They look up to me.

-

“I don’t know who Nate Archibald is,” Nate said, the name sounding vaguely familiar, but not enough that it made him recall who the brunette girl was talking about. “And I don’t think anyone’s called me by my full name - correct or otherwise - for years, so quit it,” he added, his voice surly. His full name just reminded him of all the times he had been in trouble, which as should be a surprise to probably no one, was frequently. “I just want to make sure you’re not about to get all mopey on me. Having to deal with you at prom was enough,” he said, looking over at her with wide eyes as he shook his head, though his expression quickly fell into an easy grin before he shoved another bite of the sandwich into his mouth. “No offense, but you’re much more fun when you’re not in a relationship. Or moping.”

“Of course you don’t.” Ceci shook her head as took another sip of her beer, rolling her eyes as he told her to quit it, “Don’t tell me to quit it, it’s only going to make me want to call you by your full name more.” She felt like he should have known her enough by that point to expect nothing less of her from a request like that, luckily the full name really did remind her of the whiney rich boy from Gossip Girl or she probably would have thrown it in her last sentence. “I’m going to be fine, fuck you’re just the sweetest, aren’t you?” Ceci let out a giggle before taking another bite of her sandwich, another dramatic eyeroll expressing what she couldn’t say in the moment because she was chewing, but when she finally was done she let out a laugh, “Oh please. The only reason you think I’m more fun is because you can rail me when I’m single.” 

"I love her. I LOVE her. I love HER. Seriously. Like the sun goddess just fell to earth and bam Sav. What the fuck, right? Ugh, she's perfection. I wish we could live together. Like the vibes would just be so good. Too good. Fuck. We should make that happen."

"I'm just going to bite my tongue because his is probably down Sav's throat right now. And Sav is my bitch."

"Nate? Why? Is he here? Nate is something else. He literally always has the best weed and even better dick.. Dead ass. Like... don't tell him I said this but he can like get it all the time. Is it getting hot in here? Here, hold this I'm gonna go find him."

"Like he's still hot. He's just not as hot as I made him up to be in my mind when he like deflowered me or whatever. Plus the entire 'love' thing is getting old. Calling me 'love' isn't going to magically get me wet, you have to actually do something, turn the spice up, so his tactics are outdated now... wait.. where was I even going with this?"

"Rhia is precious. Almost too precious. Don't you just wonder how someone could be such a good person??? Ugh.. ew. Anyways, she's a doll."

"She's a bitch. That's all. I used to have more to say but I can't even."

-

“Nathan?” He echoed, a look of horror crossing his face as he looked up at Ceci walking towards him, offering out a sandwich. Considering Nate would never turn down food, he gladly took it, taking a large bite before continuing, speaking around a full mouth of food - ever so charming. “That’s not even my name. Like, if you’re going to full name me, at least get it right,” he said, scrunching up his face with a look of disgust. “Knew I kept you around for a reason,” he said, flashing a grin at her as she got up to grab them beer before sitting down next to him, the pair falling into silence for a moment as Nate shoved more food into his mouth. “So are you happy you aren’t going to have to see your ex around anymore?” he asked after a beat, a bit of an amused smirk crossing his face, still not sure why Ceci had even dated someone in the first place. Couldn’t be something he’d do.

She scrunched up her own nose not disagreeing with anything he just said, “It was on the tip of my tongue but every time I think of it Nate Archibald pops into my mind and you get one sixteenth less attractive every time I realize you have the same name as him. But *yeah* sorry Nathan really wasn’t any better for the cause.” She shrugged her shoulders just grateful he went by Nate. Focusing on her next few bites she nearly choked a little with his question, mostly because she just wasn’t expecting it to come from Nate out of everyone, finally swallowing she took a sip of her beer before letting out a small laugh, “What the fuck?” She shook her head as her laugh faded, “I mean, practically the only thing on campus to remind me of the awful choice to be emotionally available being gone? Yeah I am chillin.” Her shrug was nonchalant, despite the disgusting amount of emotions she’d come to terms with upon finding out Teddy had actually been gone. 

-

“Hmm. Maybe we should just cut straight to the point then,” Nate suggested, his hand trailing from her hip to wrap around her thigh, pulling her in even closer to him as his fingers gripped her skin. His eyes flickered down to her lips, watching her tongue run over them with lust-filled eyes. “Since patience has already been tested as a failed method,” he murmured, leaning in to press his lips against hers again. He saw no reason to continue hanging around if they both knew what they wanted. Besides, the girl was absolutely slamming, and Nate would be lying if he said he didn’t want her, especially with the confidence she had in speaking to him. “What do you say to getting out of here?” he asked, their breath mingling as he spoke against her lips before sucking on her lower lip, pulling it between his own. Nate couldn’t help it - there was something about a girl taking charge, being so obvious and forward about what she wanted, that was complete kryptonite for him. He enjoyed the feeling of being pursued, but he felt no need to drag it out for either of them. “Unless you want to actually tell me your name before committing to that.”

