"how did this even happen?" adalyn asked as she followed her friends through the crowded club.
rosa laughed as she led the girls through pockets of people, "don't be such a debbie downer, ads. you never come out with us anymore! at least try and have some fun,"
rosa was right, ady had been going out with them less in comparison to past years. she blamed this on her busy school schedule, but in reality, she just never felt like being in a sweaty club full of belligerent drunk strangers.
"alright," ady agreed hesitantly.
rosa led her and parker to a bar in the back corner of the club, then proceeded to order vodka sodas and tequila shots for the three. ady felt sick just looking at the golden liquid, but took the shot regardless.
"let's dance, bitches!" parker shouted, grabbing rosa and ady by the wrist and tugging them along.
at least an hour had passed since the initial shot of tequila, and now ady and her friends were significantly drunker than when they entered the building. they kept finding themselves back at the bar ordering a shot every time.
they were now outside on the patio so that parker could have a smoke, plus ady thought that the cool night air might help her dizziness problem. sadly, it didn't. she sat on a picnic table, staring up at the sky in a daze.
parker and rosa were huddled next to each other discussing god knows what, when ady first noticed him. it was his laugh that caught her attention, her world literally stopped spinning at the sound of it. she slowly lowered her head, trying not to dizzy herself all over again, to find a match to the laugh. that's when she saw him. he came out with three other guys, but ady couldn't take her eyes off the mystery boy to even glance at his friends.
he was slightly above average height and looked to be in his early twenties. his hair was a faded shade of red and, based on the colour of his roots, ady assumed his natural colour was a dark brown. even from across the patio ady could tell that he had blue eyes, they were striking in vibrancy. he was wearing black vans and black jeans with a vertically striped button-up shirt. he had left a few of the top buttons open, so ady could see part of his chest and the many chains around his neck.
"bitch, make it less obvious that you wanna have that man for dinner," rosa slurred rather loudly.
ady whipped around to face the two girls, blushing instantly. "first of all, fuck off. second of all, he needs to fuck me," she held up her fingers to count as she listed to the girls.
parker threw her head back in laughter at her drunk friend. "no, you need to fuck him," she encouraged, blowing a puff of smoke in ady's direction.
rosa's eyes lit up, "oh my god, yes! get him for the list! this is perfect!"
ady swayed in her seat, "hell no, i told you guys i'm not doing the list anymore,"
rosa pouted, "you're trynna tell me you're gonna smash and not add the name? dude, writing the name is the easiest part of it!"
"how many times do i have to tell you, i just don't wanna," ady whined, dramatically leaning back against the picnic table.
"just one more," rosa continued her pout, even going so far to stick her lip out like a whiny toddler.
"what does it matter?" ady argued, crossing her arms.
rosa shot her hand up into the air as soon as ady spoke, "exactly! what does it matter! it's just a name."
ady looked at parker for help, who just laughed in response. "you're not gonna like this, ads. but i'm with rosa. it's just a list for us, i mean really, it's harmless."
ady huffed in annoyance, "a dagger through my heart," ady ignored the two girls stares, taking another drink of the vodka special in her hands. "there's no point even! i'm so far behind." she tried to justify herself to her two friends.
parker grinned, "well, here's a thought," she started, "if you can get one more name for the list, we'll call it even."
rosa clasped her hands together, "yes! big yes!"
ady contemplated the offer, even though she knew she would give in to her friends' request. she was never too great at sticking to her word, especially when she was slightly pushed by the people around her. "one more. even."
rosa squealed in excitement, "i knew you couldn't give it up just yet!"
ady rolled her eyes, taking another drink. "whatever. now, i'm going to go get my one more, so if you'll excuse me," ady retorted, pushing herself up off the bench.
before ady could turn around, parker interrupted. "hate to tell you, ads, but your mans is gone."
ady spun around, looking for the mystery boy. "fuck me," ady groaned, leaning against the wall of the building.
parker snorted, "fucked is what you're not getting tonight."
ady held up her middle finger to her blonde friend, "whatever," she grabbed parker's smoke and squished it beneath her shoe, "let's go take shots,"
rosa grinned, "now this is the ady i've been looking for!"
they made their way back to the bar to order three more shots of tequila. while standing in line to order, ady looked around the packed club to see if she could find her mystery man. "i can't see him anywhere," ady whined while crossing her arms.
rosa rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to sass her drunk friend, but didn't get that far. "wait, is that him?" parker loudly whispered to the two girls, "like up there, in vip?" she started to point, but rosa knocked her hand down.
"mother fucker," ady's jaw dropped as she watched her mystery man chug from a bottle of vodka while his friends took videos on their phones. "how the fuck do i get up there,"
what ady didn't realize in her drunken state, is that people usually can feel when someone is staring at them, and she was staring. the vip section was a raised platform about 50 feet from where ady and her friends were stood. even then, he felt eyes on him from somewhere in the room.
ady watched as he paused mid-chug to glance around the room. oblivious to what was going on around her, ady continued to watch the boy. and then their eyes met. generally, ady was a shy person, especially when compared to parker or rosa, so normally, she would've looked away. but tonight, ady was drunk off tequila shots and felt much bolder than usual. so she held his stare, smirking at him.
she couldn't be sure if it was just the tequila in her empty stomach, but ady felt like her whole body was on fire as soon as they made eye contact. she was truly mesmerized and struggled to find the power to look away. but she did because rosa continued to poke her side so that the girls could take their shot.
"sorry," ady replied, grabbing the plastic shot glass from the bar. as the girls held their shots together in cheers, ady felt eyes on her. ady tilted her head back to swallow the shot, then looked to her side for rosa and parker.
only it wasn't rosa or parker, it was the mystery man.
"can i buy you a drink?"
THOUGHTS
a little cliffy
