Beautiful Things

The party was lame. No, it was worse than lame, but Zack couldn’t think of a word to describe just how bad it was. He was sure a word for something so bad didn’t exist. Flyers had been handed out the whole week prior to the party, each one sporting huge colorful letters that spelled out ‘Party of the year!’ It was obvious now that that was a lie, and that the party was the exact opposite of a good party. He hadn’t even wanted to go to the stupid event, but Alex claimed that he just had to stop being such a shut-in and ‘live a little’. After an hour of Alex’s constant begging, Zack relented. Another hour later, they had managed to come up with a make-shift costume for Zack, as it was a Halloween party and ‘it was so not okay to show up to a Halloween party without a costume!’ That’s what Alex had said, at least. On the way to the party, the pair had stopped at a costume store and bought one of those little headbands with horns. Zack had had to shell out four dollars for that, something he was not happy to do. And now Zack was standing in some random person’s living room, sporting a bright red V-neck t-shirt, a pair of Alex’s red skinny jeans that were so not his size, and the little red horns, wallowing in hatred for the damned party.

“Cheer up, Zack!” Alex cried. The boy was on his fifth beer, and they had only been at the party for a little over an hour. He was already swaying to and fro, and Zack had to rest a hand on his shoulder to ensure that he wouldn’t topple over.

“This party blows. I would much rather be at home reading a book or something.” Zack told him.

“It’s not going to be fun until you let loose. Standing in the corner all night obviously isn’t fun, you doofus!” He had a point, but Zack didn’t dare let him know that. Maybe it was Zack that was lame, not the party. Zack wasn’t exactly fond of parties; he hated them, in fact. He found no pleasure in being squished up against people that he didn’t know who were sweating profusely. He didn’t like being squished up against anyone who was heavily sweating, actually, but not knowing them only made it worse. He supposed that he could at least try to loosen up, only for Alex though.

“Fine. I guess I can try to have fun.” He mumbled in Alex’s ear. Around them, the party raged on. Music blared through speakers that were somewhere, though Zack had yet to see them. It almost seemed as though the music was coming from nowhere, but Zack knew that was nonsense. People were shouting to one another, some people saying actual words, others just screaming incoherent jumbled syllables in each other’s faces. Those were the people he hated most, Zack concluded. He never understood why teenage girls who saw each other every day felt the need to scream as loud as they could every time they got together. What was the point?

“That’s all I ask.” Alex sauntered away, leaving Zack by himself once again. He figured he would have to leave the corner to have fun, and that sounded less pleasing than pretty much anything. He had told Alex that he would try, though, and he would feel bad if he didn’t. It was a lose-lose situation. A drink sounded like a good place to start, he decided.

Prying himself from the safety of his corner, he started making his way to what he thought to be the kitchen. It was the only door he could see that was attached to living room –other than the front door– and he assumed that the kitchen wouldn’t be upstairs. So yes, the door on the opposite side of the room seemed to be the best bet. People pushed up against him as he desperately tried to make his way to the door. He pushed through the throng of people, so far out of his comfort zone that he could barely see straight. He hated being touched by people, hated having to touch people more than that. He wasn’t a germaphobe, per se, physical contact just made him uncomfortable. There were very few people who he didn’t mind physically interacting with. At that moment, he was wondering why he was even friends with Alex, and why he agreed to go to the stupid party. It was not a good time, and he was sure it wouldn’t turn into one. Not for him, at least. Everyone else seemed to be having a decent time.

It took him entirely too long to make it to the kitchen –it was the kitchen, thank god– and he was disappointed when he finally made it in there. It wasn’t any less crowded than the living room. The room was very large, more like a kitchen and dining room combined into one. At the very far end of the room, someone had set up a bunch of plastic red cups on the table and a game of beer pong was going on. The person holding the ball, a guy named Jack, Zack thinks, threw it up and bounced it off of the ceiling. It landed perfectly into the opposing team’s cup and everyone cheered. It was an impressive shot, Zack had to give the guy that much. He considered joining the next game, but shot that idea down immediately after thinking it. He had no clue where that ball had been; there was no way he was going to drink a cup of beer that it had floated around in. That was downright unsanitary and he’d be damned if he got some sort of disease from a stupid drinking game. Instead of joining in on the game, he settled for going to the counter to make a drink. It was no less crowded than the far end of the room, but there was enough space for him to stand comfortably while pouring his drink. No one was touching him, at least.

He ran the bright red cup under the tap before he even considered drinking from it, and really, he wasn’t a germaphobe, he was just…cautious. He often overthought things, this time his main thought being that someone with some type of illness could have touched the cup with their diseased fingers, the bacteria spreading over it and just waiting for some poor, unsuspecting victim. Just to be safe, he ran the cup under scalding hot water before pouring some kind of alcohol into it. He wasn’t exactly sure what it was –the writing on the bottle was in some other language that he didn’t speak. Under normal circumstances, he would’ve stayed the hell away from it, but it was the only unopened bottle he could find, and it was probably safer to drink from the unopened, foreign bottle than it was to drink from one of the open bottles that unclean teenagers had been drinking from. His mother always told him it’s better to be safe than sorry, and he supposed that neither of the options were exactly safe, but the former seemed safer.

Though he didn’t know what the alcohol was, he figured it was best not to drink it straight, so he mixed in some juice he found, also from an unopened bottle. He swirled it around a few times before finally taking a sip, and okay, it wasn’t terrible. It burned a little, but he could deal with that. The taste wasn’t horrible; he had had some pretty terrible drinks before, thanks to Alex, this one was heavenly compared to those. A few months back, Alex had been convinced that he was destined to be a bartender, and Zack was his guinea pig, testing out all the crazy concoctions his best friend came up with. One of the drinks hadn’t sat well with him, and he ended up being sick from it, having to miss a day of school and everything. Zack still thought that agreeing to that was one of the biggest mistakes he had ever made.

As he drank, his eyes scanned the room. The game of beer pong was still going on, though there was only one cup left on each side of the table, so it would be done in a matter of minutes, most likely. Other than that, nothing particularly exciting was happening in the room. It was mostly just people standing around, talking to one another. It was somewhat quieter than the living room, but Zack could still hear the music pumping throughout the house. He briefly wondered where Alex had gone off to, even considered going to look for him, but he didn’t want to ruin his friend’s night more than he already had. Alex was probably having tons of fun without him –parties were most definitely his thing– and while Zack was kind of starting to ease up, he still wasn’t ready to completely let loose and ‘party hard’, as Alex would say. Instead, he opted to stay where he was at. It wasn’t much better than the corner in the living room, but it wasn’t as secluded, so he counted it as an improvement.

No one had bothered talking to him yet –except for the one girl who asked what he was, to which he replied with a lazy ‘devil’ and walked away– and he was okay with that. It didn’t surprise him in the least. He wasn’t a social guy, obviously, and he didn’t have many friends. He and Alex had been friends for five years, and he still wasn’t sure why they got on so well. It was obvious to anyone that saw them that they were complete opposites, Zack being the nerdy shy kid and Alex being the outgoing boy who liked to party and said what he wanted, when he wanted. For some reason, though, they just clicked, and had been practically inseparable since the day they met. Alex had tons of other friends, sure, but Zack was his best friend, the one he really cared about, and Zack was eternally grateful for having such a good friend. Except for now, of course, because at that moment, he was silently cursing Alex for dragging him to the party. Despite his ‘attempt’ at having fun, it just wasn’t happening. Zack knew that was his fault, he’s the one that wouldn’t go out and talk to people and dance or even play a stupid game of beer pong, but he couldn’t bring himself to do much other than lean on the counter and take up space. If he could leave, he would, but that would piss Alex off and he would never let Zack live it down. So Zack continued to stand in the same spot for another half hour, hating everything more and more as each minute passed, until he saw him.

