A Happy New Year

New Years was a popular time in Camp Jupiter, one for change among the many inhabitants of Camp Jupiter and New Rome. Some aspired to train harder, some aspired to reach the ladder and climb, and others wished to work on themselves. For Christian it was one of the few holidays he took to enjoy himself, in ways that he knew he shouldn't. But it was the end of the year, and all guard posts were posted. There was nothing he would be needed for until 2018 came rolling in.

Usually Christian spent the time until midnight with his Cohort, and they'd talk about their aspirations and usually have some sort of forbidden fun. Last year had gotten out of hand, though thankfully no one found out about Cohort Five's misadventures. Christian and Corinne agreed to tone it down, and lights out was planned and enforced. At least until 11:55, everyone wanted to countdown the ball drop. Christian had been the last to sneak into the bath house; he'd had loose ends to tie up before the New Year started.

Before he approached the caldarium, though they were more like water jets, he dug into his right pocket for his bottle, and popped a few pills. When he went to push the door open, a face immediately greeted him with a smile. "Where'd you go?" Lennie asked.

"Lauren wanted me to bring something." Christian told her, before flashing the bag on his shoulder. He'd been in gear all day, but he was decent enough to leave his weapons back at Camp in case something went wrong. The only thing he had to defend himself now was his cuffs.

"Are you sure the alcohol is a good idea?" She asked. Her expression was concerned.

"It'll be okay." Christian assured. "If you're against it, we can go back to the barracks." He was willing to cancel plans, especially if they violated the riles he swore to uphold.

"No, I'm good. I want to spend time with you and Corinne." Lennie firmly stated.

"And Lauren?" Christian mused.

"What about her?" Lennie shot back with a grin.

"Stop." Christian playfully responded. "She's one of us. We need to work together, be a family, you know that."

"There's two ways to lead, Christian. In the middle isn't one of them." Lennie firmly stated, leaving Christian to continue to ponder his own actions. The pair moved forward into the dimly lit room, before Lennie flicked the lights.

Christian held the bag up to display to Lauren. "I got 190 proof." He boasted. "No way you beat that."

After the events of last year Corinne and Christian had decided on something more low key for this year's celebrations. It ended with a lot of hungover legionnaires, and for Corinne one of the biggest headaches of her life. Of course that was something that had made Lauren proud, but at least at the end of the day she had helped Corinne through it. Lauren was there to hold Corinne's hair and rub her back while she had to throw up the next morning and even took over some of her duties to let her rest up.

Corinne knew that some people weren't the biggest fan of Lauren, but she did have some redeeming qualities and that's what Corinne could respect from her. Of course this year the plan was for the leadership of the fifth cohort to sneak into the caldarium for some fun for the new years countdown.

The daughter of Chione had gone over by herself, but Lennie had already been there. Lauren and Christian had been out looking for alcohol apparently, something Corinne wasn't sure if she wanted to do again due to the last time, but as long as she controlled how much she drank this time and didn't let Lauren hand her drinks then she'd be fine.

Corine had been changing while she waited to get into one of the swimsuits her and Lennie went to buy at one point. She felt a little naked in it, but at least she was more comfortable with showing skin opposed to what she would have been comfortable with last year. Corinne had dipped herself in slowly feeling the warmth around her and it was rather relaxing.

Lauren had gotten back just a bit before Christian had. She was just walking out of the change room when Christian walked in with Lennie. "Sadly I don't have you beat, but the higher the alcohol content isn't always better. I got 180 though."

"Isn't about what tastes good, if it was, I'd be sipping on iced tea right now." Christian replied, before he grinned. "Are the words that you're looking for 'you won Christian?" The legacy asked coyly. Christian began to move the bulky pieces of armor from his body, starting with his helmet, and working his way down. He rested them in a neat pile; if someone did come in, they would notice the armor and tomorrow would be a hectic start to the new year.

"You're the only person I know who's wandering around at 11:30 at night in full armor." Lennie commented to him. She herself wandered behind a changing stall to change. "Who were you going to see before all of this?" She teased, with a laugh afterwards.

