Twenty-One Night Stand ✓

21 / a night to remember

After a quiet supper with her father, during which very little conversation was made much to Maddie's relief, she sifted through her wardrobe for something to wear. Nothing seemed quite right, either too formal or too casual, and she didn't feel like wearing the red dress Peter liked. She wished she had something he hated that she could wear to spite him. The only other dress she owned was a classic little black dress, probably a little too form fitting for drinks with Nick, but she pulled it out anyway.

As she began to change, an hour before she planned to head out, her phone vibrated on her bedside table, slowly moving across the wooden top with each powerful buzz. Nick's goofy grin filled the screen, begging her to answer. Maddie threw her top into her laundry basket and grabbed the phone before it rang off, swiping with her thumb to answer.

"Hey," she said, tugging open her stiff top drawer to look for a pair of tights.

"Hey," Nick said. "I just wanted to let you know that someone in one of the flats next door is having a party, kind of an all floor thing, and I was wondering if maybe, instead of pre-drinks at mine, we could start there? I'd just love to meet some of my new neighbours, plus there'll be a lot of free booze. Then we can head out at any time you want."

"Sure," Maddie said. She threw out a pair of tights that bore a huge ladder up one leg, sifting through a small mountain of underwear for another pair. "Sounds cool to me."

"Are you sure?" Nick asked. "I hate changing the plans so late. Really, we don't have to go if you'd rather not. I've got, like, forever to meet my neighbours."

"And we could go out any night," Maddie pointed out. "I'd love to, anyway." It was no word of a lie. Being surrounded by people and alcohol was what she needed right now. "As long as I can hang out with you and have a few drinks, I don't care where it is. I'm always up for making a new friend or two." She shrugged one shoulder. "We can just stay there if you want, if it's good. I don't mind." Coming up empty on the tights front, she sighed and decided she would just have to have bare legs tonight.

"Awesome. Well, we'll see how it goes," Nick said. "Oh, and if you haven't bought any booze yet, you don't need to. I swung by the local offie and picked up some stuff."

"Oh cool, thanks, Nick," she said as she began to doubt her dress choice. But with no other options, it'd have to do.

"My pleasure. See you in an hour!"

"See you later. Bye," she said, looking forward to being able to relax. Recently it had been more and more difficult to do so without a drink or two in her system, a little something to help her brain let go of its million and one thoughts. Sleeping wasn't the easiest, those hours when she lay awake as her mind churned over everything she had said that day; every mistake she had made that week; each regret of her lifetime. And now she feared it was about to get a whole lot harder, her own angry words the soundtrack to her nights.

But not tonight. Tonight she planned to laugh until her eyes leaked and her stomach ached, to dance until her heels burned, to sing as though no-one could hear her. Those were the nights she loved the most, when she crashed in bed – or on the floor, she wasn't fussy when she was drunk – at three in the morning with a grin on her face, too tired to think before she drifted off to sleep.

Sitting at her desk in her underwear, Maddie carefully raised her eyeliner to her right eye, cautious not to stab herself as she so often had in the past. Today she couldn't be bothered with concealer or foundation, decorating nothing but her eyes and lips before she dragged a brush through her hair. Once it was tangle free, she assessed her reflection and smiled. Given the day she'd had, she had managed to scrub up pretty well.