I CAN FIX HIM ! by KissLeclerc
October 29, 2022 # "Funny Coincidence?"

"COMING!" Adeline called out to the front door as she made it down the stairs. Straightening down her orange ensemble as she adjusted the crown that sat on top of her head. She was dressed as Princess Daisy for a big Halloween party everyone had been talking about all month.

"Evening." The girl smiled as she opened the door to Ollie who was dressed as a men in black and Joslyn who had planned a duo costume with Adeline, matching her with a Princess Peach inspired look.

"My sweet daisy." Joslyn curtsied and laughed, earning a sarcastic groan from Ollie where she immediately elbowed him in the side to shut up.

"Ready?" The boy grimaced in pain as he shot Joslyn a glare. "Very." Adeline replied, laughing at the duo before shutting the door behind her.

Straightening his posture back up, Ollie bumped Joslyn's side aggressively, causing her to stumble, before rushing down the porch with a menacing giggle escaping his lips mischievously. Cursing yells at him as he retreated back to his car, the girl turned to her friend with an annoyed glare as Adeline smirked knowingly.

"He's so into you." The debate captain snickered.

"Yeah fucking right." Joslyn scoffed before following Ollie's footsteps and retreated down the porch as Adeline did the same after she rolled her eyes.

Denial.

"Adeline gets shot gun!" Ollie playfully called out as Joslyn was reaching for the front seat door handle already. "Excuse me?"

"Said what I said." The brunette said with a cocky grin.

"Yeah. Definitely into me." She turned to Adeline with a hushed whisper.

"I'm good with the back, thanks." The dark haired girl objected and got in the seats behind.

Starting the car, Ollie handed the aux cord to Joslyn before driving off and making his way towards the destination of Dino Beganovic's house. A fellow teammate of Kimi and Ollie, but Paul's childhood best friend outside of the friendgroup he already had.

Everyone loved Dino. He was a well known fellow, and he was adored by many.

He also just happened to be the best at throwing parties.

After what felt like a 15 minute drive of complete rambling and nonsense among the trio that sat in Ollie's car, they coincidentally pulled into the familiar street, the same time as Kimi and Genevieve who were dressed as Lightning Mcqueen and Sally.

"Ciao!" Kimi waved happily as he got out of the car. His red costume standing out beside Gen's light blue ensemble.

"Aw, look at you two." Joslyn smiled at the couple.

"No, look at YOU two." Genevieve was gawking at the mature princess costumes her best friend's had on. "Ohhh, I'm gonna be ripping these off the both of you toni-"

"Let's go in?" Kimi interrupted. "Should we do that?" He laughed nervously as he pulled his girlfriend away. Always feeling threatened by Joslyn and Adeline, knowing deep down inside that Gen would probably leave him for them.

"Yes, let's!" Ollie agreed as he was just standing around.

Walking up the porch, there were already people drinking and mingling outside as the music from inside blared from within. Upon entering the house, the group was already met with the familiar scent of alcohol as the bass boomed even louder than before.

"OLLIE! KIMI!" The boys were immediately spotted by some of their teammates.

"Ciao!" Ollie was quick to greet them alongside Kimi before said teammates migrated over to greet the girls they were all familiar with.

"What are you supposed to be?" Adeline snickered as she looked Zak O'Sullivan up and down after giving him a quick side hug.

"I'm cupid, of course?" He twirled in a pink t-shirt and white pants with a playful laugh following after, posing with a little bow and arrow.

"Oh, how adorable!" She laughed as he happily continued to put on a show for her.

"And you are Princess Daisy, I reckon?" He asked as he got a good look at her. Genuinely questioning her outfit.

"Correct!" She nodded and pointed over at Joslyn who was mingling with Ollie, Kimi, and Zane Maloney, another fellow classmate. "And my Princess Peach is right there."

"Are you also matching with Paul?" Zak questioned.

"Come again?" Adeline quirked a brow before the blonde himself appeared at the top of the staircase alongside Dino. The duo dressed as Mario and Luigi.

You're fucking kidding.

No way.

There's actually no fucking way.

As if her telepathy was correct, Adeline shot her head toward Joslyn who was already staring at her in shock. Excusing herself from Zak, she hurried over towards Joslyn, before grabbing her hand to disappear further into the party, booking it straight for the back patio where there wasn't many people.

"ARE WE KIDDING?" Joslyn nearly yelled but it didn't matter. The party inside was louder.

"YOU'RE JOKING RIGHT?" Adeline groaned. "We can pass off as regular princesses right? We don't look like we're matching with-I don't look like I'm matching with him right?..."

"I mean, at least for me, Dino is the one I'm matching with and not-"

"Girl." Adeline cut her off.

"Right." Joslyn quickly nodded.

"GUYS." Genevieve suddenly joined them outside, hurrying over with a suppressed grin on her face.

"Or honestly, Adeline specifically."

"Don't even start." The girl dressed as Princess Daisy held her hand up to make her friend stop talking. "This is crazy. Oh my god. OH MY-What if Vivienne is dressed like.."

