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Milton never got invited to house parties.
For almost all of his time at school, he never gets invited. Maybe it was because he was smarter than his peers or that he was never really a social kid, parties weren’t his thing. His friends were usually academic focused like him, except for Jerry. None of them ever got invited to parties, so he couldn’t be too surprised about it. But his world quickly turned around getting more popular friends like Jack and Kim. The planets aligned just right for him to officially get invited to a real high school party.
He felt excited, or nauseous. He couldn’t really tell anymore. He’s sitting in the back of Kim’s car with Jerry. Jack is riding passenger while Kim drives.
Jerry locks his arm around the back of Milton’s neck as he excitedly talks about how the party will be like. Milton knows he’s greatly overexaggerating, but he doesn’t have a rebuttal.
They soon arrived at the party. The house was trashed. There’s crushed-up cans and broken bottles on the front lawn already. Just from the window you could see a bunch of teenagers gathered around. The music blared from the inside and somehow got even louder as they entered the house. Milton’s excitement begins to drop as he walks further into the house. Jerry, who had his hand around his waist, quickly dispersed from him to immediately hit on a girl that entered his eyesight. He was really relying on Jerry to get him through the night.
Milton somehow got separated from his other two friends as well. Not that it mattered to them if they were split up, all three of them were extroverts to varying degrees, they gravitated towards the groups outside of their friendship. Jack got taken over by the popular kids and any girl who had a crush on him. (Which was practically every girl.) Kim caught up in the latest gossip with the rest of the cheerleaders. Jerry went to hit on any girl available.
Usually, in school, Milton would have no problem with this. He didn’t mind that each of his friends had personal interests that didn’t include him, since he would be able to indulge in his own. The problem was that all of his interests were not available. His academic friends weren’t invited, and he severely doubted that anyone here was interested in the mechanics of quantum theory.
He tried to fit in. Taking a swig from a beer only to grimace at the taste. He never understood how anyone chugged this. Milton observed the people around him. They were all having a good time. Drinking, laughing, having fun.
Did he have to be inebriated to enjoy this party?
He kept walking around, but without the aid of alcohol, he saw the party as it truly is; a crowded, disgusting space filled with drunk teenagers. The smell of alcohol and vomit was foul. It was loud, yet everyone was still talking to each other despite it.
Milton kept walking until he hit the kitchen. Thankfully, it was quieter compared to the rest of the house.
Milton grabbed a handful of colorful gummies from a bowl. He didn’t question the odd taste of them. It must have been expired. He decides it wouldn’t be wise to eat anything else from the counter since he doesn’t know if any of the snacks have expired.
He rests in the nook next to the kitchen for a bit. It was a simple couch between two close walls. It was small and generally didn’t contain any unusual stains, so it was safe to sit there. He wanted to relax, but something wasn’t letting him.
His body felt off. He started to feel sluggish. He felt his anxiety flare up as he hoped he didn’t contract food poisoning or any other illness while he was here.
He went to the bathroom to slap some water on his face to wash the feeling off. But the more time passed, the worse he felt.
It was like every movement he made was delayed. It felt like his body struggled to keep up with the speed of his brain.
His heart got the memo and decided to speed up at the situation. It felt too fast. Or the universe around him slowed to a halt.
Either way, his body and mind were out of sync.
He started to search the house for his friends. Which would already be difficult with the amount of people in his way, but his body wasn’t cooperating with him tonight. He swayed against the wall, it felt like at any moment he would collapse and not be able to get up. He barely could feel the wall he was leaning against.
He was afraid that he was never going to regain the sensation of touch again.
If he wasn’t already freaking out, he really started to.
His brain kept coming up with the worst possible scenario.
That he permanently damaged his brain. That he got drugged and would pass out here with no one to help him.
He finally finds one of his friends at a quieter part of the party.
“Kim,” he said so weakly that it was barely audible with the music, but she heard him anyway. She turned around to see her freaked-out ginger friend reaching for her.
“Hey baby,” she said calmly as she wrapped her arms around him.
Baby
He liked hearing that. It was originally a joke that Jerry called him baby but him and Kim kept calling him that as an affectionate term.
He shuddered into the hug. Kim felt real to him. He smushed his face directly in her neck.
He never said this out loud, but Kim was his protector. Yeah, Jack could kick anyone’s ass, and Jerry was a joker who would get back at anyone who messed with him. But Kim was always the one who actually got people to stop. Whether it was convincing the popular kids not to bother him or physically threatening some bully to back off, she always had his back.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Kim asked. Milton was clearly out of it. So much so that he was grabbing onto her like she was his lifeline right in front of the cheerleaders without any care of who saw them.
He couldn’t actually explain what was wrong since he didn’t know what was happening to him. All he could do was whine in her neck. Kim excused them so she could take Milton to a quieter spot to talk. She knew that he was freaking out.
Eventually, she led him to a fairly small bedroom. It was bare, with no evidence that someone slept there at all. It was assumed to be a guest room that never got decorated.
