Everything was wrong.
Well, maybe that was an exaggeration. But Halloween was here, and the only people I have really been talking to are Naminé and Zexion. I missed Sora. I somehow missed Axel. My days became a blur of class and sleep; I don't want to say I was depressed but…well I had pills for that so I definitely wasn't. Axel had become more unbearable. At the start of the year, he had been just as impossible, but in vastly different ways. He teased me. He was loud, and he was always clogging the shower drain. The day it flooded from his long hair, he laughed about it and yelled at me to get a boat. The damage wasn't that bad, because my stuff wasn't on the floor; it was like stepping in a swamp, however. Management fixed it quickly, giving a stern word to Axel. He saluted them as if he was a mere soldier and they were in command. That made them mad.
Recently he was very different. He avoided me, he always seemed moody. I never hung out with him anymore, and not only because he never seemed to be around. Also, the shower drain was always clean. It was a strange development I guess. I really wanted to talk about Naminé. She had tried to kiss me again the other day and I pretended to sneeze. I think that hurt her feelings.
And Sora kept stopping by on the weekends but he always went out somewhere.
People are so weird.
On the plus side, I found this really convenient video store. It was right off of campus, and pretty cheap. I stopped by there today to get ready for my Halloween. My checklist: tons of horror movies and candy. I was planning to spend the night alone. Right after I was done, I'd head to my room and camp out all the night..I didn't need anyone to spend it with.
As a kid, Sora and I had always gone trick or treating together. Sometimes our costumes matched. I was sure he was still going out, but I was too old now. And I don't have a costume, just a half used tube of fake blood.
I was reaching for a copy of Jeepers Creepers when a voice said, "I love that one."
To my astonishment, the voice belonged to my best friend from high school, Hayner. He was grinning, wearing his typical army pants. "Shit," I managed. "What are you doing here?"
He punched my arm. "I can't spend Halloween without you! And Jeepers Creepers, great choice."
"I was not getting it!" I insisted, thrusting it back on the shelf. He loved that movie and I always complained that it was stupid…but we watched it every year, and it wouldn't feel like Halloween without it.
Hayner picked it back up. "We're watching it."
"How did you get here?"
"Bus. It's not that far," he shrugged.
"Did anyone else come?" I asked, a little touched that he came all this way.
"Olette and your brother. Don't know where the kid ran off to, though."
"What about Pence?"
"His mom is mad about his grades."
"Oh…so how did you know I'd be here?"
"You told Sora, remember? Is college making you that stupid?"
"Hey!"
"Roxas!" Olette finally appeared, wrapping me in a hug. "I missed you."
It was really nice seeing my old friends. I smiled at them, and we ended up getting a ton of stuff. We dumped them all on the counter, and the person working, a balding man, laughed. "You really gonna watch these all?"
"Yep," I said happily. He checked us out and then we headed to the local grocery store.
It was cool inside, and quiet save for Hayner's voice trying to fill me in on everything. They had both graduated with me, but Olette was taking a year off school to work and save up money. She was a waitress and always had stories to tell me; Hayner on the other hand was taking classes at our community college.
Soon we were loaded down with chips, soda, and candy. As we made our way to my room, Olette asked, "Are you sure it'll be ok if we spend the night?"
"No one cares. And I have a sleeping bag."
"Only one?"
"Me and Olette call your bed," Hayner smirked.
"No," she frowned. "And what about Sora?"
Turns out, we didn't need to worry about him. He sent me a text to say he was gonna spend the night at a friend's. I guess he had found friends here, and was busy with them.
We had decorated ourselves in my fake blood, and we even had costumes, kinda. Olette put on cute little cat ears, gloves, and a tail. She was a cat who got hit by a car, since the fake blood was everywhere. Hayner dressed like a werewolf.
Then he pulled out this little tattered white thing and I said, "No no no no no."
"Come on!" He grabbed me and wrestled me to the ground. I knew what he was holding. The one bet I had lost to him had resulted in me dressing as a nurse from one of our horror video games. It had a short skirt, high heeled shoes, and one of those hats with the cross on it. The only good part was the large knife I got to carry around, but other than that it was just embarrassing.
"No way! I only had to wear it once!"
