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 Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 12:57 pm
“No common ground to start from and we’re falling apart~”
It wasn’t every day that Chris Gallo could be found at a party. A college party, to be specific. Call him boring or a goody-goody, it didn’t really matter to him. He had more important things to worry about than his social life. He’d tried the social thing in high school, and he hadn’t really liked the results. For now, he’d like to keep up his good grades… or so he kept telling himself.
“And as I recall, I think, we both kinda liked it~ And I said, ‘Well, that’s the one thing we’ve got~’”
He’d been invited with the intention of just hanging out and talking to those in his classes, but a classmate had convinced him to bring the his guitar, after finding out he owned one. Chris wouldn’t have brought it if he hadn’t been teased about not being able to actually play. Although it wasn’t a real challenge, he couldn’t help but feel the need to prove himself.
Chris strummed out the tune, laughing lightly at the participation of those around him, but didn't join in singing, himself. He'd let the girls do that. The blonde with the "nine" for legs wasn't as good of a singer as the brunette with the "eight" legs, but it wasn't as though he was looking at them for their voices. What?? At least he wasn't advertising it. He was surrounded by pretty, intelligent, mostly sober girls, so why not look?
Currently, he was sitting in the middle of the blue upholstered couch, holding comfortably to his guitar as the girls belted out the last of the lyrics to “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” while the guys shook their head and continued their game of pool.
When he’d first agreed to going to the party, Chris had been concerned that it would be some kind of binge drinking, frat party, but he was pleasantly surprised that the people he’d made friends with in his major, and their friends, had the same kind of aversion to the parties he wasn’t all that thrilled about. For now, he was fine with being the entertainer.
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 2:09 pm
A frat party was what Paris had been expecting. It wasn't every day that he was invited to one, but it wasn't a rare occurrence either. He knew his fair share of college students, though he'd choose a club over a frat party any day, if only because frat boys, in general, had horrible taste in music.
But he was surprised by the party he currently found himself at -- almost pleasantly so. Then again, his "date" wasn't one of his regular boys -- a young man who lived on his street, but not one who had resigned himself to remaining on that side of town. No, Lloyd Benson had dreams of becoming a dentist. Or was it an orthodontist? Regardless, he had big dreams of fixing people's teeth, and he studied hard and made good grades and had been admitted into some honors society with Greek letters that Paris didn't remember, but which made Momma Benson very, very proud. He heard about it every time he walked by her house: "Did you hear what my Lloyd's done now?"
The one thing that Lloyd didn't have was a girl. Too busy with his school work, Lloyd had forgone dating -- unlike many of his other classmates, who'd used college as an opportunity to hook up with as many people as many times as possible before settling on the one they would likely spend much of the rest of their lives with. Not wanting to attend an end-of-the-school-year party among his posh school friends as one of the few people without a date, Lloyd had asked Paris, and Paris, rarely one to refuse a party invite, had donned his make up and slipped on some cute clothes to hang on Lloyd's arm and pretend as if they weren't two poor boys from the wrong side of town.
Either way, he was impressed. He'd expected cheap beer but had a margarita in his hand; he'd expected horrible music but heard the strumming of a guitar and not-so-horrible singing -- and not a bad song either; he'd expected the typical debauchery that he associated with such get-togethers -- beer pong, drugs, barely-there clothing -- but was greeted by people playing pool and wearing designer clothes and discussing such things as economics and politics instead.
It was all very foreign to him, and though he initially thought he'd end up bored to tears, he found the entire thing absolutely fascinating. So this was how people with money lived...
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 6:25 pm
People with money, indeed... Well, it wasn't like they all flaunted it around. But enough. Chris wasn't going to deny that he had a pool table in his apartment, too, but at least he didn't ride around in a Jaguar or something equally flashy. And it wasn't like everyone there came from money. Some were really intelligent and won scholarships. Or had a good throwing arm and won a scholarship, but whatever.
No worries. Chris was just as glad that there was no beer pong or drugs, although the skirts could be shorter. Kidding! Kidding... not really, but anyway... No, he was glad that his classmates were at least down-to-earth about this partying thing, especially since it was the end of the year and they were all finishing things up with school.
"Play another one~" blonde nine said, and the others in the group agreed, one smooth leg crossing over the other, enough for her skirt to ride up her thigh a little more. Hmm... maybe she was a ten...?
Chris grinned, lowering the guitar on his lap. "Another? Um... okay. Any suggestions?" he wondered, trying to think of one, himself.
"Surprise us! We can guess," a dirty blonde insisted. Her legs were covered by jeans, but he bet they were probably around the eight or nine range.
