AN: Just an AU that popped into my head. It was going to be titled College Days but they all kept saying "No regrets" so yeah. Hope you like!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Alternate pineapples!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alex rolled her eyes when Carlton entered her room. He was in his usual suit outfit, complete with a tie. She knew he owned a pair of jeans and a t-shirt because she was the one who had gotten them for him. He walked to her side and picked up the streamers she had spread on her bed.
"Babe," she said, taking the papers out of his hand and putting them aside. "What the hell are you wearing?"
"What?" he asked looking down at his clothes. "I thought you liked this tie."
"I love that tie," Alex replied. She ran her fingers over the dark blue silk before she undid the knot and slipped it off. "But this is a party. Do you know how terrible I would feel if it got ruined? And take off the jacket." Then she undid the top two buttons. "Relax. Okay?"
Carlton hesitated for a moment before shrugging out of his jacket. Alex took it and went to her closet to hang the jacket and tie up to keep them safe.
"Spencer, is that my shirt?" Carlton asked in surprise.
Alex glanced at the item in question. "Huh. Indeed it is, Lassie. I keep forgetting to give it back to you."
"Keep it," he said. If he remembered correctly, she looked good in it. "Spencer," he started, following her into the main room of the sorority house. "We should be studying for the test."
"Dude, the test isn't until Tuesday. We have all weekend and Monday to study." The guy may be her best friend, but he damn sure could be a joy kill. "If our brains aren't complete mush tomorrow, we'll study then. Promise."
Carlton watched his best friend of the past three years fix up room for the party. He didn't know why he had agreed to it, but sometimes there just was no arguing with Alex Spencer. "Fine," he said, taking the pink streamer from her hand and sticking it high up on the wall.
Alex grinned at the placement. All the ones she had put up were about a foot and half lower. "So," she said, skipping to the coffee table and digging through her bag of decorations. "My cousin and his bff are coming. The guy loves pineapple. So, I got these little pineapple paper thingies, and I was wondering if you'd hang them up? Given you're so much taller than me?"
Carlton shrugged and took the decorations and the roll of tape. "I invited Juliet."
"Awesome! I can't wait to meet her!"
After they had set up and Alex had gotten all the drinks on the kitchen counter, the first of the guests started showing up. Carlton tried to take his best friend's advice and relax, but he was just naturally tense. Alex, a drink in each hand, sidled up to him and leaned against the wall. She handed him one of the glasses of scotch, and grinned when he immediately took a drink. Alex downed her own scotch and set the glass on the floor.
"Give me your arm," she commanded.
Carlton reluctantly did as he was told and Alex rolled up the sleeves of his white button down shirt. When she motioned for his other arm, he held it up so she could roll up that sleeve, too.
"Much better!" she said with a grin and picked her empty glass up. "Seriously, though. You need to chill. This is a party."
"College isn't all about partying, Spencer."
"Christ, twenty-one going on forty-seven much?"
Carlton stared at Alex. "That doesn't even make sense."
"Of course it does. We're twenty-one. We should party. Besides, we're going to be cops one day."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Everything! We could get our asses shot off by some crazy bad guy! I can't see when we're going to die." She waited a moment to see if he was going to go into his "psychics aren't real" spiel. Sure, she wasn't really a psychic but it only took one ill-chosen phrase to make everybody think that. When he didn't, she continued. "Life isn't set in stone, and there are many paths. All I know is one day we will die, but there's so much that can happen between then and now that I don't know when that day will be. All I ask is that you relax and have fun while there is still a today. Please, Carlton. I want us to die without regrets."
Alex was serious only on special occasions, and this was the most serious she had been since she had asked if they were friends. Sometimes, she got on his nerves with her shenanigans and whatnot, but he knew she could drop the act in an instant and be the mature woman standing next to him now.
"Fine. No regrets."
"Thank you," she smiled softly and gave him a hug. "Now," she said all her playfulness back. "Where the hell are our people?"
Carlton looked at all the college students in the sorority house. "Hell if I know."
Shawn Spencer and his bff, Burton "Gus" Guster," stared up at the house. Gus checked the address again.
"I think this is the place. It matches what Alex told us."
"Shawn, we're going to be the only two here who are still in high school."
"But Alex invited us."
"If this is the wrong place, we'll get kicked out."
"Don't be a box of baking chocolate. We'll just pop in there, see if it's the right place, and party like there's no tomorrow."
Gus glared at his best friend. "Don't be a box of baking chocolate? You know that can be considered racist since I'm black, right?"
"Gus, Alex called you a delicious chocolate chip and you had no problem with that."
"Alex isn't you, Shawn."
"I've heard it both ways."
"No you haven't, Shawn."
Their argument was cut short when a blond girl they recognized from their school came up to them. "Shawn and Gus, right?"
"Yeah, that's us," Gus replied, confused.
"Hey, you're Juliet. From our English class," Shawn said with a grin.
"Yeah," Juliet replied with her own grin. "So what are you two doing here?"
"Oh, my cousin invited us to this party."
