My Salad Days ch 5

[sinful-teddy.livejournal.com]

Title: 'My Salad Days (Green In Judgement, Cold In Blood)' Chapter 5 of probably lots.
Author: sinful_teddy
Rating: PG
Pairing: Tiny bit of Ry/Col that will become the main pairing (getting closerrrr!). Verrrrry even slighterer one-sided Brad/Greg that's only there if you squint real hard or if you're looking for it. (Thanks for always looking, Nade. n___n) Greg/OC. Wayne/OC. Eensy beginnings of Greg/Jeff. A bit of one-sided Drew/Laura. There-if-you-squint-or-you're-looking one-sided Denny/Drew.
Summary: It's senior student Colin's first day at a new high school in America. He never made any good friends at his last school - will this one be different? Of course it will, stupid. Colin meets some new people he feels like he could fit in with. He is intrigued by Ryan, the shy and awkward junior. WHERE WILL IT LEAD. /lame summary orz
In this chapter, the party starts off, and there are a few more guests than Colin anticipated. Colin gets Ryan alone. (No, pervs, none of that. ...YET.)
Warnings: High school AU. Some self-inserts of me and my sister that are purely for our amusement. Colin with hair (o: wtf).
Notes: I FAIL with proof-reading, so if you spot any mistakes or inconsistencies, would you would point them out to me! c:

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NOTES ON GRADES AND AGES

Sophomores
Jeff, 15
Wayne, 16
Rowan, 16

Juniors
Kathy, 16
Brad, 16
Chip, 16
Denny, 17
Ryan, 17
Greg, 17

Seniors
Laura, 17
Karen, 18
Sinead, 18
Drew, 18
Colin, 18

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CHAPTER FIVE: The Party - part I

Colin’s mum dropped him off at Drew’s house at almost exactly six o’clock. “Have fun,” she called out to him as he got out of the car, gathering his overnight things. “I’ll come and get you some time between eleven and twelve.”

“I know,” Colin replied, with a weary smile.

“Call me if anything changes!”

“Bye, mum,” Colin said. They waved to each other, but she waited until Colin had rung the doorbell and been greeted by Drew before she pulled out of the driveway and drove off.

“Hey man,” said Drew ebulliantly, standing aside for Colin to come in. Drew checked his watch as Colin walked past him into the house. “Wow, right on time!”

“Yeah, my mum’s very punctual...” Colin said, shrugging good-humouredly at Drew’s amused face. “So is it just us yet?”

“No, Brad’s here too. You think your mum likes to be on time, hoo boy!” Drew placed his palm between Colin’s shoulderblades, guiding him towards the lounge, where Brad was reclining. “Tell Colin when you got here, Brad!” said Drew.

Brad looked up and shook his head as he spoke. “Twenty to six,” he sad mournfully, causing Colin to raise his eyebrows and Drew to chuckle heartily.

“I was in the shower!” proclaimed Drew, who obviously found this highly amusing. “Come on, Colin, you can put your stuff in my room. I’ll show you there.”

Colin followed him through the kitchen and dining room to a long stretch of a hallway. A few doors to the left was where Drew slept. They went inside and Colin dumped his things beside Drew’s bed, looking around. Drew’s bedroom was unkempt on the surface, but actually seemed to be well-organised. It was certainly full of things. Action figures on a shelf, posters of cars, girls and movies on the walls, and piles of comic books in boxes lining the bottom of his open cupboard.

“Nice room,” said Colin, and he meant it, though Drew looked unsure. “Actually, your whole house is nice,” Colin commented as the two of them made the walk back to the lounge room. Large, lushly furnished and ornately decorated, the Carey household certainly suggested wealth.

“Thanks,” said Drew vaguely. “I’ll tell mum you said that, she’ll love it.”

They sat down with Brad on the couch. Brad had opened a packet of crisps and was munching on some.

“Hey, where’d you find those? Gimme them,” said Drew, taking a handful.

“They were just in the cupboard, I figured they were fair game,” said Brad, grinning devilishly.

“You thief!” Drew took the time to poke his tongue out before hoeing into the crisps in his hand. Brad offered Colin the rest of the packet. Colin thanked him, but only took a few.

Mostly due to Drew, the crisps were nearly finished by the time the doorbell rang again. All three boys got up to see who it was, and it was Wayne, Chip and Jeff who appeared in the doorway. They had evidently carpooled.

“Wow, this looks fun,” Wyne deadpanned, looking at the crisp packet.

“Shut up, you can’t start a proper party with three people,” said Drew, poking Wayne’s shin with his foot. He and Wayne grinned at each other.

“Well we can start it now!” exclaimed Chip, pushing past the others and bounding into the room. “Music! Booze! Let’s do it! Yeah!” Wayne, laughing, hopped in after him and the two of them ran and bounced around the room like maniacs. Colin and Brad looked at each other and laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, just don’t break anything,” Drew said, shaking his head fondly before turning back to Jeff. “Hey man, glad you made it.”