He laughed, lifting his guitar again as he thought about what cord to use, before softly strumming out a tune that left the girls sitting around him blinking in confusion. After a few moments he came to a stop, smiling a little awkwardly at his... apparently lame choice in songs.
"No one knows it? Really?" Chris asked with a sheepish laugh. The girls shook their head, although brunette eight said something about how the tune sounded familiar. "Uh, I can play something else..."
"You sing it!" a girl with light blue hair said, which had the others quickly agreeing.
Chris shook his head, not really liking that idea. "I don't really sing... I just play."
"Sing anyway! Come on, please?" they pushed, sitting up in their seats more, as though trying to get a better look at him. No pressure, huh?
Golden eyes dropped down to the instrument, placing his fingers where they were supposed to go, before softly brushing the fingers of his right hand over the strings, singing as he did so:
"You could be my silver springs... Blue green, colors flashin'... I would be your only dream... your shining autumn... ocean crashing...."
Seriously? Fleetwood Mac, people... they weren't that old, were they??
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 6:44 pm
Paris tried to feign interest in the conversation his "date" was having with one of his honors society buddies -- he was sure it had something to do with the president or recent political standings, but he couldn't for the life of him pretend as if he cared about those sorts of things. Moments later, he ended up glancing around the upscale apartment the party was being held at. Nice furniture, an even nicer TV, a balcony with a great view of the city, brand new appliances, hardwood floors -- all the things Paris would never expect to see around his side of town, not unless someone wanted to get robbed.
He considered wandering over to the group playing pool and trying to get in on the action. There were quite a few cute guys, though their own dates tended to stick to their sides like glue, smiling well enough but also making it clear who was with whom, probably because they feared losing them to someone else equally glamorous and beautiful. Paris couldn't really blame them; he'd probably be a bit possessive if he had himself a Sugar Daddy, too.
Call him a b***h. Call him shallow. He didn't really care.
His attention ended up being attracted by the group surrounding the young man with the guitar. Mostly girls, all of whom were giggling and fluttering their lashes as girls were wont to do when confronted with a nice piece of eye candy, but none of them seemed to have a clue what song the guy was playing now, and though it took Paris a moment to recognize the tune, once he had it in his head he couldn't understand how anyone could not know it. Seriously, what did those girls listen to on the radio? He might restrict himself to Top 40 when he was in the mood to dance and have a good time -- which was often -- but that didn't mean music from previous decades was completely out. The seventies, eighties, and nineties happened to have some very good music, thank you very much.
And so he looked to the young man currently singing. He hadn't paid him much attention before, but when good music called he couldn't just look away.
If Paris were the romantic sort, he would have recognized this as A Moment. Not a Love At First Sight moment, no, but A Moment still. But he wasn’t the romantic sort, and he definitely didn’t believe in Moments, nor did he believe in Sparks or Fireworks or anything At First Sight other than desire and intrigue. He might often be quite emotional, but at the same time he was made uncomfortable by emotions, scared even. Anger was fine, bitterness and annoyance, too, and sadness was unavoidable, but happiness, fondness, love… these things opened vulnerabilities he wasn’t comfortable presenting to people. Happiness opened him to disappointment, fondness to distress, and love to despair. All were emotions he did his best to avoid. Call it cowardice. Call it fear. He simply saw it as a form of self-preservation. The less he felt, the easier it was to protect himself from the inevitable nasty finish.
But as he looked over to the young man singing apprehensively on one of the couches—and a freaking good song at that—there was an unrecognized Moment, complete with the cliched thud of his heart and a jolt down his spine, and Paris, against all logic, left his date to his conversation and approached the couch.
He was half tempted to start singing with him, but thought that would be even more cliche, and the guy had quite a nice voice to begin with, so he saw nothing wrong with letting him continue.
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 7:56 pm
Yeah, it probably would have been really cliche for the other blonde to start singing as well, and he would have stopped right away if she had and just... let her finish since someone else apparently knew the song.
"I'll begin not to love you... turn around, see me runnin'... I'll say I loved you, years ago... tell myself you never loved me, no..."
He was a little surprised that no one else seemed to know the song, but at least he could finish it whenever he wanted, right? Although, apparently the others enjoyed listening to him sing. Enough so that he had others come over to listen to him...? Or maybe they were just bored with whatever else they were doing. He knew he got tired of playing pool after a while.
Christopher, on the other hand, did not have A Moment when he glanced up at the pretty blonde making her way over to the couch. He wasn't looking for Moments, anyway. In fact, he was trying to avoid them. He wasn't there to have moments. He didn't really want moments... But he did smile up at her, before going back to playing out the next verse of the song.
