Realistic or Modern Life Beneath Dreams

[Jupiter]

“Okay.” Elmore laughed. “Fuck it. We have a refrigerator and a freezer; so whatever we don’t eat... we can save for later. I’m literally just gonna ask for everything on the menu. Whatever we don’t eat isn’t going to kill us. And I guarentee Yab will eat it anyway.” He laughed.

So that’s what he did. Elmore grabbed the landline phone, stood up and walked to the kitchen away from the living room, so he could order in the quiet.

“Do we play a drinking game while we wait, or just stick on some TV? Chat? What?” Stella grinned. “We could get horribly deep and personal and talk about our crushes like third grade sleepovers.” She raised her eyebrows and then winked at Jenna.

“I don’t have a crush.” Yab mumbled. “My crush is pizza and ice cream, one on top of the other.”

 

[DrTrollinski]

"I'm always down for getting deep and personal. At the same time, we could save that for when we're all here. I think it'd be best if we got all horribly deep and personal when there's no one missing out, so..." She had a look around. "We could always play something stupid while we wait for the pizza. Like Twister. What goes better than that with alcohol?" She laughed. "I don't think drinking more right this second is a good idea." She said.

 

[Jupiter]

"Drinking twister." Yab mumbled, but Stella shot him a look.

From the kitchen, Elmore could be heard saying: "No, I do mean everything. Yeah, all of that. Uh-huh. Desserts too. And drinks. Just bring everything. One of everything." He nodded. "Yeah, big pizza party."

Stella smiled to herself and looked at Jenna. "If you can find twister, then maybe we can." She shrugged. "Might be in some of these cupboards." She stood up from where she was and went to the cupboards under the TV, and there were some around the sides of it.

What they found in each of those cupboards, just with a quick glance, was: board games in one, XBOX games and console in another, WII games and console in another, PS4 games and console in another, a set of DVD's, some books, and, finally, a nice photo album.

"Well. We're not exactly strapped for choice." Stella shrugged. "So. What'll it be, guys? We could wheel of fortune the amount of choice we have right now."

Elmore returned. "It is done. And will be on it's way. Soon. Ish." He laughed.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Drinking Twister? Heh, no. That would end in disaster, and if one of you throws up on my head, there'd be nothing but hell to pay. We're not doing that sort of drinking game until tomorrow. We're drunk enough." Jenna said. She walked over to the cupboard where Stella was looking and started to dig through. Monopoly, Twister, Scrabble... There were quite a few things there that they could play, but Monopoly would only make her head spin and she knew it. Monopoly was the results of many family arguments. No need for that here right now. Something a little more easy-going with simple rules would be far more enjoyable.

"Pizza's on the way. Great." Jenna said as she slid the Twister box across the floor towards him. "Start setting up, Elmo. We're gonna' be invading each other's personal space until the pizza gets here." She said. "Yab suggested drinking, but... Unless we can find a way to balance it properly with this game, I think it's a bad idea." She said. "Unless you wanna' crack open some beers and just put beer shots on all the circles. Not as heavy on us that way." She shrugged.

 

[Jupiter]

"Oh shit, Jenna, that's genius." Elmore clapped his hands together. "A light drink, good shit, but still something foul enough that you regret being the first person on the circle." He nodded. "I'll go get the beer, and some shot glasses, Yab, you need to set up the game. Stella, keep an ear out for the door."

"It's not gonna arrive this minute-"

"Do it." Elmore pointed at her. "Ah, ah, do it." He turned on his heel and walked into the kitchen to get beers that he'd put in the fridge, and put them into shot glasses one by one, only using about two cans for multiple shots.

Yab knelt on the floor and started to lay out the twister mat where there was space. "This is exciting. At some point we should play beer pong."

"That's a good idea, actually." Stella nodded.

"Tomorrow, maybe. Or when we're not too hungover."

"I think we're just gonna have to suck our hangovers up these two weeks, and party on." She laughed.

"There's no better cure to a hangover than more alcohol. Drink so much you forget you have a hangover." Yab suggested.

Elmore walked back into the living room with a tray of shots, and knelt on the ground, placing them one by one onto the different circles. "Okay." He grabbed the board that you have to spin to get told what to do, and looked around. "Who wants to go first."

