I thought you loved me Ally." He thinks as he closes the binder still clutching the sea shell spiral on a round risen disk strung onto a thick braid of beads she had left for him behind one of the pages. He tucks it into the shirt pocket and stands up off his beds pulling his pants up over his boxers.
Standing in the tall mirror beside his bed he puts on his most esteemed suit. A slytherin party is not like a Miami party. Anyone who's anyone knows this. Glow sticks and bootie shorts don't work in their domain. You dress to impress. His mind wonders over the things he might find at this party. The creatures he'll meet for the first time. The monsters hiding behind a portrait of Lana Del Ray.
Dez walks up behind him and reaches around Austin's neck to adjust his bowtie. In the reflection he gives him a cheery smile, "What ever they have planned, we'll be ready for. We've been through worse."
It's true. He and Dez once has their bare asses super glued to the seat of a jet ski after falling asleep at their friend Rosco's house party. Never again.
Teal blue blazer. Bright pink tie, matching socks. Black dress shoes, matching cummerbund. Deep purple dress pants, matching button.
Nothing like Dez's yellow and black checkered blazer over a white button up, slick back hair, red dress shoes. Dark green dress pants and matching tie.
"You look like a slytherin." Says Austin.
Dez nods, "You look like a ravenclaw."
"Is this real Dez? Could I just be a patient in a mental ward imagining all this." It's a fair question eating at him from the back of his mind.
Dez shakes his head, "No. Because if that was true I'd be there too and it's not likely we share a mental delusion."
The candle flickers. Lightning cracks outside. Laughter outside the door. The rest of the year fives make their way into the room only to stop and gawk at the freshman. Without words these two boys know what these people are thinking. They're thinking, 'these american boys dress up nicely.' Of course they're thinking that. They're suits are still made of the material tattered adventure journal covers are crafted from. It's not envy in their eyes either. It's lust.
Thrown off by their audience Austin and Dez slip past down the staircase and into the common room.
There they find Trish in a luxurious emerald studded flowy lilac dress that comes down to her calves and has an opening just above her chest where around her neck rests amethysts. Her hair is pulled back into a single braid that lays over her right shoulder and is tied off with a ruby studded band.
Hands in the air she says, "Guess who looks amazing."
In unison the two boys say, grinning ear to ear, "Yeah you do."
Pindros, from by the fire, speaks up, "You three are stunning but where's the house pride. The red head is the only one of y'all with any of the Hufflepuff colors and even that's bare and bland. Where are you going any way?"
"A party." Says Trish with a smirk.
Dez nods, "Exclusive. We're expecting to be soaked in pigs blood by the end of the night."
Pindros shakes his head, "No. Mick Campbell invited you to that Slytherin party. I'd be expecting something a little more long lasting that pigsblood."
"Mick Campbell?" Asks Deena from one of the golden colored recliners in the back beneath a levitating oil lamp, "Now what would he be doing asking a group of Hufflepuffs to a party?"
Millie, on her knees and surrounded by loose parchment looks up to give a wicked sneer, "Isn't it obvious. He's got a type. This american boy has no idea what he's in for."
Suddenly Austin, Dez, and Trish felt as if they had already left. The common room falls silent and Austin leads the way down the tunnel to push past Princess Diana's portrait who says, "Hurry back." in a kind whisper.
The journey from the Hufflepuff tower is the longest out of all the combinations of routes to and from in this castle. Down two flights of stairs, across the bridge, into the main corridor, down another hall, and then into a small dumb waiter that fits no more than ten people at a time that closes with a metal gate. They descend. As they get lower they can feel the vibrations of music with no lyrics. A beck and call of electronic waves. The green and purple lights flood the compartment and the shaft comes to a halt.
They peer down two halls. One lined along the cracks with ultraviolet tubes of technicolor for ravenclaw, the other a sea green spiral tube of technicolor for Slytherin. The gate rises and the doors swing open at their waists.
A shadow moves in the purple corridor and Fabian's face appears in the glow. His lips pulling a long drag from the tail end of a blunt. The cherry burns hot and goes out as he tilts his head away and blows out the smoke to fill the space between them with the stench of Canabis before he turns, ashes it on the stone wall, and walks away disappearing around a bend.
Trish looks at Austin, "You ready for this?" she asks.
"Let's do this." He nods and they continue on their way into the haunting spiral.
Lana Del Rays portrait dances with a glass of sangria in one hand while the other clutches in a fist to her forhead. She's really feeling this music right about now. Austin steps forward and whispers, "Massive... Anaconda."
Without even looking at them she slides open and the sex of the saxaphone hits them in the face. They walk in to the musty smell of ass and sweat. Yet inside they find devilishouly dressed young men and women sitting in lounge chairs, bar stools, and on the floor sipping from crystal clear glasses and that sea green gleam checkers across a dance floor over to a bar where it snakes across the counter top as well as through the wall of drinks.
Mick spins in his stool with a smirk and looks directly at Austin. That wave of synth seems to bleed as he rises and begins to make his way over. He slithers in behind Austin breaking the trio into two with an urgency to the one he wants as they together make their way back to the bar, "What's your poison?" he whispers in that deep growl.