It was like in the movies, when the hot person walks into the party and everything goes in slow motion. When the whole party stops and everyone stares at the beautiful person who is entering the room at an unbelievably slow pace. Only, no one else was staring at the boy who was walking into the kitchen, and though he knew it wasn’t in slow motion, it almost seemed like it was. He took in the boy’s appearance. He was wearing all white, his shirt almost the same as Zack’s, only differing in color. He had on impossibly tight skinny jeans and Zack was sure they made his ass look great, even though he couldn’t see it. He had a shaved head, and resting on top of it was a headband with two little wires that were holding up a halo. Zack was sure the headband was for girls, and also much sluttier costumes, but that wasn’t important. He could just barely make out the pair of angel wings that seemed to float behind the boy. Zack knew that there were straps holding the wings on, but he couldn’t see them anywhere. They were by far the most realistic costume wings he had seen, that was for sure. He was absolutely stunning. In the movies, everyone stops and stares, but Zack was sure he was the only person looking at him, which genuinely confused him. Shouldn’t everyone want to get a good look at the gorgeous man standing before them?

Zack knew he was staring at the man for longer than was socially acceptable, but he found himself not caring. His eyes followed the angel as he made his way through the kitchen, expertly maneuvering through the large group of people. He said a few things to the people that greeted him. It was obvious that he was known, so why had Zack never seen him? He was sure he would remember someone with a face like that. It wasn’t long before the boy looked up and caught Zack staring. Zack quickly looked away, ashamed for being caught. He was being creepy, he knew that. Watching people is weird, especially when it’s people you’ve never met. He probably thought Zack was perving on him!
Zack thought the situation was over. He figured he’d been caught, he’d just look away and things would go on. He was wrong. When he looked back up, he saw that the angel was slowly making his way to him. He kept getting stopped by people, making the short trip from one side of the room to the other much longer than it needed to be. Zack could have walked off, could have left the room, hell, he could have left the party, but a part of him wanted to hear the guy’s voice, wanted to know if it sounded as angelic as he looked. He would stay and listen, even if he was getting yelled at.

“What are you drinking?” he asked when he finally made it to Zack. It wasn’t so loud in the kitchen that he had to shout, and okay, Zack wasn’t sure what he was expecting the guy to say, but he definitely knew it wasn’t that, and yes, his voice was just as angelic as he thought it would be.

“I, uh, I’m actually not sure.” Zack somehow managed to say, and at the questioning look he got, he explained, “I couldn’t read the bottle.”

“Because you’re too drunk to read?” he questioned.

“Because it’s in another language, actually.” He didn’t know where the courage to actually speak came from. When confronted any other time, Zack could barely get out two words without stuttering. Social anxiety was a bitch, and if anyone who wasn’t a friend tried talking to him, he kind of freaked out and answered in the shortest sentences he could. He didn’t understand what was happening now, why it was so easy to get out more than a few words. Sure, he hadn’t said much, but it was more than he had said to any other stranger in a long time.

“Drinking foreign alcohol? That’s pretty daring, I’d say.”

“I only drank it because it’s the only unopened bottle I could find. I didn’t want to risk getting some sort of disease. That’s kind of the opposite of daring, right?”

“Yes, I suppose. It’s a good thing daring isn’t really my type.” He winked. Actually winked. At Zack. Was he flirting? With Zack? Not likely. No one even talked to Zack, let alone flirted with him. But what if he was flirting? Zack didn’t know how to flirt back. He would make a fool of himself!

“I, uh, yeah.” He mentally punched himself. That was the best that he could come up with? Idiot! He could feel the blush rise onto his cheeks, his whole face heating up.

