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Griffin twisted the edge of her bangs around a finger while looking in the mirror, put on a little bit more blush, tugged her skirt down a little bit (to make sure she wasn't exposing too much skin) and with that, she was set. Oh wait. She slapped on a cardigan for good measure and left her dorm. After all, she'd be going over to Talia's so they could walk to a party she'd heard about while at the coffee shop. For Griffin, almost everything was in walking distance, so the walk from point a. to b. wasn't far, and from there to c. was even shorter. And at point b. she might run into Talia's mother or father, hence the cardigan. It wasn't that she was dressed skimpily, she just liked to make good impressions on parents. And if they didn't think highly of her, they probably wouldn't let their daughter out with the older girl. Griffin knew deep down that they wouldn't if they knew the whole truth about what kind of party they were going to.

Then she wondered... How much had Talia told them about this? She shrugged and would go along with whatever her friend said, be it the the truth or the whole truth or nothing but a bunch of lies. It wasn't supposed to be too big of a party, but Griffin had heard there'd be a DJ, dancing, boys, potentially drinking, and boys. The latter was what she thought made Talia say yes. Griffin turned the corner onto Talia's street and called her cellphone so she could be downstairs, ready to go, by the time she got to the door.

Griffin flinched when she heard the creepy voice "I, uh..." She then peered into the car. "TALIA. Why you gotta go 'n' scare me like that!?" She stomped her foot and huffed and got into the passenger's seat of the car. It wasn't that she hated driving or was really planning on being in a state later that night where she couldn't, it's jus that she'd rather walk everywhere all the time unless she was traveling across the city or out of it entirely for a scenic camping trip. She had her own car, too, but Talia's was much nicer. It probably didn't have the 'check engine light' on at all times.

"So, Talia, at this party. Boys." She gesticulated with her speech as though she was laying out plans, or maybe a menu. "Some your age, some my age, and probably some older, just because older people have houses and crap. Just follow my lead, alright? Don't drink anything you didn't pour or open yourself. Use the buddy system- with me, never with a boy. If a boy tells you you're the most beautiful girl in the whole world, it's just a line. You are, but he's probably just trying to suck your face."

This was protective momma and 'I don't want your parents to kill me if something happens to you' Grififn. Talia probably knew all of this stuff, but it never hurt to repeat it.

"Oh, you want to turn right up here, it's that house right there with the cars." The house was not well lit on the outside, but Griffin knew that was so it wouldn't attract a lot of attention. And if Talia felt uncomfortable, well, they could always leave!

Griffin wasn't really a fan of being crassly hit on at parties and the kind of boys who she warned about. She wasn't the kind to get liquored up and want to make out with some random and not let anyone get in her way. If she ever did anything ever with a boy ever, it would be with the two of them stone cold sober. Talking to boys was nice, but the idea of the random hookup at a party was not her cup of tea. Getting hit on was a nice ego boost, but if the guy was too old or too drunk then things could get scary. She also had a tendency to distrust men with thick facial hair. Probably a silly prejudice, but whatever.

She took hold of Talia's hand and pushed her way inside. The girls got looks from everyone, simply because they were probably curious to see who was showing up now. Some individuals Griffin knew, if only from having met them at other parties and chatted. She smiled and waved to them and blushed when boys looked her way for more than a couple of seconds. She took Talia to the outskirts of the dance floor, and tried to say, over the music, "TALIA. THIS IS THE DANCE FLOOR. PEOPLE DANCE HERE. YOU CAN DANCE WITH BOYS, OR YOU CAN DANCE WITH ME. I'M PRETTY GOOD." She nodded for emphasis. However, it was at that same moment when a good friend of hers caught her eye. They were waving her over, so she turned back to Talia.

"JUST WAIT HERE FOR A SECOND, I HAVE TO GO SAY HI TO MY FRIEND. I'LL BE RIGHT BACK, I SWEAR."

Fletcher had been at this party longer than he had probably wanted to, but alas, such was the life of an awesome, highly in-demand DJ. He'd put the next few songs in a playlist to go automatically from his Macbook Pro and left it sitting at the table (passcode locked so no one could ******** it up!) He'd flopped down on a sofa for a few minutes and pushed his bangs out of his face. Even though he hadn't been dancing or anything, the body heat generated by everyone else in the room was stifling. What he needed was a drink. However, the 23 year-old had been drinking earlier in the party, too, so he was pretty well tipsy, or so he would say. Realistically it was probably more than that. He put on his sunglasses and made his way to the makeshift wet bar and grabbed himself a cold beer.

