Late nights

II

As Friday rolled around, Tom was sitting at his table at home contemplating if he should go to the school party. After about an hour of debating, he put on the only nice shirt he had and went out. He couldn't conceive why he decided to go, but it was too late to turn back.

Instead of going straight to the hall, where everyone was dancing, Tom went to the bathroom. He looked at the mirror. He had assumed that the bathroom was empty before hearing weird thuds coming from one of the stalls. Usually, he would walk out and mind his own business, but he felt braver than usual.

- Gosh, are you okay in there? - He chuckled.

There was a pause when the thudding stopped.

- Yeah, I'm totally fine, all good. - A feminine voice came from within the stall.

"This is a men's bathroom," Tom thought to himself. He heard hints of a second voice and got suspicious. Instead of saying anything back, he scooped as much water as he could and poured it on the ground to see inside the stall. "I can't see anything, stupid refraction" Tom thought. All he saw were blobs of blue and light yellow colors. He realized he should mind his own business, so he went to the hall to see exactly what he predicted - music, people standing around, cheap sugary drinks, and a bunch of sad people.

- You came. - Emily came up to him.

- I'm starting to regret my choice by the minute.

- Oh come on, why are you so pessimistic.

- I'm realistic.

- Let's sit down. - Emily invited Tom to the chairs.

- If you think I'm pessimistic, take a look, - he sat down next to her, - there are about fifty people here currently. How many of them will succeed? How many of them will pay off their house? How many of them will have their dream job?

- If you ask me, all of them could do that.

- You say that, but I doubt you actually believe it. How many of them will have debt? How many of them will get divorced? How many of them will never pay off their mortgage? But that all doesn't matter, where's your boyfriend? - Tom relaxed.

- Harry? - Emily smiled.

- No, your other boyfriend. - Tom sarcastically said.

- Oh, he just went to the bathroom. He drank quite a bit of that drink, of course, we had other drinks of our own.

Tom didn't want to say anything, so he just sat in silence. Not long after, Harry came back and Tom left since he had plans to leave early from the start. 

While going out, he bumped into a classmate. They both apologized and continued walking, but Tom realized something and turned around. Olivia - the Finnish exchange student. Light blonde hair and a baby blue dress. 

- Hey, where are you heading from? - Tom asked.

- Me?

- I don't see who else I would've asked that question.

- Umm, I was just heading back from the cafeteria.

- Isn't it locked?

- Is it? - She laughed and walked away.

Not wanting to waste any time, Tom went home and got back to his usual work. He didn't think about the whole situation until Monday and the last week of school came around. Tom didn't want to talk to anybody - he wanted the week to end so that he could finally relax from people. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't sit in silence:

- Why did you leave early on Friday? - Emily asked.

- I really didn't see a point in being there. It was a nice day outside - the only good thing I got out of that. If anything, I wasted time, I could've been home doing something actually productive.

- Whatever, Mr. Boring.

- Boring for you, that is. How's Harry, he's doing good? - Tom wanted to say something.

- Yea, even though he was a bit weird yesterday. We got a bit tipsy and honestly, I thought we would get frisky, but he didn't want any of it.

- You don't need to tell me that, but sure. Well, there was probably a reason.

- What do you mean? - Emily seemed confused.