I Don't Like Them Innocent. (Closed)

[Artificial Sugar]

The morning light was what woke Siren up. She'd set her alarm for 5:30 as usual, but the light coming through her lace curtains had woken her up at 5:00.


Not that it really bothered her. She hadn't slept well for years, so she was tired no matter what happened.


She laid in bed for a while, just appreciating the way the light filtered through the lace, listening to the birds sing outside.


Standing, she grabbed her camera and laid back down on her bed, taking a picture, holding the moment forever, for everyone to see... If she wanted them to.


She didn't know if she'd show this picture to anyone, of if it would be just for her. Something to cheer her up, maybe.


Sighing, Siren sat up in bed and stretched, deciding she would get ready a bit earlier than usual today.


Slipping into her slippers, she made her way to her bathroom and shut the door, turning the shower on.


Pulling off her nightgown, she stepped under the hot water, and let it just wash over her body for a while before washing and shaving.


Once she finally got out, she blow dried her hair and dried her body, then slipped into her outfit of the day: A pink t-shirt with the word "Baby" on it in pastel blue, a black leather mini-skirt, and a red leather jacket, paired with a pair of pink ballet flats.


Brushing her hair, she left it down, and put on her signature cat eye black eyeliner, along with her dark red lipstick.


No eye shadow today.


Grabbing her backpack from her room, she made her way downstairs, and out the front door, wanting to grab a coffee on her way to school.


Her parents had just bought her a car, a cherry red Mustang.


Going through the drive thru at Starbucks, she ordered an iced mocha, and then made her way to school, where she took a seat in the cafeteria with her friends.

 

[Iwana]

Ethan woke up with a terrible headache. The first memory that popped into his head was Bry looking out for their father while Ethan was rummaging through his stash, dripping a small amount of liquor from each bottle in the counter inside a small silver flask. The result was something that sent both him and his friends to sleep much earlier than they had anticipated. Luckily, neither of them had to visit the emergency room last night.


He elevated himself from the couch using both hands and when he managed to stand relatively steady, he looked around the messy basement with lidded eyes until he spotted his backpack. He dragged himself across the room, avoiding the feet and heads of several other guys that were sleeping on mattresses across the floor. He accidentally kicked several beer cans but, naturally, no one was alerted by the noise.


Once he managed to get a good grip around one of the bag's straps, he threw it over his right shoulder and walked up the staircase with a pace that could put any zombie to shame.


The blinding sunlight that invaded his vision almost had him trampling down the staircase. He walked blindly for a few minutes but he knew this neighborhood like the back of his hands and, luckily, the traffic in the area was almost nonexistent in the morning hours, so he didn't end up walking straight into anyone.


On his way to school, he stopped by Starbucks to get a really strong coffee. There, he saw what looked like a huge blood bag through his sleepy eyes, but looking closer, it proved to be a cherry red car, driven by a girl that seemed to be around his age.


Once he got his coffee, he leaned against a wall nearby, reminiscing about the time he had his driving licence revoked, while he waited for his headache to get better and the time for class to get a bit closer; he didn't want to arrive to school too early.


He ended up being early either way, but at least his headache was a bit better. He still felt like he might throw up if he moved around a lot, but he was now awake and clear-headed enough to mask it as not being fully awake yet.


At school, he claimed his usual morning spot in the cafeteria; at the far end, where all the quiet kids sat. He sat there until classes started, with his left cheek against the table and his eyes traveling across the room with the constantly increasing number of students.

 

[Artificial Sugar]

Siren took her time speaking to her friends, not leaving for class until the last possible moment. As expected, she got straight A's, and was in all advanced classes. It was quite a lot of work, but she enjoyed it. It kept her busy, and it made her feel good about herself- a rare thing these days.


She'd been daydreaming a lot lately, though, which had been distracting her from taking notes.


For some reason, she wasn't able to pay attention in class. It was weird for her, but she figured it would pass, as most things did.


Her first three classes were Math, History, and Science, and then she had lunch. Usually, she would have brought something from home, to keep her from overeating, but today she didn't bring anything.


