((AN: More so just to keep people like me in line, here is a breakdown of story relationships as of this chapter.

Eridan – Feferi – Friends (destroyed),

Eridan - Feferi – Love,

Eridan - Feferi – General dislike/disinterest

Eridan – Sollux – General dislike/hatred

Sollux – Feferi – Couple

Terezi – Feferi – Friends

Vriska – Feferi – Friends

Terezi – Vriska – Semi-enemies/friends

Vriska – Eridan – Burning dislike))

CHAPTER THREE

The party was set for that weekend, the Saturday to be exact, and Eridan was more anxious than ever. His invite made its home under his pillow as if it were an autographed copy of his favorite book or one of his many pieces of jewelry he kept in a special case in his bathroom. Every morning, he took it out, and read it over again as if it was going to stop being true at any point in time. But it never stopped being true. As Saturday inched along, Eridan kept his eyes peering out his bedroom window every once in a while, at the house across the street. It was always going to be true.

His insanely loud alarm clock blasted 'What You Are' at exactly eleven o'clock, and his eyes jolted open with a start. He couldn't sleep that night anyway; he'd ended up waking up at least five times since midnight when he forced himself to go to sleep. It was Saturday, and there was a party, one of the most important things to the antsy teen, and he would be prepared for it.

Hopping out of bed with springy enjoyment, he smiled to himself, which he realized that he hadn't done in quite a long time. Quickly, he pulled his glasses off his night table and slipped them on as he journeyed downstairs for breakfast.

His mom and dad were already situated at the breakfast table together, enjoying a cup of coffee and both reading the paper. The two never seemed to socialize with each other, but perhaps it was for the better, everyone in the town knew they were unhappy together, even Eridan was aware the two were constantly cheating on each other. He questioned why they stayed together, but the fact that his sister was completely unaware of anything wrong happening between them always raised back to the forefront of his mind.

They didn't say anything when he entered, or when he shattered a plate on the floor for good measure, and just kept their interest in their daily news. As he made his breakfast, Eridan attempted to make a decent amount of notice, pouring the cereal in his bowl, senseless banging of the milk on the refrigerator door, he tried it all, yet his parents still turned a blind eye. Elli, on the other hand, gave a strange look in Eridan's direction when she entered the room, yawning and rubbing her eyes. She was still dressed in her pink My Little Pony pajamas, but her bands were already in and her hair was up in a ponytail, which told Eridan that she'd been waiting for him to wake up to have breakfast.

"Coco Puffs or Rice Krispies?" He asked, holding the two boxes up, when she pointed past him, at the box behind him of which he'd just finished pouring for himself.

"Capt'n Crunch!" She said with a smile, and pulled herself up on one of the island stools.

"Are you sure, I thought you hated them?"

"Yeah, I want that this morning."

Eridan sighed, and shrugged. Girl knew what she wanted, and she very well was going to get it. Putting the other two boxes of cereal back in the cabinet, he pulled out another small plastic purple bowl and filled it to the brim with Capt'n Crunch and milk before pushing it across the counter at her, and placing his own in front of him. He leaned over the counter as he ate in the silence of the kitchen, and eventually spoke up to relieve the tension.

"Are you plannin on stayin home today, do I need to take you out somewhere?" He asked, spooning another mouthful of cereal to his lips, "Because I need to be somewhere by seven."

"Carrie invited me over for the night, but I can walk if you need me to." She answered, with her mouth full of food and milk, some dripping every which way as she talked.

"Don't speak with your mouth full." Eridan reminded her, "But I can take you ower when I go to Fef's… Fuck."

"Eri!" Elli leaned over the island, pushing her feet up on their tiptoes and balancing the stool on the floor, "That was a bad word! And, when did you start seeing Feffie again!" Her little circular face was lit up with a familiar happiness it hadn't seen in a while, her cheeks lifted in joy, Elli had enjoyed Feferi's company ever so much before the incident.

"W-we hawen't really talked lately but she's hawing a party tonight."

"Oh, that's fantabulous!" She squealed, jumping down off the stool and making a beeline around the island to grab Eridan in a hug, "Everything will be perfect, again."

A smile tugged at Eridan's lips as he looked down to Elli latched onto his legs, "Yeah, Ewerythin'll be 'ite again."

"Well what are you waiting for? Don't you need to get ready?"

"Elli, the party's not until seven."

"It doesn't matter!" The small third grader took up the disposition of a two year old as she pulled on Eridan's sleeve, trying to get him to come with her, and finally the teen submitted. Shoving one last bite of cereal into his mouth, and taking a swig of orange juice out of the carton (earning a slap from his sister), he allowed himself to be drug up the stairs and into the bathroom. It was as if he was a slave to her desires.

