PREPARE TO TAKE OVER THE UNIVERSE {NELL}

Nell watched with amusement as her friend circled her car in amazement. She’d come to the bar at her shift’s end and told her about a party that Nell was practically forced to escort her to. Not that Nell minded, at all. A good party would distract her from all the crap she had to deal with lately, and that’s what she lived for—distractions. Though she did refuse to pilfer any bottles from the bar, because no matter what her father gave her, she still wanted to make her own way. “New wheels!” Kelly cried out, finally getting into the passenger seat. Nell snorted in the driver’s seat. “It’s a PT Cruiser, don’t get too excited.”

Still, it was better than her infamous Monte Carlo. What she really wanted was an old muscle car, but living downtown meant that she couldn’t have nice things. So she settled with a still pretty ugly car that was very nice in terms of gas and mileage. And hauling inebriated friends around. For someone developing quite the fondness for cars, her situation was a little disheartening. But at least she managed to spend papa’s money well, which filled her with a sadistic satisfaction.

”Nice hat, too,” the girl continued dryly, flicking the brim of Nell’s fedora. Holding it, she started the car with her other hand. ”Do not mess with the party hat.” Lucky Nell was relatively good at following directions, for she found the house with ease. And before she separated from Kelly so the girl could find her boyfriend, she reminded her of the ground rules. The Earth student had to be designated everything, and even though she’d remain sober the entire time, it wasn’t like she could keep a keen eye on the girl at all times. Now alone, she grabbed a can of beer—”What is with Canadian beer?”—and decided to roam around until the crowd thickened some. If there was one thing Nell was exceptional at, it was self-control.

Besides, observing drunk people could become quite a hobby for her. Watching her friends stumble around while sober was pretty funny…unless they got into trouble. In which case she was the one covering their butts, bit she did it without much bitterness. And when she came across a certain person, she paused, blinking a few times. Well crap. She didn’t expect to see Josh here, sitting on the couch like nothing was strange about it. What the hell was he even doing here, anyway? This crowd wasn’t even from the Academy. ”Well well, fancy meeting you here,” she said to draw his attention, lifting her eyebrow but still feeling a bit hesitant to even approach him since he was most likely already slammed. And slammed Josh was not a good Josh to be around. She wondered if she’d have to pull Kelly out and leave early…

Nell felt she needed to make a break for it when he freaking grinned at her. That was not a good sign. He kept his blade on him at all times right? Oh crap… Then she forced herself to calm down, because she wasn’t bothering him or anything. And it wasn’t like he immediately switched over to the mentality he had that night upon getting drunk. ”Hey, Josh,” she said a bit warily, moving her head to the side so she can inspect him out of the corner of her eye. But she gave a bit of a snort as he drawled on her name, not being able to help it. She realized how strange it was for good-two-shoes Nell to be at a party when he mentioned it. ”I don’t,” she said, shaking the can in her hand. ”This’ll be my only beer. I’m the designated on this fine evening.”

And then he went about wildly gesticulating, and she had to think that at least there wasn’t a switchblade in his hands. All right, she’d take it. This was the kind of drunk she was used to with her friends, where they became caricatures of themselves. That was the best way to describe it. Laughter was still bubbling in her as she sat by him, still cautious but less so with the environment they were in. ”Dude, you died,” she said somewhat mournfully, pointing at the screen with the finger that held the can. It was also a way she treated her drunk friends—saying something off-handed to see how they’d react.

Girlfriend? This guy was funny. ”Wait, wait,” Nell said, holding her arms out like she could stop everything around her with just the gesture. ”I want to hear about this one time.” Then she almost kicked herself remembering how antsy Josh was about personal stuff. But if this guy knew, it was pretty much fair game. Besides, Josh drunk antics? Hopefully it didn’t involve someone being shanked in a dark alley.

