Hazed and Confused

Going Out Swinging

As it turns out, a little post-darty nap was exactly what I needed to pull myself together enough to make it out to the party tonight, much to JJ's excitement. Allison and I had walked into the party about fifteen minutes ago, and he had immediately found me and demanded that I play pong with him. I watched in disappointment as the opposing team sank their final ball into the cup, beating us by a landslide.

"Bruh, what happened, man?" JJ sighed, disappointed. I giggled at him and apologized, sipping my drink. We lost terribly, and i'll admit it was a rather poor showing of my beer pong skills.

"I have to go to the bathroom," I announced, and pulled Allison up the steps and into the bathroom. I shut the door behind us and locked it, and immediately threw my hands up in frustration.

"Dude, I don't get it. We snap all the time, he always gets so excited to see me, but yet he hasn't made a move. I don't understand," I ranted as Allison listened.

"Maybe he's shy," Allison offered, and I looked at her unimpressed. She shrugged.

"What? I don't know, he's a frat boy, they're weird."

I sighed and opened the door, and we made our way back to the party. Upon getting to the bottom of the steps, we encountered Carson. I rolled my eyes and tried to escape his gaze, but it was too late and he saw me. He smirked and looked me up and down, and I felt a chill go down my spine.

"Hey, Cassidy," he shouted over the music. I gave him a half smile and went to walk away, but he grabbed my arm and turned me around.

"Get your hands off of me," I snapped. Normally, I wouldn't have said anything, but I was still drunk from earlier and the alcohol was making me feel more and more confrontational as I continued to add more to my system.

"C'mon, Cass, gimme a chance. You looked so hot at the darty today, and clearly we can't get enough of each other. I see you all the time."

I rolled my eyes in disgust.

"Carson, where the fuck is this coming from? We've, like, barely talked," I asked, snatching my arm back from the boy. He suddenly grabbed me by my waist, and I heard Allison shriek.

"Get OFF!" I yelped, shoving him back. Carson stumbled backwards against the wall. Apparently that just pissed him off because he shoved off the wall and went to grab for me again, but was stopped by a figure tapping him on the shoulder from behind. He turned, and was immediately dropped to the floor by a swinging right hook, given to him by none other than JJ.

"She said no, bro," JJ gritted out while standing over top of Carson, who was still laying on the ground. JJ then grabbed my hand and guided me over Carson's groaning body.

"Are you good?" he asked quietly, and I nodded.

"Thank you," I whispered, and he rubbed my shoulder gently. I looked up to meet his eyes, and we held soft eye contact for a moment before our attentions were turned toward Allsion, who was still standing over Carson screaming at him.

"Wanna go outside?" JJ asked, and I nodded. I let him lead me up the steps and into the back yard, over towards a porch swing that was hanging from a lone tree on the side yard. We both took a seat, and sat in a casual silence for a moment.

"Cass," JJ finally muttered, running a hand through his hair. I turned to him with a quizzical look, making eye contact. He shyly looked away, and ran his hand through his hair again.

"I wanted to talk to you."