InsaneJournal

Marcie looked up at the sky, and the pinpoints of stars moving in and out as the trees above her swayed lightly in a warm summer night breeze. The beer in her hand was chilled from the ice it had been sitting in five minutes ago. Around her, the people they were here with were talking and laughing, and even though she knew only a handful of faces amongst them she didn’t feel alone. The two beers she’d already consumed might have had something to do with it, and the chill vibes coming from the bluetooth speaker someone had set up, and the crackle of the bonfire not too far from the sofa she was sitting on.

This was the sort of party she’d heard people doing during the summer when she was at high school and then while she was at community college, cook-outs with s’mores and sausages and drinks and dancing on top of cars or whatever. The stuff in music videos, not anything she’d ever seen with her own eyes. But then Jesse had said some of their friends from out of town were doing this thing, total safe space for the local rainbow community and their allies, and Marcie had been utterly delighted to be invited along with Cathal. Big kids only, sorry Kaden, but Adrian had been bribed into inviting Kaden out with his friends so that Kaden didn’t feel like he was missing out.

Spending an evening without worrying about how Kaden was feeling was just so… it made her feel relieved, and guilty for feeling relieved, but there was a Panic! At The Disco song playing that was totally vibing with her and she hummed and tapped her foot and felt fully relaxed for the first time in months. She was wearing a black maxi dress with pink flowers and her hair out, her sandals discarded next to her in favour of bare feet.

Cathal was around somewhere. Jesse had asked for his help with something and he said he’d come back. Cathal was so nice, Marcie thought. And cute. And his ass looked fire in the jeans he was wearing. Christ, she needed to stop thinking these thoughts, but she was a woman with needs, and she hadn’t done anything since that one night with Hermes and that had been… well, too soon, if she was honest. It wasn’t too soon now. She felt so wired sometimes, and had no outlet aside from going to the gym, and she was too wary of the men in this town to have a one night stand with anyone. Also she’d promised herself she was worth more than the way she used to behave.

Marcie glanced up to see Cathal picking his way back over, and she rewarded his return with a hazy, lazy smile, and moved her legs over a bit from where she had been holding his place. “Kept your seat warm,” she said, patting the cushion for him to sit down.