"OHH, don't worry about that." Genevieve was quick to answer her thoughts. "She's out of town, according to Paul. She's not here tonight."

"AND I STARTED THANKING THE GODS." Joslyn preached as she looked up at the sky.

"Universe. Thank you."

"One less problem then." Adeline huffed a breath and began to calm herself down. "You know what? It's not even that big a deal... right....?" She was unsure.

"Right! It's just a crazy... insane... funny... insane... coincidence." Joslyn was kind of having too much fun with this.

"What will be insane is when I feed you laxatives and glue your butt cheeks shut." Adeline wasn't having it.

"Anything for you to fondle my cheeks." The girl was quick to shoot back as Genevieve couldn't help but cackle at the exchange.

"You're ridiculous."

"Okay Ads, look! It'll be fine. Just ignore him if he says anything. Easy." Joslyn proceeded to be a little more supportive. "You avoid him all the time so it shouldn't be a bother tonight."

"I don't know, school is one thing but a party is more-"

"Just ignore him like you do and it'll be okay!"

"Loosen up, beautiful!" Gen chimed in. "Let your stresses flow free, you won regionals last night, SO, that weight is finally off your back. Now, you can party and have fun!" She smiled.

"So, DO THAT."

"Yeah! And you did say you're willing to be civil around him..." Joslyn mentioned. "Team Adeline all the way and I need Paul Aron to rot! Kinda, sorta-But! I can't let that freak ruin our beautiful Halloweekend."

"You're right." Adeline took a deep breath. "I can be civil... I can be mature..." She mumbled to herself, attempting to mindlessly give her mind a couple reassurance affirmations.

"Yeah, I need a drink." She proceeded to grumble.

"And that is what we shall retrieve." Genenvieve was quick to agree. "Now let's!" She mindlessly grabbed both of her best friend's hands, quickly re-entering the house party.

Heading straight for the drinks table, Adeline smiled and greeted other familiar faces that she had recognized in the crowd when she and the others ran back into Ollie and Kimi.

"Oh! Where'd you guys go?" The shorter one asked before taking a sip from his red cup. "Had a little girl chat." Gen replied before taking a sip of her own from his drink.

"Ads, have you seen?-"

"Ollie, please." She was quick to stop him as knew the smirk on his face was about to refer to the infamous blonde she had been avoiding like the plague, and who had just happened to be dressed in a coincidental matching costume to hers.

Proceeding to make her way towards a keg or any type of dispenser that offered her a good fix of an alcoholic beverage, Adeline was too focused on making sure she didn't run into Paul, that she didn't even notice he was right in front of her, assisting himself to a cup of spiked punch.

"Shit!" She bumped into Paul, causing him to lightly stumble back and spill a bit over his costume.

"That was totally my bad-Sorry." Adeline apologized as he waved it off.

"Don't worry about it." Paul laughed as he grabbed a paper towel from a nearby counter and pat himself down.

"Nice costume." He said as he looked at her. Trying to spark a small conversation as she mindlessly went ahead and refilled his drink for him, also getting herself a cup of the same beverage since that's what she was aiming to get.

"Oh, thanks!" She said awkwardly. "You too.. I guess."

"Funny coincidence?" He smirked as she took a step back. "Yeah, right..." Her body was slightly frozen, unsure of what to do now before she began to take larger sips of her spiked strawberry lemonade in hopes the buzz would hit faster.

"Hey!" The two were soon brought out of their rotting bubble as Dino inserted himself into the conversation. "Adeline! Good to see you made it!" He laughed, giving her a side hug as she gladly accepted it.

"I couldn't not show up." Adeline suppressed a grin as the boy laughed. "Plus, free drinks!" She winked at him before taking another large sip from her cup.

Now that it wasn't just her and Paul, she felt less trapped.

Which was good.

Kinda.

As the night went on, Adeline kept the rest of her drinking at a slow pace as she continued to just mingle with Dino, Paul, and others who joined in and out, the people mainly being her friend group.

Thank god.

The conversations were never ending. It was a usual thing for Adeline and her friends to stand around and talk during a party while they shared drinks, it was their way of bonding.

From discussing the recent victory with the debate team to upcoming matches regarding football or even memories as the friends reminisced old seasons of their lives, the group had approached the topic of dating and relationships.

"Did you and Jak ever have anything going on?" Dino asked curiously as Ollie and the rest of the group just snickered. "Because I could've sworn..."

"What-?" Adeline scoffed. "Noooo! Love him to death though. Definitely one of my best mates." She answered the question.

"Buuutt..." Joslyn chimed into the conversation before she slightly trailed off.

"You know, Jak always had this ginormous crush on you." Paul spoke up, unintentionally cutting Joslyn off as everyone in the group glanced at him.

"Mate, that was back in year nine!" Ollie began to uncontrollably laugh with Kimi. "Way to throw him under the bus! And he's not even here to defend himself!"

"NO WAY." Adeline gasped as she, Joslyn, and Gen shared glances at each other in shock.