What’s up? ”I don’t know, homes,” she replied to Josh, now amused realizing that him being at a party is much different than him being at a bar. Could he really be the bubbly drunk she knew Kelly to be? That did not seem right. At all. Again with the gesticulations, he nearly threw the game controller at the television, and she shook her head not being able to stop laughing. This was just The Twilight Zone, even more so when she’d met him sober. ”No, I’m a chick. I paint my toenails and read romance novels,” she said about video games, feeling strangely comfortable around this drunk Josh now that he reminded her of one of her intoxicated friends. Jesus Christ, he said ‘eh’. Nell couldn’t help but break out in laughter at that. ”Very nice,” she complimented, taking the controller from him and setting her beer on the floor that she very much doubted would even be finished. ”You guys all right with losing to a girl?” she asked confidently, still subconsciously waiting for a switchblade.

She gave Josh a quizzical expression, but didn’t say anything on the subject. So he just went by his last name? A little odd, but whatever floated his boat. It was already odd enough he was even here. This was a really weird side of Josh she wasn’t sure she liked or not yet.

He showed off his bottle of whiskey and she nodded with an, ”Ah.” She said the next part only half-jokingly: ”Hopefully I won’t have to be a buzz kill and confiscate your car keys.” Her hat actually served a purpose—collecting the keys of the inebriated. It had become somewhat of a running gang between she and her friends. ”My friend’s off with her boy toy now,” she said, lifted her eyebrows so that he could catch her drift. ”Wouldn’t want to interrupt their bonding time.” But others probably would, depending on which room they chose to mess around in. We’re really cool, bro, like totally. Next thing he’ll be dreadlocked with a joint. It was still weird seeing him interact with this guy when on a normal basis Josh was just stand-offish. He kind of deserved it for being lame, but Nell’s said worse and completely sober. ”Yeah, you guys are the epitome of cool,” she said good-naturedly even though she should not have been hanging out with Josh like this. It was supposed to be awkward and weird, but in a different way.

His reaction was quite glorious, like a kid disappointed when they don’t have his favorite chocolate bar in the candy shop. She patted his shoulder, which—again—was weird because she never touched him on a normal basis. ”It’s all right, man.” Listening to the ensuing ‘argument’, she again further caricatured it all in her head. Dear god, Josh, how have you been hiding this side of you so well? Probably because this wasn’t the Academy scene. That must have been his secret.

Even drunk, Josh didn’t seem to like where this conversation was going, and Nell set innocently by sipping at her beer. ”Who needs a girlfriend when you apparently lay hot blondes?” she said, so that even in his drunken haze, Josh wouldn’t have to feel uncomfortable about it. Besides, she had a hint at his romantic history—sober, he seemed panicked to think that she may have been one of those notches in his bedpost. She interrupted to say with a mock serious expression, ”Roofies are never cool.” Yes, interacting with the lushes while being very sober was quite amusing.

”I think I can still kick butt whether my opponent is sober or not,” she said, even though her experience with video games was minimum. ”And for the record, you’re both absolutely shitfaced—I almost feel bad that I’m going to have to beat you into next Tuesday.” Nope, she should definitely not be hanging out with Josh like they’re all comfortable and buddy-buddy.

Nell raised her eyebrows, but she was truly glad the guy still had common sense even when inebriated. ”Pardon me for assuming, then,” she said with a half-smile. ”But I’ve had to do it before with a lot of others.” And honestly, she wouldn’t be surprised if Josh was one of them. Though he was walking home that night at the bar, so she guessed she should have factored that in. But this was nothing like that night. She was actually not fearing for her life. ”Well, hope you enjoy the little slumber party.” Kelly had a curfew that she was still probably planning to break, but the Earth student guessed she was lucky in that department—no curfew, no restrictions except the ones she gave herself. She really liked that, especially how she remained responsible. Especially that her father hadn’t yet intervened now that he was worming his way back into her life.

