Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Stu Macher was known for hosting parties at his place. Every time his parents went out of town, it was almost expected to grab some liquor and head on over. Even people who had never even met Macher were on the way over.

And that's how you ended up nursing a bottle of some no-named beer in an unfamiliar house. This is why you didn't do second locations. You didn't even know anyone here- having recently moved to Woodsboro in California of all places.

At first you thought it'd be nice to try and make some friends.

Then they managed to convince you to grab a bottle of your good shit while under the impression that only the 6 of you would be hanging out.. not close to 60 people.

You grumbled as another elbow found their way to your ribs. If you stuck your foot out a little further on your next step then who would notice? It was petty but you wouldn't be so grumpy if you hadn't been lied to.

Ok maybe lied is a bit of a stretch, but It was misleading. And everyone carpooled. So now you were stuck here. Alone. And down on a bottle of liquor because apparently your... OK they're definitely not friend material- but they took off into the crowd with the bottle and you weren't jumping into a sea of people to go get it. It's probably been drained anyway.

This sucked. The house was cool though. And a fucking MANSION! But it would have been a lot more pleasing without high-school students packed in here like sardines.

Your tolerance for this place was draining as another person practically stomped on your foot. Having enough of being knocked between dancing bodies- you made your way through the crowd and looked for a quiet place.

Not wanting to head upstairs toward the bedrooms and seeing... yeah no. You firmly decided to stay on the main floor. After finally getting to the back you found your way to a garage. It was a lot quieter and even cooler without the body heat of everyone- there was even a fridge down here.

After opening the fridge and jackpot, there were a few beers there that you could have. Might as well wait out the night until your... whatever they are, are ready to leave and take you home.

After stumbling around in the dim light of the flickering blub, you found a few of those generic outdoor chairs. It was kinda funny that even in a mansion, they couldn't escape the grasp of cheep plastics.

Having a genius idea, you grabbed 2 bottles from the fridge and sat down in the chair tower, curling up slightly from the stagnant chill that hung in the air and thanking your earlier self for wearing your green sweater. The plan is to entertain yourself for a bit and when the chairs oh-so-loving design eventually started hurting your ass, you'd go looking for your ride.

Well, that was the plan until you woke up to a sudden scream.

Chapter Text

A piercing scream startled you awake- immediately on the defensive even as the remaining alcohol in your system makes your sensory input sluggish. The sound of breaking glass didn't even register to your ears.

You fell out the unforgiving plastic chair, hitting the floor with a thud and a sharp pain in your back that was ignored as you shot up on your feet. On the way to standing, your hands grabbed the first offensive object- which happened to be the jagged neck of a broken bottle.

The scream hung in the air like a lethal poison and you choked on each sharp breath as your vision started to clear and you could focus on what startled you awake.

In the doorway to the garage stood a pretty girl with blond hair in messy pigtails and wearing rumpled clothing. Rumpled Pajamas.

Pajamas?

You subconsciously shuffled back and the position let a beam of sunlight shine through the bay door windows- and straight into your eyes, searing the retnas. With a groan, you quickly brought up a hand to cover your squinting eyes and rub at your temples in an attempt to soothe the sharp bursts of pain shooting around in your head.

Not unlike the bursts of pain in your back on every inhale- which was concerning on its own but you had to turn your attention back to the girl, and now also guy, who were talking? Whether it was to each other or to you was unclear. You couldn't focus enough anyway.

What was clear was the rippling pain through your muscles and ache in your joints from spending the night curled up in a plastic chair.

Wait.

..from spending the night?

Your head snapped to the windows- and it dawned on you.

They had left without you last night, probably not even looking for the new kid before taking off. It might have been for the better though, seeing that you didn't trust any of them to drive you home without crashing. So you did was any mature person did and groaned obnoxiously while scrubbing your face with your hands- unintentionally cutting off the pair still standing at the top of the stairs in the doorway.

Looking up through your fingers, you could see the girl arguing (?) with the guy about something. It seemed more like chastising even though the guy had his hands up In a surrendering motion, slightly hunched and smiling. You still couldn't focus in on what they were saying- the pounding in your head serving as a blockage.

