New beginnings... or whatever
“Seriously, Scott, is this all you have? Schnapps?”
Hugging the bottle to her chest, Cosima gently closes the cabinet and hops down from the counter, dark dreads and grey harem pants jolting as her bare feet make impact with the cold kitchen floor.
Scott stops rummaging through the lower cabinets, withdrawing three sealed bags of chips, and turns to regard her with a furrowed brow and an expression that borders on skeptical. “Sorry, my parents don’t entertain much,” he responds, half sarcastically.
Scott stands, shifting his back to her and begins noisily tearing open plastic to dump chips into oversized bowls. Cosima pads over to the kitchen table, setting the alcohol amongst a growing pile of party paraphernalia before removing jars of dip from the fridge and joining Scott at the counter.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure Sarah’s bringing enough beer and bourbon to put all of Minnesota on its ass. Did you at least remember to get the uhh,” she draws her index finger and thumb to her lip, miming a hit.
“Me! I thought Felix was bringing the pot?”
Cosima turns abruptly, one hand coming down harshly on the marble countertop while the other flies rather dramatically to her forehead. “Scott! Dude, what the hell am I supposed to put in the brownies now?”
Scott jumps back a step, his hands coming up in front of him in a subconscious effort to shield himself from the brunette’s unexpected outburst. “Take it easy! Peanut butter is still a viable alternative to marijuana,” he retorts with a smirk, gathering the chip bowls in his arms and carrying them to the table, effectively putting what he hoped to be a safe distance between himself and a frustrated Cosima who has returned her attention to the counter, gripping marble with extended arms in an effort to hold back a rather unpleasant retort of her own.
The stress of planning what was expected to be the best New Year’s bash to date was weighing on her enough as it was, and Scott’s apathy was certainly not helping.
“Remind me again, Cosima, why you are making me miss games night at Hellwizard’s to host this stupid bonfire?”
“Because, Scott, your parents are gone for the weekend, unlike mine. And if you really want a chance with Shay, you’ve gotta make a move, dude. She’s not going to play Runewars with us forever, and this is the perfect opportunity. New year, new beginnings or whatever.”
“And if I make a move only to get shot down?” He quirks a brow at her, challenging.
“Simple,” she strides over, placing now filled bowls of dip on the table and patting him lightly on the shoulder. “You get to have sex… with yourself… for the rest of your life.”
“Awesome. Thank you. Very encouraging,” he deadpans in response.
Cosima grins devilishly, giving Scott’s shoulder a gentle shove before stepping away. A glance at the clock above the stove alerts her to the fact that they have less than an hour before guests will start arriving. “Shit, Mika will be here soon to set up. We better hurry.”
Ever punctual, Mika pulls up in her battered Chevy Astro at exactly 7PM. With some guidance from Scott, she maneuvers the vehicle into the back yard where Cosima is trying to set up chairs around a brick-lined fire pit laden with kindling. Trying- and failing- due to the cellphone tucked between her shoulder and left ear, her hands intermittently releasing the cloth chair before she can completely unfold it to swirl through the air as she speaks fervently to someone on the other side of the line.
“Yeah, Beth. Whatever, that’s fine. She can bring whoever she wants as long as they bring their own booze and don’t bring, like, pills and shit. That goes for you and Allison, too… Yeah. No.No, I know that, but the last thing we need is a repeat of the ecstasy incident. God knows, Sarah and Rachel have yet to get over it.”
The sound of a car door shutting prompts Cosima to end the call. Pocketing her phone, she joins Mika and Scott who have started unloading speakers from the back of the van, stacking them neatly on the ground in front of the rear bumper, ten feet or so from the fire pit. “Yo, Scotty, that was Beth. Apparently Katja got back early from Germany, so she’s coming and bringing a couple of friends with her. I think we’re gonna need more ice.”
“A couple hot, unattached German girls, possibly?” Scott muses, setting down the last speaker and pushing his glasses back into place as he straightens.
