Down with Valentine's Day.....

[Dani]

"Chris....left me for a really tall, aspiring model with long hair and a really bad French accent...." Sophie took a deep breath and tossed her old pictures into the waiting bonfire, which was already roasting mementos from Alexia and Brandie's ex-boyfriends. "Burn, baby, burn," her sisters said with her in unison.

"Can we like go inside now or something?" Kylie asked, shivering as she ran her hands over her arms. "It's starting to get chilly out here." Alexia smirked back at her. "Geez, don't get your trashy designer panties in a twist. We still have one more to go." Before Kylie could answer say anything else, Alexia cleared her throat and opened up a folded piece of paper that she had been clutching in her hand. “Brody,” she read out loud in a dramatic voice, “I’m not sure how to tell you this…..”

Kylie’s eyes widened with fear. “Where did you get that?!” she demanded, making a beeline for her sister. Alexia smiled evilly and moved even closer to the fire, reading the contents of the letter even louder. “....I love you. I was going to tell you, but I was scared because I….” Worried that Kylie was going to burn herself, Brandie grabbed her around the waist, holding her back from the fire. “Come on Kylie, it’s not worth it,” she said, trying to stop Kylie from squirming. Not bothering to finish, Alexia crumbled the piece of paper and tossed it in the fire. “Burn, Brody, burn,” she said with a wicked laugh before starting to head back towards the house. “What the hell are you standing there for? We got a fucking party to get ready for….” Not feeling in the mood to argue with her, her sisters put out the fire and followed her inside.

[Kelli-wa]

As Vic put on his jacket he heard a knock at the door, which turned out to be his friend Mady with her younger sister, Micah. It hadn't made much sense to him for Mady to bring her younger sister, considering they didn't really like each other or get along in any way. "Hey," he said. With a straight face and no remorse, she answered the question that was sure to follow, "Mitchell and Mara made me." Vic nodded, "It's not a big deal, Cybill's just gonna drop us off on the way, she's got a date or something."
"Not a date!" he heard from the living room as she stepped out into the entry hall. "You guys ready? I've got to get over to Mason's."
Vic nodded and led the girls out to the car so they could head to the party.

Malachi sighed lightly as he looked in the mirror. He was just in jeans a t-shirt and a sport coat, which may have been a little too dressy, but his sister was going in a dress, so he figured that he should dress himself up just a little bit, at least. He shook his head, "Alegrah, why do I have to go to this party?" he asked to the girl standing in his doorway.
"Because, Cai, I am tired of watching you mope around the house wishing you could return to the magical world of Evansville where only Jay and Kyle know you and you can hide in your little shell You are going to have fun tonight." He sighed, but figured there was no arguing with Alegrah once she'd made up her mind and followed her as she led her way out to his car and got in on the passenger side.
"Oh, so I'm driving?" he asked, although he should have assumed that from the beginning, the only time Alegrah drove anywhere is when it was absolutely necessary and that was only typically when she was going out of town or to a dance competition. He started the car and made his way to the Howard place.

[Mia]

"Shane said the party was this way." Major said, pointing towards the house. It looked like it had a few people here already.
"So why isn't he here?" Graham asked, folding his arms. Major smiled a bit, parking the car in front of the house and cutting it off. The two, along with a couple other guys, had just flown in from base. Thus they were still in their uniforms. They'd heard from Shane that there was going to be a Valentine's Day party, or rather an Anti-Valentine's Day party, and it had sounded interesting to Major, who'd never had a girlfriend before. He would've went alone, but the older two, Marshall and Brenton said that he was too young to go off on his own, which meant Graham had to tag along.
"Shane has his own Valentine's, remember? He wanted to spend the day with her. C'mon." He climbed out the car, trying not to seem too eager. "It should be fun. You might even meet someone here."'
Graham rolled his eyes, climbing out the car as well, but not before discarding his cap and jacket. "I doubt it but whatever. Let's go." He started towards the house, leaving Major, who had decided to take off his cap and jacket as well, to catch up with him.