"Time casts a spell on you... but you won't forget me... I know I could have loved you... but you would not let me..."
He was kind of done with moments, at least since high school. He'd thought he'd had moments before, but they'd all turned out to be just... horrible experiences and ones he would rather not repeat.
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 8:13 pm
Well, Paris didn't intend to just stand there like an idiot and watch. He didn't intend to acknowledge his interest either, even if it was a rarity for his interest to be grabbed right away, though he was curious -- intrigued, even. He didn't know why. He could think of a few reasons why he might be. The guy was handsome. He had nice hair, and he looked like he had a nice body under those nice clothes of his. He could play the guitar rather well, which Paris thought was kind of sexy, and his singing wasn't half bad. He could use a little more confidence, maybe, and then he'd be perfect.
A little more than a smile would be nice, too. Paris was almost insulted that he didn't get more than that, but since the guy was still concentrating on pleasing his audience -- and, boy, were they pleased, though most of them seemed to have resorted to drooling instead of guessing what song he was singing -- Paris decided to let the disappointment go. At least for now. If he didn't get something more than a smile afterwords, then he might be a little miffed, but for now he'd let it slide.
That didn't solve the issue of him standing there, but it wasn't like there were very many places to sit. The couches were filled with Handsome and his Adoring Fans, and though Paris may have been able to squeeze between one or two of them, the disruption might have interrupted the mood, and while he didn't usually care about ruining the mood, he'd very much like to listen to Handsome finish his song.
So he did the next best thing. He plopped himself down onto the edge of the coffee table right in front of the young man with the guitar, crossing his legs and bobbing one of his feet to the sound of the music. He plastered on a pleasant smile as a few of the girls looked over at him as if to say "what in the world do you think you're doing?", perhaps labeling him as a potential threat, and sipped at his margarita while waiting for the song to end -- or to gain more notice, whichever came first.
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 9:59 pm
Hey, he was plenty confident! Okay, maybe not so much with his singing, but if you put him on the mound, then he was perfectly sure of himself. He just liked knowing his limits and what he could do best. Chris happened to know that his singing wasn't all that impressive, so he stayed away from "showing it off", but he knew he was perfectly capable of playing his guitar for however long he wanted, without a worry. Even if he didn't know a song all that well, he could at least figure out some cords to play and keep everyone entertained.
Why wasn't he an entertainer...? Well... other than entertaining through sports... but that wasn't the point.
He was aware that someone moved to sit down in front of him. Or rather, he noticed the legs right in front of him, which nearly had him stumbling over the lyrics and cords. They were nice and smooth... An athlete? Maybe a runner? She had nice calves at least, and it was obvious that she took care of her legs. Yeah, okay, maybe he was a little shallow, but he couldn't really help it when they were right in front of him. He would give them an easy nine, maybe a ten, though he would have to see her, standing.
"I'll follow you down til' the sound of my voice will haunt you... you'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you..."
There was a moment in which Chris wondered if he should change the lyrics to "man" but decided it didn't really matter. It wasn't like he was singing to anyone in particular, so it didn't bother him. It sounded better with the original lyric, anyway. Granted, Stevie was a lot better singer than he was, but all that aside, he thought he was doing an okay job.
"You could be my silver springs... my blue green... colors flashin'..." he finished softly, his eyes raising to make contact with the... blue-green eyes of the pretty blonde sitting right before him on the coffee table.
He blinked curiously at her, wondering why he was surprised that it was the girl who had stood by the group just a minute earlier. Maybe he wasn't expecting her to have such nice legs? Or was it the combination of the pretty face to go with it?
"That was pretty, Chris. What song was it?" one of the other girls asked, causing him to glance away from the blonde in front of him and over at the others.
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 10:12 pm
The eyes rising to meet his had Paris smiling, and he lifted his free hand to wiggle his fingers in a little wave. Handsome was even better up close. And not old, either. Probably around his age, maybe in his first year or two of college. He had a nice build to him, not too broad but definitely not thin, muscled in just the right way to let Paris know he had to play a sport of some sort, or had in high school. Tanned skin, nicely brushed hair -- if not a little shaggy in length -- and a friendly pair of golden eyes, like sunshine.
The question voiced from the girl had Paris's expression faltering, and he turned to look at her as if trying to decide which planet she was from -- and, all things considered, he honestly wouldn't be surprised if she did end up from being from somewhere other than Earth, though he sincerely hoped those people wouldn't interrupt an evening that had started out quite nicely.
"Silver Springs, Fleetwood Mac," he answered in place of the guitar-playing stranger, though Paris hoped he wouldn't be a stranger for long. "Seriously, what sort of music do you listen to?" He'd thought these people would have a bit more class than his usual crowd, but apparently he'd been mistaken.