His arms grabbed around mine, pulling me back into his grip. "But it's hilarious!"
"Hayner," Olette said disapprovingly, although I could see a tiny smile on her face.
"Get off." I wiggled with more enthusiasm, and he started trying to pull my shirt off.
Then Axel, Demyx, Larxene and Zexion entered the room. I could see their shoes nearby, and Hayner had stopped trying to strip me. My face on fire, not helped by the fact that my cheek was rubbing against the carpet, I seized the opportunity, and shoved Hayner as hard as I could. He fell backwards and I jumped to my feet.
"…hi," Axel said. The group was all in costume; they had some kind of sexy, torture theme going on.
"Hi. This is my roommate, Axel," I introduced. "Hayner and Olette."
"Where's your girlfriend?"
"She's busy."
"Girlfriend?" Olette and Hayner echoed, confused.
"Yeah, the weird little one," Axel continued.
Larxene gave a shrill laugh at that.
"Yo, that can't be right, cause—"
I tackled Hayner and we were both on the ground again, wrestling. Demyx began egging us on, but we weren't seriously fighting. Just struggling with each other.
"What is this?" Zexion asked horrified. He was holding up something white while the rest of his friends were situating themselves in the room.
"That's what Roxas will be—" I shoved my fist in Hayner's stomach, actually knocking the wind out of him.
"Oh shit, you ok?" I climbed off him. Zexion had dropped the nurse outfit like it was diseased.
Hayner put his hand to his chest, taking a deep raspy breath—then kicked me in the stomach. I fell over in pain and I could hear at least one person howling with laughter. "You win," I grumbled.
"Are you gonna wear it?" Olette asked, hopeful. Whose side was she on?
"Sure, sure, just no more kicking." I shot Hayner a dirty look, and he responded with a wide grin.
"Sweet!" he exclaimed.
"You're gonna wear this?" Axel held up the outfit for everyone to see.
"It was a bet," I muttered. "Don't you guys have somewhere to be?"
"Yep, we're going to a party. Then we're gonna do some tricks."
"Have fun," I said flatly.
"I saw your brother there already."
"…what?"
Axel shrugged. "We'll meet him there."
"You will not!"
"Sora wouldn't go to a party," Olette put in.
"Yeah, are you lying to my friend?" Hayner jumped up, wrapping his arm protectively around my shoulders.
"Nope."
"We should probably get going," Zexion said quickly.
"There's no way Sora is.." I started, images of horrible things rushing into my mind.
But they were already on their way out the door. I grabbed Zexion and hissed, "If he's there, can you tell me?" He agreed.
So I put on my costume, and we began our movie marathon. During our second movie, Zexion texted me to confirm that Sora was indeed at the party.
I jumped off the bed, making Olette tip over and fall onto her side. "What's up, Roxas?" she asked.
"My freaking brother," I explained, shaking in rage.
Hayner looked up at me, his hand still rustling around in a bag of chips. "He at that party?"
"Yes! I'm gonna kill him!" I stormed around the room, grabbing my things. I was out the door within seconds, and I heard them frantically trying to catch up, the TV going silent in the middle of a scream.
"Roxas, calm down!" Olette grabbed my arm. I was already out of the building and people were giving me weird looks.
"Yeah, really," Hayner agreed. "He's old enough to make his own decisions."
"Not old enough to be at a college party!" I shrieked.
"Do you even know where you're going?"
I stopped abruptly on the sidewalk. It was dark outside, save for a few lampposts, and my legs were feeling cold for some reason.
…because I was still in that stupid outfit. "Why didn't you guys stop me!" I gestured to myself.
"You're too quick," Olette apologized.
"Well, I'll be quick with this and no one will notice this thing." I slid my phone out of my pocket, and called Zexion. Above the loud background noise, he told me where to go. He also said not to freak out. Whatever.
The party was at a house a few blocks away. I let myself in the front door without knocking, which made Olette visibly nervous. "Maybe we shouldn't…"
"It'll just take a minute." Inside there were red cups everywhere, people milling around in terrible costumes. The music was loud and generic—the worst kind. And oh god a couple was making out on the couch.
I pushed past people, and immediately some guy whistled at me, saying, "Where have you been all my life, sexy?"
