brooks & hale ✔️

brooks

twenty four ;
b r o o k s

A HAND GRABBED BROOKS by the shoulder and he just about leapt out of his skin in surprise, dropping the tray in his hands. It clattered to the floor and the plastic cups it had been laden with rolled across the floor, the few that had been filled spilling everywhere to soak through his shoes. He stared at the mess in dismay before turning to the one person who had caused it.

The girl with messily curled red hair was still gripping his shoulder, and blinking stupidly at the scattered plastic cups. Then she looked up at Brooks with a lopsided grin. "O-o-ops, my bad," she giggled, slurring so badly on her words that Brooks winced. "Was gonna ask for one of 'em drinks, but...guess not!"

She blew him an unfocused kiss that seemed more aimed at his shoulder than his face, and flounced off only to almost trip over her feet halfway across the room. Brooks watched her go with a long sigh. If her unsteady stagger hadn't been proof enough that she was drunk, the stink of alcohol on her breath was confirmation enough. Brooks sighed again and bent down to pick up the cups at his feet.

Of course she was drunk. Everyone at this party was drunk. Because Brooks had the shittiest luck, and he had no choice but to agree to the favour Adam had asked, he was stuck as one of the only sober people in this entire house. Even Inkeri wasn't at home to keep him company, because she was visiting family in Finland for the entire next week and her flight left this morning. It was just him, lots of alcohol, and all of Adam's intoxicated friends who had been treating him like a bin for their rubbish all evening.

He stacked up the empty cups and frowned at his wet shoes. He couldn't exactly keep wearing these, but the floor was covered with too much spilled alcohol and food not to have something on his feet. He ditched the tray in the kitchen and escaped to the cloakroom to change his shoes, an opportunity for some breathing room. It was filled with abandoned coats and shoes from strangers.

Brooks wished he was with Hale.

He hadn't seen him today and they hadn't had chemistry yesterday, so the only time he'd actually seen Hale was at lunch. And they didn't interact during lunch, nothing beyond exchanging smiles across the cafeteria, because they were in different social circles and there would be questions asked if either of them sat at a table other than their usual ones. Lexus wasn't a typical cliche high school you saw in the movies, and people could sit wherever they wanted, but Brooks and Hale couldn't give the real reason when people wanted to know why.

Brooks decided if he couldn't be with him, he could at least talk to him. He tried calling Hale, but when he only got through to voicemail, he settled for texting.

brooks :
i'm trapped in a house with drunk year thirteens

brooks :
send help asap

The cloakroom door opened and Brooks jumped, feeling strangely guilty as he quickly pocketed his phone. Jeez, he really did scare way too easily. He hadn't technically been doing anything wrong, but Adam was glaring at him from the doorway regardless. "Brooks, what the hell are you doing in here?" he demanded. "I gave you one job. Hiding in here isn't part of that."

Brooks crossed his arms across his chest. "I'm not hiding - "

"Whatever. Just get back out there."

Adam held the door open and raised an eyebrow at him. With a sigh, Brooks trudged out of the room and resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at his brother. If Adam wanted to have a party, he should deal with all the mess his dumb friends made around the house. Unfortunately, the price for getting lifts from Adam meant doing his dirty work for him, and that included mopping up someone's puke off the patio.