"You're staying here for the weekend?"
Mal makes a face at Ken, who's suddenly looking at him with open excitement all over his face. "Uh, yeah."
Ken suddenly jumps out of his chair, claps his hands together once, and does what could only be described as a victory dance.
"Yes! Boom, baby!" he yells. "I have been waiting for this day!"
"Wait, what?"
"Man, you gotta lighten up," Ken says. "You're always so serious and straight-laced. But now that you're actually staying here for the weekend, that means we can go out and I can show you how to have a good time!"
"Woah woah, hold on," Mal says, grinning in spite of himself. "You think I'm straight-laced? I know for a fact I've told you stories of all the shit I did in high school."
"Dude, that's minor league and you know it."
"You're the worst."
"Oh, you gotta come to this party Friday night! It's at one of the fraternity houses. I can finally introduce you to some of the guys I know!"
"You talk about me to your friends?" Mal asks.
"Correction, I talk about my lame roommate who goes home every weekend. They've been telling me to drag your ass to a party for weeks now."
Mal rolls his eyes and flops back onto his bed, draping one arm over his face. "The thing is," he says, "I was really hoping to invite my girlfriend over this weekend. It's been ages since we saw each other."
"So invite her, and we can all go the party."
"She's not really a party kind of person."
"Man, are you really gonna leave me hanging like this?" Ken whines. Mal has to laugh- he never thought he'd ever hear Ken actually whine. "Ditching me for a girl. That's cold."
"It's not like she's some random girl," Mal says as he throws his pillow at Ken's head. "She's my girlfriend who I've known for far longer than I've known you."
"You're so lame," Ken groans.
Mal ignores him in favor of sitting up and picking up the phone, dialing the phone number for Natara's dorm room. As he listens to it ring, he finds himself more excited than he thought he would be. After almost a month and a half of separation, the thought of possibly seeing Natara in a few days sends his pulse racing. He taps his fingers against his leg as he waits for her to pick up.
"Hello?"
It's been a little over three weeks since he's heard her voice and the sound of it warms him from the inside out, not matter how breathless she sounds.
"Hey, it's me," he smiles into the phone. From his bed, Ken makes a gagging sound, and Mal flips him off without looking at him. "What are you up to?"
"Just got back from a study group, and I have to run to a club meeting in a second."
"Oh. Sounds like a lot."
"I mean, you know me," she says. "I'm trying to get accepted into the business honor society at Grantmore, but there's a lot of hoops they make you jump through."
"I won't take up a lot of your time then, I know you're busy," he says. "But I wanted to tell you that I'm gonna be spending the weekend at school instead of going home. My mom made me promise to stay for a few weeks, and I wanted to see if you could come visit?"
There's a long silence on the other end, and for a second he's worried the call got disconnected.
"Oh, uh," Natara stammers. "You know I'd love to, Mal, but I've got all these club things this weekend, plus a whole research project due next week."
"Oh, well, that's okay," he says quickly. "I could come to you instead? We can spend time there, and I could help with some things if you need?"
"Mal, I'm gonna be really busy," she sighs. "Like really busy. You'd probably be bored the whole time."
"Okay," he says, deflating a bit. "I know it was kind of last minute. Maybe next week though? Or the week after?"
"Yeah, we'll see," she says quickly. "Listen, I really gotta run. I'll call you later though, and we can figure out some time to see each other, okay?"
"Yeah, sure," he says. "I'll talk to you later."
"Bye, Mal."
He places the phone back in its receiver with much more force than is necessary, trying his hardest not to feel sorry for himself. Of course she's busy. She's always been an over achiever, ever since elementary school. He should have guessed she'd try and distinguish herself from her classmates at college too.
"So," Ken says from his bed, drawing the word out, "does that mean you're on for the party?"
"Yeah," he sighs. "I guess."
Maybe it was because he was out of practice, or maybe it was just because he'd never been to a college party before, but Mal is immediately overwhelmed as soon as he and Ken walk in. They're greeted heartily by three guys who yell Ken's name and clap him solidly on the back.
"Who's this?" one of them asks, turning to look at Mal.
"Oh, this is my roommate, Mal," Ken says. He nudges him with his shoulder and smirks. "I finally convinced him to come to a party."
Mal rolls his eyes. "You didn't convince me to do anything," he retorts.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Ken says with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Either way, you're here."
"Nice to finally meet you man," one of the other guys says. "Ken told us a little bit about you. Glad to see you could finally make it out."
A plastic cup is placed in his hand, filled almost to the brim with lukewarm beer. He wonders how long it's been out, and tries his best to ignore its temperature as he takes a sip. It's not the worst thing he's ever drunk before, but there was that time Blaise made him drink a glass of whiskey with an entire raw egg and tabasco sauce in it
(He thinks she called it an "amber moon" or something like that, and it definitely tasted much worse than it sounds.)