 

[DrTrollinski]

"I think the man of the house should go first, as it happens." Jenna said, waving a hand off at Elmore. "Go on, spin it and pick up a spot, then drink up." She said, simply. "I think they call the drink that straightens you out after getting violently drunk 'the hair of the dog' - It's meant to get you drunk again, takes away the sick feeling." She said. "Alcoholism is starting to sound rather tempting, now that I think of it. You can't be hungover if you don't stop drinking."

"Jesus Christ. What happened to you?" Nolan asked with a laugh. "Everyone knows you as this sweet girl that smells of flower shampoo, and shit. Stella, has she always been this way?" She asked. "She's almost as wild as you. You're a bad influence." He reached out and nudged her, winking.

 

[Jupiter]

“A bad influence my ass. This girl reads books for fun, not even cos she has to.” Elmore rolled his eyes, but was joking obviously. He stepped forward and set the spinner on the table nearest to the playing mat, and spun it.

“Right foot to yellow.” He shrugged. He reached down and took the shot nearest on a yellow, and put his foot down.

Stella spun next. “Left arm to blue.” She took her beer shot, grimacing, and put her arm onto the mat.

Yab was left foot to yellow, similar to Elmore.

 

[DrTrollinski]

They were playing the Twister for a while, simply enjoying it in whatever way they could. There was beer to be drank, and that was about all that mattered. Most of them were probably operating on an empty stomach by now, but, what did it matter? Pizza would be here pretty quick so there wasn't much to worry about in that department. They were fine just having some slightly more relaxed drinking, right? No one was going to throw up on anyone's head, hopefully.

When the doorbell rang, everyone was quite literally twisted up, and some of them were a little too close for comfort in some respects, but it was all a good laugh.

"Oh, shit." Nolan said. "Doorbell. Who can get out of this easy?" He asked. "Elmore? If I move I'm going to crush Jenna." He said.

 

[Jupiter]

"Okay. Okay hold on." Elmore slithered out of the position he was in. It was difficult, but he was the only one who could get out without knocking someone over. He grabbed his wallet from the couch and grabbed the card out, scrambling for the door so that he could get this pizza. God, he imagined it was going to be so expensive, and, as well, they were going to need to make a few trips from this car, too.

In the living room, Stella, excited by pizza, slipped, and ended up falling straight on top of Nolan. "Shit, I'm so sorry." She laughed. She couldn't help it.

"Ah, fuck this, pizza is here." Yab slithered out from where he was, without knocking anyone over, and stood up, dusting himself off.

Elmore opened the door, fumbling with his card before he looked up. And who did he see? Well. Someone that vaguely resembled his friend Atticus from his early years of Colorado exploration. He obviously had him on Facebook, as everyone did nowadays considering you meet someone once and it’s facebook friend worthy, but the point was Atticus and Elmore were actually friends. They knew each other.

“Elmo?” Atticus raised his eyebrows at him. He was only a small guy, I mean 5’11, and he was lanky and was a brunette, dark brown eyes and a freckle face, but he was what the girls would probably describe as cute. Attractive, but not someone that was like, for example, Yab, or even Elmore.

“No way. Bird?” He grinned widely. “Holy shit. You’re the delivery guy?”

“You’re the asshole who ordered the whole menu? Though, I suppose I shouldn’t put it past you.” He grinned, and thrust the pizza into Elmore’s arms. “Family gathering?”

He walked back to his car, grabbing more boxes and walking back to the door with Elmore, who gestured him to come in. “Nah. Friends, we’ve got the house to ourselves for two fuckin’ weeks.”

“No way.” Atticus walked through to the kitchen with Elmore and put the boxes down, as did Elmore, and they walked back to the door again, then to the car to grab the last few items.

“Yes way. Eight of us actually. Holy shit. I can’t actually believe it’s you.” He laughed, and the two of them grabbed the rest of the pizzas and sides, and a bag of desserts, before walking back inside and shutting the door behind them. They put all of the items on the counter and then Elmore leaned against it. “Pizza delivery boy, huh.”

“Yeah, small way to make a livin’. I work day shift, so not many things get ordered, but I still get paid.” He shrugged.

“What about school?”