Christian kept himself from rolling his eyes, before setting his gear all down a distance from the tub. He had a suspicion that Lauren was the type to splash. Christian grabbed his bag and grabbed a different stall. He waved to Corinne, who hadn't said a word, before he entered the stall and closed it behind him. "If there was anyone important to see, I think I'd be there instead of here right now." He commented. "Lori, I hope you brought mixers, otherwise we're drinking straight from the bottle." He mused aloud as he began to change.

"Hey I make a good iced tea that's alcoholic, Corinne would know." Lauren said with a grin on her face as she began to slip into the hot water across from Corinne.

"Yeah, they taste good, but they hit you really hard the next morning." Corinne said looking back on last new years eve with a bit of a shudder. "I don't want to get that drunk again."

"Come on, I took care of you last time, I'll take care of you again." Lauren retorted to the daughter of Chione. "Also, I may have a mix hidden somewhere in the bathhouse if you really want to go find it, but I like a challenge. See who can do the most shots or something." She said excitedly, the rush she got while drinking didn't compare to others. Not to confuse Lauren with an alcoholic or anything, she drank on special occasions.

Corinne waved back to Christian before looking over to Lauren again. "I don't know if my stomach can handle shots this year. Is it even a good idea to be drinking? What if we get caught in here and have to awkwardly stumble around?"

"Don't prey on the innocent, Lauren." Christian called out to the conversation. "She comes from a different time, if she doesn't want to get drunk then there's no need to make her." He defended. "It's no secret you've said and done things you've regretted under the influence." He playfully challenged to Lauren, before he walked out. When the California summers came, Christian never made the time to go to the beach, it seemed so pointless to him. He'd only gotten this bathing suit specifically for the plans they'd made.

He glanced out, waiting for Lennie to walk out as well, which she did shortly after. "Slowpoke." He teased, to which she gave a waning sigh.

"Some of us don't keep stripping in our ciriculum, Christian." She teased back, before pausing. "But I guess that explains why you alwsys carry around those handcuffs." She concluded.

"They're a tradition." He proudly declared. "My Centurion gave them to me, and his gave them to him. They're gonna be yours one day." He told her, before they started towards the hot water.

Lennie stepped in, baring the initial shock of the hot water, and getting it all over with, before taking a seat on one of the sides. "What am I going to use handcuffs for?"

Christian ignored her jabs, he took the same gentle plunge in, leaving his bag within arm's reach. "I'm not digging for your stash." He told Lauren. "I do enough of that during contraband checks." He said, before opening his own bottle and taking a swig.

Lauren laughed as Christian made the comment about praying on the innocent. "She's not as innocent as she was!" Lauren protested jokingly before she commented again,"But I'll leave her alone, for now." She said and grabbed one of the bottles she had sat near her seat. "Lennie, you want some?" Lauren asked handing one over to the other Opito.

"As to your question about the handcuffs, there's lots of things you can use them for. Locking people up, or you know having a lil' fun with them if you know what I mean." Lauren said with a playful wink shot towards Lennie. Before she could say anything else about them she was cut off by Corinne.

"No, I'll drink, pass me something." She said out loud to either Lauren or Christian who had their own stashes that they had brought for the group. "Wait, I got handcuffs from my centurion too back before I got frozen and stuff. Had to do so ridiculous stuff to get them though." The daughter of Chione said as she reached her hand out to grab a drink from Christian.

"I'm not sure I'm the 'handcuffing people for fun' type of person." Lennie told Lauren. She took a drink from her before looking down at it solemnly. She wasn't the type to drink, but this was the one day of the year she made the exception. Mostly, she did it to make a statement. Lennie opened the bottle and took her first sip, letting a salty wheeze out afterwards. "Gods. You guys really don't have any taste-buds, do you?" She teased with a bitter tone.

Christian's aftertaste reeked of ethanol, a taste so foul he'd feel bliss if he had polluted pond water to chase it down with. He kept his face straight though, at least, as straight as he could. He was the type to try to impress people at every turn, even if he knew that there was really nothing impressive about it. "That's part of the tradition. She's gonna have to take the same test." Christian told Corinne, gesturing to Lennie afterwards. He hesitantly handed Corinne the bottle he was drinking from.

