Chapter Text
Jake opened the car door before the uber even fully stopped. He darted up the short driveway to unlock the door and hurry over to the bathroom.
Johnnie and (Y/N) followed, (Y/N) giggling meanwhile Johnnie worried that this would be an awful experience for her.
"He drove like crazy! I'm gonna give him the worst rating ever!" Jake coughed from the bathroom.
"He was super chill, stop." (Y/N) yelled back as she took off her jacket. "I loved him."
"I was fighting so hard to not puke all over his car, dude." Jake continued complaining as he wandered out to the living room. He wiped his mouth.
"Ew, Jake, shower, or something." Johnnie groaned.
(Y/N) giggled again, her eyes scanning over their home. "What a nice place you've got!"
"Thanks." Jake coughed.
"Want something to drink? Eat?" Johnnie realized and walked over to the kitchen with (Y/N) following.
"What do you have?"
"We've got some fun liquors. Oh! I can mix you a drink!" Jake followed too, apparently. "Let me get you something to drink. Please?"
"Pfft, sure, thanks. If you wash your hands first."
Johnnie grabbed some snacks and placed them on the coffee table by their couch and armchairs meanwhile Jake DJ'ed and prepared a scary-looking potion.
"I made one for you, too, Johnnie." Jake said.
"Wow, thanks." He did not sound too excited.
(Y/N) sat down in an armchair while the boys took the sofa. "This looks like something a witch made."
"Wizard. Taste it. It's good!!" Jake encouraged.
(Y/N) and Johnnie exchanged unsure looks as they took a sip from the mixture. They tilted their heads at each other and nodded in unison. "Hey, it's actually pretty good." She admitted.
"Told ya!" Jake looked proud. "You can barely taste the alcohol, and it's enough to get you plenty buzzed."
"Ooh, that's dangerous." (Y/N) said and sipped on it again before placing it on the coffee table and grabbing some Cheetos to snack on.
"You shouldn't let Johnnie mix your drinks though. It's always 70% alc and 30% else."
Johnnie snorted. "Actually, I can make some pretty good stuff. I know some good drinks."
"Alright, he's not lying." Jake agreed with this tone he sometimes did.
"Sometimes you speak with this poetic cadence and I absolutely love it." (Y/N) commented.
"What, you mean like this?" Jake did the voice again.
"It sounds kind of authorative." (Y/N) tried speaking like him and it made the two burst out laughing, with Johnnie giggling on the side. "Oh! This song's a banger."
"Electric Light Orchestra. Showdown."
"They've made a bunch of cool songs. Some weird ones, too." (Y/N) raised an eyebrow. "What else do you guys listen to?"
"Just take a guess." Johnnie suggested. "I'm sure you'll hit it right on."
"My Chemical Romance. Pierce The Veil. Panic! At The Disco." She recited every emo artist she could think of. "Misfits? Black Veil Brides. Fall Out Boy. What else is there. Paramore? Blink-182."
Johnnie snickered and Jake snorted. "Honestly, yeah, you got it. Seriously though; I listen to anything and everything."
"Wanna queue something?" Jake suggested.
"Nah, it's alright. You got some good music playing."
They spent the next hour sipping on their drinks and babbling and laughing. Like, laughing a lot, all three of them. It graduated to Jake nodding off while Johnnie and (Y/N) kept an active drunken conversation going.
"I don't know, man. I can't bowl. And it's like, annoying if you go bowling with your homie and they're good at it. Like, chill out, bro." (Y/N) shrugged.
It made Johnnie laugh. "Terrible first date idea."
"Right? It's not even fun. Bowling sucks, man. Hey, one time a guy wanted to take me for a pool date. Like, play pool, you know? Not swimming. Pool."
"Yeah. How'd it go?"
"It didn't. I didn't go. Like, pool?? I haven't-- I don't know how to play pool, man, I'd just... I got performance anxiety and backed out."
Johnnie snickered again.
"Besides I didn't want to go anyway. Maybe it could've been fun. Or maybe if you're going with friends. I don't know. I don't like the whole expectation of going on dates with new people. It's like, you're just meeting to see if you're compatible. I just like to hang out with friends. I don't know." (Y/N) reflected.