"People think you're a girl," Hayner laughed.
"Let's keep it that way," I hissed, grabbing the two of them and going in further. Olette had wide eyes, scanning everything, while Hayner just looked like he was enjoying the show. Almost everyone here was drunk.
I finally saw someone I knew. Too bad it was Axel.
"Where's Sora?" I demanded.
"Hell if I know." He took a sip of his drink, his eyes traveling up and down my body. "Cute."
"You'd better tell us right now," Hayner threatened.
"He was outside the last time I saw him," he shrugged.
I shoved my way to a sliding glass door that led to a backyard. Someone in the crowd had the nerve to slap my butt.
And there was my brother. He was leaning against the house, tipping a cup to his mouth, and watching the people horse around. When he saw me, he jumped as if I was a ghost.
I knocked his cup out of his hands and onto the grass, spraying a light colored liquid everywhere. "We're leaving," I snarled.
"But—"
I grabbed his wrist and forcefully dragged him away. He was already claiming that he was drinking apple juice.
Zexion appeared. "Roxas, wait a second."
"No." I kept my grip firm and walked around to the front of the house.
"It really was apple juice," he called after me.
"It better have been," I muttered.
"You're hurting me!" Sora complained. I let go of him once we were far enough away, Hayner and Olette behind us, looking a little embarrassed.
"Why are you being so stupid?" I snapped.
He promptly started crying. "I wasn't doing anything stupid I was just hanging out with my friends and they wanted to go," he said in a long, hard to understand rush.
"Don't you dare—"
"Roxas," Olette cut in. "Let's just head back, ok?"
So we walked back to my room. Sora's sniffing was the only sound.
At my door, I sighed, my anger now fading. I fished in my pocket for my key. I couldn't find it, so I dug through my other pocket.
Not there either.
Shit.
I checked them again, and then again, while the three of them stared at me.
"Did you forget your key?" Hayner finally asked.
"No!" I checked again. "Maybe."
"Get Axel to open it?" Olette suggested.
"I guess I have to." I called him a few times, but he never answered. I sent him a text and we all sat in the lobby to wait.
Sora, who was a little cheered up already, suggested a word game. Olette played with him, while I glared at the walls. Axel showed up an hour later, staring at us.
"Come on," he gestured. We followed him and after he let us in, he promptly left again.
Sora fell asleep pretty quickly and we finished the rest of our movies.
XxXxXxX
The next day, a Sunday, they all left before lunch time. I took a shower to wash off all the blood and sat on my computer for the duration of the morning.
"You found your key, right?" Axel asked. He was sitting up in bed, finishing up a cup of coffee.
"Where is this sudden concern coming from?" I mocked.
"I was just asking," he mumbled, setting his mug on his nightstand with a loud clank.
"How's stats?" I asked sarcastically. I wasn't in the best of moods, considering Halloween was pretty much ruined.
"Fine." He got out of bed, shaking his hair like a dog for some reason.
"I swear," I breathed to myself.
"Don't let me bother you," he said, irritated.
I looked up. "What's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with you?!" he exclaimed back. "Sora wasn't doing anything wrong!"
"He shouldn't have been there!" I stood up, getting in his face. "And if you were my friend, you wouldn't have let him go there in the first place!"
"We aren't friends," he said darkly.
"I noticed!"
We stopped for a second, each of us taking deep, quick breaths. "Maybe it'd be better if we weren't roommates anymore."
"Is this about the key?" I rolled my eyes. "Cause that was one time!"
"No," he snarled. "You probably just want some alone time."
"Alone time?"
"With your girlfriend! Have you done her yet?" Axel's face was getting closer to mine, his face contorted with anger.
"What?" I asked, taken aback.
He shook his head, disgusted. "She's a slut."
I lost it at that, blind with rage. The next thing I knew, I slammed my fist into Axel's face. He took a step back, a hand up to where I had hit him, looking surprised.
"Roxas—" he started.
"Shut up, Axel," I half shouted. "I can't stand you."
Oh god, my eyes were getting hot with tears. No way would he see me cry; I tried desperately to stop it but he didn't give me enough time to cry anyway.
"Why'd you have to kiss her?"
And he was gone.