A/N: I have been out of the picture for a while a lot of drama and work related stuff, but I'm still writing. I haven't abandoned writing the story cause it's still fun for me and I want to finish it, just may take me awhile. I will try to have updates done a lot sooner, thanks.

CHP 14: The Party

"Home sweet home."

"Whatever."

"It is glorious, isn't it?"

I looked around at all the mixed expressions from my new roommates. Kori looked like a Cheshire cat who swallowed a fat bird, Dick was surly per usual, and Gar was petulant. Vic was the only one who seemed to be a good balance of both contentment and frustration; since he still had quite a bit of paperwork to do; but he was happy to get rid of one of one of the most difficult units to sell.

"Let me know if you need anything. I'm right under you so it won't be a problem." Vic waved goodbye, and shut the door softly behind him.

Immediately following, Dick rushed off to his room closing and locking the door, loud enough to be audible.

"YOU KNOW WE STILL HAVE A LOT OF UNPACKING TO DO RIGHT!" Gar shouted. "The hell is his problem?" He snorted, checking out the nearly empty fridge. "Alright, who's going grocery shopping? We have NO soy milk."

Kori and I exchanged deadpan glances and she rested her hands on her hips.

"You are clearly the only one that drinks soy milk, therefore, you'll be doing the shopping this time around." I sneered.

"What kind of bull is that?" Gar contorted his face in irritation before swinging the fridge shut haphazardly. "So... no food, what now?" He whined, plopping down on the couch and kicking his feet up on the coffee table. "What else is there to do in our new and relatively empty apartment?"

Sneering, I walked over to him, throwing his feet off the table and sitting down beside him. Flashing a sideways glance he scooted clear to the opposite side.

"Hey I know." Let's throw a kick back. We can go get some cake and ice cream and there's a hot tub here it'll be great," he said.

I yawned at the thought. A normal person would have been thrilled. A fun night with 'friends' and food... let's not forget though, I am not a normal person. I just wanted to go about my business as inconspicuously as possible. Friends were not part of the equation. These people were roommates, here to lighten my financial burden that was all and thankfully they had, at least for the time being. Since Kori was loaded, she basically paid for an entire years rent no questions only deal was everyone else would do the cooking, cleaning, and driving in exchange. That being said, Gar and Dick still managed to help out financially in other ways. Gar had a little money saved from his job and Dick brought most of his furniture from his old place. I on the other hand, had nothing. I offered to pay Kori back as soon as I got a real job, unlike the shitty one at the mall I'd forgotten about and got fired from before I'd even started.

"Rache?" Gar cocked his head to the side and I responded with a bored expression.

"I would love to do the celebration!" Kori poked her nose in the mix.

"What about?" My eyes rolled in the direction of Dick's new room.

"Well..." Kori gave a weak smile. "I will go and see if our friend would like to join."

Dick was a tiny flame on a wood pile, ready to devour an entire forest. One match was all it took. Kori was that match.

"Hello, Friend?" Her delicate hand rapped at the door ever so slightly only making the faintest of tapping noises.

"Yes?" The door stayed shut.

"I was just wondering if you'd like to come out and enjoy a kick back with friends."

A few moments of silence passed and then the door cracked open, Dick's dark eyes peering out.

"Friends? You are not my friend. None of you are my friends, I needed a place to move, I got it now that that's settled I have THINGS to do.

"WHAM." The door slammed so harshly the wind whipped Kori in the nose causing her to give a small grunt.

"If you say so..." She slumped away, back to the living room. "He is uninterested."

"Fuck 'im. Let's go get some soy dogs and non dairy vanilla ice cream for the kick back tonight dudes."

I stayed behind while Kori and Gar went off shopping, without a doubt they'd convinced Vic to come along just for the hell of it, and because someone with better taste in food than Gar was necessary.

My reasons? Curiosity. What was Dick so intent on doing in that room all by himself. Why the hell was he being such a, Dick, for lack of better terminology.

I wanted to know, but spying didn't seem like the best idea.


He'd spent all day in his room packing, carefully. The trip could get...dangerous and it was better to be more prepared than less. A toothbrush, hair gel, the basics were always a good idea too. Dick raised an eyebrow. It felt like someone had been listening through the crack under his bedroom door for the past hour he'd been in his room. He heard them talking and Gar, and the red haired chick left the apartment for the stupid "kick-back" tonight, so it was probably Rachel. He wondered what she had hopped to gain by spying besides irritating him. He glanced out the window at the apartment lot to see Gar and the red head getting out of a car with a bunch of bags. Damn, that girl was pretty strong. She was carrying most of the stuff. Just what I thought, Dick said to himself, that guy's such a pussy.


"We're back!" Gar and Kori busted through the door. Kori looked over joyed, proud of all the party supplies she'd bought with her parent's farewell money.