First he held it against his forehead to cool himself off, then his cheeks and neck before opening it to take a few good swigs. His sunglasses slid down his nose when he looked at the door, however. Two girls had just walked into the party. Two cute girls. The party host was a friend of his, and he thought to later compliment him on getting the word out to the cuter crowd. He took his sunglasses off and hung them in the v of his t-shirt and leaned against the wall.

He seemed to be leaning a lot. Huh. How odd.

The brown-haired girl walked off from the shorter one, and his eyes lingered on her for a moment before turning back to her friend. Her cute friend. But ah! She caught him staring! He blushed, but no one would be able to tell in this low lighting. He rubbed his face as though to get it off, and his hand lingered on the scar on his nose. Damn scar, he thought. His face would be perfect if not for it!

He pushed himself off of the wall and made his way slowly over to the girl. She'd waved so she obviously wanted him to come over, right? Obviously. He put his hand on the wall beside her and smiled. "Hey. What's up?"

Fletcher's smile grew broader and more genuine. How cute, he thought. He straightened himself up and crossed his arms, no longer leaning on anything. Then he extended one hand, while keeping the other flat against his chest. "Fletcher. I'm DJing tonight but I'm taking a break. And what's your name?"

Ah, there he goes. Now he didn't seem like a drunk mess. That was never the impression he wanted to make with a cute girl. He had to stop himself before he said that he thought she was cute. That would also be bad. Too forward, right? He had a reputation for being blunt, but never forward, noooo.

The music hit a particularly loud part, actually it was the 'drop' of a dubstep song, and it became even harder to hear. He leaned close to Talia to where they were cheek-to-cheek and he asked her, "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Taliaaa, nice." He smiled. He looked mildly surprised when she said she didn't want anything to drink. "You the DD for your brunette friend? That's cool." He nodded, no harm in not drinking. That was an individual's decision. However, in his nod he actually grazed Talia's cheek with his own. "Oh, I'm sorry." He leaned back and brushed his bangs out of his face, frowning. "My bad."

He took a step backwards, now mildly shy and embarrassed. "I, uh. I should get back." He pointed a thumb over his shoulder, although it was in the wrong direction. "To, you know, play the music. DJ... Wanna watch? It's pretty cool." He raised an eyebrow and nodded. Well, at least he thought it was cool.

What a nice laugh. Well, what little of it Fletcher heard and how nice it was in reality compared to his perception of it in his present state was debatable. But it was probably nice.

"Follow me!" He went to grab her hand, but caught himself and instead put it in his back pocket. He wove between the partygoers, always throwing a glance over his shoulder to make sure that Talia was behind him. He didn't want her getting lost or caught up talking to some other guy. He was pretty stand-up (if he did say so for himself), but he was tentatively friends with some guys who were rather sleazy and would probably offer to take Talia somewhere less harmless than the DJ table.

He stepped up onto the makeshift stand and waved his hand for her to come up and held out an extra pair of headphones and held up one side of the headphone to his ear. He was all business now and focused on the music. He did remember, however, to throw Talia a charming smile.

Fletcher found something off when the headphones he held out just hung there. He looked through the crowd for the short, black-haired Talia, and only barely made her out when he saw her pulled and through a gap of drunkards. Oh hell no. The music stopped and he hopped down from his workplace, forcing himself through the crowd who was now complaining about the lack of music, but those who saw the expression on his face knew that something big was up if it Fletcher had stopped the music.

"Hey, what the ******** do you think you're doing? Back off, jackass." Fletcher gave the guy who was 'dancing' with Talia a good shove. Testosterone and alcohol made for one potent mixture, and now adrenaline was added, too.

Well, the guy didn't seem to like that. More curses were exchanged, and he swung at Fletcher, catching him in the gut. He doubled over until one of the drunks' friends pulled him up and tried to pin his arm behind his back. It worked for a moment, but being lean, Fletcher managed to wriggle away and land a punch square on the guy's jaw.

"Talia, go find your fr-"

He was interrupted when he got punched right in the eye. Round two and Fletcher was dooowwwnnn.