Nell imagined him stroking a beard, and just shook her head. ‘Course he understood. And so did his buddy. She knew when Kelly wanted to go home, she’d come stumbling up to Nell and use her as a wall to lean on. Hopefully the girl wouldn’t throw up in her new car… Nell laughed at his question, partly shocked that he’d even ask her that. It was definitely not a normal Josh question. ”Nope, not even on the map for me.” She had a lot of things to worry about before concerning herself with a relationship. Not that she would know how expending they could be. She was a virgin in every which way, though it may not have been the case had she been let loose in the world earlier. ”Guess that makes me a loser, having to hang out with you guys,” she said lightly. She didn’t really know why she chose to be around Josh of all people. Maybe because there was really no one else she knew around.

He actually winced because she touched him. Even with alcohol, it seemed he didn’t loosen up a lot. No more touching then, she thought with a mental shrug. And now he was blushing, and it was another strange whirlwind behavior. Why would he be embarrassed about that? Not a lot of guys went around covering up their nightly conquests—she knew they showed off their notches likes trophies. Yet girls were labeled ‘whores’ being that loose. She wondered if Josh was a girl in that sense, that he didn’t want to be thought of as a slut. Even the thought made her chuckle a bit. Nothing seemed to faze him for long when buzzed, though. She gave him a dismissive hand wave, not even feeling a little buzz from the alcohol yet. And she would keep it that way for a while. It was all about pacing. ”Big bark, but I don’t know about the bite.”

Nell looked at Josh, amusement in her brown eyes. ”Do I have to make you stand up and recite your ABC’s?” she joked. No, Josh wasn’t very shitfaced yet—he still had yet to slur his words but he was still pretty uncoordinated. Silly Nell, you shouldn’t be joking around Josh. That’s just weird. ”We’ll just have to wait for the whiskey to fully kick in…” Which is why she didn’t drink hard alcohol. She tried one shot of vodka at the bar before, and instantly felt it like a punch in the throat. She watched them play the game, snickering the entire time because drunk video gaming was always humorous. Josh managed a kill shot, and at that moment she could have offered a drinking game, but was still wary about the Fire student. And she would not sacrifice others’ health for her own amusement. ”Better than I thought you would be, Josh,” she said, grinning mischievously. Being around drunk people did bad things to her. Even around Josh. She was still getting over the fact that this was him she was sitting with.

Nell shook her head as she laughed a little. Part of this was because she was so keenly aware of how weird this was while Josh was not. No, he was too buzzed to even consider what he was doing to be at all out-of-the-ordinary. "Will do, as long as they don't puke in my car." In which case, they'll be hanging out the window or door, depending.

She ran her finger underneath the word 'beer' written on the can and slowly said , "Beer." Her grin said that she was only fooling around of course. Which she shouldn't have been doing with Josh. This is so many kinds of wrong. "Strange 'Made in Canada' beer." Nell shook her head as if this was beyond her. Nell didn’t drink a lot—she was still very much a health nut, and alcohol just wasn’t good. Besides, she had a front row seat to how well it fucked up her friends, for she was usually the one holding back hair when some poor soul heaved their stomach into a toilet. Nell wasn’t part of the teenage wasteland.

She cocked her head when Josh made a big show of being offended. "Did I hurt your feelings?" she teased. Her face fell as if she felt truly dissed and said, ”Well, I could find better entertainment somewhere…but I know you’d miss me.” True, she could be setting up a table and placing bets with the cards she always carried around. The money she get usually went toward a cab, though, but now that she had a new car and money from her father? Not needed. ”Besides, never said I didn’t like losers.”

He claimed he could recite it backward, and she playfully rolled her eyes. It was still very, very weird. She glanced down at her beer. ”Looks like I’m caught,” she said, giggling a little. ”Report me for one beer? You’re quite the party-pooper.” Her voice lilted on the last word as if disapproving of such behavior. She was pretty sure that he had no intent to do anything of the kind since he was right—a lot of people here were underage. And if he reported her, there would be some major problems. ”I’ll hold you to that,” she said. Why was she talking to Josh like he was a good ol’ pal? Nell took another gulp of the beer, though she didn’t need this night to get any weirder with a drunken haze.