They both sat on the bed. Milton leaned all his body weight on her. He grabbed onto the back of her shirt. Slighting tugging her hair as he done so.
“Hey baby, you’re fine now, tell me what happened." She keeps using the term baby to calm him down. It works to tell Milton that he’s safe.
“You guys left, and I tried to have a good time, and nothing works and now I feel like shit,” he whines to her. Never removing his face from her neck. She sighs as he tugs at her again.
“What did you do to have fun?” She asked, hoping to get some answers out of him.
“I don’t know, I barely drank this beer, and I ate some gummy bears.”
“Milton,” she stops him once she realizes what he done. “What kind of gummy bears?”
He pulls back away from her. “What do you mean? It’s gummy bears.” He rubbed his eyes as he said it, and she almost melts looking at him.
“Milton, baby,” she gets him to look directly in her eyes. “You ate some edibles. You’re high.”
“Oh,” he couldn’t explain it, but he started to tear up.
"Oh, baby, it’s okay, you’re not used to it, and you probably overdid it since you didn’t know.” She pulled him in and kissed him on his tear soaked cheek. “Once it wears off a bit, I’ll take you home, and you can sleep it off.”
He nods his head.
They stayed in that guest room for an hour, waiting for Milton not to be so freaked out. He stopped crying ten minutes in but still grabbed onto Kim like she was his personal stress toy. She didn’t complain about Milton squeezing her so tightly or the fact that he accidentally bit her to calm himself down. Well, she did scold him for that last part.
Once he didn’t feel as stressed as before, Kim led him out of the room. He didn’t notice that other people were looking at them. Kim couldn’t pay attention to them, her main mission was to get her high friend home.
The ride home was quiet. Milton felt freaked out that his parents would know he’s high. Kim reassured him that he would be able to just go to bed and avoid his parents entirely.
-
On Monday, people were talking about what happened at the party. Milton uncomfortably walked into school that day. Accidentally getting high was probably one of the most embarrassing things he ever did. Thankfully, his academically driven friends wouldn’t have heard what happened. At least, that’s what he thought.
“Dude, you went to a party and hooked up with a cheerleader and didn’t think to tell us?!” Albert immediately confronted him.
“Huh?” The statement catches Milton off guard.
“A lot of people are talking about it, man.” Sidney backs up the statement.
“What no?” he shakes his head, trying to make sense of the situation. “I didn’t hook up with anyone.”
"Well, someone saw you go into a bedroom with a cheerleader for an hour, soooo”
Milton turns red. He forgot about Kim. Not Kim herself, but her popularity. Of course, people pay attention to her.
“Look at him, he totally hooked up with that cheerleader.”
“When did you get so cool?”
‘I got too high and bawled my eyes out while my friend comforted me’ wasn’t something Milton was ready to admit.
He left the conversation for class. At least he could ignore the rumors while learning about Napoleon.
As soon as he left class, he was once again bombarded with what happened on Saturday.
“So you fucked Kim?” Jerry crudely asked him “I know she’s pretty, but not conversion pretty.”
Milton turns red. "Jerry, I am never telling you anything ever again.” He mentioned one thing about wanting to date guys instead of girls and he never heard the end of it.
He waited for his other friends to come to the lockers.
Jack saw him and promptly turned around. Milton knew that he had a crush on Kim and didn’t want to hear that his friend hooked up with her. Milton doesn’t understand why he hasn’t told her yet, she clearly reciprocated the feelings back.
“What’s his problem?” Jerry was as dense as ever. Milton wonder how he got past elementary school.
“Hey baby,” Kim says the nickname once more. This time in a more playful tone. “How’s the popularity treating you?”
“Hey Kim.” He blushes at the word. It didn’t help with the rumor going around. It felt awkward talking to her. Every interaction they have would only fuel the gossip going around.
“So did you two do the deed or what?” Jerry cuts through the silence.
Kim decks him in the arm, making him recoil from the pain. “You seriously didn’t tell him what happened.” She chuckles
“It’s not something that I’m proud of.” He mutters.
“You came too early and didn’t get to the good part?”
“Jerry!” He yells at his crude friend, “Stop speaking to me!”
This only made Kim laugh harder.
“Come on, tell me what happened,” Jerry begged him.
“I got high,” Milton finally admits.
“Then had sex." Jerry confirms
“Nobody had sex!”
“I took care of him because he was freaking out and that’s why we left together,” Kim said.
“I thought the rumor was because we hid in the guest bedroom for an hour.”
"Yeah, that too, and then apparently we did it again after because you’re a wild animal.”
“Kim!” He whines. Jerry high-fives her in rewards of that joke. “How are you not embarrassed?”
“I’m a cheerleader, you get a rumor about sleeping with someone every other week.”
Milton grimaces at that fact. He hates that she’s used to this. She recognized his sad face. “It’s not that bad, rumors die off within the week.”
