Realistic or Modern Life Beneath Dreams

[DrTrollinski]

"Oh my god." She covered her face and dropped down on her ass, laughing. "Yes. Yes, you're good." She said, but she kept her face covered. "Oh my god..."

"Don't worry, we enjoyed it as much as you did." Nolan joked.

"Shut up." She giggled, then wiped her face with one hand and looked around. "Oh, Jesus." She said. "Elmore... I'm really sorry." She laughed. "You're not feminine, I promise. You're the toughest guy out of everyone."

"Pffffffffffffffffff." Nolan said, loudly. "Yeah, okay."

"Let him have this one, you bully." Jenna reached out and slapped his arm. "Let's see... Yab. Truth or dare?" She asked.

 

[Jupiter]

"I'm taking that, and I'm taking it with pride, Nolan. I'm taking it." He laughed.

Stella was just laughing along too.

Tate, on the other hand, reached out and grabbed himself another shot. Oh boy. He'd drank a lot of cherry sours. The game was going to be over for him very soon.

"Dare." Yab grinned. "This time, dare."

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Hm..." She looked at him. Then she looked around. Then she pointed at a patch of daisies in the grass.

"Eat a daisy. Stalk and all. You can wash it off first." She said.

"Fuck me. You're evil." Jason cringed.

 

[Jupiter]

Yab raised his eyebrows. "Really. That's evil? Christ. Amateur."

He leaned over and picked up one of the daisies, crumpled it up and put it in his mouth, chewed on it for about five seconds, and then swallowed it, with no remorse or no faltering in his face or mood.

"You just asked the guy who clogs his arteries with fried shit to eat a daisy. If anything that's ten times healthier than anything I've eaten before. Boring." He laughed.

"He has a point. He's probably eaten worse." Elmore shrugged.

"Jason. Truth or dare. Again." Yab grinned.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Fuck it, give me a truth question." He said. "Seeing as you're the one and only badass here who can eat daisies, I don't want to chance it." He said.

 

[Jupiter]

"Eating a daisy isn't even bad ass. It sounds so gay." He laughed. "But truth, okay. How do you really feel about your dad being a model?"

 

[DrTrollinski]

"How do I feel about him being a model? That's a good question." He said. "Well, I guess it's not so bad." He said. "The only thing I don't like about it is how vain he is. He's kinda' obsessed with things being perfect and pretty, to put it in the simplest way possible." He said. "And he just fuckin'..." He shook his head, "I don't know. It sounds like it'd be easy to say, but, when I was younger and other kids said 'my dad's a doctor, my dad's a lawyer, my dad's a therapist'... It wasn't all that easy to say 'yeah, my dad's a model for... A load of different magazines.'." He laughed. "So, even though it's great that he did it and got to meet all these people - and passed on the good genes to me... Part of it just ain't so good, I guess. It's normal but abnormal at the same time." He said.

"Right." Jason slapped his knees. "Tate, truth or dare?"

 

[Jupiter]

"Ooo, shit, fair do's. At least you don't have to say your dad is unemployed." Yab shrugged his shoulders. "Winning."

Tate looked at Jason, extremely gone out now. "Dare."

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Fuck, dude..." He thought for a moment. "Uhm... I dare you to..." He paused again and fell onto his back. "Oh, fuck, this is getting tough." He said. ".. Let's see... Uhm..." He looked around. "You need to... Barrel-roll into the lake. Do it." He said. "Full-speed, no hesitation." He said.

 

[Jupiter]

Tate heard the dare, and, in the heat of the moment, dropped to his side and full on barrel rolled into the lake, flopping into it with all his body weight, which admittedly wasn't much but still made a bit of a difference.

Was it really the best idea to send your best friend, who was drunk to the point where he was about to pass out, into a lake?

Would any of them here even be able to perform CPR if he ended up inhaling too much water, or anything?

But the thing still happened, he still ended up in the lake, and when he was done he floated back up to the surface, his arms spread and his face in the water, as though he were dead. He held it only for around five seconds, before 'coming back to life'. He'd been able to do that since he was a kid, make himself float, but it was only easier now.