[Alisha]

"ELIIIII!" Emma bellowed out from down the hallway, "You better be getting ready!" Her cousin opened the door to the bathroom, steam billowing out from the crack he had popped his head out from. "Yes, Emma. I am getting ready." He said, his voice sickly sweet, which only served to emphasize his annoyance with the whole situation. Eli really didn't want to go to any party, but he was being forced by his cousins. He would have just stayed home, had Liam not asked him to tag along himself. "Good." Emma simply replied as she walked by, reaching her hand out to tousle his wet hair. "But hurry up." Eli rolled his eyes at her retreating back and re-entered the bathroom to finish getting ready.

Emma moved on to Liam's room, knocking on the door before entering. Her older brother turned to her, holding up two shirts. "Which one?" He asked. Emma pointed towards the black one. "You're a messy eater. You'll be better off with the black." Liam stuck his tongue out at the blonde but put the black t-shirt on anyway. "Why isn't Sar going to this thing, again?" She asked.
Liam shrugged. "I think she said she had some other things to do. I don't think she's dating anyone though. "
"Hm. Maybe she'll show up later." Emma left the room, and finally returned to the room she shared with her sister Kacie. The brunette was just closing the lip to her mascara when she walked in, and turned away from the mirror to give Emma a smile. Emma sat down on her bed and slipped on her heels.
"Why are you so dressed up?" Kacie asked.
"No reason." Emma replied, shrugging. "I just like to look nice."
"Oooookaaayyy..." Kacie replied, slipping on her shoes.

A half an hour later, everyone was ready to go. The four left the house and began to walk down the sidewalk, with Eli at the back of the pack of course. The Howard's lived just a few houses down, for which they were thankful. If the party totally sucked, they could be home in less than five minutes.
"How do we know these people, again?" Eli was from a few feet behind everyone.
"We don't." Kacie said.
"Then why are we going?"
"To have some fun." Emma said. "You need to branch out, Eli. Anne cant be your only friend."
"Whatever." Was his simple reply. "I'm leaving if I get bored."
"Oooooh~ People are already there!" Emma said excitedly as they neared the house.

Outfits

[Dani]

Clad in her skull-themed outfit, Alexia knelt on the floor and helped Sophie set up the karaoke machine. "You look like a fucking piece of cotton candy," she said, gesturing at Sophie's festive pink dress. Sophie pursed her lips together and remained silent, trying not to let her sister's comment go to her head. She had more important things on her mind. Will Vic think that I look like a piece of cotton candy? she immediately thought to herself. She quickly shook her head and headed in the kitchen to help Brandie with the dozen or so pizzas that their mom had been kind enough to pay for before she left for the night with their younger siblings. "Hey, did get anchovy and onion?" Cori asked, looking up from the couch that he was attempting to help Lucas move. "Ewww," Lucas said, shuddering at his brother's gross pizza preference. "What's wrong with plain cheese?"

Kylie walked into the living room and set out the veggie platter, one of the few food items that she was able to eat tonight. Nope, no pizza for her tonight. A minute on the lips, forever on the hips..... She learned that the hard way after devouring two jumbo size cartons of ice cream in a single night. Not only did she gain a few pounds, she also gained a massive ice cream headache. "In another life, I would be your girl...." she sang as she placed out a bunch of paper plates. At the sound of her voice, Alexia groaned. "Geez, will you stop singing that fucking song? You're not gonna sing that tonight, are you? Everybody's sick and tired of your musical bullshit." It was bad enough that she had to share her party with her sisters, the last thing she needed was it to turn into yet another Kylie event. "No," Kylie replied, looking down. "I'm not really in the mood to sing in front of people and stuff." Alexia grinned, nearly breathing a sigh of relief. "Good."