“I don’t want people talking about you like that.”
“I know”
Milton pulls her close for a quick hug. “I’ll see you at the dojo.”
“Yeah,” she pulls back. “Who knows, maybe we’ll do it there too.”
“Kim,” he whines again. She’s enjoying teasing him too much.
-
At the dojo, Jack seemed a bit huffy. He’s been avoiding talking to him or Kim ever since the party.
Milton knew exactly why he hadn't spoken to either of them.
If Jack never asked, he would never know the truth and would be able to pretend that everyone else was mistaken based on what they saw. Of course, if he had just asked, he would’ve known that everyone was mistaken and the truth was much more stupid.
It infuriated him that Jack believed some rumor about them and didn’t talk to them about it.
Did he believe every rumor he heard around school? And Kim was the star in some of these rumors, what did he think of her? He hates thinking about Kim being slandered, and it bothers him that he never noticed.
He considered himself a smart, sensitive guy. How smart or sensitive could he be if he never realized the crap Kim has been through?
He shakes himself out of his thoughts. He’s making Jack the bad guy before even talking to him. Maybe it was his jealousy rearing its ugly head, but Jack could have any girl; why did it bother him that he had Kim?
Milton and Jack are the only ones in the dojo currently. They both aren’t currently talking to each other. The tension builds up in the room as they keep the silent treatment going.
“So you and Kim?” Jack said, finally breaking the silence.
"Yeah,” Milton didn’t offer any more information. If he wanted to ask him what happened, he could.
“Was she drunk?”
“What?” That wasn’t the question he was expecting.
“Was she drunk?”
“You’re seriously asking me that? You think that Kim would only sleep with me if she was drunk?”
“She wouldn’t do it sober.” He said it a little more angry. Of course, he had to come up with a reason why they were together. But did it have to involve Milton being a pervert?
“You think you have the authority over who girls want to hook up with. Well, guess what? I’m a desirable guy too, you don’t hold a monopoly over every girl at our school.”
“You know you shouldn’t go after Kim, you creep.”
“Get it through your thick head, buddy, I didn’t have to talk her into anything.”
"Seriously, if you hurt her,” Jack grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. Milton usually would’ve backed down by now, but-
“I didn’t do anything,” he spat the sentence in his face. Clearly, he lost some of his survival instinct.
“What the hell is going on here!” A female voice yelled at them. They both turned around to see Kim with Jerry right behind her. Jack let go of Milton’s shirt out of embarrassment. They both refused to make eye contact. “It’s been one day since we’ve seen each other, what could you possibly be fighting about?”
“The party,” Jack immediately admits to her.
“What do you mean the party, nothing happ-“ she stopped as it dawned on her. She turned to Milton. “You didn’t tell him what actually happened!”
Milton turns bright red. He edged on this fight based off Jack’s assumption without realizing that Kim would presume he would tell him the truth.
“He was being a jackass!” Milton tried to defend himself. This only made Kim angrier.
“No, pretending to sleep with me is the jackass thing to do.”
“Heh, Jack ass,” Jerry comments jokingly. They all turned to him amidst their fighting.
They ignored him to continue.
“You can’t claim to be angry at the rumors and then pretend they’re true.”
“I technically never said they’re true." Milton
Kim got angry at his reaction and was ready to blow up at him until Jack gently grabbed her arm to hold her back.
“Don’t pretend you’re innocent in this either.” She jerks out of his hold. “Where do you get off starting a fight like this?”
“I didn’t know.” Jack also tried to defend himself.
“You didn’t ask.”
“I didn’t want to hear about you two sleeping together.” He admits ashamedly.
“You don’t have to worry about that happening.”
“Because Milton’s gay?”
“I said one thing!” Milton interjects.
“Because Milton and I aren’t attracted to each other. Because if that happened, I would’ve said something to you and not had you hear it from some randos at school.”
“I’m sorry, Kim.” He scratches the back of his neck. “I guess I got upset over nothing."
"Well, if someone,” Kim turned towards Milton to emphasize her point, “actually told you what was actually going on. This fight wouldn’t have happened.”
“Mm sorry” Milton looked away from her.
“So what actually happened that night? A bunch of people saw you disappear into a room for an hour, then left the party.”
Milton huffs as he realizes that he has to tell his coolest friend how lame he is.
“I got high and sort of freaked out.” He reluctantly admits
“So you had a panic attack while high,” Jack asked. Milton nods his head. “Me too”
“Seriously!?” Milton started cracking a smile.
“I can’t handle weed either.”
They both quickly forgot what they were arguing about. Quickly united over the shared experience.
“It was so bad.”
“It is so bad.”
“I didn’t even know I grabbed some edibles.”
“At least you had Kim. I cried in the bathroom alone.”
Milton cackles at the antidote. He was so worried about being lame that he never considered Jack could ever react the same as him.
They kept exchanging their bad high stories throughout the next hour. Completely forgetting about the rumors and the fight between them.