“I just work weekends taken an extra shift today though so I can have tomorrow off. It’s a boring life.”

“Well... what time do you get off?” Elmore asked, and glanced through the doorway into the living room.

“In about... what, three hours maybe? Why?” Atticus was hoping. Who wouldn’t hope that they’d be invited to a party, with no adults, with alcohol, with new people who, as Atticus was a social butterfly, he was sure he’d love to meet. Especially if Elmore was there.

“Well, you doin’ anything after?”

“Nah.” Atticus raised his eyebrows. A grin on his face.

“Okay. Quick. Let me introduce you first.” He grabbed Atticus’ arm and pulled him through to the living room, where Yab was waiting hungrily for food.

“I asked for pizza, not the delivery boy.” Yab whined.

“Yeah, shut up. Guys. This is Atticus Bird.”

Yab let out a snicker. “Atticus?”

“I know.” Atticus laughed. “I go by Bird. It’s not much better.”

“It’s not... but...”

He glanced at Stella, who was thinking it too. “Elmo and... Big bird...” she mumbled.

Elmore grinned proudly, and let go of Atticus’ arm.

 

[DrTrollinski]

When Stella fell on top of Nolan, he collapsed and fell right on top of Jenna.

"Oh fuck!" She wailed out, but, she still laughed a breathless laugh. As soon as Nolan could, he climbed off of her and held out a hand.

"Damn, Jen." He said - she took his hand and pulled herself up. "Didn't crush the girls, did we?"

"The what?"

Nolan rolled his eyes and patted either side of his chest with his hands.

"Oh! No, no, that's alright." She laughed, then gently nudged him away. "Go on, you go help with the pizza. I'll make sure I haven't got internal bleeding."

Nolan made his way through the house to the front door, but, as soon as he got close he heard Elmore having a conversation with someone. Well, it must have been the pizza guy, right? Yup. Definitely the pizza guy. But they knew each other, somehow. How? When? Why here? It was an odd meeting, for sure, but he decided to step back and let them have their moment. There was no point in interrupting.

And soon enough, the pizza boy was brought into the house.

He had a funny name - that much Nolan already knew, but, it was quite interesting at the same time. He'd go along with it.

"Hey." He sat up from where he'd taken a spot on the couch and held out a hand for a handshake, "Nolan. Man of the house." He winked at Elmore.

"Oh, hey." Jenna waved, "I'm Jenna."

Elmo and Big Bird, though.

That certainly got a chuckle out of all of them.

"How do you guys know each other?" Jenna sat back.

 

[Jupiter]

"Well, basically." Elmore sat on the arm of the couch, and Atticus stayed stood. "My parents went to college with Bird's. And, when Bird's parents moved to Colorado, my parents got a house here too, because they were friends and they could afford to have a vacation home near their pals. That's why Colorado, and not somewhere like Florida, or something. Not at first, at least." He shrugged.

"Whenever Elmo would come here for summer vacation, our parents always hung out together. We had a lot of play dates as kids. Like, little kids too. And then when we were old enough we'd go out in town together, without our parents, because we were actually friends rather than just play dates." Atticus added.

"And then, of course, I stopped coming as frequently, or Bird was busy with his friends." Elmore shrugged. "So I don't think I've seen him for about three years now."

"But now I am here. I have been seen, and I am a pizza delivery boy. And you guys are assholes for ordering the whole menu. Mister Mario himself hit me for it." He shuddered. "With the dish cloth, of course."

Elmore grinned. "So yeah, that's the story of our lives together. And now, he is here indeed, and I was thinking... Maybe, when you finish work in..."

Atticus looked at his watch. "Two hours, thirty eight minutes and five, four, three..." He trailed off.

"In two and a half hours. You could come and hang with us. We've got the space, and the booze, and now we have the pizza." Elmore grinned. "If that's okay with you guys, though, of course." He gestured to his actual friends, not that Atticus wasn't an actual friend.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Wow, that's quite the story." Nolan nodded, "Think, guy comes all the way out here to some getaway location with a pizza, turns out the homeowner knows the dude - homeowner invites him inside... Elmore, you're not setting us up to be in some sort of bootleg porno, are you?" He asked, but then he grinned. "Sure, I'm cool with another person joining the party. Bring alcohol, if you can - surprise us. We have plenty but, the more the merrier and all." He said. "There are two other guys you haven't met yet. Jason and Tate. You've probably seen 'em pop up on Elmore's Facebook at one point or another, but, Tate passed out, and last I checked, Jason was throwing up, so... Hopefully, they'll be around later on." He said.