He went back onto his feet in the water and pushed his wet hair out of his eyes, laughing hysterically, before climbing out of the water again. "Fun."

And he sat down.

And sadly, this was the end of truth or dare, at least for now, because as Tate sat down, he went pale, and... Well. It was bound to happen. What little scrambled egg he'd eaten today, mixed with bodily fluids and acid, ended up spewed down his shirt, and his eyes rolled back as he went faint. Not quite passed out, but definitely done drinking, what with his breakfast now on the outside of his body.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Everyone laughed as Tate did his dare and returned. He was a good life of the party, at the very least, but he came back, sat down, and it all ended there. He threw up and more or less passed out there and then.

"Waaaaaaaaaay." Nolan cheered, "Chunder number one, boys." He laughed.

"Well, that's enough for him, I think." Jason sighed. At least his body had had the chance to digest some of the food, so, the tank wasn't completely empty. He simply reached out and rolled Tate over onto his stomach. If he passed out there and slept for a while, at least he wouldn't choke on his own vomit.

"My head's spinning." Jason sighed, laying down on his side. "Oh, this is bad." He mumbled.

"Don't you tell me the party's over." Nolan said.

 

[Jupiter]

“Parties never over. I say we move Tate inside though.” Stella mumbled. “Onto the couch or something.”

“Anyone fancy ordering a pizza for lunch?” Elmore asked, grinning.

“Tate just threw up and I don’t think talking about pizza is a good idea after seeing so.” Stella laughed.

“If anything it made me hungrier.” Yab shrugged his shoulders.

“So what are we doing with him? And us?” Elmore raised his eyebrows. “Lunch? Soak up a bit of the old alc, to make room for some more?”

 

[DrTrollinski]

"We can move him inside but..." Jason wiped his face. "We can't lay him anywhere when he's soaked in vomit and all that." He said. "Party on, I say. Drink until we pass out, and when we wake up we go and get food. Or..." He paused. "Fuck, I won't be able to walk to anywhere to get food, no way, not now."

"Wow." Nolan sighed, and he poured himself another shot and drank it. "You need a little more muscle mass, fattening up." He said. "You're tall enough for a bit more. You'll handle drink just fine that way."

"No." Jason murmured, almost sounding upset as he buried his face in the grass. "I'm okay just like this."

"You done drinking?" Nolan asked. "You wanted to party just a second ago."

"Yes.. No. No, party more, yup." He nodded. "Just give me a few minutes. Head's spinning."

Jenna sighed and leaned her head against Stella's shoulder again. She hadn't been this drunk in a long time. "At this rate we'll run out of booze before the end of the two weeks."

"You clearly haven't seen just how much we've brought with us." Nolan laid back on the grass and looked up at the sky, sighing softly. "Food, though... I'm feeling something greasy as fuck." He said. "Like a large pizza, or a triple bacon cheeseburger." He said. "Something you could make a block of lard out of if you drained the fat from it, y'know?" He smirked. "Then maybe shove a movie on TV, pass out for a bit, wake up, cold shower... Come out here as the sun's setting and light the fire, drink a bit more, y'know how it goes."

"You're fuckin' backward, dude." Jason murmured.

"Yeah, fuck off." Nolan yawned.

 

[Jupiter]

“That sounds real fuckin good though, having a bonfire an’ some good drinks. Later on. When everyone is more awake.” Yab nodded.

“And we don’t have to walk anywhere to get pizza, mate, we have a landline here and a stash of up to date takeaway menus. So we just order it on the phone.” Elmore nodded.

“So. Plan. We somehow sort out Tate’s vomit covered t-shirt, and then we put him on the couch...” Stella nodded.

“Then we order a pizza, put a movie on, have a nap, then we come out later on.” Yab nodded.

“Sorted. I’ll gather some shit, someone grab Tate, and we can do all that shit.” Elmore clapped his hands together and picked up the bottles and put the lids on. Stella gathered the speaker and her towel and clothes, too. Once the two were stood, Yab jumped up too.

