Wednesday

Lucille huffed with new found determination, she danced at finally being able to share with the world her singing. Her world up to that point had been sleepless nights studying and perfecting her musical skills, her world was her younger sister Avia who's in elementary school. When Miller first talked about forming a band, she thought she'd actually burst with excitement and had to excuse herself to fix her composure. 

The walls on her house were covered in scribbles and splotches of paint poorly trying to cover them. She eyed them as she applied a dark red lipstick, followed by shiny lip gloss. She posed in her vanity mirror, admiring how she shined for a good while until Nick rang her doorbell. Eagerly she sat up and threw her backpack over her shoulders, throwing her family a quick goodbye before exiting.

"Hey baby," She smiled cheerfully. Nick always replied late because he was too occupied with admiring her beauty. He looked at her lips, then at her memorizing eyes. He was an average man, not too involved with the community but definitely known amongst it. That's what she liked about him- he was all hers, willingly and lovingly.

"Good morning hon, are you ready for school?" Moving his hands to carry her backpack, "You aren't forgetting anything?"

She took a moment to think her mental checklist over, "Yeah! Let's go. Did you eat breakfast?"

"Yeah I did, let's get going then."

Miller grabbed his backpack and sluggishly threw it over his shoulders as he waited outside 405 for Lucille. 

Mr Martinez was everyone's least favorite teacher since he was eccentric and implemented everyone's harry potters houses in group assignments.

He smacked the smartboard with a ruler, "Class is over. I hope you all come back here tomorrow with a better attitude. Be ready to LEARN."

Lucille rolled her eyes and huffed, she was the first one out of that classroom. 

"Oh Miller! Jesus Christ, let's get out of here NOW."

"On it." 

"Wait for me outside the bathroom while I change. Are you gonna change?"

He raised an eyebrow as if she asked him if he was bringing a pigeon in his hair. "Why would I change?"

"What do you mean 'why would I change' I dunno, maybe to be clean, fresh. Change out your uniform, try and look good for a party."

She stared at him expectantly but he didn't even move a muscle.

"Alright then, better for us. We'll get there quicker."

To her surprise the door was opened and unsupervised- as she stood unsure of the customs in this house, Miller walked past her quietly. "Ash?"

Heavy stomping followed, Ash approached hurriedly with empanadas in one hand and a plate of apple strudels in the other. "H-hey guys!" She said short winded. Lucille pitied the overworked girl, stuck her hand out for a handshake- Ashleigh looked at the offering and smiled sadly. "I'm kinda handless right now."

Lucille returned the smile awkwardly and retracted her hand "Oh right- I'm sorry, do you want help with that?"

"Aw no, I'm a good sweetheart thank you. Kendrick said he wanted to throw a party, haha. He gets so excited, you should have seen him. He got so excited he actually forgot to do anything else besides the guest list, haha. I just love seeing him happy" She painfully smiled, turning around and shouting "Kendrick? Kendrick, your friends are here!" 

After a few silent seconds, it was clear he didn't hear her (or chose not to) so she turned back around and forced a cackle. "Yeah, he's probably upstairs. He's letting me handle the- the everything stuff."

Miller and Lucille stood quietly for some time now, he wondered if she knew she was nervously rambling. On the other hand Lucille still smiled, letting their host soak the fresh air she clearly needed.

"Yeah, yeah- Anyways you can drop off any jackets in that closet over there on the empty hangers. If you could lock the door behind you-"

"No yeah of course, gotta be careful, right?" Lucille interrupted.

"Yeah, I forgot. That's my bad, thank god for you guys, right?" She squinted her eyes weakly.

A loud roar of "ooo's" rang loud through the entire house and Ashleigh physically tensed realizing something must have broken.

"Yeah! So food is upstairs, drinks in the fridge. Any recreational stuff is with Kendrick- Miller you know the way, I'm sorry I have to go!" She blurted then quickly ran upstairs nearly tripping in the process.

"Poor girl." Placing her hand on her hip, she walked inside with Miller. "Milly, I'm gonna go freshen up- Where's the bathroom?"

