Before you go... //h.s

Mr Brightside

^^ her dress

After I'd finally got home from the coffee shop, I'd hardly walked in the door before Maya dragged me into my room, a hand slapped over my eyes so I couldn't see what she was hiding. She shuffled me through the apartment, taking little care of my poor legs which kept bumping into things until I could sense we were standing in my bedroom door and then she whipped her hand from my eyes, gesturing to my bed with a 'tah dah' noise.

Lying on my bed was a short, black dress and a pair of stilettos so tall that I would probably be able to reach over the top of the Empire State. I turned to her, pretty sure where she was going with this but needing confirmation.

'Look Iris, I know you're still sad, I know you're still hurting, I can tell,' she began with a shrug, 'but honestly it's your birthday and you deserve to have some fun, everyone else is coming too,' she added hopefully, like that would persuade me to go.

I eyed her, unsure. Deep down, I know that I needed to stop moping and if any time was a good time to do that, it was my birthday. But... my mood wasn't that excited, that energetic.

She was right though so...

'Fine but... ugh just fine.' I told her reluctantly and she jumped on the spot, clapping her hands together as she grabbed the dress, throwing it in my direction. It was a nice dress – I had to give it to Maya, she had good taste.

It was black velvet that gleamed as the light bounced off it. Even from looking at it, I could see how short and tight it would be on me, much more form fitting than anything I'd worn in a while, but the top half wasn't as revealing, it had a square neck that didn't show cleavage and short sleeves that hugged my shoulders.

'I'll go and change too,' she told me, excitedly and I didn't blame her. I hadn't exactly been a fun roommate these past few weeks.

We hadn't even had a single dance party in nearly three weeks which was unheard of for us.

Dress on but heels still resting on my bed, I walked through to Maya's room, showing her the dress to check it looked good and she nodded with enthusiasm.

'You look so hot Iris,' she said and I scowled at her.

'I don't want to find a boy tonight,' I told her firmly, before she got any ideas.

'Yeah, yeah,' she rolled her eyes clearly very excited about finally going out and not listening to me at all.

After dragging me to the bathroom, she handed me a tube of mascara, not letting me drop it until my lashes were luscious then she handed me a bright lipstick. Followed by an eyeliner and insisted on drawing long, confident wings on either side of my eyes, making sure they matched exactly.

Then we grabbed our heels, tottering out the apartment as we headed to wherever Maya had planned for us to go. I had to admit, there was a small part of me that was excited at the prospect of actually doing something fun this evening, even if part of me was also nervous about the hoards of people crowding and drunk in the club, having fun without anything filling their heads.

Once we'd fully entered the club, purple lights flash against our eyes and loud bass thumps around the building. Our other friends approach us before I can realise it's them, the strong smells of alcohol and too many different perfumes oddly mixing.

Callie squeals as she wraps me in a tight hug before dragging me to the bar, asking the bartender for something, I didn't really pay attention or care – if it was strong enough to help my constantly swirling brain ease I would drink it without a second sniff.

She hands me a small shot glass, liquid sloshing slightly as her hand wobbles when she cheerses our glasses together before we tilt our heads back and down it, the fruity tequila burning down my throat.