"Speaking of Jason... Does someone wanna' go see if he's alright?" He asked. "If not, I suppose I'll volunteer, but..." He shrugged. "Elmore, you could go see him once you see your friend out, actually. Then we can eat." He clapped his hands together.

 

[Jupiter]

"Yeah. Of course I'll join." Atticus grinned.

"We don't mind. Like Nolan said, the more the merrier." Stella smiled, and Yab said nothing. He didn't care, anyway, he was just hungry.

"Oh shit, yeah, Jason." Elmore laughed. "I'll go check on him, you can go back to work. After I've paid, of course." Elmore nodded, and he walked Atticus to the door, who waved at everyone before he left. Once there, he paid on his little card machine, portable n' all that, and said a quick goodbye.

He couldn't believe he'd seen his friend, that he'd managed to actually see the one friend who he thought would just be the one from childhood. Anyway, anyway, once he said his goodbye's, he jogged up the stairs and checked his head into each of the bathrooms until he managed to find the one that Jason was in. "Knock knock, bud." Elmore grinned, as he opened the door.

-

Stella smiled. "Well. Bird seems nice." She laughed.

"Elmo and Big Bird..." Yab laughed again, and the two of them shared a chuckle before Yab jumped up and clapped his hands. "Alright bitches, pizza time."

 

[DrTrollinski]

He found Jason in the bathroom of his bedroom that he and Tate shared - Tate was, presumably, still face-down in bed, and Jason was laying face down in front of the toilet. Don't worry, the toilet had been flushed, but he was at an awkward angle. It was clear he'd been on his knees, but, he hadn't necessarily moved his legs at all from that position - instead, the upper half of his body had slumped forward and his arms were holding his head just off the floor so he was slightly more comfortable. Chances were his legs were going to hurt when he got up, though.

He was asleep, or passed out, or something of the kind when Elmore knocked.

"Mmmm..." He grumbled when he heard Elmore's voice. "I need water." He said, and now that he was awake, he immediately pushed himself up a little bit and fell onto his side instead, shielding his eyes from the light and eventually rolling onto his back, taking in a shaky deep breath. ".. Oh, fuck." He said, simply. His head was still spinning and he looked like absolute shit - water, food, and a sweet drink would no doubt clear his head a little bit.

When you're drunk, you don't seem to give a shit how hot food is, either. You just eat it. I ate a whole BBQ pizza straight out the box (large) when it was still piping hot once, and that was, coincidentally, after I finished a bottle of Sourz to myself.

I guess you just get numbed out a bit.

 

[Jupiter]

When Elmore looked down at him, he couldn't help but pity him. "Poor Jason." He mumbled.

"Come on, I'll get you some water. And we've got pizza, and coke, and fanta, and ice cream and everything you could possibly want, my child." He smiled slightly. He held out a hand and pulled Jason up to his feet, supporting him as he walked him out of the room. The only glance he gave to Tate was to check if he was still breathing, and he was. He was just asleep, and he'd be awake soon enough. Don't worry, he wasn't going to miss too much of the fun. Or the pizza.

He led Jason out of the room and down the stairs. "Shut the blinds, boys and girls, we've got light sensitivity here." He ordered, and Stella obliged, hopping up from her seat and shutting the curtains, putting a lamp on.

They could eat pizza at lunchtime while watching a movie with the curtains closed. Who cared?

He let Jason have a seat on the couch and grabbed him the box of pizza that he had specifically ordered, poured him a glass of water, and put it all in front of him on a table. "There you go. Now, where's my pizza?" He grinned, and disappeared off to go and collect his own food. Stella turned the television channel over and pouted.

"El, can we use your DVD's?"

"Bitch, use Netflix. Who DVD's anymore?"

Stella shrugged. "Meh." She laughed. "Oh well, we'll Netflix it then. What does everyone fancy?"