At that, Mika side eyes him warily, deflating his toothy grin into an awkward, nervous chuckle. “Anyway, uh, ice. On it,” he mutters, swiftly retreating towards the house.
Mika stands silently in front of Cosima, staring down at her feet and allowing her hair to fall across the right side of her face in choppy, black waves. She tugs on the straps of her denim overalls awkwardly, too anxious to speak.
“Sooo, Mika, what’s up? New gear this year, I see?” Cosima prompts softly, trying to dispel the shy DJ’s unease.
At the mention of her equipment, Mika glances up, her eyes with a glimmer that was not present half a second prior. “Oh, yes! I… came into some money recently. The details are complicated, but I was able to update all of my equipment, purchase new software. Crafty, but anonymous.”
“Anonymous is good. Don’t want you getting in trouble for all the illegal music downloading we are about to do,” Cosima chuckles before continuing, “Give me the grand tour?”
Delighted, Mika does not miss a beat, instantly reciting detailed specifications of each speaker in earnest, her nerves completely forgotten just as Cosima intended. She cannot help but grin at the young DJ’s sudden change in demeanor, her passion for technology easily reminding the future scientist of her own burning love of biology. Mika goes over her impressive amount of tech with startling speed. After, she excuses herself to finish setting up, and Cosima follows suit, finally managing to get the chairs set up around the fire pit just as Scott returns with another cooler full of ice. Once the snack tables are set, Cosima dashes back inside to change out of her t-shirt and harem pants into more suitable clothes, leaving Scott to start the fire and light the various bamboo torches they had placed about the yard.
After far too much deliberation, Cosima chooses to forgo her usual party attire in favor of simple black boots, dark grey skinny jeans, and a lighter grey camisole topped with a transparent long-sleeve, the color of which Felix has started referring to as her signature maroon. Her choice of accessories requires far less debate as she fastens her favorite nautilus pendant around her neck and pulls on a chaotic mixture of colorful beaded bracelets and dyed hemp cords around both wrists. Digging deeper into her overnight bag, she extracts her tooth brush and make-up, rushing off to the bathroom and immediately colliding with a frame too tall and slim to be Scott’s as she turns the corner.
“Jesus fuck!” Cosima jumps back, blinking sharply in surprise as she readjusts her cat-eye frames from their now skewed position. “Felix?”
“Well now, that's a new shade of color added to my already extensive vocabulary. I thought I might find you in here. Fashionably late as always?”
“Pfft, me? Late? You should know better, Fee. I haven’t been inside that long. How many people have arrived already?”
“Enough that MK is about to start taking requests for tonight’s playlist. Better hurry with your face, love.”
“Shit. Okay, just lemme-”
Cosima skirts around Felix, aiming again for the bathroom, but he catches her forearm and pulls her back gently. “Ah, ah, not so fast. I also came bearing gifts. Now, I couldn’t get my hands on any of S’s Cabernet, but…” He trails off, brandishing a small ziplock bag from his pocket sporting an impressive chunk of weed and a pack of rolling papers.
Cosima’s face splits into a grin, all flashing canines and crinkled eyes. “Dude, you are a lifesaver! Like, you have no idea.”
Felix watches her with a smug expression as she accepts the ziplock, carefully tucking it away inside her shirt. “You are most welcome, darling. Now, go finish up. I’d say you have,” he makes a show of glancing at an imaginary watch on his wrist, “‘three minutes’ before MK starts the line-up.”
The brunette giggles at his poor impression of Mika. “Right, see you in a sec.”
Cosima makes quick work of touching up the wings of her eyeliner and applying a light layer of peppermint lip gloss after brushing her teeth. She briefly considers pinning up her dreads, but thinks better of it given her lack of time. With one last glance over in the mirror earning her a personal nod of approval, she hits the door running, snagging her red pea coat from the back of a kitchen chair as she goes.