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The Fourth of July had always been one of Jamie’s favorite holidays. Even as a kid, when she hadn’t been old enough to drink, she adored burgers and fireworks and chatting with her parents’ friends. Independence Day was tinged with old, warm memories. Sitting on the roof to watch fireworks. Waving around sparklers without a care in the world. Trading illicit beers at high school parties. Setting off (not quite legal) fireworks in the park and scaring the shit out of all the little kids. [i]That[/i] was what Fourth of July was all about-  vaguely patriotic organized chaos. And barbecue. So much barbecue. 

This Fourth of July, however, Jamie was doing none of the above. Blake had invited her to a party at his house, and she could never say no to a party at Blake’s house. Brie and her (her roommate!) had driven there together, and Jamie had promptly lost her among the crowd of drunken heroes. Which was okay! No harm done, because there were so many other heroes here to talk to. [i]So many[/i]. She was on… what, maybe her sixth beer? And she hadn’t even spoken to half the people there! Currently, she was sitting on the couch and chatting it up with Spitfire and Lord Raccoon over a red solo cup filled with pineapple-flavored beer. Man, Soda Boy was the best! He always had the best beer flavors. Even if it came out of his fingers.

[color=Goldenrod] “Dude, dude, dudeeeee. I bet you… 10 bucks I could do three cartwheels in a row!”[/color] Jamie held up two fingers at first, but then realized her mistake and put up the third. She burped loudly and then giggled at herself.

“Five… no, six and you’re on!” Lord Raccoon, a man who (unfortunately) did not look like a raccoon, slurred his words and held up six fingers. Jamie was pretty sure his power was something dumb like talking to raccoons. Or maybe transforming into one? She wasn’t sure, but he was a C-Tier at best.

Despite her clear drunkenness, Jamie nodded and stood, putting her beer down on the table. It sloshed over a little and onto the floor. [color=Goldenrod]“I’ll do it!”[/color] she agreed, and backed up to where she might have a clear way. She might be way too drunk, but she was a [i]cheerleader[/i] at some point, goddamnit! Six cartwheels was child’s play- Lord Raccoon was gonna lose ten dollars tonight.

Jamie stumbled to the pool doors to get a running start and enough space as to where she probably wouldn’t run into anything.  She waved to Rumi, Grace, Joseph and Tom, who she saw standing there and talking to each other rather intensely. [color=Goldenrod]“WATCH THIS!”[/color] she screamed to the entire party, before taking off running out of the doors and outside. Quickly, she dived down into a cartwheel. They weren’t perfect (far from it, actually- she had had six beers) but she did six of them in quick succession, unbound blonde hair flying everywhere.

That was, until she went flying in the pool. With a loud splash and a tiny scream from her, Jamie fell into the blue water headfirst. Well, not fell. She had accidentally cartwheeled directly into the pool. It created a fairly large splash, wetting most of everyone around the pool. After a moment, she bobbed up again, gasping for air. [color=Goldenrod][i]Damnit![/i][/color] Her favorite sundress had gotten wet… she glanced down at the blue floral dress disappointedly, before her face lit up. She had done all six cartwheels! 

[color=Goldenrod]“SUCK IT!”[/color] she screamed with a grin on her face, putting her first up in the air and cheering. [color=Goldenrod]“I DID ALL SIX! GO AMERICA! WOOOOO!”[/color]

[@Hitman][@Scarifar][@KaijuBaragon][@Rabidporcupine]

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As the party raged on, Patricia was tucked away Blake's childhood bedroom, watching a documentary on the Revolutionary War. The bass pounded downstairs, shaking the foundation of the house. Even from upstairs, Patricia could hear people yelling and cheering. Ugh. In her mind, she had imagined this party to be more like a friendly barbecue- but no. It had quickly turned into a hotbed of wild drinking, partying, and loud, tasteless music. [i]This[/i] is why she hated coming to these things. If you weren’t drinking, there was no way to have fun. And Patrica had tried the drinking thing before at one of these parties- it had not ended well, and she had no plans of losing control like that ever again. Fortunately, she now had someone to hide out and be sober with.

Patricia idly rubbed her thumb along the heel of Eliza’s hand, gazing at her with a silly sweet smile. She hadn’t just come up here because of her hate of being the only sober person in the room. Ellie (her [i]girlfriend[/i]- the word still made her tingle with secret glee) had been having some… issues with the loud music and the crowd and the drinking. After a lot of frantically Googling ‘how to help autistic girlfriend having sensory issues’ on Patrica’s part, they had found a bedroom, kicked the couple doing [i]things[/i] out (aided by mind control), and had set up a little blanket nest. It was nice. They had stripped the comforter and all the blankets off of Blake’s bed and wrapped themselves in them. Now, after about 30 minutes of being in there, they were all set up. The lights were dimmed, and the TV turned to a comfortably boring documentary about the Revolutionary War. It wasn’t exactly Patricia’s usual Fourth of July, but she liked it. After all, Eliza was with her. Nothing was bad with Eliza.

Patricia [i]was[/i] rather angry that the party had devolved into such debauchery so quickly. Although she would never admit it and had now lost the nerve, she had been planning on coming out tonight. It was, in theory, a perfect night for it. Everybody was there. There wouldn’t be any repeated awkward situations- she could knock it all out at once. But now everyone was so drunk that they wouldn’t even remember what she said. Or, worse, they would be mean about it. Not accept her. Reject it. Even though she knew that her friends were generally accepting, there was still that fear in the back of her mind. But tonight, apparently, wouldn’t be the night to get over that fear.

Eh, maybe she’d come out at Jamie and Brie’s birthday party. For now, she was content to lay there with Eliza. Feeling a sudden swell of love for the other girl, Patricia pressed her lips to her forehead in a gentle, sweet kiss. [color=MediumOrchid]“Are you feeling better? Is the movie and all the blankets helping? Do you want me to change it to something better?”[/color] she asked, fretting. 

[@Amethyst]