charlie dalton loved parties.

it was one of the main things he so desperately envied about public high schools- aside from the girls (and boys!). the parties.

of course, he could get drunk on his own time- hell, maybe with a couple of friends if he could sneak them into his dorm at night- but the atmosphere wasn't the same.

now, he didn't know exactly what that atmosphere was supposed to be, but he knew it would be infinitely cooler than whatever welton could conjure up.

so when they were allowed out on october thirty-first- some kind of behavior reward or something, bless- as long as they stayed within town limits? he sniffed out the closest party.

he'd dragged you along. you, being his best friend of...forever and his roommate since he'd started welton (via practically begging and convincing the guy who assigned dorms).

you'd been planning on going to the store and stocking up on as much contraband as possible- snacks and cigarettes and beers.

but no, your best friend, who was just stupid charming and made everything a milion times harder to say no to just happened to plead with you about coming with him.

in charlie's mind, he'd asked once. very casually. nonchalantly.

so you'd trekked your way to the house- one of you dressed in snowboots against the vermont chill, and the other was charlie dalton, who had donned his practically untouched sneakers for the occasion.

"you think we should have dressed up?"

he was looking over his shoulder at you, and nearly ran into a lightpost had he not suddenly swerved. "you think we're too old for it?"

you passed several half rotten jack'o'lanterns on your way, mostly paying attention to them as charlie blabbed on and on and on. he was incredibly excited about this, nose just slightly pink from cold. he spent too much time indoors, he wasn't used to these temperature.

charlie stilled as he got to the door. finally.

people talking and laughing loudly could be heard with ease from your current position, a few steps behind your friend as to not trip him up.

"alright," he sajd after a beat, tossing a grin over to you. "let's go. c'mon, {{user}}, in."