the last to leave the party - richozzy

ankles in your lap, heart in your hand

Ozzy usually didn't drink at parties.

Mostly, he sat around with his friends, occasionally dabbling in playing beer pong and playing babysitter to his friends - especially Kingston when he joined in.

But things were different tonight. He'd spent most of the week in an argument with Izzy - she had feelings for Heath, and Ozzy as much as he loathed to admit it, felt like a big brother betrayed. Heath and him were cool now, but that was his little sister...

In all honesty, it didn't matter who she had feelings for, Ozzy wasn't ready for this. On top of that, he felt as if his life was stagnant right now. Nothing new to expect. Even after the win from DanceMania. And that fucking sucked.

Hence why he was standing in the middle of Max Carpenter's kitchen, downing shots of vodka, one after the other when someone came in.

He heard the footsteps first, light and airy. Like a dancer he thought before rolling his eyes. He stared down at his shot before throwing it back, only to meet the eyes of someone he wouldn't have expected to see.

Richelle Ives. In the blood and flesh.

"Ozzy?" She asked and he looked at her, his heart pounding. What the hell was she doing here, he thought, but what came out of his mouth was completely different. "Richelle?"

It was like time was standing still as they stared at each other, Ozzy leaning against a counter, and Richelle standing in the doorframe of the kitchen.

"So-"

"So-!" They both started and Richelle fiddled with a strand of her hair nervously. "What, uh, what are you doing here?" Ozzy asked, and Richelle shrugged.

"I uh... don't have any homework or..." She looked at Ozzy, clearly nervous for some reason he couldn't quite figure out and she gulped before continuing, "or dance obviously so.... My um, my classmates invited me. You?"

Ozzy smiled at her, deciding to not focus on how nervous she seemed or how weird the situation was. "I have friends who go to your school who are on the lacrosse team. They called me up."

Richelle nodded. Ozzy went back to staring at his empty shot glass.

"Cool." She muttered. "Cool." He replied.

And then, like knights in shining armour, two boys, one dressed in a lacrosse jersey, the other hanging off of him, came into the kitchen, talking about someone having brought wine, and how it was the only alcohol Richelle would drink.

Ozzy hadn't even known that Richelle drank. Then again, before tonight, he hadn't even thought of doing so himself.

Richelle left with them, not bothering to say anything else to Ozzy and he watched her go.

Something in his heart clenched, like it wanted to break.

She wasn't his, he reminded himself. She never would be or had been.

&&&

When he woke up in the morning with not only a killer migraine but also the smell of vodka all over himself, Ozzy quite frankly regretted most of his life decisions. He managed to sit up, grabbing his phone, which thank God, was at 57% and also at the lowest possible brightness setting.

He quickly looked around, realizing he was in his own bedroom before turning his phone on properly and unlocking his call list. Sure enough there she was - his best friend (other than Kingston and Henry of course), Cori Pearce.

The call was at 11:45pm, and Ozzy vaguely remembered getting home at around 1 in the morning. Doing the math internally, he quickly came to the conclusion that Cori had probably picked him up.

He was so going to owe her. Sighing, he sat up before dialling her number.

"Hello?" She said and Ozzy rolled his eyes at her tone.

"So you got me home huh?" He asked and Cori snorted on the other side of the phone. "Hell yeah. Had to drag your drunk ass out. Some blonde chick kept staring at me the entire time. What's that about?"

Ozzy's heart skipped a beat and he shook his head despite knowing Cori couldn't see him. "Nothing. Just uh, just a girl from dance."

"Dance?" Cori asked before she squealed. "Oh my god, was that Richelle? Holy shit it was wasn't it?" Ozzy groaned, knowing his best friend was going to go on about this forever now. "Okay maybe it was. So what?"

"She was so jealous!" Cori respect, clearly pleased with herself. "Maybe you actually have a chance Oswald!"

Ozzy rolled his eyes once again. "No I don't. She was probably just wondering who the hell you are. It doesn't matter anyways. Pretty sure she has a boyfriend again. I didn't catch his name, but he's one of the lacrosse dudes."

Cori went silent for a moment before speaking again. "Brown hair, always wearing a flannel, tall as hell?" She asked and Ozzy paused before responding. "Um.... Yeah?"

"That's Grayson love. He's very very gay and he has a boyfriend. A boyfriend who is in my social class."

Oh. Ozzy thought. Well then.

"Okay, well she still isn't interested in me." He could practically hear Cori's eye roll on the other side. "Oh my god, stop being such a fucking downer Lombardi-Romolo. God damn."

Ozzy shrugged before replying. "I'm not being a downer. I'm just telling the truth." Cori sighed. "Y'know what? I'm not even doing this. I'll see you at school tomorrow Oz."

"Wait-" Before he could say anything else, Cori had hung up on him. "Damn." He mumbled to himself.

His phone buzzed in his hand. A message in the group chat he had with some of his old lacrosse friends.

ethanwatty: party at claire's tmmwr after school?

Ozzy paused for a moment before responding.

ozzylr_: hell yeah

He might as well have fun right?