"Also the purpose of life isn't death, it's paying taxes...you're a living profit for the government."
He broke into quiet laughter. "You're so random."
I shrugged and folded in my arms. "It helps keep me distracted though," I murmured. He leaned o...
Izzy quickly introduced me to Steven and Axl, one ecstatic blonde and one angsty redhead. "He takes a bit of warming up to," Steven whispered as Axl gave me a smudged smile. Lauren sat next to Steven, and I sat on the other side of him with Izzy by my side. