The Neighbor Next Door

All I wanna do is go to a party

It was Saturday, and OJ was getting ready to go to what was pretty much an outdoor party. He was incredibly nervous, and he wasn't sure how he felt having to hang out with Salt tonight probably, but he was mostly going just to meet other people living in the neighborhood. That was his big reason. If he didn't like the vibe, or the people, he figured he'd just go home early. No shame or problem with that, surely. Right now, he was picking an outfit. It was going to be warm, so he just picked out the most casual thing he could think of, figuring that'd be good enough. Then, he texted his sister;

'You guys are still open to looking after the cherries right?'

'Yes. My kids are excited at the idea of a sleepover. Even if the people who usually show up are. Certainly something, I hope you enjoy yourself at that party. Stay safe.'

'I will text you if anything happens.'

'Okay, I'll bring them over soon, I've still got time until I want to show up. I'd rather be a bit late than super early.'

'Okay. We'll be waiting.', with a thumbs up emoji to end it.

The good thing about going to a party, is that he could once again put off thinking about his own feelings and just have fun tonight. This week had been a little tough on him after his friends had basically thrown him under the bus about how he felt-- which he didn't have any hard feelings towards any of them anymore for that, but he still had yet to really... Figure things out. He had work to distract him though, until today, which the party would help with that. Hopefully. MePhone wouldn't be there, so he didn't have to worry about thinking about him much tonight.

That's how he was going to go about it. It was thirty minutes later when he decided to head out, taking the Cherries with him over to his sister's house.

"See you tomorrow, dad! Have fun at the party!" Cher smiled as Ry headed into the house to go talk to Bot and Shimmer.

"Yeah, you guys have fun at your little sleepover." OJ just smiled back, Cher heading into the house, as TestTube moved to close the door.

"See you around. If anything goes wrong at that party, you can leave at any point. Just letting you know."

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry,"

"I know you're more social than I am, so it probably won't be a problem, but I still want to remind you."

"I'll be fine, TestTube. I promise."
She just gave a small nod, before the door shut completely.

That left him to head up the street. He didn't want to admit that he was slightly nervous, so he shoved that down. He was usually good at meeting new people. That's just a skill he's always had. A people pleaser that really likes to meet new people. This party should be great for that! But... He did wish at least someone he knew would be here. That would've probably helped. But none of the people he's close with are party people.

It didn't take him too long to see where everything was set up. It looked nice for an outdoor party. It was mostly contained to two yards, a table set up with closed off drinks and snacks to avoid bugs getting at them-- which OJ thought was pretty smart. There was someone with a boombox, standing around a small turntable on a table of its own, and a lot of colorful yard lights. It wasn't a big spectacle or anything, but it had a charming little vibe to it. There were also several people here. There was a short blonde guy standing by the snack table, talking to someone a little shorter than him with dark, almost black blue hair, there was a gray haired short guy talking to a bigger person with a baseball cap, and of course, he recognized Salt and who he assumed was Pepper, talking to a tall, buff guy with blonde hair. He decided maybe he'd head to those two first, not really knowing what else to do. Salt's focus fell on him immediately as he walked over.