“Assertiveness is likely to be extremely successful.” Given her personality she could practically guarantee it would be successful especially considering the obvious attraction. As his hands found her thigh she instinctually let her legs move around the boys waist to do her part in filling any possible room left between them. All she could manage was a small nod as he moved his lips close to hers again, her arms finding his shoulder to be the perfect place to rest as she linked her fingers together around his neck. This degree of sexual affection was not usually her go to, she’d normally wait until she wasn’t in a room surrounded by strangers with their eyes all over them, but for whatever reason her mind didn’t think twice about it the moment Nate took her lower lip into his. Seriously, where the fuck did this guy come from?! The brunette nodded again, mimicking his action as she pressed another kiss to his lips before sucking his own lower lip and pulling it between her lips. “Mmm, definitely. I just need to tell my friends.” Her eyes remained on him as she kept her face close with her answer, not exactly wanting to pull away to inform her friends. A small teasing giggle slipping from her lips as she realized he still didn’t know her name, “Cecilia… or Ceci, whichever, regardless you won’t be forgetting it after tonight.” 

-

Nate let out an easy laugh at her challenge, enjoying when a girl wasn’t too eager, though she was obviously into him. That was undeniable. “Ah, Long Island. Hamptons area,” Nate explained, a sense of relief coming over him that she wasn’t familiar with the area, her lack of familiarity honestly a good thing for him. “Trust me, you’re not missing much,” he said in response to her, swigging from his beer again, though his eyes didn’t move from the girl standing in front of him. It wasn’t new to him, if he was being honest, having a girl come up to him with this obvious of an interest, but usually Nate wasn’t as intrigued by them in response. Maybe it was just being at Luxor, where almost no one knew who he was, maybe it was the overt confidence she had, maybe it was the fact that it was a college party and this was just the energy in the room. But he knew that the second she made an actual move, he’d return it. A move more than grabbing his beer, that was. “Please,” he said with a scoff, rolling his eyes at her. “Patience is overrated,” he added, a smirk spreading across her face as her hand grasped his chin to pull him into her. Nate’s free hand moved to grasp her hip, the girl still sitting on the counter, pulling her to the edge so she was closer to him, turning her attempt to gently kiss him into something a bit more, lightly pulling her bottom lip between his before he pulled back, eyes dark as they met her gaze again. “Worth the attempt at patience?” he asked, his words carrying a hint of teasing. 

“Aaah ok.” Ceci nodded, although her mind was still mostly fixated on the accent, granted there were a handful of english accents at the school, there were far less Australian and she could not shake how attracted she was to it. He could say about anything and she’d be sure it was one of the hottest things she’d ever heard. She herself couldn’t help but match his scoff, if anyone else had heard she out of everyone was trying out patience they would have been laughing too, it wasn’t very fitting to her character. At least... not before she’d began to like Jackson, which no one really knew about anyhow. It took no time at all for her brain to get pulled from any other thoughts and begin to be fogged over by the moment between them, the hand meeting her hip only intensifying the moment as she offered no resistance to being pulled forward. Ceci instinctually pressed further into him, the pleased smirk on her lips sneaking upwards as he pulled away, her eyes flickering to his as she nodded licking over her own lips before pulling them between her lips once more. “Worth it, but I don’t think I’ll ever be trying it again. At least not with you..” The words solidifying the girl’s want for him, just in case the kiss didn’t show it enough, although she doubted it. 

“Ew,” Nate said, giving Ceci a look out of the corner of his eyes, a grimace crossing his face. “Prom queen?” he echoed, the words sounding wrong even coming out of his mouth. “Yeah, never would’ve let you in my bed if I had known that,” he said, shaking his head as he reached over, pretending to push her out of his bed as he did so. “Nah, no worries, I have more somewhere, just have to grind it.” A sigh left his lips after he spoke, one hand reaching up to push his hair off of his forehead, knowing that he and Ceci and Rhiannon had absolutely obliterated his stash of what was ready to smoke before prom. If he had thought about it, he would’ve left at least something to get him through the morning. “You vommed? How fucked up were you? I expected better tolerance from you than that,” he said, purposefully skating over the comments about Jackson and Maia, not wanting to start unpacking all of that.  

“Can we not talk about it?” Ceci let out a little whine, if it were up to her the night would be completely blacked out from her memory for the rest of her life. “Shut up..” Her hand quickly moved to swat the boy lightly on his chest, “It’s a blessing to have me in your bed, prom queen or not.” She finally moved up, lifting the pillow behind her to sit up more comfortably, “I’ll grind it for you if you want.” It was the least she could do considering she smoked the last of his. The brunette nodded as he asked her to confirm the truth, “I think it was the mix of alcohol, or the anxiety, or the reality of my life settling in and making me entirely too nauseous. Regardless let’s forget about it. Did you have fun or just remember why you hate everyone here?”