Hold My Heart (Scomiche AU)

7: Party

 It was fifteen minutes past seven, and Mitch was freaking out. He was supposed to be at Scott's door almost half an hour earlier, and they were both supposed to be at Esther and Candice's place at seven, sharp. Esther, who was just as stingy about punctuality as Avi (it must have run in the family), would so not be pleased with Mitch.

Mitch was just pulling on a pair of black boots when he heard a tentative knock at his door. "Sh*t," he muttered, dropping the laces of his right boot and rushing over to the door, wrenching it open to find himself face-to-face with a hesitant-looking Scott.

"Sorry," Scott said shyly, "I didn't want to bother you, but I wasn't sure if--I don't know, you said 6:45, so--"

"No, no," Mitch cut him off hurriedly. "You're fine. I'm just running a little late, sorry. Come in, do you want water or anything?"

A small smirk appeared on Scott's lips. "I'm beginning to sense a pattern here," he commented with a laugh. "But no, I'm good. Oh, I have something for you."

Mitch looked up, his breath hitching when he spotted the small bouquet of purple tulips that Scott was holding out to him. "Tulips," he breathed, his eyes wide, one hand flying up to his mouth as the other took the flowers from Scott's gentle grip. "They're beautiful. Thank you."

Scott grinned, a look almost akin to pride in his eyes. "I went to your friend Avi's shop to get some flowers for our hosts tonight--which was lucky, I guess, since Avi said that one of them is his sister, so he knew exactly what I should get them--and he mentioned that you love tulips, so..."

Mitch could barely breathe. Not only had Scott gone out of his way to get flowers for Mitch's friends--which might even be enough to get Esther to forgive their lateness--but he had gotten flowers for Mitch. His favorite flowers, too. Mitch could hardly remember the last time anyone had brought him flowers--it must have been one of his very first dates with not his last boyfriend, but the one before. It had been years. And here Scott was, looking handsome and perfect, handing him a bouquet of his favorite flowers with that smile sitting on his lips. Mitch didn't date anymore--he seemed to have to remind himself of that fact more than usual when Scott was around--but god, Scott was so easy to like, and Mitch could feel his heart slipping a little more with every passing second, in grave danger of falling at any moment.

"Thank you," Mitch repeated, a soft smile on his lips. "Let me just put these in water, and then we should get going. We're so late; Esther's going to absolutely kill me."

Mitch quickly filled a pitcher--it'd have to do as a makeshift vase for the moment--with water and put the tulips in it, setting it on his kitchen counter. With that, the two boys were out the door and en route to the party, making casual conversation about Scott's job and Mitch's recent Netflix favorites along the way. They reached the apartment just after 7:30, Mitch looking at his watch and groaning as they approached the door.

"Esther's literally going to murder me," he said in despair, scowling at Scott's amused expression. "Don't laugh," he whined. "I'm too young to die."

"I won't let her kill you, don't worry," Scott said with a laugh, wrapping one arm around Mitch protectively and using the other to knock on the door they had halted in front of. The vague smell of a good meal wafted out from under the door, and the boys could hear faint pop music playing from inside, but there didn't appear to be many people around, as the volume was still at a soft hum. "Besides, it looks like we're earlier than most people."

"Maybe I f*cked up the times," Mitch mused softly, but he pasted a smile on his face and went silent as the door flew open, revealing an overly-cheery Esther.