easy to hate || gawsten

four

otto's car pulled into awsten's driveway as the blue-haired boy walked out of the house and towards otto's car.

"you sure you wanna go to the party, aws?" otto asked as soon as awsten got in and shut the car door.

"of course i am, you've asked me this five times since school ended," awsten responded playfully. otto rolled his eyes.

"you seem a lot more enthusiastic than you did this morning," otto pointed out.

"i guess i'm just excited for the party." awsten shrugged.

geoff's words rang through his head once they were spoken to him. something about the way he acted that class period was attractive to awsten. very attractive.

however, the chance of them interacting or even seeing each other was small. jawn had gotten better meaning that the two would be attending together as friends like they always did. nonetheless, awsten still wanted to see him.

"alright, whatever you say," otto said as he backed out of the driveway and headed on the way to jack's home.

since the party was the night before friday, he didn't expect things to get too intense. school was the day after and there was no chance anyone would want to stay behind. if too many people didn't show up, wouldn't it be obvious?

awsten plugged the aux cord into his phone and started playing music. awsten and otto listened to the same music so there was no fighting over the aux or arguing over which songs were shit and which were not.

"how far are we?" awsten asked.

"ten minutes, not far," otto answered.

jack didn't live around the neighborhood awsten and otto lived in. his house was big and so were the rest of the houses in his neighborhood, and they were all spread out too. a perfect location for a high school party.

moments passed and the two exited the car and made their way towards the front door. they didn't even have to knock once for the door to be opened by jack.

"hey you two! it's about time y'all showed up," he greeted them before pulling the pair inside.

the rooms were dark with the exception of colorful lights barely illuminating the place. music was blasting and people were all over the house.

"treat yourself to anything you like, you two already know where the bathrooms are. oh, and awsten, avoid the red punch." jack winked before heading off. awsten immediately knew what jack meant.

awsten never drank. he was a straightedge type of guy, contrasting from everyone else he knew. otto was a light drinker when it came to parties, while jack would completely black out. jack typically told awsten straightforward which bowls of punch had alcohol in it, but it seemed like jack already gotten into some of it for him to properly tell awsten. he didn't mind it, though. besides, a party's a party.

"i'm gonna try some of that red punch jack mentioned, you gonna follow or..?" otto trailed off. awsten shrugged.

"i think i'm just gonna look for other people i know," awsten told him.

"alright, i'll meet you sometime somewhere then." otto waved before walking away. awsten waved back before making his own way to wherever the hell his feet would take him.

"awsten! dude, i didn't think i'd see you here!" alex called out before running up to the blue-haired boy.

"yeah, hey! jack didn't tell you?" awsten asked. alex shook his head.

"nah, i just figured since geoff found out that you wouldn't be here," he answered. awsten held back a laugh.

"hell no, i wouldn't miss one of jack's parties for the world." he shook his head.