He pointed at the hallway a few feet away from them, "The first door on your right."

She smiled, "Thank you!"

"Don't call me Milly."

She shoved him aside with her hip. The house was an average cadet gray bungalow building in fairly good conditions, of course this was not Miller's first time here. While walking up the stairs he felt his legs suddenly become numb and for a few seconds, he stopped walking to reconsider if this was a good idea.

"Miller? Ash told me you were here!" Kendrick said excitedly. "What's up, man?"

Forcing himself to snap out of it, "Hey! Nothing much, glad to be here." He fixed his back and his face accordingly, running up the stairs in order to give Kendrick a firm handshake.

"Where's your girl?"

Miller cringed at the thought of Lucille being his girlfriend, "She's in the bathroom. She brought her [instrument], that okay?"

"Of course it is, that reminds me- Raul is trying to start his rap career" 

"Oh is he?" He peered around the corner, spotting a group of familiar faces and one or two unfamiliar ones. "Is anyone else coming?"

"Yeah, of course man."

Kendrick put his hand on Miller's back, leading him into the room he was just in. "You want something to drink? We were just about to open a bottle."

People began noticing Miller, nodding or waving to acknowledge his presence. Ashleigh had two dark gray sectional couches opposite of each other with complimentary pillows, shelves on the light gray wall with fake plants, and picture frames of her and Kendrick. There were posters on the left wall of well-known bands.

Kendrick walked up in front of everyone, sat on the couches and picked up a bottle and cup, nearly spilling it before handing it to Miller. "Hey Raul! Austin! Caine!" 

Lucille looked in the mirror and sighed. This was the first party she's been to where she didn't know anyone, and if she was honest- she was more than a little nervous. She smoothed her curls with her hand and called Nick, she bit her lips while she waited.

Come on, come on, pick up, she thought. Finally the phone rang.

 "Hey, what's up?"

"I'm at the party with Miller and I don't know anybody! Only Ash but she's playing mom slash babysitter."

 "Hm well, don't drink anything, don't follow anyone to a second location-"

"I know all that but what if they don't like me and beat me up or something?" She exhaled worriedly.

 "What? I don't think they're gonna do that, darling. If anything, stay close to Miller- and you have your pepper spray on you, right?"

 "Yeah. Okay, okay. I got this!"

 "Yeah you do! Call me if you need me to pick you up o- Huh? Oh sorry, hold on Lucy."

She smiled warmly as he muffled the phone while he was told off by his mom for whatever chore he didn't do. With her determination returned, she applied her lip gloss one last time before leaving.

"Okay, I should go introduce myself now. I love you so much, bye!"

 "Oh- Love you too."

Sighing as she hung up and returned her phone to her pocket, she walked out and followed the noise. Immediately looking for Miller, spotting his pink-head sitting on the floor near the two prominent couches despite there still being space. She thought perhaps men found it emasculating to sit close to one another. She would never pretend to understand people, especially these types.

"Hi Miller!" She grinned, even if it didn't fully reach her eyes.

He turned around to face her, "Oh hey Lucy, meet everyone."

On cue everyone collectively muttered some type of greeting speaking over each other. She cringed but one of them actually stood up to greet her. He had pushed back long chestnut hair with a black graphic hoodie and baggy ripped jeans. 

He stretched his hand out, "Hey my name is Raphael but everyone calls me Caine."

Miller watched Lucille take his hand and shake it, "I'm Lucille" She said. "But my friends call me Lucy."

"Sit down dude, she's taken." A deeper voice said behind Caine, one that belonged to none other than upcoming underground rapper Raul. Caine threw him a sharp glare, consequently letting go of Lucille's hand. Everyone resumed talking amongst themselves, and as the time went on it felt more lively in the room. Raul had begun free styling with supporting beatboxes from someone named Carl and rhythmic stomps from someone named Jay.

Miller had relocated to a different room, where there were significantly less people. Lucille, although originally nervous, quickly began fitting in with everyone. They were definitely not the group of people her mother would have liked her hanging out with but it's that fact as well that made her enjoy herself more. 