Balancing games were not good when one was drunk, and so she watched with amusement as he poured whiskey. ”That is the expensive stuff,” Nell acknowledged when he held out from his friend. She could now tell most liquors apart because of her job just by the bottle. And because Josh could drink it straight when usually it was good to mix it with soda or something. All this bartending knowledge would eventually become pointless for her, she knew, but might as well enjoy it for the time being. And a part of her wondered how he got his hands on it—probably from his rich kid status—since most brought the cheap stuff to parties with the intention to share. Nell knew the rules, the ground she’d set out for her friend—always closed bottles and cans. Date rape was not a fun experience, she wouldn’t think.

Nell was so close to doing a spit-take when he threw his arm around her shoulder, blinking several times before she heard what he had to say. Ohmygod, who are you and what have you done with the real Josh? Why was he giggling? What the hell was this? Okay, moving past the heart attack, she said, ”I guess it’s time to come out of the closet,” she responded, waggling her eyebrows and feeling more than a little awkward. With anyone else, this would have been okay. She’d have laughed and poked them in the stomach or reciprocated the gesture. But it was Josh. And Josh was not okay. ”Yes, so much love for my losers,” she said, rolling her eyes in a playful gesture and glad that his arm was now away from her. His sobriety was no longer in question.

“Yeah,” she answered and then snorted. ”I don’t do ‘whiskeyyy’ or hard alcohol. Getting me drunk is never a good idea.” But she’d only come close once and that was enough when she suggested a climb and jump from a roof into the pool. That’s when one of her more sober friends new that vodka did not do well for the young, impressionable Earth girl. And the fact she thought it okay to get in the car with any Tom, Dick, and Harry for the sake of getting home. No, if Nell ever got completely hammered, it would not be good for her safety. ”But it may have to happen since video games bore me…” She said, settling back in the couch and feigning a yawn. She would absolutely not get drunk, but she didn’t like sitting around in one place for too long especially at a party.

Nell was pretty surprised that he openly admitted something about his relationship with his father, but he was drunk so it wasn’t that surprising. What was a little more surprising, actually, was that a father let his underage son leave the house with a bottle of expensive whiskey. Of course, Josh must have been pushing nineteen from what she figured. Nell couldn’t help but laugh at his childishness in shooing his ‘friend’ away. Were they even really friends, she wondered? And yet another surprise came in the fact that he forgot she was a bartend. Okay, it wasn’t very surprising. Drunk people tended to let details like that slip. ”I’m a bartender, I know my way around a bottle of whiskey,” she said, shrugging nonchalantly. She didn’t really like her job but she guessed talking about it was okay. ”I would have brought something where I allowed to buy from the bar…” And she didn’t keep alcohol in her apartment, so that was out.

It looked like Josh was about to have a brain hemorrhage from laughing so much. He had to hold onto the freaking couch. The worst thing about it was, she’d never really heard him laugh before. She eyed him a bit warily as she took another sip, wondering what she had gotten herself into by choosing to be around him tonight. He was just full of laughs and grins and chuckles tonight, and she honestly didn’t understand. With anyone else she knew, she could—but not Josh. She honestly did not understand him.

Seriously, it was just amazing to see him in such a good humor. ”You, sir, are a bad influence,” she said when he asked if she was sure about not drinking. His friend seemed offended at the offer of a drink though, and she pulled her eyelid down and stuck out her tongue in a playful and immature gesture. Might as well get used to drunk Josh for the night. ”Driving after even one shot of whiskey does not sound good.” Nell shook her head at the even thought of it. Josh was interested in what she had to going on her head for this fine evening. She couldn’t get drunk…but she could watch those who were make fools of themselves. She pulled her deck of cards out of her back pocket. Yes, she carried it around. ”Let’s play a game of go fish,” she suggested innocently. She would have suggested strip poker, but not with Josh. However…in the end… ”Loser goes streaking through the neighborhood. And I mean streaking. No underwear or anything.” And Nell didn’t plan on losing.