"Be careful." He said. "That stuff is horrible, Corinne, be ready." He warned. There was no way for her to know for sure until she drank it, but Christian was still worried about how the first sip would go down. "We're not all professionals at this." He said, glancing over to Lauren to give her a grin.

"Your loss then." Lauren said with a shrug of her shoulders as she grabbed another bottle from her bag and opened it. Right away she could smell the alcohol, but that was a good sign, it meant she would be more likely to feel it in her system. Lori was a bit a rebellious kid, she was more than likely a huge handful to her mother and it was probably why Lauren never had any siblings.

"I think my taste buds died years ago, Lennie." Lauren said before taking a swig of the alcohol. She was wrong though, she had working taste buds and the stuff was awful, but she wouldn't let the bitterness show, not when hers was only 180 and Christian's was 190, especially when he seemed so put together with his. Lauren always took a challenge when she saw the chance for it. Of course most of her challenges had been with Christian due to the sheer fact they grew up together and constantly tried to out do the other. Well, that was probably more on Lauren's part.

Corinne nodded, "What did they make you do anyways?" She asked Christian grinning thinking about the possibilities. Back in her day pranks were a lot less than they were now, and she knew for Christian they'd have to give him a really good one considering he broke the rules more often than not.

As she took the bottle Christian had been drinking from, she felt the slight hesitation she felt last year. It was more than likely her intuition telling her to stop. Telling her to remember her mistake last year, but a couple sips wouldn't hurt. So long as she watched what she drank, she'd be fine. As the rim of the bottle pressed her lips she tilted the bottle back and some of the contents went into her mouth. The moment it hit her tastebuds she was fairly sure they went numb and she felt the instant burning.

"Nope." Corinne choked out with a look of bitterness on her face. "I don't think I was ready for that. Feels like I got punched in the face." Corinne said and immediately handed the bottle back. She could hear a few laughs from Lauren and watched as she got up out of the water. Lauren was walking over towards the change rooms and brought out a bottle of mix. She got back in the hot water and handed the bottle to Corinne.

"Here, this should help." Lauren said, and Corinne immediately took it to chase the alcohol down with.

"I never thought something so sugary and carbonated would taste so good.Anything is better than that."

"Luke picked for me." Christian told Corinne when she asked what he had to do. "We're all family here, but, I'm not ready to hand you guys direct blackmail to me just yet." Christian stated, but of course, he couldn't help but continue the tease. "But, it was illegal and as far as the record is concerned I have an airtight alibi." Christian flonted, as though it was something to be proud of. He sometimes enjoyed reminiscing when he vandalized the property of the Davenports. The shock on Luke's face that he'd gotten it done was one of the sweetest feelings, though he supposed getting any emotion from the former Centurion was difficult.

Christian shot a concerned look over to Corinne. He almost felt as though she wasn't here by her own choice, but like she felt she had to be. He almost wanted to remind her that she was Lauren's boss, but the comment didn't feel in good taste. His head tilted as Lennie spoke up, "You stashed mixer inside of a changing room." She stated in disbelief. "You do know this place is PG-13, right?" She teased.

Christian closed his eyes, and let himself relax, the water felt good like it was washing away all of the stress he'd ever accumulated in his existence, which was safe to say a fair amount. That didn't last long, until he felt a nudge on his arm from Lennie. "Falling asleep fifteen minutes before the ball drops? You crazy party animal." She play-mocked, before gesturing to the bottle Corinne had handed back to him. "You're gonna lose at this rate."

"Resting my eyes." Christian corrected, before he took the bottle and took another swig. He was, as always, determined to win.

"Most centurion's do pick for you. I picked what Richard had to do before I went on my quest." Corinne said and a smile formed on her face remembering watching Richard try to do what she had asked of him to do. That only led into thoughts about how things were back in her day and when cohort five was the most looked up to in the legion. "One day, you'll have to tell us." Corinne concluded and began to sip on the pop that Lauren had given her before asking for one of the bottles Lauren had.