"I get that. Totally. I agree. I haven't really met anyone new since my last ex and that was years ago. Four years ago now. My mental health's been sh*tty. I haven't really been... I haven't-- I don't know. I just don't think I've been in a place to date." Johnnie leaned back in the sofa with a big yawn, stopping himself from oversharing anything more in this intoxicated state of mind. "But hey. We could have fun playing pool though."
"We definitely could." (Y/N) agreed, yawning, too.
"You tired?"
"Yeahh. What time is it?"
Johnnie checked his phone. "3.30AM."
"Jesus." (Y/N) yawned again.
Which made Johnnie yawn. Again. "We have a guest room. The bed's not made though. I'll fix it." He got up from the couch and (Y/N) followed.
"I can make my own bed," (Y/N) insisted when Johnnie went ahead.
"You're our guest."
"I'm not disabled." She grabbed a pillow and a pillowcase. "By the way, I snore pretty loud, or so I've been told. So if it gets awful, just... honestly throw me out. Or throw a grenade inside the room. Whatever you prefer."
Johnnie chuckled. "That's alright."
"Oh, no, I mean, like, really loud. It's not alright. It can be a problem."
"I'll live."
"Maybe." She puffed up the two pillows and turned to Johnnie. "There we go."
"Just let me know if you need anything else."
"Thank you." (Y/N) smiled.
"Something to sleep in maybe?"
(Y/N) looked down at her outfit. Jeans and a tight shirt. "Yeah..."
"Maybe a tee?"
"That sounds good."
"Be right back." Johnnie disappeared out of the room.
(Y/N) sat down on the edge of the bed and played with a string on her shirt. These people seemed so nice and they had so much fun tonight. Especially Johnnie and her, since Jake dozed off and thereby forced the two of them to bond.
Soon Johnnie returned. "Catch." He warned before he threw a t-shirt at her.
Which she did not catch, it just landed on her face, and she shook it off. "Thanks." She said as she inspected it. My Chemical Romance. It made her giggle and she looked up at Johnnie again who was grinning. "Perfect. Really though; thanks."
"No problem. Goodnight."
"Goodnight." The door closed and (Y/N) was left alone. She changed into the shirt and took off her jeans before she got comfortable under the sheets and instantly fell asleep.
~~
For a moment (Y/N) was confused. She blinked repeatedly, as to really wake up, cause clearly she was still dreaming. Did she follow some guy home? No way in hell. Where in the world was she--... Oh! Right! Now she recognized the room and the actions leading to this destination.
(Y/N) got up and put on her jeans. She looked at her reflection in the mirror in the room, relieved to see that yesterday's makeup had survived pretty well, even if her hair was a bit messy. Not that she really had anyone to impress.
Muffled voices came from the other side of the door. (Y/N) opened it and peeped through the sliver before she stepped outside. The sound of her footsteps made Jake and Johnnie turn their heads from where they stood in the kitchen.
"Morning!" The two of them greeted.
"Good morning." (Y/N) replied while she padded over to them. "What time is it?"
"12.10."
"God." (Y/N)'s eyebrows drew together.
"It's not too late. I just woke up." Jake admitted.
"We didn't want to wake you." Johnnie explained. "But there's coffee and breakfast if you want."
"Coffee would be nice." (Y/N) decided.
The three sat down in the couch and armchair to drink their coffee and talk. They all were pretty hungover and tired, went over the events of the night and laughed quite a bit.
Johnnie didn't have much from yesterday's makeup left. His waterline was a little smudged with black color but that was it. He stretched out in the sofa with a big yawn. For a second (Y/N) wondered if he really had such blue eyes or if they were contacts.
"It's the most low budget thing ever."
"Right? But it's still scary."
"No, (Y/N), it's the worst horror movie ever created." Jake argued.
"No, not worse than f*cking Jaws or the-- uh!! Winnieh the Pooh, bro, the one..."
"Oh, God, blood and honey." Johnnie snickered.