"Rachel can you please help me with the cake?"

"Huh? Oh!" I turned suddenly, my heart caught in my chest. Calmly I sauntered into the kitchen.

"Why were you over by asshole's door?"

"What are you talking about?"

Gar stared me straight in the eyes, clearly not fooled. "Yeah suuure," he said, and brushed past me to put up streamers or do some sort of decorating or whatever. I began to busy myself with bowls and pots and the ingredients for the cake. No idea what I was doing whatsoever.

"This place looks great!"

Kori beamed. It was her who had thought of the blue and gold themed decorations. Blue and gold streamers scattered the ceiling from the kitchen to the living room all the way to the sliding glass door where the medium sized private patio was located. It had it's own hot tub, which was truly a rarity, one that had surprised all three of the new tenants. Out on the patio Kori had been very thoughtful. She had tossed a rainbow of confetti on the floor and positioned a center piece of balloons on the white plastic lawn table, which had four little plastic chairs equally spaced under it. In front of each chair there was a ornate napkin and paper plate complete with knife and sfork. On a smaller plastic table there was a 12 inch stereo with an extra speaker smooshed against it on each side. The hot tub had already been set to bubble for thirty minutes by someone, more than likely Kori as well.

"Who made the cake?" Vic asked smiling.

"Rachel and I!" Kori said beaming from ear to ear.

"It looks really nice guys." Vic said, taking a seat on the couch. "What kind of food did ya'll get to go with it?"

"Wait, didn't you go with Kori and Gar to pick out the food?" I mumbled.

"No, Gar said he had it under control."

"Wait! So you let him pick the food?" My eyes widened.

"Relax Rache you sound stressed."

Gar popped out from the hallway accidentally slamming the door to the new room he had claimed. He was wearing a blue and lime green Hawaiian Shirt that matched his hair and a pair of black Dickies and vans.

"Did someone say my name?" He grinned.

Vic gave him a sideways look and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah man, we were just wondering what you got to eat."

"Oh, gotcha, just ordered some pizza dude and bought some pizza rolls and jalapeƱo poppers to tide us over until the grub gets here."

"Nice man." They tapped fist and Gar plopped down next to Vic man-spreading.

"Popper's and pizza rolls are outside on the table guys I'm gonna go change into my trunks. The pizza is probably going to take forty-five minutes to get here anyway."

"Damn! Why so long?" Vic groaned.

Gar shrugged and headed back into his room. When he showed up outside he had a large bottle of tequila and four clear shot glasses with him with him. He slid the glass door closed bouncing his brows at both myself and Kori who were already waste deep in the hot tub with only our chests visible. Setting the Tequila at the edge of the hot tube he slid in between Kori and I.

Kori was wearing a pink and black polka dotted bikini while I settled for a deep blue one piece that had a large dip in the front and was crisscrossed in the back. I'd told Kori that it had probably showed more cleavage than I really felt comfortable with but she seemed to think it was fine, modest even.

"Looking lovely ladies," said Gar, faking a sort of James Bond accent.

Kori giggled, "thank you," she said, waving at Vic who'd just come through the sliding glass door with a fat slice of cake.

"Dude you're supposed to wait until after we eat the pizza for that." Gar grumbled.

"Whatever mom." Vic shoved a fat piece in his mouth just to prove he didn't give a damn before resting the plate on the table and joining the rest of us.

"Is anyone going to go get the Dick?"

"You mean Dick Gar?" I sneered.

"Yeah, that guy." He smirked relaxing into the steamy water. "Oh! I love this song!"

Daft Punk one more time blasted through the speakers and Kori and Gar got out to dance. When Kori raised herself out of the hot tub I couldn't help but notice that everything had stopped.

I definitely didn't remember the bottom of the suit looking like that.

Gar grinned turning bright read as he spun her around to the song. They both laughed.

"Uh Rache," Vic tapped me on the shoulder looking slightly concerned. "Is your friend just trying to get attention or something? How come you didn't say anything to her about the thong."

I couldn't say anything only gave him the look. How the hell was I supposed to know she was going to put that on and it wasn't like I was her mom or something she was an adult she could do whatever.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to see Dick who'd finally made it out to the party. He had on a pair of red and back trunks and stumbled about like he was having a little trouble walking on his own.

"Everything alright man?"

"Yeah great dude!" He high fived Gar in a way that was too cheerful to be authentic, especially for him.

"Damn baby you look good!" He grabbed Kori's hand to dance with her, leaving Gar standing off to the side alone. He didn't seem to mind too much quickly busying himself with food and tequila.

"How about a game?" Gar announced. "Each person has to tell a story about something crazy they've done and if the person who goes after you tops your story you take a shot ."