“Who’s taking Tate and are we like, washing him?” He asked.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Well, I'm pretty sober." Nolan stretched and stood up. He wasn't sober, but, he was tolerant enough of the alcohol. "Will, you're a big bastard. You're probably soberer than all of us. You help me out here." He said. Will hopped up and walked over to Tate, sighing as he leaned over and grabbed him by one of his arms. "We'll get him upstairs, help him get cleaned up." Nolan nodded, "Poor guy's fuckin' rattled by the old drink, ain't he?" He asked.

"No, no, no..." Jason reached out and grabbed Nolan's leg. "Don't."

"Jason, man, chill." He ripped his foot away. "You've had too much to drink." He said.

"No..." Jason fell face-first into the grass again as they carried Tate away. Now the alcohol had really hit him.

"Why don't you guys help Jason inside?" Will called back. "Probably shouldn't leave him out here on his own, either."

 

[Jupiter]

Yab looked at Jason, face down in the dirt, and sighed. He gestured Elmore over and the two of them grabbed Jason, Elmore with his arms under Jason’s armpits, and Yab with his grip on Jason’s legs.

Stella looked at Jenna and held a hand out to help her up. “Looks like us ladies are the only ones who are handling the drink.” She laughed.

Elmore and Yab both carted Jason inside, and Stella gathered up whatever was left on the dock, and then followed behind leisurely with Jenna. “The boys are... interesting.” She laughed. “I mean I know we’ve partied with them before, but this time is different, considering we’re staying with them. Anything could happen.” She hinted, winking at her.

Ahead, and now inside, Yab and Elmore put Jason down onto the couch. “What a mess. Pizza?” Yab asked.

“Don’t have to ask me twice. I’m gonna find the menus.” Elmore grinned, and disappeared to the kitchen, where, in a drawer, there were a bunch of takeaway menus. Yab sunk into an armchair, waiting for the others to return.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"No..." Jason shook his head as he was taken inside and put down on the couch. He wanted to just pass out, but at the same time, they were off with Tate on their own. "I'm going to go... Upstairs." He said, simply, and he did just that. He crawled off the couch and stumbled over to the stairs, which he crawled up. He didn't try and walk normally up them, no. He was just taking it slow. He was okay the way he was climbing them - there wasn't much risk of him falling down.

He'd survive, to say the very least.

"I see what you mean." Jenna said. She was swaying a bit, but, she hadn't drank as much as the guys. "I think it'll be an interesting two weeks, definitely." She smiled, "Question... Have you got a thing for Nolan?" She asked, simply.

Upstairs, Nolan and Will had gotten Tate into a bathroom. Without much clue of what to do, they just lifted him into the tub and sat him there for a minute. They were going to have to clean him off in one way or another.

"Uhm, so..." Nolan looked at him. "The shirt's gotta' come off, hasn't it?"

"Yup..." Will said. "We'll wash him down and put a towel around him to keep him dry, then put him in bed. Best thing for him, I think." Will said.

 

[Jupiter]

Elmore, still in the kitchen, was just gathering all the in date pizza ones, they got delivered there every so often, and the housekeeper who came by every so often to dust and whatnot always put them in that drawer. He gathered up the pizza options and went back into the living room to find that Jason was attempting the stairs and Yab was watching him from the sofa. “Fucks sake, Yab. Look through these if you aren’t gonna be helpful.” Elmore groaned, and shoved the pizza flyers into Yab’s hand.

“What? Oh.” He smiled, and flicked through the pages. Revitalised by food, as Yab always was.

Elmore jogged up the stairs and came to a stop in front of Jason. “Dude. It’s fine, trust me. You’re way too drunk to make a difference in this situation, Tate will be just fine with Nolan and Will, both are less drunk than you.” Obviously Elmore didn’t understand what needed to be hidden, but to him Jason was too drunk to help. “Come help us choose pizza, you know what Tate likes most, you can order one for him for when he wakes up.”