"Yeah. Exactly. That's the one." (Y/N) nodded.
"I remember I watched the trailer, it was--"
"It looked like it was made in iMovie!!" (Y/N) finished Johnnie's sentence.
"That's exactly what I was gonna say. It was terrible."
"Scary, though." She stuck her finger up in the air to strengthen her point.
Johnnie and Jake snickered. "Not at all."
"They literally waited for the day when the rights for Winnie expired and were like, 'finally we can make that Winnie Slasher movie we've been planning on!'"
"Pfffft." Jake laughed while shaking his head.
Y/N) smiled back at him and took the last sip from her second cup of coffee. The clock was almost 2PM now and she was wondering when she was supposed to leave. Not that she wanted to, more like, what's appropriate? And well, she really wanted a shower. She picked her phone up realizing she hadn't checked on the rest of her friends since yesterday and opened some snaps from Tina and Brooke and a few others.
(Y/N) didn't check her volume first, though, so the loud yells of Brooke trying to sing along to California Love by 2Pac almost made her and everyone else in the room deaf. The shocked faces of Johnnie and Jake made (Y/N) burst out giggling as she fought to lower the volume, and you know Snapchat, it doesn't always catch on with the speed of light.
"I'm sorry." She giggled.
"That just might've been the real Tupac. I've always said he faked his death." Jake joked. "Wow, what a voice."
"Pffft! It's Brooke from yesterday. She seemed to have fun." (Y/N) explained and turned the phone off again. "Anyways, guys, I really need to shower. Until then I'll feel like I smell like Frank Gallagher. Booze and cigarettes."
The boys snickered. "You need a ride home?" Jake asked.
"That'd be great."
"Then we can see where you live. Your home." Jake nodded.
"So we can stalk you. I'm kidding." Johnnie added to the suspicious comment and they laughed.
"For real though. Thank you for inviting me back here. I've had so much fun." She continued and they all got to their feet.
"Of course." Jake responded as they walked toward the door. "You're welcome anytime, (Y/N)."
Johnnie silently hummed in agreement while nodding.
It wasn't a long drive to her apartment and the ride there was fun. They all agreed to hang out again before she got out of the car and waved goodbye.
"Man, she's so funny." Jake said as they headed back to theirs. "I think Tara would love her, right?"
"Yeah."
"Maybe I should introduce them in the future. Or maybe Tara will steal her."
"Or I will." Johnnie joked, completely sarcastic.
"I hope she's genuinely this cool. People have their sides. And, I mean, I know we're not famous, but she acts as though she has no idea who we are. Like, she really doesn't know."
"Dude, like, 99 out of 100 times we don't get recognized. Or 999 out of 1000." Johnnie reminded him. "It's not weird. We're in LA. Everyone's an influencer or wannabe something."
"I know, I know."
~~
It was a sunny day. Sometime near the shift from April to May which meant that purple and white lilacs were blooming in the park together with pink weeping cherry trees and summer was creeping closer with each minute.
(Y/N) took a deep breath. The smell of fresh flowers and grass filled her nose and she exhaled with a vowel. She picked a stem from a plant and twirled it between her index and thumb. "Hey, you know what I think?"
"What?" Jake lifted an eyebrow, turning his head to her.
"That spring is so nice. And people who don't take time to enjoy spring or sunny weather are missing out on something. It's a religious experience, really."
"You know what I think?" Johnnie asked.
"What?"
"That your mom's house is nice. Now that's a religious experience."
(Y/N) gasped and tossed the stem at him. "f*ck you."
Johnnie snickered as he watched the plant completely miss him. The three hadn't met since the party when (Y/N) slept over last weekend. Now they were on their way to buy wine before going out tonight again.
"I agree."
"About my mother?"
Jake snorted. "About spring. It's lovely. Everyone's been cold and depressed for months and then the sun decides to show up and warm everyone."
"LA's always warm." Johnnie disagreed.
"Actually," (Y/N) said, "There are mountains in LA that get a sprinkle of snow in the winter."
"Actually," Johnnie mimicked her, holding up a finger in the air.