Instead, she went to the park that all the cool kids hung out at during lunch, and decided she needed a cigarette.


She wasn't addicted, not yet. She didn't smoke all the time, just sometimes.


But right now, she really needed one. Glancing around the park, she spotted a tall boy smoking, looking as if he'd just woken up.


Marching over to him, she smiled sweetly as she approached. "Hey, got an extra I could snag?" She asked, gesturing to the cigarette in his hand.

 

[Iwana]

Ethan slowly made his way to classroom a minute before the bell announced the start of classes. He didn't want to rush himself - or his empty and upset stomach. He spent his entire morning sleeping in class and ignoring all complains from the teachers. The guy who sat beside him during most classes tried to start some small talk but a cold stare from Ethan was enough to shut him up.


Ethan's plans for lunch break was to hide under the stairs and get an extra ride to la la land - he hadn't been home since yesterday, so he didn't have any lunch money with him, casting a trip to the cafeteria pretty pointless - but he found a half-empty pack of cigarettes in the back pocket of his pants and maybe, just maybe, the sun would help bring him into the land of the living.


The backyard was usually the perfect spot for this activity - no visits by any teachers, a quiet atmosphere, and a more or less friendly environment - but that was a spot that the sun never reached, so he had to resort to the less appealing alternative that was the park where all the cool kids from the nearby school and all the wannabe cool kids from his own school spent their lunch breaks.


He discarded his tattered school bag and his jacket under the stairs - because even the janitor hardly ever took a peek under there - and headed to the park with nothing but his jeans, his tattered black converse, his dark green t-shirt and his cigarettes.


He found a quiet spot in the sun and sat under the sun. The noise and the chattering made his head ring but it was bearable.


He stayed still for a few minutes and then lit a cigarette. He only managed to take a ship before he felt someone's shadow on him. He opened his eyes and saw a girl that he thought was familiar, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember where he had seen her.


He didn't look too happy about sharing but he still opened and held the pack out her way with a single cigarette sticking further out than the rest. His eyes were on her face and he kept them there as he waited for her to take it. He felt like he should say something, but he couldn't think of anything fitting or relevant, so he chose the safety of silence.

 

[Artificial Sugar]

Siren noticed that the boy didn't look happy, but what did she care? She didn't know him, and most likely wouldn't ever speak to him again, after this lunch period.


Grabbing the cigarette that had been sticking out, she pulled a lighter from her purse and lit it, inhaling deeply.


Feeling instantly less stressed, she took a seat next to the boy, deciding she didn't feel like speaking to her friends right now.


Closing her eyes against the sun, she let it warm her body for a moment before opening one eye to look at the boy next to her.


"What's your name?" She asked, leaning back on her hands, letting the sun soak into her bare legs.

 

[Iwana]

Ethan leaned forward, putting all of his weight on his elbows. They dug against his knees but the feeling was a pleasant distraction from the haziness that just wouldn't leave him this morning. This was a rare occurrence. He knew he didn't look half bad but he wasn't exactly the type that girls regularly went after, either. He wasn't very muscular, he was pale and his eyes were as black as tar.


He brought the cigarette to his lips and dragged the smoke, but this time he let it out to cover up the fact that he was checking out the girl's face. Her eyes were also black and, to his surprise, he found that quite impressive. He was sick of seeing girls with blue and brown eyes. This was new to him, even if it felt like he was looking at his own eyes in a mirror.


His brother used to tell him that, when he was a high schooler and he couldn't find any friends, he spent most of his time looking at people from the shadows and measuring their eyes. He would then categorize them based on the feelings he saw in them. But Ethan had no insight, he couldn't figure out people's feelings by their eyes alone, so he categorized them based on their colors alone.


The smoke of his last exhale begun to clear up and once he was no longer looking at her through a hazy cloud, he finally answered her question, "Ethan."


He inhaled another take of nicotine, tar and smoke and this time he kept it and let it go down to his lungs.