"It's not like I stashed the actual alcohol in the change room. Can't risk pesky, snotty hands on such precious things." Lauren said with a scoff before she took another swig of the bottle and passed it over to Corinne. "Also, it's never PG-13 as long as I'm around." The daughter of Apollo said wiggling her eyebrows a bit.

"'Resting my eyes' he says, that's what my father always said to me before he fell asleep." Corinne said getting in on the teasing with Lennie before she took a long swig of the 180 and chasing it with the mixer that Lauren had brought with her. That's when Corinne's hand placed onto Christian's shoulder and began to lightly shake him as part of her tease. "Wake up sleepy head."

"Yeah, no, all three of you are hilarious." Christian countered. He watched Lauren take another swig, matching his count, before he braced himself and took another swig of his own, this time taking more in. He was glad he was sitting down, because he knew the second he stood up things might start to get a little wobbly. "No point in any type of comedy when I'm stuck with you three-" Christian began to tease, before he felt Corinne's hand on him. Normally it wouldn't be a concern, until he realized something, which made him even stop in his tracks in terms of speaking to the group.

His hand darted up from the water to grab her wrist, which in hindsight, probably turned some heads. He ran his fingers along her skin to make sure he wasn't wrong. "Corinne." He stated. "Your skin is... room temperature." He said, looking at Lauren and Lennie, almost as if to just invite them to feel Corinne's skin, as if that was his call.

"Do you feel okay?" Lennie asked her, scooting closer to the two to feel Corinne's forehead, which left Christian giving her a blank look. "What?" She asked.

"You're feeling the girl who's always cold to see if her forehead is hot." He pointed out the irony.

Corinne couldn't stop from laughing after Christian made a comment about all of their teasing. It was always nice when the four of them could get together and spent some time away from everything else and duties. The daughter of Chione knew it was a good idea to get to know those you worked closely with and create a bond outside of work because it generally made things a smoother sailing.

Lauren could see Christian moving a bit and she smirked knowing that he was more than liking feeling the alcohol now. "Are you feeling it now, Mr.Krabs?" The daughter of Apollo asking chuckling a bit as the smile wouldn't slip from her face, almost as if it were permanent. It wasn't long after that that Christian had grabbed Corinne's wrist and instantly Lauren caught the alcohol bottle that was in the girl's hands.

The daughter of Chione looked at the three of them like they were crazy. She had Christian holding her wrist while Lennie felt her forward, and Lauren looking at her in a bizarre way. Corinne was almost tempted to make a remark that Lauren cared more about the alcohol than her. The brunette was sent into a haze of confusion as she had never had so many hands on her at once. "Guys." Corinne stated blinking her eyes a bit.

She laughed and swatted the hands away. "I'm fine. The ice layer I have over my skin either melted away in the hot water or went away. I can't tell you how this thing works, but it can melt." Corinne stated and looked over to Christian. "You can let go now."

Christian gave Lauren a non-amused look. "If you're done with your ancient references, you're down a swig." Christian challenged, but not before he took advantage of his lead and furthered it by taking another swig. On the inside, he wanted nothing more than to chug the entire bottle of mixer to relieve the taste in his mouth. Even the hot tub water they were all marinating in would suffice, but of course, Christian couldn't very well drink the water without being caught and looking like a weirdo, and worse, inferior to Lauren. That was not an option, he'd die of alcohol poisoning before he let her win.

Christian let go of Corinne's wrist upon request. "Sorry. Just used to your touch being cold. It's neat to feel it be different." Christian let out a shrug, enough to give the water an ever so slight current. He put his bottle down for the first time of the night, he was two swigs ahead in stronger alcohol, but he could already feel himself getting tipsy.

"What about you, Apol-Lauren?" Christian continued to be smug when he spoke to her, a usual shared trait between the two. "I know you gotta be feeling the heat. You're gonna be down when the ball drops, and I'm gonna consider that a victory for me in the 2017 tourney." He teased in a boast.