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Ahhhh, fuckin'..." He pulled himself up and closed his eyes, leaning on Elmore for support. He walked with him from the room. "Thank you for being a good friend, dude." He murmured, senselessly, and he happily went along with him until the moment he was sat down on the couch. There's something amazing about having the curtains closed during the day, especially if they're dark curtains. You get that tiny bit of natural light, but it's also just that comfortable level of darkness where you feel like you can just chill out. It's great, and Jason appreciated not having the sun in his eyes.

When he had all the stuff put in front of him, he grabbed the glass of water and gulped it down in a few seconds, then placed it on the table again.

"Ah... Thank you." He whispered, then leaned back. But the smell of pizza hit him. He brought the box up onto his lap and opened it up, sniffing it again. Piping hot, greasy, sweet with BBQ sauce, and covered in meat. Chicken, meatballs, ground beef, pepperoni. What more could he ask for? Then there was the red onions and the assorted peppers. Perfection in a box. He grabbed a slice and immediately took a bite out of it, disregarding the heat entirely.

"Put something on that's... Easy to follow. Doesn't take much effort. Something with a lot of punching and shooting is always a safe bet. I'm feeling pumped." Nolan said as he slid a pepperoni pizza towards himself and poured a glass of Fanta.

 

[Jupiter]

"Uh... Okay." Stella handed the remote to Yab so that he could pick. She wasn't truly accustomed to the world of shooting and punching, so Yab picked a film that was just a Netflix original, that looked a bit shit, but had a gun on the front of the cover, so they couldn't go wrong with it.

The room was almost silent, at least from mine, as they chomped down on their pizza, drank their fizzy drinks, and watched the shitty movie on the large television screen.

Eventually, Elmore spoke again. "We need a movie day tomorrow. When we're hungover as shit, we all just get blankets and camp down here with leftover pizza and watch like, Harry Potter or some shit." He grinned.

"Sounds like a deal for me." Stella shrugged.

"Meh, I'll tag along if there's food." Yab.

"And also... What's the plan for later?" Stella asked.

"Well, Bird's gonna be joining us, so maybe a proper like... Gathering. Get the music going, get some beer pong flowing, chatting, talking shit, taking crap selfies. The usual teenager stuff?" Elmore laughed.

Yab turned to Jason. "'Bird' is Elmore's friend from childhood. Atticus." He snickered. "But he's coming after his shift. He was the delivery boy."

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Oh, really?" Jason asked. He wasn't paying much attention to what else was going on in the room - he was so drunk that he had an odd craving to get up and make scrambled eggs. But the pizza was a far better choice. He looked up at Elmore, his eyes half open. "That's really nice, Elmore." He said. "The delivery boy. A whole big reunion for the two of you. Isn't that something?" He said, then shoved the remainder of the slice of pizza into his mouth. "Tomorrow, I'm always down for marathoning a movie series." He said. "Harry Potter... or the Bourne series, that's some real action stuff, there." He said. "Or... Lord of The Rings... Then again, isn't that shit like... Sixteen hours long?" He asked. He shook his head.

"Let's worry about tonight." He said. "No, I mean... Tomorrow. We'll worry about tomorrow... Tomorrow." He waved his empty cup. "Tonight, when Bird gets here, we'll... Yeah, beer pong. Things like that." He nodded. "Share stories, eat more food... Drink, it'll be fun. Crack some music out and do the generic teen stuff. Bad selfies, talking shit. You know I'm all about that life." He sat back after putting his glass down on the coffee table.

 

[Jupiter]

Elmore nodded. "So am I. So are all of us. For now... You know I think after I eat myself to death I might have a nap."

"Coward." Yab laughed.

"Hey, we can't all be the kind of person who sleeps for 16 hours and then doesn't sleep for days." Elmore flipped him off while shoving another slice of pizza into his mouth, and Yab did the same back to him, mirroring him.

Everyone continued to eat, but soon enough...

"Jason!?" There was a call from upstairs. And that could only really mean one thing, couldn't it? Who was upstairs? Tate, of course.

Elmore looked at Jason and raised his eyebrows. "I can go if you want, say you're eating or something. You look like you really need to just sit down on the couch. I'll tell him where we are, go get him, get him some water."