"You?" he asked. She was definitely a rich girl; there was no way he wouldn't recognize her if she was from his own school, and she couldn't be anything else, not with that cute outfit and her fancy friends looking at him from a nearby bench as if he was a serial killer or something else, equally dangerous.

 

[Artificial Sugar]

Siren met his gaze with her own, realizing that his eyes were black, too. She'd gotten used to the typical blue or green eyes by now, and seeing eyes like hers made her more interested in him.


He was actually quite good looking, too, and she didn't mind him seeing her stare back.


Siren wasn't really the type to show her real feelings, so even though she was nervous, and her heart was pounding, she pretended she didn't feel anything.


Blowing the cigarette smoke out of her nose, Siren smiled and cocked her head at him, licking her lips, tasting her strawberry chapstick.


"Siren."


The one good thing about her parents was that back in the day, they'd been dreamers. Hippies, artists- free.


So she'd gotten a kick ass name, and it worked well for her.

 

[Iwana]

Ethan smiled a little without meaning to. His features stretched and the slight burn made him realize how long it had been since the last time he had smiled. At least out of amusement.





"Siren," he repeated the name, as if he wanted to know what it tasted like on his lips, "That's an interesting name. My mother chose mine out of the top 10 most used names in the US. She wanted me to fit in as much as possible."


The smile that graced his features this time was one full of sarcasm, but the truth was that he wasn't unhappy with his name. It was simple, it had a positive meaning and he liked the sound of it. He always liked the sound of simple, unimpressive names. But he had to recognize the fact that Siren was a good name for a girl. If you were a hippie.


"Do you sing?" he asked.

 

[Artificial Sugar]

Ethan's smile was quite nice, despite him looking like he could kill someone.


Siren found herself smiling back, without meaning to. He seemed like the kind of guy who could make anyone smile, without trying.


Just looking at him made her want to smile, and she felt like a silly lovesick fool. She'd just met the guy.


"Yes, I do. I sing and bring men to their deaths. It's quite a nice job, really." She answered, laughing.


Putting out her cigarette, she grabbed a piece of gum out of her purse and popped it in her mouth, holding the pack out to Ethan, offering him a piece.

 

[Iwana]

Ethan shook his head, turning down the gum, but his smile had grown.


He didn't like gum, it always got stuck in his teeth and he had actually choked on it once. He didn't understand how some girls kept one in their mouth all day without putting their lives in danger. He might have as well plunged a pillar of burning iron down his throat; they would both lead to the same thing; his death.


"That's an admirable gift," he said. "You could go on stage once and lead hundreds of men to their death. And people wouldn't be able to press any charges on you."


He pressed the filter of his cigarette into the dirt behind them. There were a lot of trees planted in this park, but this one parterre had nothing but rich, yet flowerless bushes. Between them was a significantly smaller bush with darker leaves and tiny, dark red, nearly black, berries. Ethan picked one of them and showed it to Siren, "You see these? My father says some kids from his generation planted this bush here without permission. These berries are toxic enough to kill a small animal but not a human. On humans, they cause intense hallucinations and sometimes, they might put you into a sleep you'll never wake from. And I don't mean death. They'll literally put you to sleep."


He threw the berry back into the bushes and wiped his fingers on his jeans.

 

[Artificial Sugar]

"Well, I am a cheer-leader, as well as student class president. Wouldn't be hard." She laughed, smiling at him.


It was nice to joke around, and not be serious or bubbly for once.


Looking at the berries, she examined them for a moment. "They're pretty. They'd made a great color to paint with."


If she ever needed to sleep without dying, or waking up, she now knew where to go.


Looking at her friends, she saw them gazing back curiously, and she smiled, waving them off.


She wanted to keep Ethan to herself, at least for right now.

 

[Iwana]

Ethan let the silence drag on for a few minutes. He even allowed himself to sit back and just watch her laugh for a while, but he had the good sense to stop staring after a while. No matter how normal his thoughts were, not many would buy the tale of him trying to figure out people through their eyes like his brother once told him he used to do.