“Yeah,” said Jeff, a little stiffly, but he smiled. Colin caught his eye and gave him a friendly look, which he seemed to appreciate.

The next to arrive was Laura Hall, a shy-looking girl who was in the band with Sinead and Rowan. Colin was surprised to see her, having thought that the sisters were the only girls coming.

“So, I invited a few more girls!” said Drew, when Colin brought it up.

“I told my mum Sinead and Rowan were the only girls coming,” Colin said, wondering what she’d say if she knew there were single girls at the party as well.

“Oh well, it’s no big,” said Drew absently, watching Laura struggle with her apparently heavy bags. “Here, wait, let me,” he said, and hurried to help her carry them.

‘I see,’ thought Colin, grinning after them. ‘Kinda cute, really.’

“Pathetic, right?” laughed Brad, seeing where Colin was looking.

“I think it’s sweet,” Colin said, though fairly certain Brad was joking.

“Yeah, best of luck to ’im, I say.” The doorbell rang again and Brad turned to answer the door.

Kathy Greenwood from Drama was there, along with Karen Maruyama, who Colin had never even heard of until now. They both turned out to be bundles of energy and were soon dancing along with Chip and Wayne to the loud music Drew put on the stereo.

Denny Siegel, a girl who Colin had previously only known by face, got there very soon after. She greeted Drew by punching him in the shoulder; he reciprocated the strangely affectionate act by pretending it hurt.

Rowan and Sinead arrived when it was nearly seven. Apparently they were late to everything, and that certainly seemed to be true of school, at least. They took a moment to say hi and deliver surprisingly fierce bear hugs to everyone in the vicinity, then Sinead stayed and chatted with Colin and Brad while Rowan ran into the lounge and started dancing on the sofa with Wayne.

That left only Greg and Ryan. They ended up arriving together, Ryan still with that nasty bruise, though it seemed to have paled since a few days ago, which was promising. Greg strode into the room and greeted Drew with a hug, Sinead with a kiss and Jeff with a wink before leading Sinead over to dance with the others. Brad watched them go with a half-vacant, totally unfathomable expression.

Meanwhile, Ryan had said hello to Drew and made fleeting eye contact with Colin before shuffling past him to put his overnight things in Drew’s room. Colin’s mouth remained open from the greeting he had not been given a chance to say, and he went after Ryan, determined not to be avoided or ignored.

“Ryan,” he said, upon marching into Drew’s bedroom.

“Col,” said Ryan, straightening up.

Colin’s lip quirked. ‘He called me that outside the guidance counsellor’s office, too... Maybe I should call him “Ry”?’

“What’s up?” said Ryan quizzically. He seemed perfectly casual now, so why did Colin get the impression he felt awkward before?

“Er... Drew told me about...” Colin blushed very slightly, deciding it would be best to close the door. After doing that he walked over to Ryan and sat himself down on Drew’s unmade bed. Ryan took this as a cue to sit down beside him. “Told me that you’re, y’know.” Ryan raised his eyebrows expectantly. “Gay,” Colin finished, not meeting Ryan’s eyes. He had a feeling Ryan knew what he was going to say, and just wanted to hear Colin finish that sentence.

“So?” said Ryan defensively, folding his arms.

“Well, there was a bit of a misunderstanding I think,” said Colin sheepishly, becoming shyer and shyer under Ryan’s hard gaze. “What I said to those guys about you being straight, I... I didn’t know, but I shouldn’t have assumed...” He sighed, dissatisfied with the way he was putting this. “Sorry,” he said finally, and met Ryan’s eyes, their brilliant green momentarily stunning his own dark, stormy blues. Colin saw that Ryan’s expression had softened, though he seemed to be waiting for Colin to elaborate.

“Ah, I don’t have a problem with you -- or anyone -- being gay. I didn’t mean to come across like that,” Colin tried, shrugging. He wasn’t sure there was anywhere else he could go with an explanation; that was pretty much all there was to it.

“It’s OK,” said Ryan, who had started to smile now. “And thanks. I’m glad. You’re a real nice guy and I’d hate to have to lose your friendship for something like that.” Colin cocked his head and smiled back, surprised but pleased.

‘Now while I’ve got you here...’ But what exactly should he say? There must be a simple way of turning this into a talk about Ryan. But just at that moment, Wayne threw open the door, and he and Karen barged inside, peering around curiously. Karen’s face lit up when she saw Ryan and Colin sitting together on the bed.

“What are you guys doing in here?” asked Wayne.

“Just talking,” said Ryan simply, which was indeed all they had been doing, but for some reason it sounded like a lie to Colin. He nodded anyway.

“Come out here and have a drink or something,” said Wayne.

“Oh, alright,” said Ryan, rolling his eyes. “Let’s go then.”

“Coming, Ry,” said Colin, holding back his inner, unexplainable glee at using that name. He stood up and followed the others back into the lounge room.