“Shit, I’ve made you uncomfortable, haven’t I? I’m sorry. Sometimes I come on a little str-“

“No, no, it’s fine, really. I’m Zack.” He stretched out his hand, surprising himself once again. Talking was one thing, but actual physical contact, even something as simple as a handshake, was just crazy. He never touched anyone other than really close friends, mainly just Alex, and here he was, touching this random stranger. He was surprised he hadn’t had a mental breakdown yet. When his angel –his angel? – outstretch his hand and gave Zack’s a firm shake, Zack lost all train of thought. Call him crazy, but he was sure he felt a spark. He didn’t believe in all that fairy tale, lovey dovey bullshit, but he was absolutely positive that he felt something. Maybe he just shocked him, is all.

“Rian.” And there was that killer smile Zack just knew he would have. It was all teeth and they were practically shining, they were so white, and it took up half of Rian’s face and Zack really just wanted to melt at that point because that smile was directed at him and no one else and just wow. He wanted to giggle, but that was so not manly and he would not let this hot piece of ass think he was some giggling little girl with a crush. “Why don’t you make me one of those mystery drinks you’ve got, yeah?”

“Yeah, definitely.” He made the drink for Rian, doing the same things he did for his, minus running the cup under the sink. He didn’t want to seem like a total freak in front of Rian, and really, if Rian had wanted the cup cleaned, he would have said so. When he was done, he handed the drink to Rian, who immediately took a sip.

“You did good, Zack, you did real good.” Rian complimented him. “You know what’s hotter than buying drinks for a guy? Making them for him.” There was that damn wink again, making Zack blush even harder than he was before. He was sure he was being Punk’d or something. He may not be socially adept, but there was no way that could be confused for anything other than flirting. And then he fucking giggled, trying to hold them in no longer working. It just spilled out and he mentally slapped himself because really, what man fucking giggles?

“That was cute.” Rian commented, which just made Zack giggle even more. That really needed to stop, because he was making himself seem like a fucking schoolgirl and that’s not something you want to be when trying –and failing miserably at– to flirt with someone. Well, Zack supposes he hadn’t done any flirting, had only been flirted with, but still.

“It’s embarrassing.” He muttered.

“Being embarrassed doesn’t seem like something that would happen to the devil, you know.” It takes Zack a minute to understand what he’s talking about, then he remembers his costume, and he’s right, the devil would never be embarrassed, and for tonight, he was the devil, so he wasn’t going to get embarrassed anymore.

“I suppose you have a point.”

“I think that in time, you’ll find that I’m right about most things.” He was cocky, something that was usually a turn-off for Zack, but he had every right to be cocky, so Zack let it slide. He figured it wasn’t really being cocky, he was just sure of himself.

“In time, eh?”

“Yeah. I think I’ll be wanting to see a lot more of you, Zack.” Something about the way Rian said it told Zack that he didn’t mean in a friend kind of way. To him, it almost sounded like an indirect ask to a date. Rian hadn’t actually said the words, of course, but Zack knew enough to know that when someone flirts with you and then says they want to see you again, they don’t mean it in ‘let’s be friends’ way.

“We wouldn’t work out, you know.”

An almost hurt expression made its way onto Rian’s face. “And why’s that?”

“Because I’m the devil and you’re an angel. We’re complete opposites.”

“The way I see it, you’re the bad, and I’m the good. Together, we’ll balance each other out, make each other normal.” Zack wasn’t really bad, and Rian wasn’t all that good, but Zack understood what he meant. They would complement each other.

“Like yin and yang?”

“Like yin and yang.” Rian smiled and held out his hand, which Zack took after a moment of thought. It wasn’t as scary as he thought it would be; holding hands actually felt nice. They didn’t do anything more than that, just stood there holding hands for the rest of the night, not really even talking anymore, just content to be by each other. The whole thing was crazy, Zack knew that, and Rian knew that, but it felt right for some reason, so they didn’t question it. And when it was time to leave the party, after Alex had finally found Zack again, Rian offered them a ride home. Alex had seen their intertwined fingers, but didn’t say anything about it, just smiled, happy that Zack seemed to have found someone. And Zack would die before he ever said this out loud, but he was kind of happy that he let Alex take him to the lame party.