"Why are you staring at that cup? It's a party, brother. Don't tell me you're sober." Kendrick said mockingly. His brown and pink curly hair swung in the air as he animatedly moved, swaying with the music as he stared down at him with expecting eyes. Miller's neutral facial expression stayed, but he could feel everything pause at that moment. 

He felt his nausea increase as he reached his hand out, taking the cup out of Kendricks hand. With one long gulp, the burning sensation overpowered the anxiety. He followed Lucille's voice with his eyes, desperate to look at anything but the man in front of him, and she grabbed on to the mic stand, opening her mouth and screeching her song. 

Kendrick grinned proudly, quickly refilling Miller's cup. "Don't worry about anything right now. You see those lights?"

How could he not? They were all he could see. "Yeah?"

"They're the only friends you need."

The intoxicating colors. "Ah, you're right-'' He smiled lazily, "I don't need anything else."

"That's right, Mills." Landing one more hard pat on the back of Miller. "Come let's join Caine and Lucy."

Lucille laughed and danced along with her new friends, all mostly guys but all mostly chill. They had given everyone a chance to sing, she was thriving, dancing. She's never been surrounded by so many people that looked like her before, although she never let it bother her before, she had to admit it felt nice to fit in somewhere.

It was nearly midnight now, and Miller had liquored up drastically since the beginning of the party.

He liked the feeling of euphoria, the total emptiness in his mind. For the past 45 minutes he has just been staring at the TV, but he couldn't tell what he was watching or the name of the show. It felt reliving, his brain was always so loud, he thought bitterly, and now under the influence he felt quiet and at peace. 

 The dull room felt colorful, giggly and the paintings were twirling. Silence. He didn't want to let go of this feeling– ever. 

His eyes locked with a stranger across the room, one noticeably taller than the others. She stood tall, most likely around 5'7 and with long slick black hair up to her back. She must have noticed him staring because she perched a sharp eyebrow and muttered something. Red and embarrassed for being so drunk, he looked away. 

"Hey."

"Ohhh hey." He stuttered. "I'm- I'm so sorry for staring at you, I was zoning out. You're really pretty by the way-" 

She grimaced, "I know." Suddenly closer to him now. "What the hell did you take?"

"I just drank what the host provided." He smiled. He could hardly hear himself over the crowd and music. She took the seat next to him, leaning against his shoulders and resting her left thigh over his right. "I'm Kristen, and this is my sister Leyla." She motions behind him, and he slowly turns around to reveal another girl almost identical to the first. Leyla stood over him with an almost repulsed face- "Hello."

He looked between them both pie-eyed, "Wow- You guys are twins." Why did he say that? As if they didn't already know that.

Leyla snorted amused but didn't spare him so much as a parting glance before walking away. Kristens facial expression grew noticeably dark as her sister walked away, but Miller couldn't make out the emotion behind it for the life of him. She looked back down at him,

"Are you Miller?"

He smiled, "You know about me?"

Kristen picked up an unopened bottle on the coffee table, turning back around to quietly fill his cup. "Yeah Kendrick brought you up once or twice." He squirmed under her suspecting eyes.

"You look stupid drunk in this room alone."

"I'm not alone now that you're here." 

Leyla returned with a sour expression and a smaller girl clinging onto her masculine arms. She said, "This is Ray."

Ray had dark brown wavy tangled hair, caramel complexion and her clothes were shabby. But what really got Miller's attention was the way her eyes just washed past him. She had indescribable eyes, blank ones- he's never seen his own eyes on someone else before.

"Hi" Her voice was sweet. "I'm Ray."

He extended his hand to shake hers but retracted when she made no indication she noticed or cared. "I think I should go home." He suddenly felt a pit in his stomach forming. "I think I drank too much." 

Leyla scoffed, "You think? If you're gonna vomit, don't do it on us," She points to her and Ray, seemingly not caring about her sister. 

"I-m-I'm gonna go home." He stands up sloppily. "Thank you three for accompanying me."

"That's not what we were doing." Leyla quickly said.