At that moment, Dwight, the Howards' pet german shepherd, started barking at the living room, alerting the others to the arrival of the party guests. "People are here!" Brandie exclaimed, dashing out of the kitchen. Finally finished setting up the karaoke machine, Alexia rose to her feet. "Congratulations Brandie, you now have the intelligence of a dog. Maybe you'll get the brain span of a human by next year." Sophie also dashed out of the kitchen. "Is Vic here?" she asked, trying to hide her excitement. Alexia rolled her eyes. "Oh lord, you invited him? This is supposed to be a gathering of rejected souls to protest the stupidity and the commercialism of this fucking godforsaken holiday, not the fucking prom." She turned to Kylie and made a face. "What did you, invite Brody too? Give him an invitation to leave his family and take yet another ride on the Kylie train?" Kylie's face turned bright red, just as it always did whenever Alexia made a comment like that. "Why would I do that?!" she cried as she stomped over to the door and threw it open, her expression immediately reverting to a cheerful one to mask her pain. "What did you like, summon the army or something?" Confused about what Kylie meant, her siblings headed to the door, some of them also lifting their eyebrows in confusion. Unsure of what to do, Lucas raised his hand in a polite salute. Alexia, not the least bit intimidated by anybody, pushed her siblings out of the way and opened the door wider. "Why the hell are you guys just letting them stand out there? Where the fuck are your manners? Let them in, for God's sake."

[Mia]

Major hid a giggle behind his hand while Graham literally face-palmed, roughly running his hand through his hair after. He regretted coming here already. "I told you we should've change before we got here." Major simply grinned, grabbing his friends hand and leading him into the house. "C'mon, it'll be fine." Graham snatched his hand away as soon as they stepped foot indoor, a scowl on his face. Unless he got lucky and laid, he was determined to enjoy this as little as possible. While Major stood, looking around and trying to figure out what to do, Graham made his way over to who he assumed was the hostess. "Hey." He said, running another hand through his hair. "Got any food or anything? We just literally got here from the airport and haven't had a chance to eat or anything."

[Alisha]

The Everdeen's slowly trickled into the house. Liam headed for the food first, because he was like a bottomless pit. He could eat and eat and eat, and the cool thing was that he was allowed eat. With how much he worked out along with the time he spent on the field, he needed the extra food,his coach had told him so. Liam popped a carrot into his mouth, put not before drowning it in ranch dressing. He never was a very healthy eater... But, he had chosen the carrot, so that was good enough for him.

Upon entering the house, Eli quickly scanned for the most secluded corner he could hide in for the night. But before he could go too far, Kacie grabbed the hood of his jacket and tugged on it, forcing him to stay near her. She earned a glare for doing so, but Kacie didn't care. "Come on, Eli." She encouraged quietly, "You're here to have fun. Go. Talk. Mingle."
Eli rolled his eyes at his cousin. "I don't mingle, or talk for that matter."
Kacie shoved him playfully in the direction of some people, but Eli made a beeline for the couch and the dog that was planted next to it. He immediately shoved his headphones into his ears. "Hey puppy." He said, giving the dog a smile. "Are you gonna keep me company?" Eli scratched the dog behind his ears. Hopefully it would be too long before his cousins were distracted and he could sneak out undetected, because the truth was, he really didn't want to be there.

Emma had just stood against one of the walls, silently observing the people slowly filtering into the party. She hoped that there would be quite a few people there, because if that weren't the case she felt it would probably get boring really quickly. Emma absentmindedly twirled one of her curls around her finger as she watched the party come to a slow start. So far, she counted seven people there, including herself, but those were only the people in the living room. For all she knew, there could tons of people already milling around the house. She'd noticed the girl with the less than pleasant attitude first though, because of the way she spoke, and figured that she must have been the hostess. No girl who throws and anti-valentines day party is going to be cheerful, she knew that for sure.