-


“I’m... not sure, really.” She shrugged. “He’s a bad boy, and he’s hot, and he plays football, but... he hasn’t much expressed interest in myself, so... I’d be playing it by flirting with someone I wasn’t even sure, not even fifty percent sure, was interested. I don’t know. It’s mixed feelings. I’m attracted to him, but the whole groups an attractive lot.” She shrugged again.

“What about you, Jen? You got a thing for someone. You can tell me.” She winked at her and laughed, linking her arm with her best friends.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"No, no, no." Jason put a hand on his leg and pushed by him, slowly. "You don't understand." He groaned. "Order Tate a... A cheese pizza. A small." He nodded. "And order me a BBQ chicken, but insteaed of bacon, ask 'em to put ground beef on it. Pizza bacon sucks dick from most places." He said, hanging his head for just a moment. Then he continued crawling up the stairs, hoping to make it to the bedroom where...

You guessed it, Will and Nolan had just managed to take off Tate's vomit-soaked shirt.

They were probably in for a bit of a surprise.

--

"Well, I've never seen Nolan express much interest in anyone. He's probably just... Reserved in that department, needs a few drinks and a private space before he starts expressing anything like that. Like you said, he's a 'bad boy', right? Bad boys don't do all the soft and mushy stuff - they need to be coaxed, I think." She said. "You should give it a try - make your interest a little more obvious and see if he gets the message." She nudged her. "As for me, hell, I don't know." She said, "I've sort of got a thing for a couple of people... Which I guess can be expected in a group like this." She said. "I mean, Tate's a lot quieter now that he's got back, but, still - him and Jason are sort of... My kind of people. In the whole 'intimate' area, anyway." She shrugged. "They're just... Not dicks, I guess." She laughed. "I know there's Elmore and everything, and Will's not necessarily a dick, either. But..."

"You know, I think Will's too tall for me to really have a thing for. He's over a foot taller than me and it just doesn't feel... Right. At least Jason and Tate are sort of, y'know, a reachable height." She laughed. "I'm not sure if it's really anything on my end. I feel like either of them would be a good time, but... Y'know, Jason's always joking about with me, so I wonder if he's interested or not. Tate's quiet, so I'm completely in the dark in that respect. It's 50/50 right now, y'know?" She said.

 

[Jupiter]

Stella shrugged her shoulders. “True. Nolan would need a bit of pushing. I’m not a hundred percent sure though, I guess we’ll see if something makes it obvious to me that I like him, if at all, but if not... who knows. There are a lot of boys here.” She laughed.

“In terms of you...” She grinned. “Jason and Tate. The sensitive types, in a way? I think both of them are lovely, but Tate is... mysterious in that aspect. You remember before, right? He was really... lively. Energetic. I think the drinks showed who he used to be a little more. God knows what happened to him and why he was in hospital, none of our business but it definitely changed him. He’s quiet now. He didn’t used to be.” She smiled. “He probably just needs to regain the trust he had in us all, get over what happened in a way.”

She looked up at the house. “And none of us have a crush on Yab. Poor Yab.” She laughed. “I think he loves food too much to be into anyone anyway. He’s lovely sometimes, I think he has a bit of a hard exterior. Home problems and stuff. You heard how okay he was about the house fire he mentioned, and I know for a fact that the scars on his body are not self inflicted.” She sighed. “He’s another mystery that hides behind humour. And Elmore... I don’t know. There’s a part of me that thinks he’s not into girls.” She laughed.

“Overall though, for you, Tate or Jason would be lovely. Make a move, or... try get Tate to come out of his shell a bit or something. I’m sure he’d love to chat. As would Jason.” She shrugged.

-

Yab, sat on the sofa, looked through the leaflets that ultimately were going to decide Elmore’s fate. And he chose it, the one that would change things for Elmore in a very good way. And for the group, too, adding it’s ninth member. Not that they knew that yet. And they’d be losing someone, before too long. Not that I’m going to spoil anything.

“Uh... okay. If you insist.” Elmore shrugged and turned his back and walked downstairs. He sat down on the couch and reached to the table where the landline phone was kept, and grabbed the notepad and pen from next to it, ready to write down orders. They’d probably just order one of everything, it wasn’t like Elmore and his family couldn’t afford it.

