In the shadows of philosophy

Nihilism

"Who is hosting the party?" Nathan asked as he and Leon walked up to the, almost castle like, house where the party was being held. You could hear the beating of music from the other side of the street. 

"You know... I have no idea" Leon grinned. 

Nathan shook his head at his friend before knocking loudly on the front door. It took a minute before the door swung open and a girl, who neither of them had met before, came leapt at them for a hug. Nathan had just enough time to step back and avoid the drunk girl's ambush. Luckily, Leon didn't mind catching her and helping her inside.

The inside of the house was even more impressive than the outside. The entry hall consisted of a wide marble staircase with a red carpet running down, ceramic floor tiles with an almost flower like pattern on,  a zebra skin carpet on the floor, several animal heads displayed on the wall running along the stairs, a sitting area with two chairs and a small table that had almost animal like wooden legs and a large marble and gold chandelier hanging over it all. 

Nathan stared at it all in awe for a while, before being pulled along to the living room by his friend. The moment they stepped inside, a wave of loud music and warm, sweaty air hit them. The room was so crowded, Nathan didn't even get a chance to look around before getting submerged in the crowd along with Leon. They gave each other a look and immediately knew what it meant.. They needed something to drink asap. Leon looked around for a bit before worming his way through the crowd. 

Nathan took a deep breath and proceeded to scan the room for anyone he might know. Luckily he was tall enough, that he towered over most people in the room, which gave him a great vantage point, but he didn't find much, apart from a few people he had briefly spoken to or seen walking around campus before. 

In his overwhelmed state, he decided to find the closest person he remotely knew, which was a blond boy with blue eyes, wearing glasses and a white university sweater, who also seemed to be standing alone. he was a bit shorter than Nathan. He had seen the boy before in most of his classes, but never really spoken to him. 

"I've seen you before, haven't I?!" Nathan shouted, to get heard over the loud music.
The boy looked up at him now and smiled.

"philosophy! correct?" He responded

Nathan nodded excitedly. 
"My name is Nathan!" He said.

"Nice to properly meet you!" he laughed. "I'm James."
They smiled at each other, before being seperated by the crowd.

luckily Leon found him again soon after, with 2 shot glasses and a beer for each of them. The shot glasses had been emptied halfway on Leon's trip back from the bar, but neither of them really cared and they downed the shots while trying not to make a face. 

Nathan handed his empty glasses back over to his friend, before bringing his face near Leon's ear. "I'm going to run outside for a minute, I'll be back in a bit." he said.

... 

James had waited about 20 minuted by the front door before his acquaintance arrived. 
He showed up with about 5 other people with him and they all seemed drunk already..

"You're here!" James hooted with a somewhat unsure smile on his face. 
"and you had a pre-party yay!" he muddled to himself quickly after.

"Yes, James! This is the group, group, James!" He introduced "What are we waiting for? let's get inside and partyyyy"

James reluctantly followed the group inside, but had lost his friend before even arriving in the living room, where he stood to look around for a bit. He didn't know many people here, probably because most parties he went to, weren't like this, they would be more.. civil.. the room was crowded and dark and you could barely move around. Most of James' friends, like him, enjoyed get togethers quite a lot, but they preferred being able to communicate with one another when they did.

James had stood in the doorway for a bit when he suddenly got pushed into the crowd by an annoyed drunk girl, trying to get in. Before he knew it, he too got submerged by the crowd. He decided to stay for a bit longer and see if perhaps he would be able to make some new friends, so he didn't mind when one of the people he had seen walk around campus suddenly introduced himself to James.

It was a tall guy with a slim body and dark curly hair. He wore a black shirt with a dark corduroy jacket over. He had rolled up sleeves, that revealed part of a tattoo on his arm, but James couldn't make out what it was in this lighting. Before he knew it, they got separated again and he was alone.. again..

He looked around the room again to see if he could find the group he came in with, but still no luck. "So much for staying with me.." he thought to himself.
What he DID see, was the boy he just met, walking towards the garden door. So in the spirit of meeting new people, he decided to follow.