It all started with a party.

I didn't want to go, first of all. I'm not the party-going type, unless it's a loud, obnoxious metal show. Dance music, colorful flashing lights, and rabid skanky teenagers were not my idea of a good time. The whole idea of it made me sick to my stomach. It sucks having friends who are actually into that kind of thing. My friend Vinny was probably the most enthusiastic; he's the social type that would rather go out and meet women in a shady club than sit at home looking for them online. Both of those cases would be bad enough, but I gave him the benefit of a doubt.

Needless to say, I was inclined to go with him to whatever club he wanted, but I wasn't planning on doing anything like dancing. After all, dancing is the very last thing I'd ever do. I much prefer vibing.

"You're going in that? Dude, you look like something out of a horror movie," Vinny said as I got into his car. I looked down at myself again and knew he was right; my black T-shirt, black jeans and black shoes made me look like a typical social outcast, or "goth", as some people say. I could care less about what people say about me, though. That's basically the story of my life.

My friend was wearing some kind of vintage t-shirt and a leather jacket, making his already buffed figure a little more buff than usual. Those characteristics made me look skinny enough to stand out more than he would in a crowd. A typical person would wonder why or how the two of us ever became friends.

Vinny turned the radio on and we drove in silence for a few minutes, making our way out of the suburbs and into the inner city. The buildings loomed high above in the distance as the full moon sat right in the middle of our field of view. It was the epitome of a perfect summer night.

I stared off into space for most of the ride, trying to picture what kind of night lay in front of me. Maybe I could find a nice corner to light up in and find another loner girl. Too bad there's practically no chance of that ever happening.

Vinny turned down the radio and said, "So, you hear about the thing that attacked the carnival at the pier last night?"

"Not really," I said non-enthusiastically. Something was always attacking something in this dumb city. The only upside it had was the Titans, but not even they were perfect. Even after they took down all the crime that enters the city, something new would show up. It was an endless, pointless cycle from my standpoint. Not even the Teen Titans could prevent crime from ever happening; it was only after crime happens and people get hurt that they do anything to stop it.

"Yeah, my buddy George was there and saw the whole thing," Vinny went on. "Said it was a flying robot squid. Like what?"

I chuckled. A flying robot squid? "I'll believe it when I see it." I turned and looked at Vinny directly. "Did the Titans take care of it or what?"

"From what George told me, he said it attacked the Titans directly. Like it didn't even try to hurt anything or anyone else." Vinny replied while parking his car on the side of the street.

I looked around. "Why are we stopping?"

Vinny pointed to a building down the street. "That's the place Megan said we'd be, the old warehouse with 'SOTO' on the top of it."

I looked. The warehouse looked genuinely like something out of a horror film. "This might not be so bad after all," I remarked as I got out of the car.

We made our way toward the disturbing-looking building, and I took in a deep breath. A large group was a little farther in front of us heading for the same destination. They were smiling, laughing, and having a good time. If there was ever a time where I needed for nothing to go wrong, it was tonight. All I needed to do was find a little corner and keep myself there. Away from people, away from the flashing lights, away from the shitty dance music.

As long as it wasn't my house.

Vinny opened the door for me and I walked in, bracing myself for the worst. Around thirty people were still setting up, many of them in their late teens. I eyed the lights curiously, noticing the colorful transparent film placed over many of them. A stage sat right in the middle of the floor, where a large booth and a massive pile of speakers lay ready to make the entire place rumble. Vinny greeted a few people, outwardly displaying his personality like the social butterfly that he is. I awkwardly shifted to the door, acting like I was just waiting for something to happen. I casually checked my phone and noticed it was 9:58.

Great, only two hours before I can leave.

It was probably only about ten minutes that passed, but a large number of teens found their way in during that short amount of time. I tried not to make myself look like too much of a loner, but I still knew that every party had to have one. Why not me, anyway? I make the perfect one.

Vinny didn't even come back for me. The bastard decided to ditch me for some ugly girl that probably wasn't even that ugly. I wanted to be angry with him, but I knew well enough it was my own fault that I'm not a people person. Just the idea of talking to people I didn't know was always a touchy subject, and Vinny knew that well enough. He probably made the right decision in ditching me anyway. There's no sense in making me embarrass him.

The warehouse continued to fill with people. The music started up, and the dance floor went into full swing. I managed to grab a punch from the drink table and slowly sip away at it, trying to make myself look occupied. It was a terrible setting, but it was still better.

Better…

The side doors opened, and a tall alien girl with long black hair walked in, followed by a robot, a green-skinned kid, a guy in a cape, and a blue-cloaked chick.

I raised my eyebrows. The Teen Titans? What are they doing at a downtown party? I reconsidered that thought. It's not like I had been to many downtown parties. For all I knew, they could have been to every single one that's been advertised. The last party I had been to before this one was over a year ago at some slutty girl's house. Long story short, it got wild and the police showed up. I got away even though I hadn't done anything wrong, but the girl who hosted the party laid some guy and got pregnant soon after. I didn't even know what happened after that. All I knew was that parties were generally not a good idea in this dumb city, because most of them lead to trouble. At least at this one they have adults supervising drink tables checking for I.D.

The thing with me was that I didn't care for alcohol. Being 19 years old doesn't make me legal to drink it, but everyone's done it before illegally in some way or another. My first drink was at Vinny's sixteenth birthday. He stole some of his parents' vodka stash and stored it away in his room, then brought it out after his parents thought everyone had gone home. The reality was that some of us had come back and hid in his backyard while he slipped out with the vodka. We never got caught, but the only thing I remember was that it tasted like shit. My throat burned for the rest of that night.

