At a little past three in the morning, EJ walks into Nini's room, now completely sober, worried about her. He leaves the door open a crack, walking quietly to the other side of the bed. There's a dim yellow light shining through from one of the bedside lamps. He's surprised to see Ricky on the floor, loosely holding her hand. His gaze flickers to Nini laying in Ricky's sweatshirt, covered in a duvet.
He gently taps his shoulder, watching him stir slightly. He opens his eyes a little. "Hey" EJ whispers "Ricky you should go sleep" he says, partly because he's a decent person who doesn't want Ricky to sleep on the floor, and partly because he's very protective of Nini.
A second later there's a faint crashing sound from downstairs, Ricky does not hear it. EJ repeats what he said earlier, quietly running out the room, closing the door behind him; assuming Ricky will make his way back to his room.
Ricky's in a daze, the only thing resonating from what EJ said being "sleep". He's so unaware of his surroundings, he stands up, wobbling to the other side of the bed, throwing his t-shirt and socks away into a pile on the floor, like reflex, crawling onto the bed, under the duvet. Falling asleep next to her, Something he had been consciously avoiding a few hours ago since they barely know each other, unsure how comfortable she would be; alas in his state of drowsiness, no such realization hits. Subconsciously, she curls into his chest, clinging to heat radiating off his skin.
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a few hours ago...
It's twenty minutes to midnight, everyone's drinking, Nini disappeared thirty minutes ago, she hadn't had much to drink, neither had Ricky, he disappeared a few minutes ago. Other than that, Big Red is the only seemingly sober person.
Also, no one seems to know where Seb is, which has Carlos very high-strung. He paces around Red, muttering in Spanish, calling Seb again and again.
Finally, a few minutes later, Carlos's phone rings. "I'm lost" Seb mutters, likely in confusion. Carlos rushes out, politely (perhaps not so, in panic) declining Red's offer to come help. He wanders the property aimlessly in the cold, Seb's voice cracking statically.
EJ and Gina seem to have completely forgotten anyone else exists, entirely wrapped up in their own little world. They're running around the house giggling and dancing and kissing and causing all sorts of drunken trouble for pure joy; they've taken particular joy in (stealing and) hiding items that are precious to their friends. This includes but is not limited to: both Ricky and Nini's guitars, Madi's sketchbook, all of Red's shoes, Carlos's skincare pouch, Ashlyn's records plus a random assortment of her clothes and jewelry and Seb's sweaters.
Somehow, no one has noticed what they're doing, everyone too preoccupied to care. Red thinks they've gone insane, five minutes ago he saw them shushing each other and giggling obnoxiously loudly, running from one room to another; he's pretty sure Gina had a ski mask on, he choses to ignore it. He saw them carrying Nini's backpack, which he carefully extracted from them (bribed them with fake money (they were too drunk to notice it was just plain paper)) because he knows Nini would rain down hellfire tomorrow if anything happened to it.
Maddox and Ashlyn are sitting on the couch, well on the couches opposite each other, awkwardly smiling at each other. They aren't really saying anything, occasionally they wave and blush uncontrollably, then they return to the gawking (also drunk). Red watches in amusement as everyone slowly loses their minds, he's texting his boyfriend.
Ashlyn runs up to him, vodka with orange juice in the cup in her hand. "Is Maddie look-looking at me?" Red raises his eyebrows, tilting to look behind Ash, Maddox turns red, coughing and giggling at the same time. "No" Big Red tells Ash, deciding to have fun with it "You're just a narcissist". Her face grows serious "oh my god what if she thinks I'm just a narcissist" she starts pacing.
