The Middle | ✔️

Chapter 79

Jamie

I'm standing by the punch bowl, casually tipping the contents of my hip flask into it. I brought vodka, since it's clear. I'd have preferred Jack, but that would have muddied the punch. So, vodka it is. I don't care, of course. Any alcohol will do tonight. Because I really don't wanna be here at all. If it weren't for how much I wanna see Fall Out Boy, I would have bailed.

After I managed to stop crying over Noah and Madison earlier, my day pretty much went like this. I got up off the floor, I took a long bath. I counted the tiles on the ceiling of my bathroom. That was fun. I walked Benji, skipped dinner, then the guys came over. We all got ready for the dance together, Patrick drove us over to campus, we entered the ballroom, I headed for the punch bowl, and here I am. Exciting, huh?

I look like a fucking princess, but I feel like a frog. I'm upset, and I am not in the mood to be wearing a white wedding dress at all. I wish I hadn't let Kim and Aubrey talk me into buying it, but they said I looked amazing, so I went for it. I was gonna wear heels, you know? But fuck that. I'm wearing a pair of converse with the dress, which is fine, you can't see my feet anyway. I curled my hair, put on same make-up, ditched my glasses, and yeah, I guess you could say I look pretty tonight. Patrick, Joel and Jay said I look pretty, anyway. But I feel ugly. And that's what matters.

"You done spiking the punch?" Jay asks me with a smile. The guys haven't realised there's anything wrong with me. I'm putting on a good front. I guess it's easier when you feel so numb. And they know I hate dances, so any detection of moodiness will be put down to that.

"Yeah, I wanna hang around here though. Keep a low profile." I tell him, before ladeling some punch into a red cup and downing it in one.

"Slow down, J2. Leave some for the rest of us." Patrick says. He looks good tonight, as always. He's dressed as a werewolf, and for whatever reason, he looks hot as a werewolf. Jay looks pretty good as Satan too. These boys really piss me off with their flawless good looks.

"Where's Joel?" I ask. No sign of the skeleton. I'm pretty sure he chose that costume because it came with a full face skeleton mask. He can hide his good looks from all the girls who usually hit on him. Great. His secret new girl that he's been seeing can relax for one night.

"Who knows." Patrick says, helping himself to some punch and looking around the ballroom.

We came on time, which is early. I didn't really want to, because I have no interest in the support act, I'm just here for Fall Out Boy. But the guys wanted to, and I had no good reason not to. I was ready, so we left. The ballroom is huge, and the faculty have gone all out on the Halloween decorations. There are chains strewn across the roof, bats hanging upside down in the corners, jack o lanterns on every table, dry ice to create a creepy vibe. I like it. I love Halloween, and this is seriously cool. Shame I'm not in a better mood. I could have really enjoyed this night.

The support band are currently playing on stage, and some people are dancing out on the dance floor. Like I said, I'm only here for Fall Out Boy. So I'll stay at the back of the room, next to the punch bowl, with all the round tables and decorations creating distance between me and the door leading out into the hallway. I do not wanna be visible when people walk in here. Mostly because I don't wanna see Noah. When Fall Out Boy come on, I'll get out there. But not a minute sooner.

The lighting is dark and ominous, which is good. It's harder to see people this way. And it's a costume party of course, which is awesome, because it's very fucking hard to tell who anyone is. I know Aubrey is dressing up as Juliet, so she'll be easy enough to recognise. Kim is dressing up as a zombie cheerleader, so she could be harder to spot because she'll be covered in fake blood. I'm excited to see her, actually. She'll look cool.

I have no idea what Noah is going as tonight, which is fucking fine by me. I don't wanna look out for him. I don't wanna spot him in the crowd. I don't wanna see him, full stop. So I'll hang around back here, drinking my punch and fading into the wallpaper. Hopefully.

"You wanna go check these guys out?" Jay asks, looking towards the stage. I don't. I really don't.

"I'm good here." I say, at the same time Patrick says "Nah..."

Some girl in an extremely slutty bunny costume has approached the punch bowl. She keeps looking at Patrick out of the corner of her eye. He's acting extremely cool, not giving her any attention at all. But I know he's noticed her. That's why he doesn't wanna move.

"Whatever. Ash Crawford is over there, he's dressed as a doctor for fuck sake." Jay laughs. Ash is in his guitar class. "I'm gonna go talk to him. Catch up with you guys in a bit."

Jay wonders off through the sea of kids out on the dancefloor, and I raise an eyebrow at Patrick as bunny girl starts tossing her hair around and coughing, clearly trying to attract attention to herself. He completely ignores her. Right, he's alone with me.

"Dude, it's fine. Get on with it." I say, cocking my head towards the slutty bunny.

"Nope. Jamie comes first." He smiles at me and sips his punch.

"Jay is right over there, and Joel's around. I'm good, seriously." I assure him.

"No." He says, still smiling at me. God damn it, I wouldn't mind sulking around over here on my own, to be honest.

"Oops, sorry." The bunny says, as she accidentally bumps into Patrick whilst turning away from the punch table.

"All good." He says, barely even glancing down at her.

"Why don't you take him to dance?" I blurt out, with a big fake smile. Just leave me alone.

"Sure." She shrugs her shoulders at Patrick and he frowns at me. He'll thank me for this later, when he's cumming down the bunnies throat in his car in the parking lot.

He rolls his eyes at me as the bunny takes him by the hand and drags him off to the dancefloor. Awesome. Alone at last. I refill my cup from the punch bowl, and back myself up against the wall. I wanna be invisible. I wanna be at home in my pyjamas eating ice cream. But I will not let Noah Adams stop me from seeing one of my favourite bands tonight. Fuck him. I'll stand here and drink, I'll watch Fall Out Boy, then I'll go home. This will be okay. There will be no drama tonight. Fucking none...