By six o'clock, Eridan was primped and pampered, thanks to the help of his sister. His hair, which had, earlier that day, been mussed up beyond recognition, was now slicked back and tidy, a firm streak of purple noticeably glinting in the front. He was now wearing a long, button up tan cardigan over a white polo with khaki skinny jeans to match. On his feet he dawned his favorite purple Vans that 'didn't exactly match the owerall look of the outfit but it was wery well gunna'. His stood in front of the mirror, his sister at his side, looking in unassuredly, picking things from the daily food schedule out of his teeth with a 'square' toothpick.

Furrowing his eye brows, he took one last glance, straightened the thick frames of his glasses, and sighed. He was better than this, he thought, in an arrogant and cocky manner, before he turned away and pushed his sister to the side as he exited the all-too-big bathroom.

"Well, are you goin a go ower to Carrie's? You better get a packin."

Elli nodded post-haste and ran off down the hall to her room as Eridan slunk the opposite way to his room to grab a few, select items. He slung his double breasted wool coat over should shoulders and shoved the invite into the pocket along with a roll of BreathSavers. He grabbed his slip phone and put that into his back pocket along with his wallet. The last thing he gathered were the keys to his purple Mustang, his dream car he'd wanted since he was little, and flipped them around his finger a few times before stepping out the door of his room, and heading down the stairs to the front door.

"Elli, we need to leawe!" He called, and the staggering of feet, and a crash followed shortly after, as his little sister clattered her way down the stairs.

"Okay, we can go now!"

Eridan started up the car and Elli jumped in beside him after she tossed her things into the back seat. The only thing Eridan could think about during the drive was the confrontation he would have with Feferi at the party, and what would happen. After all, he wasn't even sure if the invitation has been meant specifically for him, or if it had just happened to be lying around and Tavros, being the kind soul that he always was, just handed it to him thinking he dropped it. He wasn't looking forward to the nasty confrontation between him and Vriska, after the nasty incident where Eridan… Well… He never really talked about it, anyways. Eridan was always being usurped, by anyone at any specific time, and rejection was something he never became fond of. He became the 'desperate hipster' at school once he realized he had no one to share his time with, and Karkat became his only friend most days. The real connection between the two was never certain, but most were certain the friendship relied on the trust that neither would share the romantic advice they Karkat tended to give each other Eridan.

When they pulled up in front of Carrie's house, a girl, about as tall as Elli, opened the door and looked out. She had on a pair of cat ears and cat mittens and she swaggered a cat tail playfully. Pulling the former off her head, along with the mittens off her hands, she came out to greet them with a smile. "Purrrrrfect evening, isn't it Eridan?" She asked, nicely, enunciating the r with a roll of her tongue, "I heard Carrie invited little Elli over for the night."

"Evening, Nepeta!" Elli said as she hopped out of the car, and ran up to the door to greet Nepeta's younger sister, who was also clad in cat-wear, so kindly leaving Eridan and Nepeta to battle it out on sidewalk and car.

"Yeah, it's a nice ewening, Nep." His eyes didn't meet hers, too embarrassed to look her directly in the eyes. Just the week before he'd asked her out to the movies and he had been so horribly rejected in the middle of the hall. Made even more embarrassing by the fact that she was one of the 'slower' kids in the school, Eridan hated ever dropping Elli off at her house.

Nepeta swiped at Eridan's head with a paw hand, and Eridan ducked, grimacing at the thought of playing her little games. Back when they were kids, Nepeta had always begged to play in their LARPing sessions with them, but she was always held back by her parents, and her best friend. "You're such a big kitten, thinking you're better than me Eridan." She protested, crossing her arms, "You're not as purrfect as you think you are. Where are you going anyways."

Eridan cracked his neck in annoyance, and let his fingers loose on a steering wheel for a second, before going back to choking the poor inanimate object, "A party."

"Oooooh!"

"With cool people. It's for the…" He cleared his throat, now choking him up, "for the most prominent of the community."

Nepeta responded with silence, and then a quite growl, "Furget it Eridan. Have fun at your purrtay." With that, the tiny teenager turned around and ran into the house, that last thing to be heard before she slammed the door being her growls and hisses at her sister, Eridan figuring it ended with a pounce and their continuance of what they considered LARPing.

"Purrrrrfect." Eridan mocked as he revved the engine, and took off down the street, "She really doesn't know w-what she's missin does she."

(AN: This marks 10 pages in a Word Document, something I am 'HOLY SHIT' so proud of. It may only be 10 pages and 5k words, but for me, that's a great achievement and a mark that this time this will go somewhere. Thanks for the great comments so far! You guys keep me on my updating toes! )