[Kelli-wa]

Micah was so excited about this party she had no idea if she'd meet anyone here, but honestly, she didn't care. She was just going to have a good time, even if she had to do so with her older sister in existence. On the other hand, Mady was only here because Vic asked her to come. He wanted her to meet someone he had met and get her approval as his best friend, or something like that... She sighed, but followed him into the house along with her little sister.

Alegrah was ahead of Malachi on the way in, but Malachi had spotted Emma behind them and was now trying his hardest to hide his face. He'd already made a complete ass of himself and he really hoped he wouldn't do it again. "Damn it, Alegrah, why, why, WHY did I have to come to this party?"
Alegrah rolled her eyes, "God, Cai, just get over it and have fun, for heaven's sake!"

[Dani]

"You guys flew in for this party?" Kylie asked, her green eyes wide with surprise. She knew that Alexia had invited a bunch of random people and she expected to see a bunch of unfamiliar faces, but definitely not a group of military guys. "Did you like troll an army website or something?" Knowing Alexia, she wouldn't put it past her. Before she could get a straight answer from her sister, she caught a glimpse of one person that she did recognize. "Alegrah?" she asked, blinking quickly to make sure that it was really her.

Brandie, always the polite hostess, stepped aside and gestured towards the kitchen. "We have plenty of food," she said with a smile. "There's some refreshments in the living room and we have at least six kinds of pizza in the kitchen." Cori quickly shook his head. "Every kind except for anchovy and onion," he put in. Brandie turned her up nose and made a face. "Geez, for the millionth time, I'll take you out for that nasty pizza if you'll just shut up about it." Lucas chuckled lightly at his brother's tendency to eat the most disgusting things possible and plopped down on a chair in the corner. Parties were never really his thing and he wasn't exactly sure why he had chosen to stay home and attend this one.

Sophie's face lit up when she saw Vic. She couldn't help it; she was always excited to see him. "Hi Vic!" she said cheerfully as she made her way over to him. Her expression changed a little when she saw a girl follow him inside. Were they here together? Was she too late? I knew I should have just broken up with Chris when I had the chance..... "Hi, I'm Sophie," she said, extending her hand to the girl out of politeness. "I really like your outfit." She noticed another girl standing near them and held her hand out to her as well, also complimenting her on her outfit.

Alexia walked around her party, trying to familiarize herself with the guests. Where the fuck did the military guys come from? She had played it cool in front of her siblings, but in actuality she was just as surprised to see them. Their presence did made her feel good though. At least her anti-valentine message had gotten through to someone for a change. Everybody else seemed too goofy or clueless to understand it. She glanced over at the kid playing with Dwight. What is he, trying to flirt with my dog or something? Slightly amused at the sight, she walked over to them. "You know, if that one doesn't do it for you, there's another one upstairs sleeping in a puddle of its own drool."

[Mia]

"Not exactly." Major chuckled with a small smile, shaking his head. "We heard from one of our buddies that there was going to be a party here. He lives in this town so he probably heard about it or saw flyers or something." He glanced over at Graham, who was sulking in a corner, a plate of food in his hands. He sighed lightly, shaking his head. "I kinda feel bad for dragging him along now. I told him he didn't have to come. He'll hate me for sure." Major glanced in the girls line of view when she looked like she recognized someone, and ran a hand through his hair. "Oh, you see someone you know? You can go talk to them if it would make you more comfortable. I don't know how you feel about talking to complete strangers."

[Alisha]

Kacie narrowed her eyes at Eli when he, once again, did the same thing he always did when there were people he didn't know around. It made her kind of sad, because before everything that had happened, Eli was always the center of attention- telling stories and jokes. Eli was a completely different person than what he used to be, but Kacie loved him all the same. Her cousin just needed to find that common ground again, the one between being lost and knowing what's going to happen next. A smirk formed on Kacie's face when a girl walked up to him, not two minutes after he sat. With a shake of her head, she turned her attention away from Eli and his new challenge, and went to get something to drink.