And they could always reheat stuff later.

-

Upstairs, Tate was in the bath, passed out. There wouldn’t be much thinking on his part, or talking, or moving. But there is description.

His body was still underweight, not as severely and he didn’t need life support, but he was still boney, his ribs sticking out just as much as his collarbones, his arms previously hidden by the long sleeves were too slim to hold much weight, the elbows sticking out grotesquely.

And the scars. His stomach had been gouged at with something sharp, in many different areas, one large one that looked as though it had had to have stitches. His arms were almost as mutilated as his stomach, and his chest was the only clean area. He didn’t need to hurt his chest. His stomach was the worst though, some of the cuts were recent, some of them were older, healed.

He wasn’t well. They’d see.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"It's funny you say that. I've tried talking to Jason, and sometimes he's really bouncy and will talk you to death if he feels like it - other times he just sort of... Shrugs it off. Not to be rude to you, or anything - but certain things he just won't comment on. Or he'll answer questions with a question. At the service station yesterday, I asked him if he was doing okay, and his response was 'why wouldn't I be?' - Not spitefully, obviously, but it's things like that." She said. "Jason's changed a lot since Tate went into the hospital. And ever since... Well, what happened with him, I guess we can only expect things to be different. I do want to talk to Tate when I've got a minute - I haven't really had the chance so far." He said.

"Yab's okay, but, like you said... I think he's mysterious. And to me, he's a little too mysterious. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but, the background he comes from... I don't think it's something I'd feel comfortable in. He's a nice enough guy, when he wants to be. Like Nolan - Nolan's got a little sister, though, so he's soft at heart. I guarantee. He just gets a little carried away sometimes, I think. Overall, he's pretty level-headed." She nodded a few times and wiped at her eyes, yawning. "We'll see where the wind blows, I guess. We've got two weeks to get all of this planned out right." She said. "What makes you suspect that about Elmore, though?" She asked. "The only sort of thing that could even remotely give it away is his happy-go-lucky attitude." She laughed.

--

".. Shit." Nolan said after a few moments of him and Will standing in complete silence. The weight of the situation hit him on the head like a fucking bolder. You didn't need to be sober to put two and two together in this situation and figure out what had put him in hospital previously.

"Oh man." Will put his hands on the back of his head. "Let's just get him cleaned up, dude."

"What are you doing?" A voice called from behind them, and there Jason was. He looked at Tate, and all was revealed. He looked at Will and Nolan and he immediately just hit the deck, his eyes streaming with tears. "No, you can't. You can't." He said, clutching either of their ankles.

"Jason, fuck me..." Nolan crouched down and gently patted the side of his face. "The fuck's the matter with you now?"

"You can't tell anyone." He sobbed, pulling himself up and kneeling in front of him. "I swear to fucking god if you tell anyone what you've saw..."

"I won't, goddammit. Will you calm down?" He asked, putting his hands on his shoulders. "Why would me and Will tell anyone?"

"I don't know." He wiped at his eyes.

"Look, we're all friends, aren't we? If this needs to be something that stays between just us, then so be it." He nodded. "Jesus, don't freak out, dude. It's alright." He patted his shoulder a couple of times.

"Thank you..." He sniffled, and he went over to the tub and looked at Tate, but then sat against the wall with his head in his knees. "I feel sick." He said.

"Jesus, please don't throw up on the floor." Nolan wiped his face and sighed, "Just sit by the toilet, or something, just to be safe. Let us worry about Tate. You should honestly go and lie down."

"I will..." Jason nodded, sluggishly, and let out a sniffle.

Then there was Tate, who was soon in the process of getting rinsed down with warm water. They obviously didn't lay hands on him, but, they washed off any and all vomit so that he could be dried off and hopefully carried over to bed once they were done.

 

[Jupiter]

“We do indeed. God knows what can happen in two weeks, especially in such close quarters. People can sneak around all over the place, and when we have no one else to talk to... well. People get close.” She smiled, and shrugged her shoulders.