"Ancient? Please. Spongebob is still relevant today, trust me." Lauren scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. Lauren was always in some kind of debate or pissing contest with Christian, it was just the routine they were used to and what they grew up knowing and they haven't changed. She was fairly sure even when they were in diapers they probably had some sort of contest on who would annoy their mothers' first.

"It's alright." Corinne said a bit sheepishly. She could feel the warmth in her body and she could feel her mind begin to numb a little. Something that let her relax entirely and she was just giddy now. She couldn't help but giggle at the smallest things and then she'd apologize for them. The daughter of Chione began to reach for the bottle in Lauren's hand again to take another swig. "Am I on the board now?" Corinne asked slurring her words again.

Lauren laughed and took the bottle back from Corinne. "Just stick to the soda for now." Lauren reassured her gently before looking back over to Christian. "Maybe I feel it, maybe I don't. You wont know, because you'll be out before you get to see it." The daughter of Lauren proclaimed and then took two long swigs of the alcohol back to back. It killed her throat and she was fairly sure that inside she was crystal clean by the amount of alcohol. "We're tied again buckaroo." The girl stated in her usual tipsy fashion. The horrible nicknames usually came out around this time.

"I'll be up when the ball drops, I promise you that."

"Water if you brought any." Christian corrected Lauren. "Hangovers are only a lack of hydration. Which is weird because alcohol is just fermented stuff, water and sugar, so why does it dehydrate people?" Christian continued to think aloud, his seriousness was long out the window. "Listening to Lauren will get you burned. Sunburned." He said, and then he began to laugh aloud at his own joke as if it was the funniest thing on the planet.

Christian hastily grabbed his bottle and took another swig, before putting it down. Keeping a steady lead was very important for taking the win at the end. "Buckaroo?" He repeated. "I thought you just said things were never PG-13 when you were around, and you call me 'buckaroo?" He questioned, giggling afterwards. "I'll be ahead when the ball drops, I know it." Christian wildly declared. "I guarantee it. I bet my life on it. My whole life, Lori." He continued. Then, he took a pause.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"I didn't bring any water, if you get really desperate you can drink the hot tub water." The daughter of Apollo hadn't realized what she had told Corinne until it was too late. "Wait." Lauren continued and looked over to the female centurion. "Maybe uh, don't do that. I'll get water later." She clarified before she took another swig to match up with Christian. The demigod could feel it clouding her judgement even more and more.

"You know what, you guys are great people. I seriously mean that." After she said that she continued on to take another drink. The girl was really not feeling any of the alcohol go down anymore. It was smooth and glided down, but that didn't mean she was dying to just grab the soda from Corinne and chug it. She almost considered her idea to drink the hot water, but there wasn't any way she could pull it off.

"You heard me, Buckaroo. I could uh, call you something else. Like, fuckaroo? I don't know it doesn't sound good." Lauren said mumbling to herself as she moved her free hand in the water a bit. "But, you guys are seriously great. Like Lennie, I have so much respect for you. I know I don't make your job easier, I hope you know I'll try not to be a major bitch in the new year. I can't make any promises though." The girl concluded, before she felt the bottle slip from her hands. "Hey!"

"It's my turn to drink!" Corinne proclaimed and began to take a long swig from the bottle before tossing it back to Lauren. "i want to compete too! I'll win one year! Mark my words!" with that a giggle escaped from her lips before she took a small sip of the soda.

"I don't know what time it is, but Lennie should know! She's smart and skillful and talented. Right Lennie?"

"Fuckaroo you too." Christian shot back at her. He wasn't liking her gaining the lead, he knew he needed to start pacing, otherwise he'd throw up. He also needed to get back to his barracks before morning. While he knew he was fine now, that would change within an hour of their current track, and so sadly, Christian left his bottle where it was.

Lennie had been sitting in her own little corner, watching the madness ensue. Of course, she was Cohort Five's mom, and it looked like that was going to ring extra true tonight. "It's 11:55." Lennie declared, looking at her watch. "And you two are more drunk than Chicago college kids on a Friday night." She also declared. Then she paused. "You three." She corrected.

