senior, he waltzes up in front of Ray who leans back onto the counter to give him more room.
"Dude, can you move so I can get a cup?"
"You have a cup, Joel. And no, I think I'll stay here."
"Fine." the taller of the two says, and in a moment all Ray can see is Joel's chest in his face as he reaches for a glass.
"Joel... Joel, you're kind of in my face buddy." Ray says, lightly pushing on the elder's chest to get him to move.
"Just a second..." he replies, finally grabbing another cup but in the process, dropping the other one and spilling cheap beer down the front of Ray's shirt.
Sighing, he ignores the apologies from Joel and wanders the house for a bit before finding a restroom, closing the door and trying to use the sink to wash away the beer smell. After a minute he comes to the conclusion that the sink wasn't going to work so he removed his shirt and stepped into the shower.
Not even a minute later, the door opens and Joel walks in. They make awkward eye contact before someone knocks on the door.
"Occupied!!" they both exclaim before the person on the other side of the door chuckles drunkenly.
"Okay you two! Have fun in there, be safe!" A distinctly Jersey voice chuckles, Ray's friend and fellow videogame nerd Michael.
"Him too?! What's going on with everyone?" Joel asks, mostly to himself.
"What do you mean, 'him too?'" Ray stares curiously at Joel.
"Him, Barbara, Gavin, Geoff, all of them have tried to congratulate me for 'finally getting the balls to ask you out' I have no idea what they're talking about."
"Wait, everyone thinks we're dating? Then they probably think we're in here... like kissing and stuff."
"Yeah, kissing and stuff." Joel chuckles, "What are we going to do?"
"We need to... we need to break up." Ray responds, looking at a confused Joel, "Well, fake break up because we were never dating." Joel nods in agreement.
"Yeah, yeah. Like... we have a big fight about something.. like... what about me do you find annoying?"
"Well you... you... you don't know what personal space is sometimes." Ray responds, Joel nods.
"Okay. They're all going to be out there so as soon as we leave, just start yelling at me. Okay... one... two... three..." Ray pushes the door open, ready to stage a break up only to be faced with an almost empty hallway.
"Where is everyone?" Joel questions Meg, Gavin's girlfriend, who was walking through the hallway.
"Miles and Kerry and making out in Burnie's parent's room." she replies simply and continues walking.
"Oh. I guess we're old news, huh?" Ray says, chuckling and turning around.
The party finally starts to die down three hours later and Ray decides it's a good time to head home, pulling his hood over his head to shield against the rain that had started to fall while the party was still going on.
"I'm really really dumb.. why did I walk? Why?" he mumbles to himself before feeling someone tap on his shoulder, "Listen buddy, I don't know what you want but... Oh hey Joel."
"Need a friend to walk home with? You know, since we 'broke up'?" he chuckles and Ray laughs along with him.
"Sure. Oh crap, I think I dropped my keys again."
"I'll help you find them." Joel responds, dropping to his knees. A glint of light is reflected and they both reach out to grab them and their hands rest in eachother's for a minute. Their eyes meet as they stand back up.
"Oh I uh... found... them." the shorter of the two chuckles breathlessly and they both fall silent, enjoying the quiet between the two. After what seems like forever, Ray begins to realize how close they are to each other. He can feel the older's warmth on his skin even through the rain. They begin to move closer to together before a car comes screaming by through a puddle, splashing and soaking both of the highschoolers in freezing cold water.
"Oh. Total mood kill right?" Joel asks, laughing.
"Yeah." Ray responds, chuckling, "Oh well, here's my apartment. Do you want to come in or..?"
"No, I better leave. Sleep well, I'll see you Monday?"
"Yeah. I'll see you Monday. Text me or something when you get home." he responds and waves, closing his door. Resting his back against the door, Ray slides until he hits the floor, resting his head in his hands.
Sighing, he mumbles to himself, "Not together..." before standing and falling asleep on his bed, not bothering to change out of his wet clothes.