He raised an eyebrow and nodded, as though he was impressed "A cheerleader, huh? From what I've gathered, it's been a decade since the last year my school's football team had cheerleaders. All the girls from my school tend to be quite... introverted."


And by that he meant they wouldn't, not for any reason, lift their eyes off the floor to look at someone, as if everyone would instantly start pointing fingers and laughing at them, just because they didn't have ten pounds of make up on and a fake smile on their faces.


On a second note, there was a possibility that they would.


Suddenly, Ethan said, "If you ever paint them, give me a call and I'll come grade the painting. I might not look like it, but I'm a pretty good judge of art."


He surprised even himself with that. He had some experience of visiting art galleries with his childhood friend, Archie, and his little brother, and he actually knew a handful of useful words related to painting, but he was never really the type to boast his knowledge to grab a girl's attention. But there's always a first for everything. That's something he knew all too well.

 

[Artificial Sugar]

"I became a cheer-leader to make my mom happy." Siren told him, sighing. It was the truth- the first time she'd actually told anyone.


Plus, it made it easier to hide her true feelings.


She'd become a cheer-leader, class president, and even worked on the yearbook, all for her mother.


If she had it her way, she'd stay in her room, by herself, and read all day, or paint. But all these clubs and stuff gave her a fake persona, too.


She was the happy, preppy, bubbly girl. Not the one who cried herself to sleep and cut herself.


"Huh? Oh, sure, yeah." Siren answered, having spaced off. "Oh, but...I don't have your number." She told him, smiling.

 

[Iwana]

Ethan had meant it as a joke, mostly, but that smile, with so much hidden melancholy and layers upon layers of positive (fake) feelings made him willing to change the joke into something serious. He laughed.


"Exchanging numbers on the first date? That's fast. What do you say we have a second one first? A friend of mine is having a party tonight, and his parties tend to be... quite interesting. You don't look like the type to get along with the kind of controversial crowd seen in these gatherings, but I'm sure you could use some time out of jumping around and singing in a sexy outfit to make your mom happy."


Archie wasn't your typical party animal, mostly because his parties always had that one little touch that made them a bit more extreme, more dangerous than the typical high school party. And he hardly ever made a personal appearance in any of them. He either invited everyone to his house and then stayed locked in his room for the entire night, watching "his subjects" - as Ethan liked to call them, as a joke - through the black curtains of his room's only window, or he called everyone out to some infamous or straight up unpopular bar and never stepped foot into the place himself, but everyone else showed up anyway because he paid for all the drinks and even an underground band or two to show up throughout the night once in a while.

 

[Artificial Sugar]

"Sure. I like parties as much as your typical alternative chick." She smiled and held out her hand and a pen.


"Give me the address, and time."


Most people thought that because Siren looked preppy, and went to a typically rich kid school, she didn't know how to party, but that wasn't true.


In fact, most of her friends always left or passed out before she did.


She could drink all night and still not be drunk enough to pass out or fall on her face, even in heels.


Siren could smoke all night without getting sick, and she could dance to pretty much anything.


The one good thing about parties was that they always made her forget things.


Her life was always a blur when she was drunk or high, and she loved it.


The next day, she always felt like shit, but it had been worth it, while it lasted.


Sighing, Siren stood, brushing her skirt off. It was time to go back to class, as her friends to kindly yelled across at her from the field.


She held her hand out, waiting for Ethan to write the party details on her hand.

 

[Iwana]

"That's good to hear," said Ethan.


He took the pen and, carefully, he placed his hand under Siren's wrist and held it up as he wrote the address of Archie's house. He paused for a while at the end, looking at the girl's hand with focus. He had written enough things on human skin - cheats for exams, cell phones, fake tattoos - with a pen to know that it wasn't a smooth process, but he had a feeling it shouldn't be this hard for the pen to slide over the skin, as if it kept finding bumps and hurdles on its way.





