Sage & Jacob
There had been no sign of any fog all day which had Jacob in a better mood. He and Connor had picked Sage up and they were all dressed up real nice which almost made up for the sudden drop in mood the day before. Sage looked a little more like himself with the pretty blue tips and Jacob had already had a shot of liquid courage so he was feeling somewhat mellow and good. Also, endlessly grateful to Connor for being so amiable about including Sage; he knew how much Jacob worried and he didn't seem to mind at all. It just made Jacob love him all the more and it felt like a validation in a way, letting his friends know he wasn't dating some predator who was going to lock him away from everyone he knew.
It was too damn common that getting ready ended up being more fun than actually showing up to the event and Jacob was glad Sage had come along too as they entered the Overlook Country Club. At least the attendees weren't only stuck up Overlookers this time, it was a charity for the police so the crowd was pretty varied but Connor got stolen away into a conversation with his lawyer mere minutes after they arrived and it was nice to have someone else to talk to. "Let's get some drinks," Jacob murmured, hooking his arm around Sage's and pulling him along farther inside. "You wanna grab one of those cocktails or should we head to the bar?"
It was weird dressing up for anything these days, but it made Sage feel like he was putting forth effort at something and that in itself felt good. He was feeling more at home in his skin now that he had some color in his hair, and he could handle wearing his shirt tucked in when he had Jacob’s vest on and his sleeves rolled up. The tie wasn’t as bad as he remembered it being, but he was older now, as he kept trying to remind himself. He wasn’t a teenager playing dress-up. He was an actual fucking adult, despite the fact that he rarely felt like one, and he was doing his best to blend in with the crowd around him. So far he felt moderately successful.
“I could try one of the cocktails,” Sage said. As a sometimes bartender, he liked to see what other people came up with and if they were any good. He expected anything served at the Overlook Country Club to be decent. “So what do we do at these things? Just hang out? It reminds me of prom, but for adults.” It was kind of a weird comparison, but felt similar. The biggest difference was that they could legally drink this time.
Jacob did remember some of the school dances in high school fondly, in that weird nostalgic way where he knew it had sucked but in hindsight it was kind of nice anyway. Their senior prom hadn't been one of those dances but the junior year had been a fun one - in memory at least - and he wondered if that was why he kind of liked these dumb cocktail parties. Nostalgia and alcohol. And Connor, of course, that was a big change. "Yeah I guess, kinda," he said with some amusement. "Hang out and drink. Make dirty jokes about people when they can't hear us." He didn't bring up the third option of being naughty with Connor in the bathroom since Sage was woefully single and didn't need to have that rubbed in his face. He probably wouldn't love the idea of it either so Jacob kept it to himself for now. "Oh and look pretty, that's a must," he added as he grabbed a cocktail for himself and took a testing sip.