I sipped my punch once more and took in the sweetness. Another tall alien girl that looked like the first one, this time with red hair, followed along behind the Titans looking completely out of place. She nervously wandered, bumping into a few of the people that were having a good time and looking very much like she didn't want to be there. I eyed her curiously, wondering what could have possibly gone down for her to have to suffer through a party like this.

"Step aside, earthlings. The Queen of the Galaxy has arrived!" The darker-haired alien girl exclaimed, spreading the crowd down the middle as the Titans paraded through it. From the indifferent actions of the crowd, I could tell they weren't turning into rabid fans asking for autographs. Perhaps the Titans partied more than I thought and the people were used to it.

I leaned over to the guy sipping punch next to me. "Who's the other chick? The one that isn't Starfire, I mean."

The guy looked totally out of it. "Raven," he said nonchalantly. He sipped again.

"No, no, I know about her, I mean the one that looks like Starfire."

"Hell if I know. Looks like her sister."

I nodded, glancing into my cup and noticing its emptiness. "Shit," I muttered. The punch table was some fifty feet away, and I didn't feel like moving from the spot I was in. I glanced over at where the Titans were, about twenty feet away, and saw Raven and Starfire standing motionless beside each other, set apart from the gleeful dancing teens that were all around them. From my angle I could barely make out Raven's face under her hood. Her arms were crossed, and she didn't look all that impressed. Starfire looked uncomfortable and anxious, her arms straightened down against her chest and hands holding each other near her midsection. She frowned as the music's catchy beat quickened and the dancing grew more upbeat.

I paid more attention to Raven than to Starfire. To be honest, I really liked her style. She didn't seem to care about any of her surroundings whatsoever. She also didn't look like she'd suddenly start dancing out of the blue anytime soon.

I realized that this was my only chance. I didn't have anything else better to do, and I sure didn't want to be sitting in that corner drinking punch by myself the whole evening. I checked my phone again. It was only 10:20. Yeah, there was far too much time for me to waste.

I started going through the crowd toward the two, trying not to stand out like a sore thumb. I was only a few feet away.

"This party is pointless." Raven muttered.

This was my chance. I appeared beside her and replied, "Everything's pointless."

Raven didn't look up at me. Starfire gave me a sideways glance. I thought quickly. "Wanna go talk about it?" I tried my best not to look too hopeful.

Raven shrugged. My heart skipped a beat. Of all the pick-up lines I could have possibly done, that one worked? I started toward the other end of the room, and Raven made her decision to follow. Starfire could go do her own thing.

I spotted a bunch of crates that was a little farther from the dance floor. "We can go over there if you want." Raven gave a little shrug. I wondered if she even cared.

That section of the warehouse was very dimly lit. A void of blackness was just beyond our destination. Maybe that's why Raven came here in the first place: for the setting. It's too bad there had to be all these lights and people to ruin it.

"Want me to get some punch?" I asked her. There was no sense in not being a gentleman. Raven put up her hand in response. "I'm fine," she said.

I sat down on one of the crates and she took a seat right beside me. We gazed at the crowd, where the music had changed yet again into another repetitive dance tune. I spoke first. "So, uh…what'd you mean by that. You know, saying this party was pointless."

She gave me a questioning look. "I think you know very much what I meant."

I shrugged. "Not really. I just wanted to hear from your point of view. Why do you think this party is pointless?"

She kept staring at the crowd. I could only wonder what could possibly be going through her mind. I didn't know much about her, after all. She seemed like one of those people that has the same negative outlook on life as I do, but with a feminine charm. I wondered what she even looked like under that hood. It didn't seem like she had any intention on taking it off, and I wasn't about to ask her to do so. That would be far too intrusive. She seemed pretty delicate.

"This party is pointless because there's no point to it," she said bluntly. "What can anyone possibly get out of this? Fun? Wasted time?"

"Probably all of the above," I stated. "Honestly, I came here because I'd rather be here standing in the corner by myself rather than sitting at home being…" I stopped. Maybe I said too much. Raven kept staring at the crowd with emotionless eyes. "So…why are you here?" I asked.

Raven pointed into the center of the crowd, supposedly at Starfire's sister. "Blackfire said something about a creepy rundown warehouse. Too bad it's not creepy." She paused and sighed. "I could be sitting back at the tower reading my book right now. Or watching a horror movie. Or doing anything but being here."

"Hmm." I mumbled. "Y'know some people, like the guy I came with, come to these things just to have some kind of social interaction. It's like he forces himself to talk to people, even if he doesn't want to."

Raven frowned. "You'd be surprised about the people I live with. Sometimes I wish I could segregate myself from human interaction for days, but no…I have to protect this dumb city instead."

I faced her. "Well, if it's any consolation, we're having human interaction right now."

"Well, yeah," she replied quickly, "it's not really weird for you. You probably get to sit in your house all day without having to talk to anyone."

She had me there. She lived with a bunch of freaks at that tower, after all. I despised living with my parents, but at least I didn't have to deal with that little green kid. Just from my observation, I could tell he pisses others off easily, and that was with normal people. For Raven, the frustration must be multiplied.

Raven fiddled with her gloves, a sign that I interpreted as losing interest. I struggled to think up an answer to her remark. "You're right, I'm sorry I took you for granted. Living with those guys is probably pretty hard for you, huh."

"You have no idea," she muttered. For the first time, she looked at me directly. "…do you have a name?"

I sat speechless for a half-second, startled by the question. I hadn't even told her my name yet? Shit, I always miss the dumbest things. "Cole," I said. She turned her gaze back to the crowd.

"Raven. Charmed." Her voice suggested sarcasm. This girl was incredibly hard to read, but I liked it for some reason. She lifted her left hand over and stuck it out. I awkwardly took it with my own left hand and softly shook it. It was cold and pale, much like mine.

"Nice to meet you too."