He mostly hangs around Ken, the only person he knows here, and tries to keep up with the conversation. But the music is so loud that it drowns out everything except its own pulsing beat. It sets him on edge, though he doesn't know why.
It's around the time he's contemplating ditching Ken and going back to their dorm when his roommate grabs his shoulder and steers him in the direction of the back door. He tries to protest, but Ken's grip leaves very little wiggle room. In a very literal sense, as well- he has to massage the spot where Ken's fingers were when he finally lets go.
Thankfully the back porch and yard is much less overwhelming than inside the house. He can finally hear himself think, at least. And the air out here doesn't smell like stale smoke and beer, so that's another plus.
"So, man, what do you think of your first college party?" Ken says, elbowing him hard. Beer sloshes out of his cup and runs down his pants, and Mal shoots a glare in Ken's direction.
"Honestly not what I expected," he says truthfully. He holds his mostly empty cup out to his friend. "And you owe me another beer."
"You know where to find it," Ken protests.
"And you're the one who spilled it," Mal counters. After a brief staring contest, Ken relents. He grabs the cup out of Mal's hand and trudges back inside the house. Mal leans against the porch railing and breathes in the cool night air. He wonders what Natara's doing right now. She's probably asleep. Or up late studying.
"Haven't seen you around here before," a nearby voice says. Before Mal can look around and figure out who the voice belongs to, a girl sidles up next to him and leans against the porch railing as well. "Escaping the chaos inside, too?"
"Waiting for my roommate to come back with a beer," he replies. The girl wrinkles her nose.
"You're actually drinking the beer here?" she laughs. "I don't know if that makes you brave or stupid."
"Who said they're mutually exclusive?" he asks. "In fact, that pretty much sums up my whole existence. But, uh, just for the record, is there a reason to not drink the beer?"
"Well for starters, it's probably like three days old," she says, tossing a lock of auburn hair over her shoulder. "And for another thing, I guarantee someone's thrown something weird into the keg. I was here at a party a few weeks ago, and watched as a bunch of the brothers threw apple juice and maple syrup in there."
Now it's his turn to wrinkle his nose. "What? That's disgusting."
"Honestly, it wasn't that bad," the girl laughs. "Or, at the very least, it didn't make me want to throw up."
"I feel like that's a very low bar."
"You're not wrong."
"So, do you come to these parties often?" Mal asks.
"Are you trying to hit on me?" the girl deadpans.
"What?" he stammers. "I- no, it's- I mean-"
"Here you go, man," Ken says, suddenly appearing next to him. Mal thinks he could kiss Ken for his timing right now. He grabs the cup out of his hand and immediately raises it to his mouth, looking everywhere except the girl standing next to him.
"Relax," he hears her say. "I was just teasing."
"Picking on him already, Sandra?" Ken laughs. "I like it. Although I should warn you, Mal here doesn't like to be teased."
"I wasn't hitting on you," Mal manages to choke out.
"I know," the girl, Sandra, says with a smirk. "Just trying to give you a hard time."
"Careful there," Ken says with a smirk of his own. "Not only does Mal not like to be teased, but he's taken as well."
"That's disappointing," Sandra says.
"He's totally whipped, too. He invited his girlfriend to come visit this weekend, and when she said no, he got all mopey. It might have been cute if it wasn't so sad."
"Excuse me!"
"Well, she must be one lucky girl, to have someone who's so obviously devoted to her," Sandra smiles. "I hope one day I'll have a relationship like that. Though, to be fair, I doubt I'll find something like that at one of these parties."
"And yet you keep coming back," Ken teases her.
"For the entertainment," she replies. "And the free drinks. Not for the company."
Sandra pushes off the porch railing and slips back inside the house, throwing a wave over her shoulder as she goes. Mal finally remembers how to breathe again, and punches Ken solidly on the shoulder.
"I am not whipped," he growls.
"Dude, you're totally whipped." Ken shakes his head. "Man, I can't believe Sandra Taggert actually gave you the time of day."
"Why?"
"She, like, doesn't talk to anyone at these parties. Except her friends, I guess. But all my friends keep trying to get with her, and she usually shoots them down in five words or less. It's almost embarrassing."
"Maybe she talked to me because I wasn't trying to get in her pants," Mal shoots back. "Ever think of that."
"Think I should try that?"
"Man, do whatever you want. Just don't be surprised when she sees right through you."
"Oh, like you know what you're talking about."
"I'm sorry, which one of us actually has a girlfriend?" The look on Ken's face makes Mal think that maybe this entire encounter was worth it. "And I am not whipped."