(Y/N) squinted her eyes at him. "Watch it, c*nt."
He snickered and gave her a look. "Or what?"
"You don't want to know." (Y/N) warned sarcastically as the three continued their walk out of the park toward the liquor store down the street. The crunch of gravel under their shoes turned into solid asphalt thuds. "Ohh. Like two years ago, I had my airpods out in the cold. Like, the charging case with the earphones inside. Had it out on a bench for an hour or so."
"Okay."
"And the case died from the cold. I'm not even kidding."
"How old was it?"
"Maybe, like, a year old? I couldn't charge it afterwards. Ever again."
"RIP, man." Johnnie said with an empathic gaze.
"Rest in piss." Jake murmured, also pretending to look sad.
The three cackled as they slipped through the store's door and found two bottles of wine to buy. Saturday evening. Specifically 7.47PM. They had a group of mutual friends going to this club down on Long Beach and decided to pregame together and hang out.
(Y/N)'s hands stilled, and she opened the oven. A waft of hot air warmed her face and she leered into the orange glow inside. "I think they're done, yeah." She closed the door again and the hinges squeaked. "Do you have a mitt- an oven mitt somewhere?"
"Just take it with your hands." Jake said with a roll of his eyes.
"Yeah, what are you, a puss*?" Johnnie agreed while he handed her a mitt.
She giggled as she put it on and used it to bring out the tray of pizza rolls. "Heeere ya go."
"I'm so f*cking hungry, dude." Jake said and immediately grabbed one from the tray, and just as quickly dropped it to the floor with a loud yell. "AH! Mother of--"
"Idiot." Johnnie said and took another sip of his glass of wine.
"What did you expect?" (Y/N) asked, trying to hide her grin while she watched her friend shake his burnt hand in the air.
Jake chuckled. "You think I can still eat it?"
"5 second rule, or 10, or however long it's lied there." (Y/N) joked. "Honestly don't-"
Jake picked it up and took a bite. "It's fine. My hand isn't, though. I think that's, like, third degree burns, or... Wow. It really burnt the skin off my finger."
"Aww." Johnnie cooed. "You want me to blow on it?"
"Shut--..." Jake flashed his eyebrows at him. "Yoo, I think I burnt my dick, too..."
The three laughed out loud, the wine probably making it way funnier than it really was. They settled down in the sofa and continued the conversation while finishing the second bottle and chewing on pizza rolls. It was nice to be back in their house and it was nice to be hanging out with the two boys again.
They arrived at the club at 11PM and their group disbanded the minute they stepped foot inside, or, well, at least (Y/N) disappeared and Johnnie and Jake stayed together as they found a few of the mutuals sitting in a booth with drinks in their hands.
"Let's order something and then we'll return." Jake suggested and they did so, ordering two Whiskey Sours before returning to the group and settling down.
Meantime, (Y/N) was catching up with a couple acquaintances. She'd been to this club once before and it was a big place with two big floors and three bars. The familiar voice of Nelly Furtado was singing loud on the second floor, making it hard to hear what one other said, but that wasn't really relevant when dancing your heart out to Maneater.
(Y/N) was twirling around with two girl-friends after taking two tequila shots each, moving around each other while avoiding the opposite sex trying to steal a dance from one of them.
"You wish you never ever met her at all, you wish you never ever met her at all..." (Y/N) giggled when she almost bumped into one of the girls, and the song ebbed out and into a remix of Heads Will Roll, and they danced the entire song, until Shut Up And Drive came on and the girls decided to head for a table and breathe for a moment.
And order another round.
So did Johnnie and Jake. They ordered a shot and another Whiskey Sour and went back to the booth where the friends were sat.
"And maybe that would-..." Johnnie's ears faded out the voice of their friend Ben when he noticed a familiar face emerging from the crowd of people. (Y/N) really was gorgeous tonight. Hot. Johnnie didn't usually think of her in any... sex appealing way, but with a few drinks he couldn't really push that thought back. Not that it mattered. He had lots of attractive friends. Her (e/c) eyes darted over the interior of the club, brows slightly knitted, until her gaze fixed on the group over at the booth and she immediately smiled and headed their way.