"God knows he's gonna need some water. Can't believe he passed out." Yab laughed.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Jason immediately shunted the box off his lap.

"No, I've got it, it's fine." He said, simply, and he closed the box's lid and immediately shot out of the room. He hit the stairs and darted up them as fast as he could, making himself feel rather sick in the process. But he managed it - he tripped on the top step but managed to recover instead of falling flat on his face.

He charged into the room like a superhero searching for a damsel in distress, and looked over to Tate's bed.

"Tate?" He said.

 

[Jupiter]

Elmore and Yab both shared a look for a moment, Stella looked at Jenna, but it was Elmore who broke the silence after Jason shot out of the room. "Well... That was urgent..."

Yab shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe... Like, maybe they're a thing." He questioned, raising his eyebrows. "Like, you not noticed how Jason's always with Tate, I get that they're best friends but I'm best friends with Nolan, and, no offence, I don't think I'd be running upstairs at his every beck and call."

"It's not our place." Stella interjected. "Maybe Tate's just sick, Jason is looking after him. You know how he got." She mumbled. "And it's neither of their faults. Let him go, if Tate didn't need him he wouldn't call him."

"Still gay." Yab mumbled.

"Stop." Elmore blurted at him, but then went back to his pizza in silence.

-

Tate, upstairs, was confused. They hadn't put his shirt back on, I don't think they did, or it wasn't mentioned, and he didn't know how he'd got there. Things were foggy, he had a headache, and he felt sick. Like he'd thrown up? Had he...?

The second Jason came through the door, Tate was scurrying to the end of the bed. "Why am I undressed. Why am I in here. Who undressed me. Was it me? Did someone see me? Did I throw up? I can smell vomit on my hair." He asked, breathless. "Is everything going to be fine?"

The monster sat in the chair in the corner of the room, sharpening its claws with Tate's fun, now in its grasp, not Tate's own.

Everything is going to be terrible.

You're worthless.

People probably saw and think you're hideous. You're so fat. You've put on so much weight.

"Jason?"

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Okay, okay." Will put his hands up. "Let's not start disagreeing with each other. I know Tate and Jason well enough to tell you that they're not a thing, they've been best friends ever since I can remember. They've always had each other's backs." He said, and he looked off at Nolan. Nolan had remembered what they'd told Jason. They wouldn't tell anyone what they saw.

"Yeah." Nolan agreed with Will in the first time in forever. "We'll just leave 'em to it. Jason might just be a bit anxious, seeing as Tate's been out the picture for so long." He said. "I'm sure things are fine. No need to jump to conclusions." He shrugged, smiled, and then bit into another slice of pepperoni pizza.

--

"No, no, everything's okay." Jason rushed over to the bed and looked at him. "It was me, it wasn't anyone else, don't worry." He said. "You had too much to drink and threw up a little, yeah, but it's alright. You just laid down and fell asleep, basically. We got you upstairs, but, it was only me that got you cleaned up, alright?" He said.

Will and Nolan said they wouldn't say anything. He just had to hope it'd stay that way.

"Don't panic. Take a deep breath." He put his hands down on Tate's shoulders. "Everything's alright." He said. "You're probably still drunk and all, dude, so..." He took a deep breath himself. No call for panic. Things were okay. "Why don't you... Let's say take a shower, yeah?" He asked. "Take a shower, wash your hair, just relax a little. Might sober you up a bit, too." He said. "We've got pizza, pizza, and more pizza downstairs. The others really want you to join us." He said. "I ordered you a small cheese pizza. Hope that's okay." He said.

 

[Jupiter]

Downstairs, everyone was fine eating their pizza, conspiracies and theories and what are going on's running through people's mind. Though they knew it was none of their businesses, they also couldn't prevent themselves from simply wondering. Why was Tate in the hospital, and so anxious, and why did he need Jason? Why did Jason need Tate, what had happened?

But they'd find out, maybe, one day, if ever they were told. Or, if ever, like Nolan and Will, they were shown the worst of it. Or, well, the progression of recovery from the worst of it.

