chapter 1

Brandon had been trying to be a better person. He knew he had to do something about his behavior if he wanted to keep a girlfriend. He wasn't the worst person, not by far. The problem was, he had one weakness: his friends. His ex had always hated his friends, saying they were "a bad crowd". They weren't that bad. Sure, they were all flunking college and he was following them in that pursuit, but they had fun. If they had that fun by mocking passers by and crashing the occasional dorm party... who was it really hurting?

One night, Brandon decided to skip studying and meet his friends at a random party when he got the location texted to him. It wasn't anything big, just around twenty people that he vaguely recognised, all in various states of drunkeness. He joined in with the festivities, downing solo cup after solo cup of beer until he started having some kind of fun.

It wasn't until a few hours in that he noticed a girl watching him from the corner of the room. He knew her from somewhere... he was pretty sure they shared a class or something. Maybe she was a friend of a friend. He wasn't sure.

She was kind of cute, in a last orders kind of way. If he had been sober, he probably wouldn't have looked twice, but he was lonely and wasted. To be fair to the girl, Brandon was sure that if she changed into something a little more normal and learned some social ettiquette, she could have been a solid 7/10. Goths weren't really his thing, though.

Still, the alcohol had done the trick and instead of being creeped out by her staring, he walked over.

"Hey," he said. "I'm Brandon."

"Oh... hey," the girl said, sounding a little spaced out. "I'm Meadow."

Brandon fought back a laugh. Either the girl was stoned or her parents had been when they signed her birth certificate. Maybe both.

"Hey Meadow," he said. "You wanna dance?"

She nodded and awkwardly took his hand. Brandon moved against her, trying to feel the music and wished he'd had a little more to drink. Within a few minutes, Harvey spotted him and quirked an eyebrow across the room. Brandon shook his head at his friend.

Harvey was the most judgemental person he knew but he pulled it off because girls would throw themselves at him. Sure, Brandon didn't have much trouble with them but Harvey, now he was something else. He was tall, handsome and just the right amount of asshole.

The asshole was walking across the room towards him.

Brandon steeled himself, hoping that Harvey wasn't going to say anything too bad. Sure, the girl was a bit weird but he just wanted to get laid. He didn't have to speak to her again.

"Dude, can't you do any better than this?" he said loud enough for them both to hear.

Meadow stared straight at Harvey, a scathing look on her face.

"***, Harvey," Brandon said. "Just leave it."

"Really dude?" Harvey asked. "Didn't know you had a thing for Wednesday Addams."

"And who exactly are you?" Meadow asked, her voice suddenly clear and cold.

Harvey just laughed and didn't look at her.

"Come on dude, there's a better party over at Samson's, you coming?" he asked Brandon.

Brandon looked at Meadow, who was looking at him questioningly. If he was honest, any chances he'd had at a quick fuck were ruined. It was just going to be too weird.

"Yeah, let's go," Brandon said defeatedly.

"Really?" Meadow asked. "You're just going to leave?"

Brandon nodded slowly at her. He didn't even know her. They'd danced for like five minutes, that was it. He didn't have time for crazy.

"Yeah chill, I don't even know who you are," he said.

It came out worse than he'd meant it but he didn't really care. He was drunk and Harvey was already pulling him out the door.