"Most people will show up way after ten o'clock but you can come earlier, if you like. Me and Archie will be there from eight and I might be able to show you around if there aren't many people there," he said.


He handed her pen and hand back and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He offered her one last smile before he turned around and crossed the street to reach his school.

 

[Artificial Sugar]

Siren nodded, knowing she wouldn't show up any earlier than ten thirty. She liked to be late and make an entrance.


Following her friends back to school, they elbowed her and giggled, asking, "Who was he?" In their girly, conspiracy voices.


Siren looked back, even though she couldn't see him now, and simply replied "Ethan."


Her friends asked for more information, but she didn't really have any, and besides, she wanted to keep him a secret, for now.


She'd felt a connection with Ethan that she hadn't felt with anyone else, despite only meeting him.


It surprised her, but she felt that maybe... It was the good kind of surprise.


The rest of the day went by slowly, leaving Siren bored and daydreaming. She felt unfocused, and off balanced.


At Cheer Practice later that day, she missed half of the routine, and had to redo it, putting all the girls off count.


It took them an hour to get back on track and when she finally dismissed them, they were all whispering and grumbling about her.


When she arrived home, her mother was sitting at the table, drinking a cup of tea quietly.


"Hey, everything okay?" Siren asked, pulling off her Cheer coat, and hanging it up on the coat hooks.


Her mother nodded, tight lipped. "Your father is just.. Working late."


Siren rolled her eyes and grabbed a granola bar from the cupboard. "Sure he is."


Her mother sighed but didn't say anything, and Siren went up to her room, where she ate the granola bar, did her homework, and then showered.


Her mother's denial about her father and his affairs was overwhelming and Siren had long since stopped bothering trying to get her to admit to them.


By the time she was done showering, it was already ten, so she picked out an outfit, finally deciding on a black dress with an empire waist, puffy sleeves. and a fluffy skirt that reached her knees, and a cut out of an upside down cross on the chest, allowing a bit of cleavage to peek through.


She paired it with black fishnet stockings and black platform Mary Jane's, deciding to go with the "Goth" look tonight.


Her makeup was simple, just a bit of eyeliner on the waterline, and some purple lipstick. She'd put her hair up this time, in a bun.


Grabbing her purse, she made her way outside and to her car, making sure to grab a simple black cardigan on her way out.


The ride didn't take long, but she arrived at ten fifty, and had to park a way down the road.


Slamming her car door, she locked it and made her way to the house, entering without knocking, since it was open anyway.


She saw a few people she knew from her own school, and she smiled, saying hello, before grabbing a beer and looking for Ethan.

 

[Iwana]

Ethan spent the rest of the day sleeping on his desk. He held his hands around his head to block the light and the noises, and when the bell that announced his freedom rung, he didn't hear it. He woke up when someone walked by his desk and accidentally - or not - kicked his desk. His vision became filled with tiny black dots the first two times he tried to get up, and some of his classmates - those who knew he wouldn't have their heads first chance he got - laughed at him as they walked out of the classroom, but most just looked away to hide their curled lips.


Ethan exited the classroom on his own, even though he could have walked along a couple of groups he saw on his way out, and most of them wouldn't have been all that bothered by his presence.


He didn't want to go home but he talked himself into it. He could walk into that party in the same creased outfit and his curls stuck against his skull, or he could go home and change, have a shower, and make an appearance. He liked to think of himself as someone who didn't give rat's ass about what people thought of him, and he didn't, for the most part, but he also knew that the shit his father always said - that he should let women fall for his character and not his looks - wasn't one of the biggest truths that jaded old man said. And the proof was said jaded man himself, abandoned by many women who fell for his personality and then walked out on him because, more than often, he let himself look like a hobo.


It took Ethan a while to reach his house by foot, but it ended up working to his advantage, because when he arrived his father was already gone and Bry was taking his nap in the living room. Ethan entered the shower, made himself a sandwich, ate it, and then changed into his "party outfit" undisturbed. He didn't try to dress like someone he wasn't and went for a pair of dark jeans and black shoes but he also dug out a dark gray shirt he didn't wear very often from the bottom of his closet.