“Elmore though... well. He’s never had a girlfriend, he’s never tried anything with anyone, I don’t think anyone has ever even seen him with a girl other than us. Most football guys have got cheerleaders drooling all over them, and most of them enjoy the attention, but he genuinely just doesn’t seem to care at all.” She shrugged again. “Maybe I’m wrong, but he seems it. If he proves me wrong, fine, but if it ends up that way, I told you so.”

“Come on. Let’s go in. Unless you want to tell me some more about the boys.” She winked.

-

Tate was knocked out, he wouldn’t even know that people had seen. He wouldn’t have a clue until they looked at him funny, if at all. He didn’t know that they knew his secrets now. But it was bound to come out sooner or later.

He didn’t even wake up when the water hit him. The alcohol hit him hard, and they could see why. Not much of him for it to hit.

Downstairs, though, Elmore and Yab were still in the process of writing down most of the pizzas on the menu, as they were the only ones ordering. Elmore decided he’d order a few margheritas, some pepperonis, obviously Jason’s oddly specific pizza choice, a ham and pineapple (ew) one with absolutely everything on, and some other random things.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"I haven't got anything more for you, nope. Let's get inside and get our orders in before they order something we really don't want." She said. "I'm definitely talking Elmore into ordering ice cream with it, and... Hm. Fanta, maybe." She said. "Food and sugary drinks will clear everyone right up. Even Jason. Tate? I'm not sure. He was passed out. Like... Not just in the 'too drunk to move' respect. I mean the literal... 'So drunk that you're likely to piss yourself without knowing' kind of way." She laughed. "He'll be okay, though."

--

Tate was showered off and had a towel wrapped around him once they'd managed to pull him from the tub like a fish out of water. Jason, in the meantime, had passed out with his head in the tiolet not far away. At least he didn't throw up on the floor - he was still breathing, and his head was still spinning, but he was half-sleep. Nolan figured it best just to leave him there, and if he wanted to fall asleep on the bathroom floor once he was done, he could. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to get him into bed when he could easily just throw up all over the place.

After wrapping Tate in a towel and drying off at least his upper body, they wrapped his waist in a towel so that the shorts didn't completely soak his bed. They went ahead and laid him down in there, covered by the blanket and nice and snug, really. He was laid face-down, too. Just to be safe.

"Jason, you gonna' be okay?" Nolan called out.

".. Yup..."

Nolan patted Will's shoulder, "Let's go." He sighed and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind them. "Thanks for the help, dude."

"You too."

For once, they actually agreed on something. They got on without any sarcastic comments or passive-aggressiveness. It was oddly nice.

They went and rejoined everyone downstairs.

"Yo, they're both okay." Nolan sat down on the couch and took a deep breath. "Jason'll be alright before too long. Just got a little carried away, I think. He'll be fine once he's had something to eat." He said, nodding. "What's on the menu, then?" He asked.

 

[Jupiter]

Stella walked inside with Jenna around the same time as Nolan went downstairs with Will, and soon the group was back together. Well. Six of them. The other two were drunk.

“What’s on the menu? Well. Literally everything.” Elmore laughed. “Literally. We didn’t know what to order, so we decided to buy everything.” He grinned. “I can afford it, so, what’s the damage?”

“The damage is that we can’t eat all of that.” Stella laughed.

“Nah. I can.” Yab laughed.

Stella nodded. He probably could. “So have you ordered it already?”

“Nope. About to though, so let me know if there’s anything else you want other than pizza.”

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Something from the sides would be nice." Nolan said. "Let's go for some chicken tenders. May as well throw some of the desserts on there, too."

"Good idea. Do they do ice cream?" Jenna asked, and she sat down on the couch and laid back, just chilling.

"We should just get enough of everything to go around, I suppose. We know what everyone likes, more or less - if we get a few sides we can share those and there'll still be enough for anyone who's not in good enough shape to join us right away." Nolan said, "Which at this stage is probably only going to be Tate, but, I'm 50/50 on Jason as well. We'll see." He said. "We have a working microwave, and when you're drunk, high - whatever... Waking up and heating up some pizza is probably one of the best guilty pleasures you can have." He smirked.