Chapter Five; Awesome Party

Some part of Freddie's mind recognized this party was now officially awesome. He and Jonah had crashed through an end-table and bookcase. They wrestled for a moment before a group of drunk teenagers circled them chanting, "fight, fight, fight!"

This party meant nothing to Freddie. A good dog knew better than to show his emotions, yet here he was, fighting some idiot. The two were utterly vicious, slamming their opponent into walls. Within minutes, blood was flying through the air. The crowd backed off. It was one thing to see someone's shirt ripped up, it was another to see Jonah spew enough blood to ruin Spencer's copy of "Nevel Papperman; A Look at Madness."

Freddie's punches were not that powerful, but he just kept swinging away. The two were entirely focused on one another, so much so that anyone who got in the way was simply knocked down. Jonah had never cared about any of these punks, but Freddie used to be on good terms with all of them.

Now he was a wild animal, ripping into his opponent.

Carly had enough. She tried to scream for help, but the noise drowned her out. She called Freddie's name, so used to him answering whenever she did. He was blinded to her presence. The look on his face horrified her. This was not the sweet boy from next door, this was a psychopath.

The fight got to the point where even Sam was disgusted. She watched as Freddie, the dork king of the universe, take a chair to the face and get back up. She knew what was wrong with him; she had seen it countless times on trips to see her family in prison. This girl knew a truth about the world that most people were uncomfortable with; humans are animals. They are smart, successful, occasionally generous, animals. Someone had woken up the beast in Freddie, and the two seemed well acquainted.

Sam tried to keep Carly back, but it was getting hard. The two boys now had a grip on one another. One would punch, and then the other, using the backlash of the punch, would come back and return the force with a punch. The air was filled with the sounds of meat smacking.

Whack, whack, whack, whack, it continued until both were falling to their knees. Freddie charged into a punch and hurtled his opponent through the air.

Once there was a small break from the fighting, (Jonah found himself inside an aquarium) Carly jumped on top of Freddie. He whipped around and pinned her to the floor with a vicious look of rage. Hands on her throat, Freddie growled at the interloper. Heart pounding, breathless, she watched his face go from wild animal to horrified realization, "Carly, I-"

He was cut off as a figure slammed him and Jonah together. The two stumbled dazed as the man took them both down in a single move.

"Get out, both of you," Growled the stranger. He got up and spoke to Carly, "Hi, my name's Griffin."

Chapter Six: An Uncommon Meeting

Carly swept up the remains of the party. Sam was no help (no big surprise there) and Gibby was… well, being Gibby. She sighed.

At least she had made a new friend. A tall, dark, handsome friend who smelled really good and maybe liked her. Well, he liked her enough to stick around after getting blood all over his clothes, which made him take them off. Oh... yeah, they were now good friends. He was buff, to say the least, tall, and very muscular.

He put on some of Spencer's old clothes and went around the apartment straightening the place as he went.
"So… what kind of girl are you?"

She smiled. They had been getting to know one another really well. He had been really helpful. After Jonah left (practically in need of a body-bag) Freddie had disappeared. The party had sort of gotten out of control for a minute, no one knowing exactly what to do. Griffin had corralled people away from the site of the fight, or rather, managed to knock the debris the two had managed to generate into a corner. He also kept the party from breaking down into a fistfight. That is, of course, until Sam got ahold of Gibby and dared him to punch her in the chest.

And so the rest of the party became about how tough everybody was. Carly was bored. She did not want to hit anyone, nor did she want to be hit. It was then that Griffin lit his shirt on fire and ripped it off.

The evening was a whole lot more interesting after that. She watched for glimpses; he gave them off occasionally when his super-cool leather jacket parted… Carly took a steady breath. Momma liked, momma really liked that. But getting to know Griffin was kind of hard. He was quiet, and stared into the distance a lot. Still, maybe she could salvage this evening…

Carly started talking about her life; the absence of her father, the weird life she lead as host of her web show, "Freddie was a great friend, but I was hoping that we would reconnect, you know?" Griffin was getting closer, "And, now that he's back, I don't know exactly what I feel, but I know something isn't right, and that he's holding back, and, boy, is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?"

The hottie kept advancing. He smiled, she laughed nervously, "Relax, I'm not going to do anything."

Carly twittered, "Yeah, 'cause, that's what I was thinking, that you were- or I was- or we were. And man, I sound so stupid right now. Oh…"

Griffin took off his jacket, "I think you're right, it is getting hot in here."

The heat in her cheeks grew, "I- uh, I don't know how to, uh, you know…"

He kissed her. All thought vacated her brain. Oh, Mamma really likes this! She panted as she backed away, "You must think I'm a total nub."

Griffin shook his head, "No, but I do think you need to get out more. Saturday night, at seven, you need to go out with me."

Carly nodded stupidly. Absently she wondered if Freddie was having as good a time, but it did not matter that much to her.