Tired of standing alone like an idiot, Emma gave a quick glance at Malachi, but decided not to go over to him. He looked like he was avoiding her, but she had no idea why. She chose to just let him come to her when, and if, he wanted to and pushed off the wall, heading to one of the guys in uniform. She was puzzled as to how a couple military guys had ended up in Riverside of all places, especially at a anti-valentines day party. The guy in the corner, whom she had walked up to, looked like he didn't want to be there. "What's it like?" She asked, "Being in the military?" Emma understood that the question might have been a little personal, but she couldn't help it. She had always been curious, and because she was pretty young when her father died, he would never be able to tell her any of the details. Ever since he died, she wondered what his last few months of life were like.

Eli frowned when someone stopped in front of him, his eyes slowly rising to rest on her face. He knew he should have picked out a better hiding place, even though sitting on the living room couch was not much of a hiding place at all. He pulled out one of his headphones, waiting for her to speak. Her teasing words caused the frown on his lips to form into a small smirk. "Are you implying that I am trying to make a move on your dog?" He asked, his comment a joking one. "I mean, if you want me to, I can go up there and check that one out too, just to be fair." The only reason he had gone to the dog first, besides the fact that he loved animals, was that he kind of preferred them over humans. Humans liked to have conversations, something Eli wasn't very fond of having with most people.

[Kelli-wa]

Vic’s face lit up into a smile when he heard Sophie say his name. He was really happy that she’d already found him and gave a small wave. “Hey, how are you tonight, Soph?” he asked lightly, hoping she was okay with him calling her that. He really didn’t want to offend her with it, but it just seemed natural. “Uhm, this is Madalynne. She’s my best friend. Our brother’s are best friends and that’s how we met…” He blushed lightly, seeing as she probably didn’t want or need the backstory. “I figured it would be okay to bring her, I mean, I hope that’s alright.” He was just rambling now, which would be alright if his nerves weren’t hitting him the wrong way, causing him to sweat almost uncontrollably.

Mady put a hand on her friend’s shoulder and smiled before she looked at Sophie. “Thank you. Your shoes are adorable, along with the rest of the outfit, of course. I’m just slightly obsessed with shoes…” She smiled again and by that time, Vic had recovered and he smiled at Mady and then looked back at Sophie, “Can I get you girls something to drink, then?” Madalynne smirked at him, “Sprite please?” He nodded and then looked back to Sophie.

Malachi made his way around the room and leaned up against a wall, very close to the corner. He watched the party go by and the people socialize and he remembered when he used to do this and like it. Now it just seemed crazy to be here. It was crazy to even want to be here, and crazy to agree to come. He sighed and wished he could text Jay, but Alegrah made him promise. “Don’t text Jay tonight. Try to socialize with the people in front of you,” she’d said and then made him repeat. He saw Emma again, talking to some guy in a military uniform. He sighed. He really wished he wouldn’t have said what he had to her. She was so nice and he couldn’t figure out why he liked her so much. Especially when liking someone else made him ache inside. He would talk to her, he swore, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of her right now.

Alegrah had walked in, not very far, either and she heard her name in the form of a question. She saw the origin and her face broke into a grin. “Kylie!” she bellowed, moving quickly to hug the girl she probably hadn’t seen since last year. “Oh my god, how have you been? It’s been ages since I’ve seen you!” It was weird that it had been so long. They’d always been in the same social circle, but ever since the hurricane, Alegrah had been pretty much off the map, as far as friends were involved.

[Dani]

Kylie nodded her head as she listened to the military guys' explanation for being at the party. She could relate to his friend. Several times in her life, she had been dragged to parties by her mother for people that she barely knew. Most of them were children of her mother's friends, whom she assumed that Kylie and her siblings would get along with. A lot of the time she barely said a word and wound up spending a good portion of the party sitting in a corner by herself. She thought that this party would be similar, but luckily Alegrah had recognized her. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed, hugging Alegrah back. "I thought you had like left town or something." She turned her attention back to the military guy and smiled politely. "It was nice meeting you and stuff."