"Hii!" She did a little wave of her hand.
"(Y/N)! Long time no see!" Ben stood up to hug her. "Sit! What's up tonight?" Corey also greeted her with a smile.
She sat down with them and they chatted on for a while before she leaned closer to Jake. "Cig break?"
"Read my mind." Jake replied quickly and slapped Johnnie's thigh. "Let's go, dude." The three went out to the outdoor space for smoking.
(Y/N) used her pink lighter to light everyone's cigarette before she did her own. "I thought I saw [cool tiktok celebrity] but it wasn't him."
"Bummer."
"Yeah. No. Or yeah. I don't know. I feel like he'd be mean in real life? I wouldn't exactly interact with him either way. But the guy was a total dupe of him, dude."
"Why didn't you talk to him then?"
(Y/N) scoffed. "I'm here to have fun with my friends, not meet some guy, dude. Besides, they're all sweaty and gross, anyways. Including you two. Just kidding."
"No, you're probably right." Jake joked and the three chuckled.
"Actually I think you're clean girls."
"We are?" Johnnie raised an eyebrow and inhaled more nicotine.
"Course we are. We shower at least once a week." Jake grinned.
"Stop it or she'll believe you."
(Y/N) giggled and shrugged. "I had this one girl in class in high school who showered about two or three times a week and said she didn't smell like anything, but!! She... did!! She smelt a lot!"
"What was her name?" Jake asked.
"Sarah."
"Don't be like Sarah, kids." Jake snickered. "Didn't anyone tell her?"
"I don't know, man, I hope so, it's kind of hard to tell someone that they uh, stink. You know?" (Y/N) said with another giggle. "I don't know. You never know how people have it at home and so on. And we weren't friends. I'm not exactly gonna walk up to her and tell her that she smells, man. I don't know, dude."
Jake and Johnnie snorted. "There's always those kids in class that smell. I was probably one of them." Jake joked and they laughed again.
"Have you heard-... Do you listen to Hole? Probably not. Courtney Love has this one song called, uh, Softer, Softest."
"Ah, yeah, that song's about me." Johnnie joked and the three laughed again. "You were saying?"
"It goes, like, 'pee girl gets the belt', right? And I was like, 'what the f*ck is that supposed to mean, why is she singing about piss girls', so I searched it up on Genius, you know? And it's such a sad backstory. Like, it says something like, 'you know that girl in your class that smelt like piss? I was her', which is heartbreaking, cause..." (Y/N) stopped herself from talking more. "What the f*ck am I even saying, guys. Anyways. It's a good song but the lyrics are obviously strange. But it's a good song. I promise."
Johnnie and Jake snickered loud again. "Go piss girl Courtney. Am I right?"
"Pfffft." (Y/N) grinned. "Courtney Love slays, really. She's iconic, plus, she's really hot."
"Second that." Johnnie flicked off the ashy tip of his cigarette before bringing it back to his mouth.
"Talking about piss, I really, really need to." Jake admitted. "Or I'll be that guy who smelled like pee the entire night. I'll be right back."
(Y/N) snorted again while Jake walked quickly back inside. She turned her head to Johnnie who was already looking at her. "It's kind of--"
"Hey, you got a light?" A tall man interrupted her. He was probably a couple years older and pretty good-looking.
"Uhm, yeah. Here." She handed him the pink one from earlier and he lit his cigarette but didn't leave the two of them.
"So, what's your name?" He asked.
"I'm sorry, I'm talking to my friend here. Could I have my lighter back?" She was giving him a polite smile while trying to keep her tone as friendly as possible.
The man looked a bit bothered. "Whatever." He handed it back.
"You're welcome." She still smiled, but now her words were a bit sharper to reflect his response. He gave a little glare before he turned and walked away. "Was that rude of me?"
"What? Not at all." Johnnie scoffed. He felt relieved that she didn't strike up another conversation while he stood there so he'd look stupid.
"Okay." She put her cigarette out in the nearest ashtray. "Good. Wanna go inside and get another drink?"
"Yeah, let's go."
