✔ DRUNK words, SOBER thoughts ✖ hemmings au

35: Pier Pressure Peer Pressure

[a/n: dedicated to @fatecanberewritten Because she's pretty frigging awesome for reading all my stories and voting too. ALSO she's an awesome writer. Go check out "Saving The Reject" because it's awesomely well written and Michael is hot lol]

//

ARI.

I found myself slowing getting back into the swing of things. Mom was finally walking around the house on her own, preparing her own tea, and even doing some laundry. We had neighbors check on her every once in a while when Mia and I were at school, and whenever I had a spare minute at work, I'd quickly call home to make sure my mom was alright. Midterms were in two weeks which meant two weeks of homework, essays and intense studying before exams. But after suffering sleepless nights and copious amounts of coffee, winter break would be our ultimate prize. Two and a half weeks of being absolutely lazy.

My body was ready.

Thursday evening at Pier Pressure was at its normal liveliness. It wasn't brimming with an aggressive amount of customers like the weekends, nor was it completely empty that I could pick out a wedgie at center floor and get away with it without awkward eye contact. The restaurant was at a calm bustle, which allowed me to make more small talk with our customers- especially the group of cuties in the corner booth who were in dire need of bigger bibs.

"Do you guys even aim for your mouths?" I chuckled, dropping off a stack of napkins at the corner booth. My eyes darted from Calum, to Luke, and to Ashton whose faces were caked with gravy and cajun seasoning.

"When it comes to seafood, eating proper doesn't work," Calum justified, a sassy undertone to his voice as he sat up straighter in pesudo-posh.

"We're men. It's in our DNA to be barbaric eaters," Ashton continued, licking his lips, "with everything we get our mouths on."

With a chuckle, Ashton wiggled his eyebrows mischievously before receiving a high-five from Calum. Luke joined the innuendo games, licking the seasoning off of the corn on the cob in his hands with a sultry expression on his face. I scoffed, rolling my eyes at their typical-boy behavior.

"You guys are disgusting," I shook my head in disapproval, trying to keep somber plastered on my face but as I watched all three boys obnoxiously lick their food and fingers while awkwardly winking at one another, I couldn't hold it in anymore. I bursted into a fit of raging giggles.

"I knew you'd find it funny," Calum pointed at me with a satisfied grin.

"Fine, you caught me," I held up my hands in mock-surrender, "I'm secretly a 15-year-old boy who still finds fart jokes and sexual ambiguities hilarious."

"You're a 15-year-old boy? I've been hoodwinked!" Luke mused, theatrically gasping and throwing a hand to his chest.

"Hoodwinked? Okay Mister Perfect-Score-On-Their-SAT's," Ashton teased, pursing his lips in approval.

"Wait, what did you say?" I halted my laughter, an eyebrow raised at Ashton. "Perfect score?"

"We didn't just come here because we had a craving for seafood," Calum began, an ever-growing smile forming on his face. "We're here to celebrate the fact that Lucas here," he gestured for the boy,"is actually a smarty-pants."

"I know, I know, I didn't believe it either. But Lucas is going somewhere with his brains," Ashton reached across the table to give Luke a playful smack on the shoulder.

"Is this all true?" I looked at Luke with pride in my eyes, "did you really get a perfect score?"

"I thought I was going to bomb Literature but, I guess those SAT-prep classes I took really helped me out," Luke mentioned. He was clearly holding in all his excitement, attempting to stay humble. But this was a huge deal and my favorite quiff-boy totally deserved to brag about it.