The party

David slammed the door behind him, knowing that no one at the party would hear it over the booming music and scream-talking that so heavily characterized it, as well as continued to pierce through the walls and pound on his eardrums incessantly. He was tired, and he hated crowds, and he hated the smell of smoke and alcohol that was wafting through the halls, and he just wanted to be alone so he could go to sleep but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon and he knew it. He sat down on the bed, facing away from the door, and rubbed his face. He could feel his skin crawling like a thousand ants swarmed underneath it, each sound that slipped under the door was like an ant biting off a tiny ant mouthful of his muscles and moving them around inside him.

He cringed as he heard the door open and close, letting in a boom of sound for a moment that shot through him like a bullet. He didn't turn to see who it was. He didn't want to know. Probably some drunk asshole who thought they were in the bathroom, and would try to pee on his sink or something...

"David, right?" came a vaguely familiar voice from behind. He glanced back, surprised, to see his roommate's sister, Rachel. He had only met her a couple of times, and it had really only been in passing, seeing as he was always in a rush to get to his room and away from whatever his roomie was doing when she was there. "You ok? I saw you practically bolt out of there." She was dressed in tight jeans and a loose, green tank top, and her hair was tied up in a ponytail. She looked surprisingly sober.

David turned away again, his body almost involuntarily curling up. "Too fucking loud," he muttered under his breath.

Rachel moved closer to the bed, but not into David's vision. He could feel the bed shift as she leaned against it gently. "Did Frank not tell you he was going to have a party tonight?" she asked.

"He did," he muttered back.

"Did you tell him it was ok to do that?"

"I did."

Rachel very slowly moved closer and sat beside him on the bed. David's body leaned away from her on its own. "Why?" she asked him. "You clearly aren't ok with it. You know this is your place, too, right? You have all the right to tell him to piss off."

David didn't dare to look at her. "Don't want to have to argue," he responded.

Rachel sighed. "Frank can be a reasonable guy, you know. Well, when he hasn't been drinking, at least." David didn't respond. He just sat there, bundled up, trying to pretend like the party wasn't happening. Rachel sighed again and got off of the bed. He expected her to head back out, but she moved into his vision and knelt on the ground in front of him. David looked away instinctually. "You don't like it here right now, right?" she asked. David remained silent. "Well, then, let's get out of here. You and me. We'll go find somewhere quiet, you can take a nap until the party's over maybe."

David slowly turned his head to look at her, the confusion plain as day on his face. "Why?" he asked after a moment.

Rachel smiled gently. "Cause it's my birthday," she said, "and I don't like people being sad on my birthday."