Alexia smirked right back at him. "Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't," she said coolly. "You'll probably prefer Rusty more. He's a golden retriever. You know what they say....blondes have more fun." She glanced around the room again at the other party guests. She couldn't really place a lot of them and didn't really feel like socializing with most of them. "Rusty's a boy dog, just like the one you're currently fawning over. If that's not your preference, we have a girl dog too. She's over there in the purple dress. Don't worry, she's had all her shots....at least I think she has. Also, if you're not that into dogs, we have a snake, a cat, and a monkey." She leaning back on the couch and yawned a little. Why the fuck am I talking to this kid? Why the hell did I have this party in the first place?

Sophie blushed a little when Vic called her Soph. She had been called that before, but the way he said it made her melt inside. "It's, uh, nice to meet you Madalynne. You look very festive," she said, giving her outfit the once-over again. "Thanks, my sister doesn't like it much. She thinks I look like cotton candy." She failed to mention that the main reason she was wearing the shoes was that they made her look taller. She wasn't super self conscious about her height, but she did get insecure about it on occasion. The fact that Vic was more than half a foot taller than her really didn't help matters. "Awwww thanks Vic," she said, a little surprised that he had offered. "I think I'll have a Sprite too."

[Mia]

Major offered a tiny smile, watching as she interacted with her friend. After a while he turned and decided he should probably eat something, seeing as he hadn't eaten anything since the day before. He grabbed himself a plate and piled a couple pieces of pizza onto it, along with a few vegetables, he was the only one of the group who actually voluntarily at vegetables. Once he got all his food he walked back into the living room, leaning against the wall and observing quietly.

Graham glanced at the girl who asked a question, the frown still on his face. He uncrossed his arms, he figured he could at least try to socialize, if only to make Major happy and not be bored this entire time. "It's what you would expect." Graham answered, and then realized that probably wasn't a very good answer. "I guess it depends on where you're assigned. The part we were assigned didn't see as much fighting as others. Don't get me wrong, we did fight a lot. Mostly them attacking us. We've lost quite a bit of men." He shrugged, running a hand through his hair.

[Alisha]

Emma listened to the military boy speak, and the whole time she could feel eyes on her. It didn't take much thought to figure out whose eyes they were, either. She once again wondered why Malachi would stare at her, but wouldn't speak to her. She hoped she didn't do anything to upset him. The guy in front of her didn't seem too sociable, after all, he was standing alone in a corner. She frowned at the mention of loss, Emma knew all too well what it was like to loose someone you are close to in a war. "I know it's not all fun and games, too well." She muttered, looking at her feet momentarily. She expertly placing that smile back on her face. She wasn't about to show her sadness to a total stranger, one that didn't seem very interested in her personal life to begin with. Her eyes slowly drifted towards Cai again, and met eyes with him.

The girls snide comment about who looked like her sister caused him to laugh. Personally, he would have ever talked about his sister that way. In fact, they hadn't even fought since before their parents died. Except for the one time that she finally told him she'd had enough of him being so distant with her. He raised a brow in question. "Do you think blondes have more fun? Because I wouldn't know." He shrugged. "This was her idea," Eli pointed to his cousin Emma in the corner. "I wasn't really interested, but she made me." He didn't want to be rude, because he'd figured this was her party, with the way she was dressed. She was the only one that was wearing an outfit that screamed 'I hate this day'. "As for the dogs, I think I'm just fine here. If I get bored I can just sneak out and hope they wont notice." Eli gave her a small smile. "Or, I'll just find something else to entertain me." He added this onto the end because he could see Kacie staring at him out of his peripheral, talking to Liam, without a doubt about him. He loved his cousin, but sometimes he wished she would just mind her own business.