psycho | jaeden lieberher

six

The party started at 8, so we were purposefully fashionably late. Jack picked us up, along with Maddie in the passenger seat, so the four of us walk into Noah Schnapp's house together. We separate within the first 5 seconds of entering, as always. Maddie goes to the kitchen, and while waiting for his girlfriend to return with drinks Jack finds his friends in the living room. Lilia tells me she will find me later if I need to be found, and goes off to the back porch because that's where the music is loudest. And I am left alone to go find Finn.

I check the living room, kitchen, and bathroom line, to find nothing but people I'm not looking for. That means there is only one place left to check; the basement. Despite the "do not enter" sign on the door, the basement is always in use. Due to the lack of windows, it's the smoking room. It's invite only, but since I'm the guy-who-thought-of-the-usage-for-the-room's girlfriend I'm always invited. 

I open the door quickly and rush in so no unwanted guests think they can come in, the rush down the stairs and enter the dimly lit room. The couch and multiple bean bag chairs are almost all being filled by people, but I manage to find Finn sitting on the couch with Noah. "Hey, baby." I say, walking up to him and sitting on the arm of the couch beside him. 

"Oh, hey, C." He sighs, blowing cigarette smoke out of his mouth slowly. Out of all the terrible things teenagers do now-a-days, Finn's favorite has always been cigarettes. And from being around him so often, it has slowly turned into mine too. 

"What's wrong?" I ask, not able to ignore the fact that he called me C, the name he always calls me when he isn't in the mood to talk to me. 

"It's just, it's kinda guys night down here." He gestures to the rest of the room, and he is right, it's all guys. 

"Oh, sorry I didn't know." I fake smile. "I'll go upstairs, no worries." 

He puts his hand on my chin and pulls my face lower and lightly kisses my lips, the way he knows I love. "Thanks, babe. Keep it." He hands me the cigarette he was smoking. I say thanks, and walk upstairs while taking the longest drag I've taken in a while. I close the basement door behind me, and walk to the backyard to find Lilia. 

"I though you were quitting?" Lilia says when I sit next to her on the porch. She wasn't alone, she was with some kids I recognize from the musical, but I don't care at this point, I need her.

"Finn gave it to me." I say putting the cigarette against my lips. Lucky for me, I haven't gotten addicted to anything, even cigarettes. Most of the time when I'm smoking it's because of Finn, and the other times it's because I found one of Finn's in my room or my purse and decided not to waste it. Lilia just nods, understanding that I was with Finn but got pushed away. "It's boys night, it's fine." I say, letting her know that I wasn't actually being shunned by Finn and that he had a reason.

"I don't know what lame guys would rather have boys night then hang with a girl." A voice says from far behind Lilia. I notice now that one of those kids from the musical she was sitting with was none other than Jaeden Lieberher. I lean over, to look past all the other people and make dead eye contact with Lieberher.

"Well maybe if you frequently hung with a girl you'd understand." I huff out with the smoke. 

He laughs. "Wanna go get a drink?"