"Whoa, is that watch... waterproof?" Christian asked.

"Nope. My wrist is just so 'smart, skillful, and talented." She playfully mimicked Corinne, before she eyed Lauren. "If you make a comment on that, I swear, you won't live to see 2018."

Christian waited, his strategy was simple, wait until there was thirty seconds left, and boost passed Lauren. It was a risky strategy, but in his state of mind, Christian felt he was more smart than Tesla himself.

"What does that even mean?" Lauren pondered aloud to the group as Christian said Fuckaroo back to her. "Does that mean you want to fuck me? I mean you're great and all, but I dunno dude, I think I might be a bit more into girls... Actually a lot more into girls." The daughter of Apollo couldn't help but say everything that came to mind out loud. It was like the moment they were thought of they just fell out of her mouth and there was nothing she could do about. The girl couldn't just simply shove them back in, it didn't work that way.

"Chicago college kids, ha! I wanted to go to college once." The girl said tossing her head to the side as she leaned on the edge. "You're drunk Lennie. Not me. I am absolutely fine" The legacy continued to shake her head and continued to hold the bottle. She held it close to her chest before looking at Christian. "Why aren't you drinking, pal?! I know what you're doing! I think..."

Corinne wasn't able to grab the bottle from Lauren anymore, so she reached over and grabbed Christian's bottle and took a swig. "Gods this is awful. I forgot." She said shaking her head a bit. From the moment she did she had instant regret. "I don't feel so well." The daughter of Chione mumbled as she began to try and climb out of the hot water.[/color][/color]

Christian was typically a happy drunk, but he fell sour at Lauren's remarks. He wondered why she had to put him on the spot like that in front of his partner and his apprentice. What comeback was there that was realistic enough to get back at her? Surely nothing harmless enough, anything that might work would just be outright offensive, and even though she'd hurt his feelings, he didn't want to hurt hers back. So, for once, tipsy Christian didn't have a word to say in return.

He noticed Corinne getting sick, or at least close to it, and figured he could at least do something for her. He began the steps to stand up, he could feel his motor skills needing to readjust, which would just take a moment. Before he could take his first step though, a hand gently pushed down on his shoulder. "I got her, Christian." Lennie assured him. "You'll have dozens of times when she really needs you and I'll be somewhere else." She assured him, before turning back to Lauren to tease her. "Sorry your eye candy is departing for the moment." She giggled afterwards. Lennie herself had never kept her sexuality a secret.

Christian sat back down, and watched the pair disappear, before turning back and slowly reaching for his own bottle. There was only one thing left to do now before the ball officially dropped.

As the other two left Lauren was left there with Christian who was now silent. The girl knew that it no doubt had something to do with what she had said to Christian. She hadn't meant it to come out the way it had and she felt instant regret. There was part of her that had sympathy for people, Christian was one of them. She grew up with him for so long that he was one of the only people she gave an actual damn about and to know that his silence was partial if not fully her fault had hurt her.

The girl moved over to Corinne's old spot next to where Christian was. She wasn't right next to him and in his space, but she was closer to try and talk to him. The girl wanted to take a long swig of alcohol, but she knew it wouldn't be a good move right now and knew she needed to be genuine. Even in a drunken haze she knew wrong from right.

"I'm sorry. I realize it was out of line to say." She said softly and paused not knowing how to proceed. With caution was a given, but she didn't want to make things worse. "Christian, I didn't even entirely mean it. I mean. I do like girls, I've always said that. But there are some guys out there I do like." It took everything inside of her to admit something she didn't want to, but felt if she didn't say it now, she'd never say it. There'd never be a chance like this one.

"There was one point when we were younger where I was interested in you. We were fourteen. I just don't think I'd ever be a good fit for you. I'm not a great influence on you. I don't encourage you to do the right thing. I'll probably drag you down more in life if we ever became more than what we are now. " With that Lauren grew silent and didn't say a word. Never once in a million years did she think she'd admit that to him.