"Okay, but how do we know who wins?" asked Vic.

"Easy said Gar, the person who takes the longest to get drunk is the winner!"

"That's a really bad game." I groaned.

"Kori are you in?" Dick laughed and she nodded.

"I'm in." Vic said.

"Let's get this party started!" Gar shouted eagerly handing each of us a shot glass.

"Oh wait pizza's here!" Gar stopped what he was doing and booked to the door.

"Yeah, yeah keep the change thanks." He snatched the pizzas and threw the money at the pizza guy and was back in literally two seconds. Setting the boxes on the table and resumed his earlier spiel. "Okay so where were we..."

I felt the steamy water rise when Gar squeezed in next to me, bubbles blocking the view of my toes. He was still holding a shot glass, which was already filled with tequila.

"Since I brought up the game I'll go first," he snickered to himself getting down right giddy over his own idea. Giving a suspenseful pause he took a deep breath, throwing his head back, and relaxing even more into the water. " Okay, okay, I got it." He laughed.

Dick's fingers were dancing over Kori's various body parts under the water, I couldn't see his fingers, but I felt the movement in the water, it was pissing me off. Neither one of them seemed too interested in Gar's story, only interested in themselves. Vic, on the other hand, sat patiently not interested or uninterested just... patient.

"Okay guys, so there was one time when I was 16 I was forced to "babysit" my teacher's teenage daughter who was basically the same age."

Immediately we all stared him down like a hawk.

"I was 16 and she was 15 at the time."

"Why were you babysitting someone that was basically the same age as you?" Dick cut him off.

"Eh, guess her parents were over protective. And my foster parents and my teacher became good friends so they were constantly volunteering my help."

"Long story my teacher came home one day when she and I were making out with a pack of cigs and something a little stronger on the couch beside us."

Gar hung his head in shame, his face turning beet red as we all roared with laughter. Dick and Vic briefly made eye contact, shaking their heads.

"Good one, good one." Dick laughed. "Alright who goes next, who's topping that one?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Vic shot up a hand. "I want to hear the rest of his story. What happened when your teacher came home?"

"Let's just put it this way." Gar said, with a smug grin. "My parents never volunteered my services again."

"Oh lord." I face palmed keeping my eyes focused on Kori who was giggling like a dumb toddler. I watched as Dick's left hand cradled her midsection carefully while the other was wrapped around a shot glass.

"Do you have and funny stories Dick?" Kori giggled.

"Yeah, I do." He whispered in her ear. "But you'll have to follow me to my bedroom to hear it."

He led her out of the hot tub beyond the sliding glass door into the backroom where he stayed while the rest of us just sat there slightly surprised.

"Wait so what about our game?" Gar shouted."Okay... well I guess they found something better to do. How the hell does he move so quick like that? Just yesterday he was telling her to fuck off and today he's telling her to fuck him."

"SHUT UP GAR!" I stomped his foot.

"Get over it Rache the man wants what he wants. It isn't you or Kori he's led by the Dick."

"Stupid ass." I left the pool area, looking out the window to see Gar shrugging his shoulders at Vic knowing damn well what he said. On the way to my room I heard noises coming from Dick's room which only pissed me off further. This entire living arrangement was starting to seem like more and more of a bad idea. I hate my dad but Dick was being such an asshole I hated him more almost. At this point I kind of didn't care if he just left altogether.


There was nothing really new going on the week following the house warming kickback. Dick went back to his old self after getting what he wanted. It was like the rest of us didn't exist, literally. In fact, no one had even seen him for the last two days.

"Are you okay, no one has really been able to talk to you?" Kori stood outside of Dick's door her usual grin absent.

Maybe she was taking his absent personal, like he dumped her or something. Even though, I glared, they only just freaking met.

"Look Kori, he's probably fine. Just doesn't want to be bothered. I get like that sometimes too."

"But for two days in a row? That is not healthy." She frowned, knocking again."

"I'll show you he's fine, if you really need to know.

"I do."

I sighed, pulling a single bobby pin from my hair.

"What is it you are doing?"

"She's breaking and entering," Gar said, passing from the hallway into the kitchen in monkey boxers, scratching his leg.

"Oh jeez, go put on some clothes naked ass." I grimaced while Kori giggled, forgetting her worries for only a second until I started my elaborate break in.

"Just a little more and..." I wiggled the handle until I could feel a slight click finagling the pin in and out of the little hole. Pop, it was open, but the room was empty.

"Oh!" Kori gasped. "He is gone."

And so were some key things from the room, like the back pack I saw in the back of his car occasionally, and his favorite pair of shoes.

"Do you think he will be gone long?"

I walked to the window noticing finger prints that looked like someone had attempted to wipe them away haphazardly.

"Possibly."