Well, he couldn't be right all the time...
Paris turned back to Handsome -- Chris, was it? -- and a smile returned to his face. He promptly extended his hand and, for once, offered the introduction first. "I'm Paris," he said, inching a bit closer, but still keeping his seat on the edge of the coffee table. "And your name's Chris?" he wondered, just for clarification.
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 10:38 pm
Chris blinked again, even more surprised that the pretty blonde knew what he'd been singing. Although, that caused his cheeks to heat up just a little since she probably knew when he'd messed up some of the lyrics or a cord or two. At least he'd tried, right?
A smile appeared on his face when the blue-green eyed nine called out the others for not knowing what song he'd been playing, though he held himself back from laughing. He had been thinking the same thing, himself. He could have sworn everyone would have known Silver Springs, but apparently not. Chris's smile stayed on his face as the young woman reached out a hand to introduce herself, nodding when it appeared that she picked up on his name.
"It is. And it's nice to meet you, Paris," he said, taking hold of her hand to shake, before inching over on the couch for her to join him. "Think there's room? Or would you rather sit on the table?" he wondered, not wanting her to be uncomfortable, but if she didn't like being crowded then it might be better for her.
Well, it helped that the other two girls seemed offended that he was spending his time talking to Paris rather than them, and they got up to get refills on drinks. That was fine with Chris, though. He was only there to play as much as they wanted him to, and then he was fine with putting his guitar away.
"Do you go to school here...?" he asked, figuring he might as well see if they might end up in the same classes.
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 10:51 pm
Paris 1, College Girls 0.
His smile widened when Chris shook his hand and then made room for him. Paris wasted not time taking the open spot on the couch, nor did he bother hiding his pleasure at chasing two of the surrounding girls away. The rest remained, but none of them seemed all that confident that they'd be able to get the attention returned to them. He didn't know why they were upset. They'd all probably come with the group of guys currently gathered around the pool table.
Now that he thought about it, Chris could have easily come with someone as well, but seeing as he'd been invited to sit by him, Paris didn't waste much time worry about it.
"Well, considering this is an apartment and I don't think they hold classes here..." Paris joked before pausing to decide what he wanted to tell him.
Quickly, he took stock of the situation. Here he was sitting next to a handsome young college student, one that, if he wasn't interested, was at least nice. He could work on interest later. But Paris was wearing make up and a dress and posing as a girl for Lloyd, and Chris had yet to give him any indication that he didn't believe the act, so revealing the correct school information would definitely give him away, and while it might be fun to see the look on Chris's face it might also ruin any chance of developing that interest. He wondered if he could get away with pretending to be in college, or if he should just pick from one of the other high schools.
Yes, that sounded much more entertaining. It had been a while since he'd played this little game.
"I go to Crystal, actually," he said, taking a sip from his drink before waving the half-empty glass in front of Chris. "Not quite old enough for this, but you won't tell anyone, will you?"
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 11:08 pm
Yeah, no, he hadn't come with anyone. He wasn't dating anyone at the moment, but he didn't really advertise it. It wasn't like he was actually looking for someone to go to parties with, in the first place.
Chris frowned at himself, temporarily feeling like a moron. Of course she didn't have class at the apartment. Way to stumble over words... idiot.
"Er, right... DCU, I meant..." he quickly corrected, though apparently she was just joking. Of course he meant DCU... that was where everyone at the party was from, right? Or where they went to school, at least... He knew most of them by face and some by name, and they all went to his college.
He tried not to let his smile falter when she said she went to Crystal, but he was pretty sure she noticed, anyway. He hadn't exactly had the best experiences with Crystal girls, so it was a knee jerk reaction for him to back away from them. A lot of them were what people expected them to be — spoiled and thought only of themselves — although there were a few exceptions... Not that Chris had met an exception, he did know that they existed. At least in theory.
"Oh," Chris said, trying to save himself from explanation, "Uh, yeah, no... You're definitely not old enough for that. Who did you come with?" Jeez... letting underage girls into a party and not keeping an eye on them. Giving them alcohol, too... Bummer, she was pretty, too.
He bit the inside of his mouth, strumming a couple strings on his guitar to try and make things not as awkward as they felt at the moment. Damn her nice legs...
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 11:18 pm
Ouch, wrong move already? He knew exactly what it was, too, even if he didn't know why it would make Chris react like that. Maybe he should have chosen another school? Meadowview was safe and neutral, and not far from the truth either, considering he used to go there. He'd merely thought Crystal would be more impressive, considering most of the girls here had probably gone there. Well, then, he'd stay away from as much talk of high school as he could manage.