Everything was blurred and you could tell today would be a reclusive type. You didn't realize you were practically staring a hole through the pair until you caught the guys attention.

He happened to look over at you and your eyes met, dragging your consciousness out of the fog, but before you could look away he cut off the girl.

"Get enough rest sleeping beauty?"

You huffed and slid your hands through your hair to push it out of your face.

"Nah, I feel like shit."

That earned you a sharp grin from the guy, but the girl only cocked her hip to rest on the doorframe and crossed her arms.

"You scared the shit out of me and then made a mess just after we finished cleaning up!"

You glanced down at the broken glass, grimacing, and then turning back to the now angry blond. "What are you even still doing here?"

Feeling embarrassed over the whole ordeal had you grabbing the back of your neck, squeezing slightly to soothe the anxiety threatening to creep up and mix up your words to reduce them to a stuttering mess. "I was trying to be out of the way while I waited on my ride to get ready to leave- I didn't mean to fall asleep."

The guy looked like he was going to say something but was steamrolled by the girl. "So you don't have a ride?"

The embarrassment grew like a symphony in your chest at being stuck in this predicament without a way out other than walking away. "No. I don't-"

She huffed, rolled her eyes, and lifted herself off the door, spinning around and calling over her shoulder "I'm calling my brother to come pick you up" before walking away presumably to a phone.

Even though it was a little rude- you couldn't blame her. You'd be freaked out too if you went to take out the trash and a random dude was sleeping in your garage.

The guy watched her leave as you looked over to the broken glass and frowned.

The sound of your knees popping and the clatter of the glass being picked up caught his attention. He stepped down 2 of the 5 steps "You want some help?"

You hardly glanced up, still grabbing the pieces off the floor. "No- it's my mess." You risked a glance up. "Sorry about the scare-" He nodded, face scrunching up for a moment and then smiling. "No biggie- I'll get you a bag!"

He practically scampered up the steps and disappeared from the doorway. With a sigh you got back to making sure all the shards of glass were off the floor, finishing only with a small cut on the side of your thumb. There was a distant "HA" and you aasumed he found a disposable bag.

The tall blond came bumbling down the steps with a small trash bag in his hands. Stopping right in front of you with the bag held open. You thanked him quietly, dropping the glass in the bag and offering to carry the abandoned bag that the girl was carrying before getting derailed by the unexpected visitor.

He denied you grabbing it and instead snatched it up himself. Now that you both had a second he asked your name, "You're new right? I don't think I've met you before this."

You laughed and nodded, opening the trash can lid for him to throw the bags in. He threw them like basketballs and pumped a fist in the air when he rung the shot, pulling a laugh and a small cheer out of you. He was a lot more comfortable to be around than the girl from earlier.

"Yeah I just got settled here last week. I'm guessing you're Stu Macher? Unless that's her name." You gestured to the doorway with a smile in place.

He snorted and told you her name is Tatum. He asked for yours and you told him, which he took with a nod and a smile. A groggy yawn cut yourself off and made you stretch.

Which you realized was a bad idea when your back lit up in pain again and you winced as you corrected the position of your spine to relieve the pain. Stu noticed the wince and looked like he was going to say something but was cut off by Tatum peaking her head around the door to let you know that her brother was here. You knew she said a name, but It flew straight by your ears.

You thanked her and made a last check to make sure all the glass was up before waving goodbye to Stu and walking out with Tatum.

Only to pause when you both got outside just to see a police cruiser parked right in front of the door. You would have facepalmed at the irony of a cop picking you up after a booze filled night, but you were so tired that you just told officer Dave-

...

...Daniel?

Oh well. You'd ask Tatum if you saw her again.

You told officer Dobby your address and name after he asked and promptly zoned out on the way back, trying to wrap your head around what just happened.

There was still an ache in your back- duller now, but still painfull. You'd take a look at it when you got home.

Eventually you gave up on thinking about this morning and decided to just enjoy the ride back.