Hiding Out Who: Avery and Hannah Where: the kitchen When: late night
The party in the billiards room had been about as excruciating for Avery as he'd thought it would be. He hadn't had much to say to anyone, and he'd managed to snag a beer to drink, but he hadn't eaten anything. There'd been some desserts there that looked really nice, but he'd seen on the journals that one of his housemates was making them, and that bothered him, as much as he'd tried to tell himself that he was being ridiculous. What if she'd forgotten to wash her hands, gotten some hair in the batter? What if the mixers weren't clean? He'd just about given up chiding himself for being a germ freak, because it never did any good anyway. He'd just spent the evening hungry and deemed it what he deserved.
After a very short time spent in the billiard room, he'd gone up to the second floor and hid out in the library for a while. The room was large enough that it was easy to do, and as he lurked near the back corner, perusing books on one of the shelves, he could forget his social ineptness temporarily. Everyone was different, and it was okay not to like parties and being in big crowds of people. He knew that, but it was harder to internalize when he was around a group where everyone else seemed to know what to say and to do and he didn't. He never did, no matter how many times he attempted to fit in somewhere.
Dwelling on it wasn't making him feel any better, plus he was hungry, so Avery made his way back down to the kitchen when the first floor was quieter. He was relieved to find the kitchen empty, and he made short work of washing a plate, silverware and a glass and then making himself a sandwich and pouring a can of soda into his glass. It was caffeinated, but he didn't sleep anyway unless he took over the counter cold meds, so what did he care? He settled himself at the table in front of the windows, leaving the room dark except for the light over the stove, and tore into his dinner, completely unself-conscious since he was alone.