"Malibu Pineapple." Austin says.
More of Micks teeth gleam in white back at him, "Wow. The pineapple huh? The symbol of purity hiding in the skin of something evil."
They take a seat and Mick waves his want. In a flash the glass is before Austin and Mick is sipping a scotch.
"I'm really excited that you came." Mick smiles, "They told me you wouldn't."
Austin shrugs, "Got to start somewhere right."
Mick laughs. A good, cute, long laugh. Then stops suddenly to bite his tongue, "I want you to get the idea that we're going to do something bad to you or your friends out of your mind. People are quick to assume you know." he nods, "Slytherin has a bad rep. Just because we're sly and cunning it doesn't make us evil."
Austin nods. Swishing the glass around in his hand he pours it back and knocks it onto the table, "Why did you invite me here?"
Mick straightens up, "Listen I get that you're different. I know this isn't your scene, it could never happen here. I like a challenge."
Austin furrows a brow as Mick conjures up another Malibu Pineapple for him.
At the sight of confusion on his new friends face he decides to be a little clearer, "Look I'm a Campbell boy. We get what we want. I want your body, no matter the price. What ever you want you name it and it's yours."
Silence, apart from the clinking of the ice, the mumbles from around the room, and the steady rhythms of the music.
When Mick finally looks like he's about to shatter with nerves Austin finally says, "I'm not a prostitute. I can't just have sex with someone, a stranger, not for money, not for anything. I have one person that I love and I will never look at another person the way I look at her."
"Ally." Says Mick. Somehow his name from her lips causes a tingling in Austin's lower stomach. Mick continues, "I saw your duet of bottle of Jack by Mikey Wax on Metube. She's pretty. Look I'm not offering you money. My father's a powerful man, with powerful connections, is there nothing you want. I get that your body works differently. You can't preform unless you're sharing a universe, unless your being shown someone's universe. I suspect it's unforgettable with Ally. You fall asleep shaking at night to the idea of her touching you. I want to try. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to fuse with you. If only once and never again or day after day after day. Your choice."
Austin huffs, "Look. I'm gonna go. Don't worry, I'm not blowing you off, I need time to think about this."
"Wait." Says Mick, "At least sing with me."
Mick holds out a hand, a chalice hand, what instrument does he play.
Austin, with hesitation, takes it. So delicate and moisturized his, own hand fits so comfortably in a palm so strong.
The move across to an elevated stage upon which rests a slick, shiny, black, grand piano. Even the keys glow in that biolumiscent way. Austin's fingers graze them and memories of Ally beside him in the choir room flood his mind. His eyes shut and he begins to play a little love song he pours himself into with her and when he feels those rough fingers press so gently on the notes his little digits can't stretch far enough to reach he starts but not enough to quit playing.
How does Mick know this song? A new fear arises in Austin, perhaps this boy has clairvoyance. What if this boy is reading his thought's right now.
'So what if I am?' A voice echoes in the chambers of Austin's skull and his eyes widen all the ever more he does't stop playing.
'You know this song?' Austin thinks.
Mick smiles, 'It's Pink. She's a trademark here.' Mick presses closer to Austin, 'You're dangerous. You scare me a little. That's why I'm so into you.'
Austin's finger's hover over the keys for a moment. The room is silent. He thinks, 'So you know?'
'Yes. Only know you have nothing to fear. So long as you don't hurt Fabian.' Mick's fingers drop back onto the keys to continue this song.
Austin pulls his wand from his pocket, "Accio song book." he says and in mere seconds it rushes through the portrait which flings open just in time to land in front of him on the stand. It flips open and lands on the page titled; 90 days. Pink.
'Fabian?' Austin thinks, 'What do you mean.'
Mick let's out the pretty little run in the beginning of the song, "Oh no no. no no no. no."
Then leans back into Austin to continue his train of thought, 'He's... special. He's been through a lot. He's the only person I'd kill for. To know that you kill, and it may or may not be intentional I find it hot. It's hot until Fabian walks into the frame and then it's ice cold.'
Austin begins to sing, "We're driving in a black car. It's blacked out. We're spinning. We're listen to Fast car. Your driving fast and your singing." he looks over at the boy beside him, "Don't wanna tell you what I'm feeling. Don't want this night to hit a ceiling."
'I'm not going to touch him.' Thinks Austin.
Mick snickers, "I'm wearin dirty white shoes, a white T shirt and your jacket. I'm laughing but I'm lyin, when you're smiling I'm the saddest. I hide my face so you don't see it. I think out loud, hope you don't hear it."
The audience is in tune now. All eyes on them. Even still the conversation goes on.
'That's the problem.' Mick thinks, 'He likes you, in a cosmic ballance kind of way. Told me the moon gave him a mission to protect you. I think it's him that needs protection from you.'
In unison, tenor baritone harmony, "It's going on eighteen months now and it's fucked up but I'm falling. I feel it every day now but I'm starvin but I'm starvin. I'm here but I'm in pieces cuz I don't know how fix this. I don't know how to fix this... no."
Austin, "If I'm just somebody that you're gonna leave."
