Chapter 3: Awesome Fun Times with Mike
== Jade: Arrive at the party.
You can't arrive at the party yet, because the party hasn't started. You guess that since you are here, though, you might as well help Mike and his friends set things up for the party. You walk inside with a couple 12-packs of soda in hand and see that everything is pretty much already set up in here, so you walk through the front room, where there are multiple TVs set up, all with their own game consoles. You look through the double doors on the other end and spot the kitchen, where you hear Mike talking to his friends. You walk in and they all three stop to look at you.
"Boys, here she is. This is Jade," he says to them, motioning to you and then he adds, "Jade, this is James and Jake: Two of my best bros in the world." The one he designated as James said hi and waved, while Jake raised his chin up in greeting to you, only saying "Sup?"
"Good to meet you," you said politely, putting the soda down where Mike had put down his own. The four of you go to get the rest of the soda from Mike's car, plenty of Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper, root beer and orange soda to last the whole night, not to mention a few packs of energy drinks. As you all go back in, you grab your backpack and Jake shows you to one of the bedrooms where the girls will be sleeping. He asks you if you like dogs, and you nod in the affirmative, and he takes you outside to show you his dog.
== Be Mike
You are now Mike. You are standing in the front room with your best bro ever as Jake takes Jade to where she'll be sleeping tonight. You look back at James to see him almost glaring at you.
"Okay, dude, what's the deal with her? This better not be like when you brought Marshall to one of these," he said sharply.
"Oh, JR, that almost hurts. Though yeah, Marshall was a little out of line," you joke around with him, knowing that he isn't seriously angry with you about Jade, he just wants answers. You tell him about your meeting with her earlier that day, and pretty much everything about that day since you got off work.
"Alright, alright, so maybe you've got a point in bringing her here," James agreed finally, and grinned, "So, does this mean you're over Em, then?" You narrow your eyes at him. Even jokingly talking about Jade being his rebound from the girl you've had a crush on for four years pushes your buttons.
"Look, bro, Jade's a good girl. Well, at least as much of her as I know about, at least, and yeah she's a good looker too, but you know I don't just bounce like that in a day. I don't know if I'm ready to give up on Emily yet," you say, defending yourself, but somewhere you wonder if maybe he isn't right, and you are actually doing this to maybe try and take Jade on a date eventually. You shake your head, because you know you couldn't possibly do things like that.
"Hey, man, I know you've been intent on the Emily thing since you and AR broke up, but come on, man, maybe this is what you need. You're pretty sure Em isn't interested in being more than friends, so why not?" he offers the scenario you've gone over in your mind, and it makes you wince just a little when he mentions your ex-girlfriend. Even though you've had a crush on this girl for four years, you've dated two other girls in the meantime. One lasted nearly two years, and the second didn't last six months and ended a few months ago.
"Yeah, well, let's give it some time. After all, I just met the girl today. Speaking of girls, did you get word on if yours gets to come?" you hastily change the subject, using the easy segue to settle on James, or your usual nickname for him, JR's girlfriend. He nods in the affirmative, turning a little red and smiling at the mention of her. You smile in response, almost envious of JR's young innocence. True, the two of you are only six months apart in physical age, you had jumped into the world of relationships quite a bit earlier than he had. You think that things may have actually been better for you had you waited until now, like he had. But you don't dwell on the fact.
"Okay, so people are gonna start getting here in a half hour or so, we're gonna call in the pizza once everyone arrives, and then you and I go get it while Jake holds down the fort?" James rattles off the plan that the two of you and Jake put together a couple weeks ago when you planned this whole shindig, and you nod in the affirmative.
"Yeah, I think we can trust your brother with a house full of people for 15 minutes or so while we get pizza, don't you?" you say, jokingly bashing your friend, as the three of you often do with each other.
"Let's just try and make the pizza run quick before the house implodes, yeah?" he replies, bashing his brother maybe a little less jokingly than you. Even though you're pretty sure he's half-serious about his joke, but you can't help but laugh at the banter that always ensues between the lot of you. You can't wait for everyone to finally get here so you can get down to business and start gaming the night away.
== Jade: Minutes in the future, but not many…
You are being introduced by Mike to his friends as they walk in. He introduces you to his cousin, who is also named Jake. You learn that when both of them are in the room, Jake the cousin is Jake, and the other Jake is called JT. Jake happily greets you with a smile, then goes over and fist bumps JT as they proceed to start setting up the TV and console that Jake had brought with him. Mike walks outside to say hey to his aunt and uncle before they leave, and you decide to take the opportunity to talk to James.
"Hey, could I ask you a question about Mike?" you ask him, and he nods in the affirmative, so you continue, "You've known him for a long time… has he always been so, like, quirky and stuff? Like, he wears two different colored shoes with his slacks and stuff. What's up with that?"
This wasn't the question you originally wanted to ask, but it's what came out of your mouth instead. You aren't sure why you are avoiding the other question, but you can't even complete the question in your mind for some reason. James doesn't know this, so he probably just thinks you want to know about his quirks.
"Yeah, he's always been a bit different, but to be honest his quirks have changed with time. You know those sideburns of his? Four years he's had them. The two colored shoes thing, he's done that on and off for the past couple of years. Converse with slacks, suits, and pretty much all forms of dress has been something he's done for longer than he's had that facial hair. That's just Mike." James thinks for a moment, and then adds, "Oh, and if he says some stuff that doesn't quite make sense to you, he's probably referencing some song he knows or a sci-fi show."
You giggle a little bit at this, wondering whether anything he's already said has been a reference to something. You are pretty sure a lot of his music is references to something, but you aren't really sure about a lot of things he says. Even though you haven't gotten the answer for the question you really wanted to ask, this will do for now. Mike walks back in with another one of his friends, a guy named Rob. Rob asks you what's up, and then proceeds to go give high fives to the other three guys. Some more of the group show up, and Mike quickly introduces you to them all as they go mingle with the others. There are a lot of names, though, so you aren't doing too well remembering them all. You realize that must be all of them, since Mike whips out his phone to call in some pizza, and then he and James go to pick up the pizza, leaving you to mingle with the crowd.
"Hey, I know Mike kinda quickly introduced us, but I thought I'd introduce myself! I'm Emily!" one of the girls had walked up to you, and smiled as she spoke to you. She kind of reminds you of someone, but you aren't quite sure why she seems familiar, with her large amounts of enthusiasm.
"It's good to meet you, Emily! I'm Jade!" you reply, matching her enthusiasm. She asks you about how you met Mike and why she hasn't met you before now and you said that you just met Mike not too long ago, but you decide its best not to go into too much detail, at least at this point in time. Speaking of time, you wonder how much longer Mike is going to be with that pizza. You haven't eaten since breakfast and you are starting to get hungry.
"Want some deer sticks?" a guy's voice asks from behind you, and you turn around to find one of the guys, Rob, offering you deer sticks from a package in his hand. You take one from the package, thanking him and biting down on it. You always loved deer meat when your grandpa used to go hunting all the time. You can't remember the last time you were able to go hunting with your grandpa… and then you are snapped out of that line of thought as Mike and James walk through the door with a large stack of pizza boxes.
== End Chapter 3
Okay, so this chapter isn't QUITE as good I had hoped but I can't really seem to fix it as much as I want to. Introducing some friends of mine, and I'll mention a few more names as necessary, but I don't really want to throw in 6 or 7 pointless names, y'know? Anyway, this and the next couple of chapters are going to be the only chapters that have non-Homestuck characters named in it besides Mike. So bear with me.