"Oh, I came with Lloyd," he said, making a quick motion toward his "date," who was still in deep discussion with the same poli-sci major and didn't seem to have noticed that he'd been momentarily abandoned. "We live around the same area of town. He didn't want to come alone and I didn't have anything to do tonight," he explained, setting his drink down on the coffee table since that didn't seem to impress Chris all that much either.
Not your typical guy, but it was okay. He could still work with this.
"What about you?" he continued. "You go to DCU? What's your major? Dentistry? Government?"
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 11:34 pm
Just a little, but that's okay. It wasn't like he was jumping from the couch to try and get away from her. He wasn't terrified of Crystal girls, or anything like that! He'd just had bad experiences when it came to dealing with them. And no, the drink didn't impress him all that much, so it definitely made him feel a bit more comfortable when she put the drink down to talk to him, instead.
"Ah, I haven't met Lloyd yet," he admitted, feeling guilty for not knowing everyone there. Well, there were about twenty who had shown up, but they all seemed to be doing their own thing now that he'd stopped playing his guitar. "I hope we haven't bored you to tears yet," Chris said with a small smile, knowing that the party wasn't exactly that big, and much less wild. "Do you usually go to college parties?" he wondered, still fiddling with his guitar, though he tried to be subtle as he glanced over at her legs again. Damn...
"Architecture," he told her with a small smile, looking up to her face again. "I like math, I like to draw, and I'm good with my hands, so I figured it was best suited for me." More so than psychology or criminal justice or some kind of religious studies.
"What about you?" he asked, as curious as he could be about someone he doubted he would ever see again. As pretty as she was, he didn't think he would be asking for her number. Sorry, but the whole Crystal girl thing was kind of a turn-off. "Do you have any plans for college...? What are your favorite classes, now?"
He made a mental note to apologize to his brother for not really trying all that hard when it came to looking for someone to date. But when it came to meeting people... it wasn't just a one time spark for him. He felt as though he needed some kind of sign. Right now? No signs were popping up. Sorry...
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 11:45 pm
Paris wasn't exactly looking for someone to date either, nor did he expect to get Chris's number. One-time deals were better than anything serious anyway. Few attachments, even fewer worries. He might be interested, but that didn't mean he intended for this to go somewhere. It was all for fun. He was at a party. He figured he might as well chat and flirt with a couple of cute guys. Chris just happened to be the cutest one here, in his opinion. And it seemed like he was available, which made things easier.
"Not really all that bored, no," he replied, shifting just a tiny bit closer and smoothing out the skirt of his light blue dress. "I only come to these kinds of parties when someone invites me. Otherwise I'm doing my own thing."
Chris, however, did not need to know what his own thing was.
"But it's not too bad. The company's nice."
He was slightly impressed when Chris revealed his major. It was something different -- not the generic "oh, I want to be a doctor," or "I'm studying to be a lawyer." Not that he knew the first thing about architecture, but he imagined it took an intelligent individual to be successful, and he doubted he'd be able to do it himself. No, he'd stick with the things he was good at.
"I don't really have any favorite classes. Really, I'm just going for the diploma," he said, trying to distance himself from any high school related topics. "Then I can focus on what I really like. I'm a dancer," he added. "Ballet mostly, though I'm not against a little hip-hop every once in a while. Maybe mesh the two together. Very Save the Last Dance, if you've seen the movie."
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 11:59 pm
That was good — he wouldn't feel too guilty about not making plans to meet up a second time, then. Paris seemed to be a pretty nice girl, but he just wasn't looking for anything at the moment. Interest or not.
"Yeah, me too," he admitted, though he assumed that Paris's "own thing" was the same kind of thing he did, "I've got a lot of other things to take care of, rather than going to parties. George convinced me to come to this one. The guy in the yellow," he added with a nod towards the pool table, just in case Paris hadn't met him. "But since it's the end of the year, I don't really have much of an excuse for not coming."
He had to admit that he really didn't mind coming to the party, though. It was nice, and it wasn't crazy like other parties he'd gone to and then left less than thirty minutes into being there. Yeah, he wasn't exactly the most exciting of guys, but at least he had good grades and did a lot more important things with his life. At least that's what he told himself.
"You dance?" Chris asked, impressed in return. "No, I haven't seen it, sorry..." he said, feeling a little uncultured, but at least he wasn't lying about it, right? Maybe? "Uh, I saw the nutcracker when I was little...?" he offered. He was pretty sure he'd had the same conversation with another friend of his, one who also did ballet, but she seemed to have forgiven him for not sharing her interests. At least they both liked animals!
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