He brought it to his nose to make sure it didn't smell like mothballs, then he slid his hands in the sleeves and buttoned it up all the way to the second button from the top. It wasn't even five o'clock but he still made his way to the back door - it offered faster access to the sequence of back alleys that he used to reach Archie's house without hitting any busy streets - when a weak, sleepy voice called out to him?


Ethan stopped on his heels but he resorted to yelling instead of going back inside.





"What?" he asked.





"Where are you going?" asked Bry.





"To Archie's."


"Dad said we have to be home by eight."


Ethan grimaced. "Why?"


"Emery and the woman in black are coming for dinner."


Ethan's grimace deepened so much that he barely looked like himself anymore. He peeked back into the house until he could see his little brother's sleepy face and asked him to tell their "lovely" sister-in-law to go find her maker, the devil, and not forget to give said maker Ethan's regards. Bry nodded with a smile, then yawned and waved his arm around as farewell.


Ethan finally left the house and he was at Archie's half an hour later. He didn't want to get sweaty so he ended up walking all the way instead of running. When he arrived, he found his friend sitting at the porch of the two-floor detached house him and his family had been living in ever since the two boys were five.


Archie smiled when he saw Ethan. He leaned down and reached out to half a dozen beer cans that were lying on the ground, beside his feet, and grabbed two of them. He offered one to Ethan and Ethan accepted it with a simple thanks. He joined Archie on the porch, where the two of them spent the rest of the afternoon, talking about school, about their shared childhood years and even about the weather, until the first guests showed up. Archie then left Ethan at the porch to greet everyone on his own and finish two more cans of beer, because some of those guests really didn't know when to shut up.


Luckily, the "DJ" Archie had called in for the night showed up at 9 and the sound of his music soon covered up all the chit-chat and by nine o'clock, the house was already overflowing with people. Ethan finally managed to blend in with the crowd and disappear from the eyes of whoever he didn't want to meet. Truth be told, there was only one person he wanted to meet tonight, and that person showed up way after ten. He was disappointed but he didn't let it show. He approached her and grabbed her wrist to catch her attention.





"Hello," he said "I expected you a little earlier."


But he was smiling and suddenly, the music sounded a little better. But that could be just the DJ who suddenly decided to change into a genre that was closer to Ethan's tastes. He looked at her outfit and he couldn't help but show his teeth with this smile, "You look great."





He brought the fourth can of beer he was having for tonight up and knocked it against her own.





"So, what do you wanna do?" he asked her.

 

[Artificial Sugar]

Siren had wandered for a while, stopping here and there to speak to a few groups of people.


Generally, Siren knew a lot of people, both from her own school, and from a few other schools around the area.


She was at pretty much every party, and mingled a lot, making friends- though some were strictly "party friends".


Never would she speak to them outside of a party.


She'd sipped at her beer in disgust, not one for the dull liquid. If it was all they had, though, she'd make do.


If she had her choice, she preferred Vodka, or fruity drinks, but she didn't think that they would have anything fancy here.


Her own parties, as well as her friends, had champagne and wine, but they were rich, it was expected.


Suddenly, someone touched her wrist, and she turned, ready to pull it back, when she saw it was Ethan.


A small smile formed on her lips and she shrugged.


"Sorry. I had to get ready. Perfection takes a while."


Looking at him for a moment, studying him, she tried to figure out what was so interesting about him.


"I wouldn't say no to going somewhere alone." Siren told him, a sly smile on her lips.

 

[Iwana]

Ethan returned Siren's smile with a sly grin of his own, but it didn't reach his eyes. Truth be told, he wasn't into easy girls, but it wasn't like he just wanted to talk about feelings or get into a serious relationship either.


He looked at the beer she was holding and thought a girl like her probably wouldn't be so fond of something so cheap.





"Anything more expensive than beers is too much even for the mighty Archie," he said "Would you like something else? Something better? I know just the place to get that."