"Really? Wait, is your cousin a girl named Alex?"
"That would be her."
Alex had managed to drag Carlton to the "dance floor" with the help of a few more glasses of scotch.
"Come on, Lassie! Dance!"
"This isn't dancing, Spencer."
"Lassie, don't be a dyslexic porcupine. This is a party and you need to dance."
Carlton was saved from responding when they heard their names called from the door. Alex took his hand, and they squeezed past the other partiers.
"Shawnie!" Alex was just short of tackling the brown haired boy he assumed was her cousin. "What took you so long? It doesn't matter. I want you to meet my bff. Shawn, this is Carlton Lassiter.
The younger man looked him over and extended his hand. "Hey, Lassie, it's great to meet you!"
"Likewise," Carlton replied, taking his hand. He looked between the two. Alex's hair was a lighter shade of brown, and her eyes were grey where Shawn's were hazel. But they both had the same long dark lashes.
"And this is Gus," Alex said gesturing to the black man standing next to her cousin.
"Hello," Gus said, holding up his hand.
Carlton gave him a nod before turning his attention to the blonde. "Spencer, this is Juliet O'Hara."
"Hey, Jules! I've heard so much about you."
"Carlton talks about you a lot, too."
"Seriously?" She shot him a glance and he shrugged. "Huh. Then we've got stories to swap. Anyway, welcome to the party. You can drink, but I want your keys. There will be no driving until the morning. Got it?"
Juliet and Gus nodded and handed over their keys. Alex took them and went to put them in her room. "Lassie, be a babe and give the minors a drink," she called over her shoulder.
"Says the girl who wants to be a cop," Carlton said before turning to the younger trio. "Since we won't let you leave tonight, I guess it won't be a problem." He was trying for the relaxed thing, and he thought he was doing pretty good. "Okay, kitchen is this way," he said, leading them to the room. Carlton grabbed three glasses and handed them over. He watched Gus and Juliet choose the punch, and then he glanced at Shawn. The kid was looking at the empty glass in his hand. "Are you going to drink anything?"
"Hm? Oh, uh, yeah. I just . . . just don't know what." Shawn had glanced up at Carlton and back at his glass.
Carlton glanced at Gus and Juliet. They seemed to be hitting it off rather well. "So, Alex said you like pineapple." That wasn't awkward at all, he thought sarcastically.
"Yeah," he replied with a quick grin. "I saw the decorations. That was pretty cool of her to do that."
"Yeah, I put them up."
"Really? Wow! That's . . . that's awesome." He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.
Carlton smiled, and the smile turned into a grin when he thought of something. "I think I know of something you'd like to drink." He crossed the kitchen to the fridge and was thrilled when Shawn followed closely. "Spencer keeps a secret stash in here," he explained, moving containers out of the way to get to one way in the back. He pulled it out and saw the note she had taped to the black thermos: touch this and i will hunt you down, love, alex.
Shawn read the note and grinned. That was Alex, all right. He looked up at Carlton as he twisted off the cap and poured the pale yellow liquid into his glass. He also noticed Lassie's blue eyes flicked between his face and the glass.
The only way Carlton was going to deny the fact he liked Shawn's grin was if it was in a conversation with another person. However, since he only thought about it in his head, he wasn't too worried about denying it. Carlton capped the thermos and put it back in the fridge.
Shawn took a hesitant sip and grinned even wider when he tasted the fruit of his obsession. "What is this?"
Damn, the kid's grin was contagious! "It's a pineapple daiquiri."
Shawn tilted his head a little and smiled. "You should smile more often." Then he realized what he said and his face went from contemplative-adorable-kitty-smile to shock.
Carlton smirked. "No regrets, Shawn," he said and ruffled the kid's hair.
Shawn decided to take Carlton's advice—who had decided to take Alex's advice—and spent most of the night in close-ish proximity to the older guy. Alex seemed to notice and winked at her cousin. He opted to take that as encouragement.
Of course, he hadn't expected to get this close. Although, they were both pretty drunk.
It was about four o'clock in the morning once everybody else had left. According to Alex's drunken explanation, the other girls of the house were at a different party on the other side of the campus and she didn't expect any of them to be back until the next day. Alex, Gus, and Juliet were asleep on the couch, using each other as pillows. Shawn had found himself with Carlton in Alex's room, lying on her bed. Carlton had already passed out and Shawn was fighting to stay awake. But with Carlton's arm under his shoulders and his arm across Carlton's stomach, with his head on Carlton's chest . . . well, it was a losing battle.
Alex woke with a pounding headache. "No regrets," she said as quietly as possible. She looked at Jules and Gus and smiled. Aww, they're so adorable! Then she glanced around the otherwise empty room, brow furrowed. Where's Shawnie and Lassie?
She stood, careful to not wake the other two, and went up to her room. What she saw made her tilt her head, not sure if her brain was really seeing what her eyes were telling her was the truth.
"Wow," she said, causing the two to jolt awake. "If I had known this was going to happen, I would have hooked you two up sooner."