ataraxia, lorenzo berkshire

"twenty two"

"you've got to be fucking with me." lorenzo exasperated, pinching the bridge of his nose as he turned his back to us dramatically, both of his hands now within his hair.

"when did this happen?" he asked, turning back around to face us, genuine confusion bare upon his face, stripped of all concealment as he looked incredibly unsure of what to make of the situation.

i cleared my throat awkwardly, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear as i awaited for theo to answer, for he was more believable when it came to situations like these, dispensing lies and excuses fluently off his tongue like they meant nothing.

a skill i simply couldn't master.

he obviously picked up the hint, as he opened his mouth to speak, sitting up from the lip of the bathtub and began to tug off his crewneck, "i don't know, it just happened."

oh.

what an underwhelming answer from one of the wittiest guys in the year.

what was i expecting? a romantic sob story about how me and theo had hidden feelings for one another since first year?

that would've been funny.

"bullshit." lorenzo mumbled beneath his breath, as he ran a hand frustratedly through his hair as he walked away from us and over to the mirror and the unit that bore the sink, placing both his arms on each corner, looking into the mirror in search of some kind of sense to make its way to the situation, which it never did.

i mean, it's not every day you walk in on the most frigid person in your friendship group and the most cockiest person in your friendship group making out.

right?

"i'm going to go, i'll see you later theo." i bid him goodbye temporarily, as i warily separated myself from him and stepped past the dumbfounded lorenzo, sending theo a playful wink before closing the bathroom door.

as soon as i left the cramped bathroom, i was whipped in the face with the unmissable and pungent aroma of alcohol and sweat, a combination so common, yet it never fails to make your nasal passages feel like they're snorting vaporised acid.

xander padded up to me, a bottle in his hand, noir curls hung within his face, resting across his forehead.

"hey, where have you been?" he asked me curiously, he placed his hand upon the small of my back and began to almost guide me over to the centre of the room, where everyone had now settled down, tired of dancing and continuous rounds of shots.

i hesitated.

"i was with theo."

shit.

did i just make that sound weird?

i did, didn't i.

xander nodded, refusing to question me further as he sat down next to mattheo, who had returned from the library and crawled his solemn body back over to the alcohol table as per - surprisingly being the most sober out of all of us, curse his magnificent alcohol tolerance.

draco, onyx, blaise and magnora were now sleeping peacefully upon eachother, blaise resting against the backboard of one of the beds, onyx's head in his lap, and magnora's head in onyx's lap, draco splayed across all three of them.

saskia however, was sat on lorenzo's bed, making herself comfortable in the sheets, her hair tied into a loose presentation of a high bun, and by the looks of it, wearing one of lorenzo's navy crew necks.