"I don't care that you like girls, Lauren." Christian replied. "It's 2017, almost 2018. Your preference of girls isn't an issue with anyone, and if it was, I'd tell them off myself for you." His arm reached out to her shoulder, giving her assurance. "You're not a bad person. If I didn't believe in you, you wouldn't be an optio right now. And never has it ever crossed my mind to demote you. You're not here on accident. You're not here for pretending." He told her.

"Even if you commit to only being romantic with pear trees and sexual with train stations, you're still Lauren to me. The same person who I grew up with. But it'd be nice to not have to be called out like I'm some trash can that just needs to be tossed and replaced. I have feelings too. Basically being told I'm the gross person in the room, especially being told that by someone I do so many things to impress, it hurts." He confessed. "I don't like this alcohol. Every sip makes me feel like my mouth is being bleached with acid. I'm doing it because I know it's what you want, and I couldn't bare to let you down."

Lauren couldn't help but laugh when he mentioned pear trees and train stations. Christian had a good heart and anyone in the fifth cohort could see that. Anyone who looked passed them being in the lowest ranked cohort would see that. He had the purest intentions and Lauren honestly admired that so much about him. The daughter of Apollo couldn't help but feel like part of his rebellion was her fault though. She knew she wasn't the absolute worst person out there, but she felt like she was bringing him down in a few ways.

"I know you don't care if I'm into girls. I really do. I didn't mean to imply you didn't. I'm just bad at expressing feelings and these sorts of things." She said and exhaled softly and looked over to him. "I am truly sorry. I don't see you has the gross person in the room. Not at all. My view of you is pretty far from that. I promise." As she finished speaking she set her bottle down before putting her hand on his.

"I don't like it either. I've been dying to rip the soda out of Corinne's hands all night. I'm doing this because I thought it was what you want. I'm okay with less alcohol content. Next year can we do just soda or like coolers that have five percent in them?" She asked him with a small laugh.

Christian listened, it was all he could do. It was the rarest thing for Lauren to admit any feelings that didn't revolve around negativity. Christian accepted that's who she was, he thought he'd just be waiting for Lennie and Corinne to have some company. He wasn't sure how to process Lauren opening up to him, it was something that was so rare. Were they supposed to hug? Was that even somewhat okay to do, even if they were fully clothed?

"Next year we can drink this legally, so, maybe we can stick to it. If you're man enough." Christian attempted to brighten the spirits. He wasn't sure what he was feeling or what to do about it. But survival theory was pretty clear that in situations like this, the best way to survive was to lay as low as possible until the threat was gone, and then avoid it. Which was awkward, considering the second the ball dropped, it was Lauren's birthday.

"We could always hit Pomona's pub. I'd suggest that we do The Tipsy Toga, but it gets too loud in there, and honestly I rather be able to hear the people I hang out with." Lauren said with a small shrug of her shoulders. There had been silence from Christian for the past little bit and she wasn't sure what it was for. She knew it wasn't normal for her to be so upfront about her feelings and admit much to him, but in some ways Lauren didn't want to continue to always be an asshole, she had meant what she had said to Lennie.

She wasn't sure how to proceed from where they were, but her instincts kicked and she moved in closer to give the legacy a hug. Her arms moved to wrap around him and it was a bit weird, but to Lauren it was a good weird. They hadn't been super touchy feely friends, but Lauren did care about Christian and at the end of the day she'd do anything he needed her to.

"I am sorry for hurting you. I don't like to, contrary to belief."

"I've only ever been to the Tipsy Toga." He admitted. "If I get caught sneaking around bars before age, I'm getting demoted quicker than Davis gets quiet when you show up." He smirked as he teased her. He wasn't large into the bar scene, he wasn't sure he ever would be. But if Lauren wanted to go, he'd go with her in a heart beat. "Just, please, no lesbian bars." He added at the end. "I'll have to search for other awkward friends who agreed to go."

"I don't think you like to hurt me." He assured. "I think you have a thing for Corinne or Lennie, or some other girl in camp, and broadcast-ed it in a way that accidentally came out wrong." He explained, as though it made him a master genius to put simple things together. He returned the hug without hesitation. They hadn't made much physical contact since they were just kids and it didn't mean anything.