This Side of Paradise (Aeventi) (finished)

9 - "Yes, there's been a change in plans..."

3rd Person Omniscient - the day of the party

Aether sat on his bed, looking through the dresser in front of him.

"Come on..." He muttered to nobody in particular, searching for one specific shirt.

Yes, a full shirt.

Shocker, right?

Aether finally found the plain black shirt he was looking for, and went searching for the black cargo pants he threw somewhere earlier.

Aether only had an hour before Xiangling wanted him to be there...but who would care if he showed up a bit late?

His phone dinged while he was walking to the bathroom to shower, and he ran to check it.

Venti
Hey, I'm gonna come over in like an hour and we can walk to Xiangling's together...that sound alright?

Aether quickly responded, saying that the plan sounded good, he then threw the phone on his bed and went to get a quick shower.

Aether should've known a quick shower was impossible with his length in hair. By the time he got out of the shower, his hour that he originally had had gone down to 30 minutes.

30 minutes to blowdry his hair, braid it, and mentally prepare himself for being in an environment with so many people.

Aether thought for a moment, deciding that it would be less messy to blowdry his hair shirtless, so that the shirt didn't get all wet.

He was almost done drying his hair when he heard knocking at the door. He put the blow dryer down and rushed to the door, hoping that he didn't taken too long.

Aether opened the door, expecting to see Venti, however that wasn't exactly the case.

"Aether, do you always answer the door shirtless or am I just special?" Xiangling joked, pointing out that Aether forgot his shirt.

"Xiangling- what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at your party?" Aether then noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt, and ran to grab his shirt, inviting Xiangling inside.

"Yeah well, I guess I got bored, and wanted to see when you and this mystery guy would show." Xiangling stepped inside the small dorm, closing the door behind her.

"Well, he'll be here any minute, and I still need to-" Aether was cut off by Xiangling, who offered her help.

Aether gladly accepted Xiangling's help in finishing his hair.

Venti walked out of his dorm, seeing a familiar face exit a dorm beside his.

"Oh- Ayaka. Hello!" Venti greeted, approaching the bluenette.

"Oh...you're....Venti, right? You were with Aether before he showed me around on my first day." Ayaka recalled, and Venti nodded, confirming her statement.

"So...are you going to Xiangling's party?" Venti asked, just to make conversation.

"Oh...yeah. I'm going with my brother, my brother's boyfriend, and some of their friends." Ayaka said, "are you going to Xiangling's party?"

"Yeah, I am. I'm going with Aether." Venti said casually.

"I see..." Ayaka wanted to say she was over Aether, but some part of her still got sad at him going with someone else, "so are you two...." Ayaka trailed off.

Venti didn't even think before answering, "yeah, we're dating."

Wait. Venti thought fearfully. I just-