Mick, "And you don't feel something when you look at me."
Unison, "You're holdin my heart oooh what'cha say. Just let me down slowly I'll be okay. If you're just some habit that I gotta break I can clear my system in 90 days. your holdin my heart oooh what'cha say... just let me down sloooooowly."
'Should I just go?' Austin thinks.
Mick scoots closer, 'Please no... we're not even halfway through. My balls are already blue don't do it to my heart too.' He sings; "I get up turn the lights out it's four o'clock in the morning. I close my eyes I can't sleep. A hotel room in new york and-"
"I feel the space that's in between us. Convince myself that this is real love." Austin calls back.
Together, "Cuz you made this shit so easy and I told you my secrets. So I don't know why I'm tongue tied at the wrong time when I need this. I'm here but I'm in pieces and I don't know how to fix this I don't know how to fix this... no."
Trish, halfway through a fourth Margarita, starts to feel good. She rises and walks over to the two boys she had ran into with Austin earlier that day. Alfie and Jerome are taken aback when she holds out both of her hands. "Guess who's gonna dance with you."
Dez smirks at the girls sitting around him, "How likely was it that they both knew this song, how to harmonize so well, and play the same instrument without getting in each other's way? God, I love plot convenience. It's my favorite of all the conveniences."
A bubblegum blonde looks over at her firy ginger friends, "What's it saying?"
"Do I look like I speak American?" Patricia bites back, "Amber honestly. It's cute. Skinny. Hot. We don't need to understand him." She throws back the rest of her bud light and slams the empty can on the table, "We just need to shag him."
His eyes widen. You'd think it'd be in intrigue but no this is fear. How's he supposed to know this isn't the hazing he's been warned about when he's yet to have a conversation with Austin. Austin who's so blind just singing with some random guy at this creepy ass school where creepy ass people, who smell like sex and liquor, invite you to have sex with them just so they can pour pigs blood on you and call you, "Nancy." Not for Dez.
No he rises, excuses himself to the bathroom, and in the cover of shadows slips out of the slytherin house. Abandoning his friends.
Trish is pulling one close while the other leans over her shoulder and the three of them grind in measured beats. Alfie and Jeromes lips meet as she's sandwhiched between them. The music takes an uptone and Austin and Mick have transposed with minimal effort, a sympathetic emotional piece into something dangerous and seductive. The audience is on their feet surrounding Trish on the dance floor and she cheers, "Whooooo!"
"Do you like to work?" Asks Alfie.
She scoffs, "No. I hate it. I'm lazy." She mumbles.
"That could mean, what Alfie, do you think?" Says Jerome.
As they move to the beat he thinks. Then Alfie evaluates aloud, "Could go either way. However, she doesn't seem like a lay down and take it kind of character. She comes across as a tell people what to do kind of character."
"A manager." She interjects,
The two boys nod.
Jerome smiles, "I'm willing to get a little bruised tonight."
The song is handed over to the speakers and Mick is leading Austin away down a corridor. Trish is alone but she knows this Chris Crocker song so she leans into it.
The three of them in unison cry out, "BUT RIGHT NOW I DON'T WANT YOUR KISS!" wait for it..., "I WANT YOUR BITE!"
"I told you..." Austin pulls back his own hand when they round a corner, "I need to think about it. Where are you taking me?"
Mick smirks, "I want to show you my ferret. Rodney."
'I'm not stupid.' Austin thinks.
Mick shakes his head, 'I know you're not. I'm not a monster, I have morals. There is a secret but I need you to be patient if you want to know.'
'What if I don't?' Austin thinks.
Trish falls into a split and throws her hands into the air as she knocks her face into the lap of Jerome's pants to the tune of the song. She fuckin' lit fam.
The way your making me hot. Don't stop you're hitting the spot. Gonna rock your body all night. It's lust at first sight!
'You do...' Thinks Mick.
There hands link and once again they're off down the corridor. The bust through a room and cross past a group of people who aren't people anymore just animals devouring each other and Austin's mind spins horrifically as he realizes the two of them aren't even noticed. He can feel his anger rising. Just through the next door Mick, reading Austin's thoughts, pulls him close and say, "It's just people being people. Okay." Such a soothing voice but ever still Austin's blood boils, "It's okay. They're just playing. They agreed to do the things they did and what someone does with their body is their business. It's okay to be an animal for them just like it's okay to be reserved like you. You're fine. Okay?"
Austin nods and once again he's being pull, this time up a flight of stairs. They press through another room and this one's empty. His eyes find the window and the moon beyond. An ease floods him at the sight of her. Now he's thinking about Fabian.
"I feel that way too. When I look at her." Says Mick who's stoking a fire.
He raises up and grabs a bag. Holding it out to Austin he says, "Floo powder."
"Where are we going?" Asks Austin.
Mick smiles, "Take the powder, stand in the pit, and say 'The North Tower.' very clearly okay?"
Austin takes a deep breath and sinks his fingers into the bag. The sand streams from his clutch as he walks into the warmth of green flicker and he drops the powder, "The North Tower." in a flash he's gone. Mick following closely behind.