He pointed toward the staircase that led to the second floor. He was pretty sure a couple or two had already headed upstairs to invade the large bedroom with the circular double bed, which belonged to Archie's parents, but he didn't care about the bed at the moment, and he didn't mind walking in on any young couple. If they wanted privacy, they should have left the party and gone home or to some hotel.


He released her hand and started walking toward the first flight of wooden stairs, and he thought he spotted a couple making out under said stairs. There go his childhood memories of him and Archie hiding there to read porn magazines without being spotted by Archie's mother.

 

[Artificial Sugar]

Siren could read people pretty well, and she knew that Ethan was thinking she was easy, which was obviously not something he went for.


Of course, he couldn't know that she did that on purpose. She didn't consider herself easy.. But she liked to put people on the spot, make them uncomfortable. Push them.


If he had said yes, she would have laughed and made her way somewhere else.


"That would be lovely." She answered him, setting her beer down on the counter.


Siren followed him, laughing at the couple making out. How classy.


The stairs were dark, as it seemed no one had turned on any lights upstairs. "Damn these shoes.." She mumbled as she held tightly to the banister, afraid of falling.

 

[Iwana]

Ethan laughed, looking down at her shoes. They looked like something he had seen in a video clip by a Japanese singer one of his female classmates was a huge fan of.





"Gotta love those shoes," he said "Do you want me to carry you? But we might both end up falling off. Last time Archie had a party here, a guy picked up this really drunk chick and tried to bring her to the second floor bride-style. He didn't step well onto the stairs and they both fell off." He pointed at the banister at the turn that ended the first half of the staircase and led to a turn and the second flight of stairs "The guy hit his head right on that railing and he dropped the girl. She trickled down the rest of the staircase. Neither died, luckily."


When they reached the top of the staircase, the sound of the DJ's music was nothing but a deep hum that buzzed like angry bees under the floorboards. The hallway was dark but the walls, the color of vanilla, the oil paintings of calming countryside landscapes, and the Victorian console tables - Archie's mother had purchased four of them, just for this hallway - were still visible.


In this silence, and with the lack of people flocking the place, it was easier to see the style that this house was meant to have. Archie's mother was a huge fan of anything Victorian and Ethan still couldn't figure out why she hadn't just bought a Victorian house, and had instead settled for this simple structure. They certainly had the money for it, and Archie's father wasn't the type to refuse anything to his wife.


Just as expected, the door to the big bedroom was open just a crack and the sounds coming from the other side could only be identified as make-out sounds. Ethan made a gesture for Siren to wait outside and as he walked in and quietly walked to the bar with all the liquor, not even glancing at the bed. He opened the glass cabinet and picked up a bottle of Serkova and a bottle of Jack.


The kissing sounds didn't stop or even pause so the couple either didn't notice him or they just didn't care. He exited the room with the bottles and showed them to Siren as if they were victory flags.





"We shouldn't take them downstairs so how about the balcony?" he asked, holding the bottles out for Siren to take them "I'll go downstairs and bring you a glass and some orange juice, if you want."

 

[Artificial Sugar]

Siren listened as Ethan spoke, careful not to fall on her way up the stairs. She wore things for fashion, and sometimes, fashion hurt.


But in the end, she always felt that it was worth it.


If she got hurt, at least she looked good. If she died, she looked good. It wouldn't end with her looking like crap.


A morbid way to look at it, but... That was just how Siren thought.


Though it was dark, Siren could see the paintings on the walls, and thought it actually looked like quite a nice house.


She hoped none of the kids downstairs would ruin anything.


Most kids had no respect for the person's house when they had a party, even the rich kids had issues sometimes.


"The balcony sounds perfect." Siren replied, smiling softly. "Nah, I like to drink my Vodka straight." She laughed, shrugging.


It burned more straight, and it got her drunk quicker. She looked rich, she was rich, but she didn't have to party like one.


Sometimes, she liked to just drink until she couldn't feel anything anymore.


"So, it's your friends house. I'll let you lead me to the balcony." She told him, smiling.