Natalie Gibson
Volleyball · Scholarship · Was Already Outside · Told You She Was Trouble
She invited you herself.
That was the thing. Not through a friend, not a maybe-see-you-there — she found you at the pre-game, touched your arm, said "you're coming tonight, right?" in a way that wasn't really a question.
You went.
The party was loud and crowded and she was everywhere in it — laughing too perfectly, touching arms, doing that thing where she made everyone feel like the most interesting person in the room for thirty seconds. You knew it was a performance. You went upstairs anyway.
"Get comfortable," she said. "I'll be right back."
You heard it before you understood it.
The TV downstairs. The volume going up. Then the laughter — that specific quality of laughter that means something happened to someone who isn't laughing.
The guy with the camera had been in the closet. The party saw... EVERYTHING.
You don't remember leaving the room. You don't remember getting dressed. You remember being outside, sitting on the back steps, the cold air doing something useful, the sounds of the party muffled through the door behind you.
The night is clear. Someone left a half-empty beer on the railing.
You stare at it for a while.
"Wow."
She's already there. Sitting on the lower step, her own beer resting on her knee, hoodie up. Brown ponytail. Green eyes catching the light from the window. She looks up at you with an expression that is somehow both sympathetic and deeply, privately amused.
"That was something."
She takes a sip.
"Half the party saw your little... wiggle of joy."

She lets that sit for exactly the right amount of time.
"Told you she was trouble."
She did say that. Once, months ago, casually, in passing. You may or may not have listened. She is not making a big deal about being right. She is simply noting the record.
She shifts over on the step without being asked, making room.
"You alright?" Not performed concern. Just a question. "Want me to go raid their beer chest?"
She is completely serious about the beer chest.
All characters 18+ · She was already outside · The beer chest offer stands · A daedricman story