Tate nodded along as Jason reassured him, and the panic that had ensued released from his body as he heard that Jason was the one who had cleaned him up, and that he hadn't forced himself to throw up, but instead had just done it because he was drunk. The logical side of things to Tate told him this was true, that Jason wouldn't lie to him about something that was important to him. He didn't need to know, though, did he? If Nolan and Will kept their mouths shut.

"Okay. Okay." He nodded and took a deep breath. "Sorry for- You know. The panic. I was just confused. Didn't want to find out that I'd stripped naked or something embarrassing, and then even worse that I threw up by force." He gulped. "Okay. So it was just a drunk vomit. This is fine." He nodded. "You- You can go down now, if you want, and I'll take a shower and get clean, and then I'll be down in a bit..." He took a deep breath and put a shaky smile onto his face. Though he was slightly shaky about it, coming down from the panic and adrenaline that panic caused, he knew he was fine.

"Thank you, too. For coming up." He nodded. "And cleaning me off." He smiled.

He stood up from the bed and made his way over to the bathroom slowly, slightly stumbling. He'd probably sit down, in the shower. So he didn't fall and die. Or something? Anyway. Once at the bathroom door, he nodded again. "Keep my pizza hot. If I threw up, I've got nothing in my system. I need to eat." He mumbled, and then disappeared into the bathroom and locked the door behind him.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Hey, man, it's all good." He reached out and gently patted him on the arm. "Whatever you need. You just chill out - take as long as you need. I'll shove your pizza on low in the oven, or something. It'll be fine in there." He said. The good thing about the cardboard they use for pizza boxes is, as long as you put it on low, in a fan oven it won't set on fire. It'll get warm and keep the pizza hot, but as long as you don't get stupid about it, it won't light up. That was exactly what Jason was going to do.

After running maybe a little bit too fast, he made a slow movement all the way back downstairs and rejoined everyone.

"Hey." He said.

"All good?" Jenna asked.

"Yup. Just gonna' put his pizza in the oven." He said. "I think he panicked because he's strangely in bed - last thing he probably remembers is being sat out on the grass." He said. He went through to the kitchen with Tate's small cheese pizza, and shoved the whole box in the oven on a low setting, just so the fan was blowing and the food was staying warm.

Soon, Jason returned, sloppily poured himself a Fanta, then went back to eating. "There we go." He said, simply.

 

[Jupiter]

"To be honest, I'd be well confused if I woke up in a place I didn't know too, so I can't really blame him." Yab laughed.

"Honestly, I feel that." Stella leaned back in her seat, one hand on her stomach and the other holding a piece of pizza.

"Looking relaxed there, Stel." Elmore grinned.

"You fuckin' bet I am." She laughed. "I'm so glad we ordered the whole menu. Can you imagine the feast?"

"Stella, we're living the feast." Elmore corrected.

-

Tate turned the water for the shower on and stripped off his swimming trunks, turning his back on the mirror. He knew he didn't want to see it. Why would he want to see his body when it would just ruin the mood even more?

He climbed into the shower once the water was running hot enough, and sat down, so he didn't stumble, fall, and break his neck. Though, living recklessly would probably be something the monster encouraged, sat in the bathtub with him, his hands on Tate's knees, pointing at the excess fat that wasn't even there on his thigh. Or fat that he needed, one day, to return.

"I just want to be normal..." He mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut.

"You can't be. If you were normal, you'd be fat like everyone else. Don't you want to be better than that? I thought you were?"

"I am. I- I am better... Than you..." Tate mumbled, grabbing the nearest soap and scrubbing himself with it.

"I'm the better part of you. You're worthless on your own. You need me. You know I'll never abandon you, like Jason did."

"Jason didn't abandon me." Tate continued scrubbing, but sped up.

"He hates you, you know. Because you're so needy. Like I said, you're worthless without me, because you need me, and I want you. Not like Jason."

"He doesn't hate me. He's my friend." Tate slammed the bar of soap down, squashing it between his hand and the bath, and looked up at the monster. The monster with Tate's face, in the dark. "You're not."

He climbed out of the bath and grabbed a towel, rubbed himself off quickly and shut the shower off before leaving the room, putting the towel down on the floor by his bed, quickly putting some jogging bottoms and a jumper on, and jogging downstairs.

He shoved a smile onto his face. "I'm alive."