He enjoyed the warmth of her small hand in his, smiling warmly. He felt like a little kid all over again.

When she burped he couldn't help but laugh and it cut his nervous tension. "It's okay, it was totally cute," he giggled. Leaning over he gave her a little peck on the cheek. Real romantic bonehead, he thought to himself with another grin.

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This was nice, really nice, compared to the rest of the party. It felt relaxing and comforting, even if she was starting to get those familiar vibes from Sam. Those awkward cute boy vibes that they always gave out right before they tried to kiss you or touch your leg or something.

She was glad for the distraction of laughing, her hand over her mouth slightly. "If your idea of c-cute is disgusting," she giggled back, only tensing up slightly as Sam leaned in to kiss her cheek. She had half been expecting him to go for the lips, and flashbacks of the hour before this came rushing back, making her cheeks flush even harder.

At least it was just Sam though and that made her feel relaxed again, a just slightly drunk smile on her lips. She vaguely wanted to tell him that she and Colin were on a break, but she wasn't sure if that was her best plan of action. She had almost told Mack as well, and that definitely wasn't a good plan of action. But she was only going to be able to pull the wool over people's eyes for so long, she guessed, before she'd have to come out with it.

Sighing weakly, she leaned her head heavily against his shoulder and scooted closer instead.

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"Nah, my idea of cute is just... real," he shook his own head before resting it on top of Tatum's and getting comfortable as she scooted closer. It was easy to be with her like this, just hanging out. It was Tatum, she was familiar, comfortable.

He knew it was a bad idea though; hitting on his slightly drunk friend who wasn't exactly single. He sighed lightly. "I can't wait to get playing again," he said letting his thumb roll over her hand. "I been writing this summer. You get anything down?"

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"T-That's not code word for ugly girls?" she half-joked, chewing her lip absently and looking into the fire in front of them. She sipped at her coke, feeling a little bit better with every passing moment. Let Mackenzie say or think what she wanted, really, there was nothing she could do about that. She absolutely needed to stop dwelling on it.

"Me too," she agreed with surprising enthusiasm. She had originally been a little bit anxious about joining The Hobgoblins, but it was a decision that she hadn't regretted. She faltered a bit when Sam asked if she got anything down, shaking her head. "Diddly-squat, a-actually.. I uhm, the only thing I really did was learn to play Zelda music f-from tabs online. I thought it w-was a good idea at the time!"

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"No," he snorted. "Never."

"Holy shit, you can play that?" he asked grinning widely. "Dude, we could do like a fucking videogame set one of these nights," he said excitedly. "It'd be fucking boss!" He was glad that she had joined The Hobgoblins, the band tended to have a few floating members but she had been solid since the day she joined. It was just what the band had needed.

"I can show you some of the stuff I wrote later this weekend if you want. I got a couple things for drums, guitar, and bass. I just..." he laughed a little embarrassed. "I need a little lyric help."

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"Yeah man, I learned l-like, Song of Storms and Gerudo Valley. I-I was working like on, some Final Fantasy stuff t-too.. you know I'd love a vidya jam night," she agreed quickly, slurping at the coke for a moment before straightening up a bit. "We should do an all video game EP man!"

When he mentioned showing her everything, she nodded enthusiastically. She had never been much of a lyricist, though she was learning to let herself sing loads more. She guessed she wasn't as bad as she always assumed, none of their bandmates had taken off running from hearing her yet. "W-What lyrics are you stuck on? Like, w-what's the song about?" she asked.

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"Hell yeah, that's be some sweet fuckin jams," he grinned at her enthusiasm. "A ton of video game jams and we could write a few new songs, all inspired by our favorites," he winked.

"Like..." he wasn't exactly sure how to put it. It had been a long time since he had even spoken about it. His best friend was in New York and sure he could talk to her about it but it wasn't the same. "I been... I been tryin' to write a song for Felix," he said quietly.

Everyone had known his brother, he was the kid that was hard to miss on campus but only one person outside the family really knew what had happened to him. "Here, lemme show you," he picked up his guitar and started strumming. He only played the a few lines that he intended to make the chorus. It was almost haunting in it's strange beauty. He stopped and smiled. "I don't want it to be cheesy though."

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Tatum had definitely been pumped up for the idea of a video game style EP, and she had nodded in agreement with Sam's ideas, only going a bit somber again when the boy mentioned Felix. She knew Sam didn't really talk much about him anymore, in the same way she guessed that she rarely spoke about her mother, but she also knew from experience that it didn't mean he wasn't hurting.

If there was one thing Tatum could agree with, it was that holding in big bad things were never good or easy. The shitstorm with Mack was enough to show that.

She scooted back to give him room to play, listening attentively and actually finding her eyes starting to well up. She wasn't sure if it was her own residual upset, or a whole new batch. Either way, the haunting tune just made her feel sad all over again.

"S-Sorry," she managed, trying to smile weakly and quickly swiping at her wet eyes with her hands. "It was r-really beautiful, I just.. I dunno," she trailed off. She wanted to add sad to beautiful but wasn't sure it was the right thing to say. She was always saying the wrong thing.

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Sam looked into the fire. "Thanks," he said softly. "I'm sure it will come to me some time," he nodded.

He couldn't take much more of this sad business anyways and easily started playing a pluckier tune. "This I was thinkin' could be a tribute to the good ole south," he grinned.

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"It u-usually does," she assured him, equally soft and with her eyes on the fire as well. Her index finger absently traced the top of her soda. "You'll get it, you're the.. t-the best like, song writer I know."

When he began to play something more cheerful, Tatum could feel some of the upset that had been weighing in again beginning to lift off. She still wasn't quite sober, but she supposed she was getting there and she took another sip of cherry coke. Smiling at him a little from behind the can, she raised her eyebrows a bit. "That must be a southern jam cause we don't got music like that up north," she joked, nudging him.

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It was really nice to hear that's how Tatum felt, he just smiled at her and nodded. Letting himself think that the redness in his cheeks was just from the fire.

He laughed. "Well dang, what the hell do you have up north?" he teased, really letting into his creole accent. "This is the type 'a music my dad listens to when we're fixin' ta work in the garage," he smirked.

"We should call it somethin' like Ole Smokey," he grinned.

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Tatum laughed at his accent, downing the remainder of her can of coke to stifle off her giggles. She almost spit her drink out when she heard when he said next, just snorting instead.

"Y-You're going to make a song called Ole Smokey and it's not about m-me?" she joked, clearing her throat and still giggling a bit. Some of the other people around the fire were looking their way, but she found that she didn't care. She was with Sam, and if anyone said anything, he would say something right back. It made her feel safe, something she hadn't really felt since getting to the party that night.

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"I aint makin it about you cause you aint old," he grinned. "If I were gonna make a song about ya it would be something... less jangly," he laughed.

Sam was completely oblivious to anyone looking at but if they opened their mouths he would tell them off for sure. No one messed with his friends. He gave her a little nudge and grinned mischievously and began to play a new song. It was more gentle; soft and sweet but not too corny. It didn't sound like a love ballad, but something more... appreciative. "Like that," he said as the line came to an end.

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Tatum listened closely, leaning moreso against him as he played. By the time he finished, her head had begun to droop, almost reaching his shoulder. She straightened up a bit as he spoke again. She smiled lazily. "I like it, it's way less.. twangy. I think I'm more of like a.. I-I dunno, what that was. Like a jaunty little tune," she suggested, giggling a bit.

"Now I have to play y-you though, I'm gunna.. g-gunna go home and write it, and then you'll be like, whoa Tatum, that was r-really awesome, and I'll be like, I know.. of course," she went on, cracking a little wider smile.

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