"What!?" Their sudden reactions caused all the guys to glance at them in confusion. "What happened?"

"You know like... AS I WAS SAYING." Joslyn briefly glared at Paul. "BuuuuuttTTTTT!" She emphasized her "T" sound at the end.

"Adeline used to have a crush on him too..."

"IN YEAR NINE." Genevieve finished the sentence for her. The guys looking at each other in shock before laughing.

"You're actually kidding." Ollie looked at the girls in awe before locking eyes with Kimi in shock. "No way!" He laughed.

"Why didn't you do anything about it?!" Kimi snickered. "Jak is such a good guy!"

"Trust me, he was the only guy I was willing to date in our school." Adeline admitted.

"Really?" Dino asked. "I would've thought Paul was right up that alley." He joked around. "Isn't he such a perfect, loyal, honest, and kind man?" His words were clear sarcasm.

"Ha. Ha." The blonde scoffed before elbowing his friend in the side.

"Paul is..." Adeline trailed off. "Definitely... something."

"Translation: The last person she'd ever consider dating in this universe ever." Ollie spoke up before she laughed.

"TRUE!" She reached forward and gave him a high five.

"Wait, who have you dated though? Anyone?"

"Never had a boyfriend..." Adeline shook her head and grinned. "Dino, where have you been?" She furrowed her eyebrows with a laugh.

"Under a rock apparently?!" He shrugged in shock.

"Why not just try it out with Jak?" Ollie's lips thinned as he fought every muscle in his body to not smile and laugh.

"Maybe because he's in America, and has a girl over there?" Adeline quirked a brow. "You know... Aly?"

"Right." The brunette scratched the back of his head as if he was confused.

"Idiot." She grumbled under her breath, only for Joslyn and Genevieve to hear.

"But moving on." Dino spoke back up. "How about you and Vivienne?" He questioned his best friend. Patting him on the chest with a mischievous laugh, making Adeline practically twitch at the sound of that name.

"What about us?" Paul snickered before taking a sip of his drink. "We're doing good. She just went out of town for the weekend."

"Wait but honestly, what about her made you want to change so bad?" Ollie curiously quirked a brow as Adeline began to intently listen, realizing she wanted to know the answer to this too.

"Wait, truly mate." Kimi agreed. "You went from being that guy, who slept with everyone, got with everyone, never did or took anything serious-"

"Okay, Kimi. I get it." Paul cleared his throat.

"Right-" The Italian rubbed his nose in a brief and awkward silence before bursting into laughter with Ollie once again.

"I just liked the way we got along and I guess I've been maturing a little bit." The blonde shrugged before briefly glancing at Adeline who was already staring at him. "So I wanted to give it a shot, and it wasn't easy... but, I made it work."

"I also had some help." He admitted. Locking eyes with Adeline again, this time causing her to look away.

"Cringe." Dino snickered before receiving another elbow to the side from Paul.

"Now how about you, Ollie?" He tried to move the center of attention to someone else. "Got your eyes on anyone?" The blonde asked.

"Uh." The brit practically stuttered, causing Adeline to quirk a brow at him as they looked at each other. Keeping brief eye contact, the girl darted her eyes toward a clueless Joslyn, causing him to look over at the same girl for a brief second, making his cheeks light up a small rosy pink.

"Yup. We all knew it." She thought to herself.

"No." Ollie was quick to deflect, making Adeline literally scream at the top of her lungs, but in her mind.

"Nobody? Seriously?" Dino quirked a brow as Kimi just knowingly chuckled.

"Nobody." He shrugged. "Okay, where did this crush talk nonsense even come from?"

"It just seemed like a fun topic... Sorry." Gen sighed as she crossed her arms in a playful manner of offense.

"Fun for you and Kimi." He looked at them with crossed arms and a playful glint in his eyes, everyone in the group laughing once again.

As the night wore on, the party buzzed with giggles and lively chatter. The friends, lost in animated conversations that were fueled by seltzers and spiked punch, would later struggle to recall any specific moments that happened within their surroundings.

It was the last year they'd all be spending such time together anyways too. Adeline wanted to enjoy this company, deep down, she wished everything were still the same.

After all, she applied to universities in America. That was always going to be her post-high school plans.

But nobody really knew that.

Leaving these people in a year seemed to be a likely outcome for Adeline by the time she and her friends walk their school's stage for graduation.

And although she told herself Paul would just be a civil acquaintance from then on, she couldn't help but stand in that mingling circle tonight and remember how much of a good friend he had been to her.

Being in his company at party, with no nagging, painful voice, was comforting in itself, and she thoroughly enjoyed every second, regardless.

Even if she didn't physically show it.

VERA'S VOICE!
Not a fan of this one. just had to get some things out of the way..... HEEEEEYYYYY.

pre writing about to go so insane. i have camp next week , #COUNSELOR , i will be trying my best to get things out while i'm at camp but i still don't know. IFYKYK!!!

yoo-hoo boston & el paso
from VANCOUVER