Secret Door

Seventeen

Alex's birthday party was one day I will never forget. 

We left the flat at around 11:30 in order to get to the first club of the evening at an early time. I already knew this would be a long night. I made Alex refrain from drinking before we left, a trend I had been trying to start lately after that first experience with coke. Not drinking before we left always brought me closer to a feeling of such dreadful boredom that the subsequent drugs or alcohol brought over by friends once we finally arrived became even more invigorating.

We met up with our typical mates: The Monkeys and a few people we had started hanging around with after seeing them around a lot of parties. On this night in particular Alex had invited a few people who were unknown to me. We all sat cozy round a table in our favorite booth and I immediately pulled out a cigarette. Everyone else was already smoking and some people had drinks. I felt myself itching for a beer like crazy as Al introduced me to anyone I didn't know

"There's Archie, Jeremy, and Eliza," he gestured as he draped his arm around my shoulders and took a long drag of his cigarette. "Well supplied, I trust?" he leaned over to them to ask, raising an eyebrow at Archie in particular. He grinned, using two dirty fingers to pull out a small bag of coke from his leather jacket pocket. 

Alex nodded knowingly at him then laid back against my chest, sinking low into the booth. 

"That's not very much for the whole group of us," I remarked. 

Alex just chuckled. "He's got a right stash, don't worry. Not to mention Jeremy and Eliza are packing too. We've enough to last well into the mornin'." He looked up at me as he finished his sentence and kissed my jaw sweetly. 

"Don't worry, I've got all your needs met tonight," he said, smirking. 

"Don't even talk about my needs, Al. It's your birthday," I protested, smiling down at him. 

"I know, I know. And I can't wait to see what you got for me," he winked before putting out his cigarette butt, and standing up, stretching his arms above his head. His dark red shirt moved up to reveal the edge of his pale hipbone. He was wearing my favorite shirt, and his arms looked somehow more muscular, even though I knew for a fact he hadn't been to a gym in months. 

"I've gotta take a bloody piss," Alex announced loudly as he let his arms dangle down lazily to his sides, conveniently brushing up against Archie's palm that was open underneath the table. He shoved his hand quickly in his pocket as he moved away from the booth, winking at me as he left. 

"Same here," I mumbled, putting out my cigarette. I felt silly making up such an obvious lie. Everyone else at the table knew what was happening and would be repeating the same actions later in the night, but I guess it made sense as a precaution for any onlookers.

I may have walked too fast towards the restroom, but thankfully no one else was in there except Al. He smirked at me and we walked into separate stalls. He tossed me the bag underneath the stall after I heard him do his. I quickly did a bump off my keys and tossed the bag back. We walked out of the stalls together and Alex kissed my cheek. I felt my heart pounding louder in my chest as my awareness became more pinpointed and my mind more active. 

"I love you," I whispered into his hair as he wrapped his arms around me in a hug. 

"Love you too,"

I wrapped my arm around his waist as we walked out of the restroom together.

When we sat back down, there were two mixed drinks waiting for us. 

"Oh, hello," Alex commented as he slid into the booth. 

"Consider all your drinks on me tonight, Al," Archie said, raising his beer. "Cheers, mate."