The tic tac toe game

"Come on Tyler, jussst one shot never killed anyone." George's voice cracked into my face, the unbearbale smell of too much alcohol consumed disgusting me.

"George, there are so many things wrong with that sentence that I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear you say it." I answered, smirking a fake smile.

George looked at me for four and a half seconds without saying anything, then laughed up. He very uncoordinatedly patted my shoulder and mumbled 'I get the joke' or something of the sort.

Man, he was wasted. Not that I'd expect anything else from him after a party this wild.

I looked around, only to find Tom and Eleanor the last ones standing, but they were too drunk to do anything but giggle continuously. Iris, Peter and Avery left an hour ago or so. Sam and Fred retreated to Sam's room ten minutes ago, leaving us with the following instructions: 'tidy up, willya?'. Nobody, especially not me and my lazy ass, intended to do any tidying. Xavier and Olivia were kissing passionately on the coach, Max watching them creepily from the armchair across the coffee table. Zoe was laying on the floor, a castle made of empty cups built on her stomach. Probably Layla built it, who was sitting at her feet, watching her own hands with fond interest. This was my friend group. A bunch of loveable idiots, who couldn't help but drink too much.

Some terrible pop song was faintly going in the background. Cups and food everywhere. Yeah, the place was definitely in serious need of tidying, but then again, I was not gonna do it.

I stepped up to the lovebirds on the coach.

"Sorry for interrupting." Said me, after a coughing sound. "But I'm leaving, you two need a lift?"

"Nah bro, bye." Xavier answered right away. Wow, to have friends this caring. Sarcasm intended.

"Drive safe." Added Olivia. Wow, to have friends this caring. And this time I mean it.

Then I walked around the coffee table, grabbed Max by his arm, putting it around my shoulder and pulling him up to his feet. He didn't help me one bit, this drunk dork.

"Tyler!" He greeted me with a great smile.

"Max!" I exclaimed back, but he didn't notice my mocking tone. Max was the enthusiastic kind of drunk. I started leading him out to the car.

"Guess what happened." He said after some welcomed silence.

"What?"

"No, no, actually guess." He insisted.

I sighed. Knowing the way Max's mind worked...

"Hmm, can it be that Xavier and Olivia got together?"

Max seemed utterly amused that I guessed right.

"Wooow, yeah. Bro, how did you guess that? You a ps- psy- pysc- shit, what's the word?"

"Psychic?" I raised a brow, a smile playing on my lips. Max wasn't too bright without alcohol either, but now...

"Chills man. Just how do you do that?"

"A good magician never tells his secret. Never." I said, now searching in my pocket for the keys to my car.

"So, you're a magician. I thought you wanted to be a mathemmm... What's the word?"

"Mathematician." I put him in the front seat, fastening his seatbelt before he lost his balance while sitting.

"You did it again. Amazing, dude, you're amazing..."

I left him by himself, closing the door on him, just to make sure. Make sure he wouldn't wander away like a lunatic.

And I dived back into the house, to rescue others from the remains of today's - well, yesterday's party.

Tom and Eleanor came with me without protest, they didn't need support, and they spent the minute it took to get to the car by giggling. They needed help with the seatbelt though.

And then I went back one more time, to get Zoe ane Layla. Now, Zoe was surprisingly steady once I helped her to get vertical again. But Layla... She tripped a thousand times, and I could barely keep us standing. But we made it. And Zoe volunteered to lay across the guys in the back, so I wouldn't have to come back for anyone. As much as this seemed like a terrible idea, I really wanted to get all my friends home as soon as possible, so I made a deal with myselft to drive extra carefully, and sat behind the wheel. Zoe and Tom lived in the same street, which was pretty close to Sam's house, so I decided I'd drive them home first.

We were passing by our dear high school, when Layla piped up from behind.

"I think I'm gonna throw up..." She informed us, and as I glanced back at her, her greenish face was proof enough she meant it.

"Oh, fuck, no. Layla, don't!" I pulled down at the next opportunity, the bus stop by to the school coming in handy. "Keep it in for a moment, please."

"Why are we stopping at the school?" Max asked, but I didn't respond. I jumped out of my car, which was not my car but dad's - that's why Layla could NOT throw up in it.

I basically tore Layla out of the vehicle, and escorted her to the nearest ditch. And she began throwing up on cue, she only had to look at Eastwood High.

Eleanor also got out of the car before I could stop her. She walked up to us, and handed me a red marker (?).

"I'm joining in." She announced, and then bent down next to Lalya to vomit also.

"Oh my god..." I grossed out so much I had to turn around. But then again, I don't know why I was watching them throw up in the first place.

I walked away, and having no better idea, I strolled the bus stop. Nobody was here, thankfully. The last thing we have needed would have been strangers witnessing two teenagers throwing up merrily.

"Oyy, Tyler!" Max pulled down the window, startling me by the sudden yell. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"No, no, man, you have to guess!" I sighed again, for what felt like the bazillionth time tonight. Why did I volunteer to be the driver? Why?

"Okay, then... Maybe, possibly, can it be that Layla and Eleanor are throwing up in a ditch?" I asked, troubled. Of course I guessed right again.

"You see Zoe? That's what I was talking about. He's a psh-- a psy thing." He turned backwards in his seat, the belt making this action slightly harder. I could only react by laughing up loudly. My best friend was an idiot.

As chaos lingered around me, my eyes fell on the new bin in the bus stop. Somebody's already drawn a dick on it, and someone else chose to advertise their Instagram profile on this bin. My fingers subconsciously tightened around the red marker Eleanor entrusted me with. This would surely leave a mark on the bin too. What if I doodled something? But weren't there any cameras here? I looked around but didn't spot any. So nobod would have proof it was me, right? But this was illegal...

"Screw it." I mumbled into the night, bending down to vandalize the bin. I decided this was my form of rebelling against the injustices of society, and on my first whim, I drew a three by three board used for tic tac toe, and placed an X in the middle square.

"Tyler! How do I open this doorrr?" Eleanor's question dragged me back to tonight's reality.

___

I hope you guys have as much fun reading as I did when I was writing :))

And feel free to signal misspellings and such, grammar and I... Well, we're not the best of friends, to say the least.

Love,

Niki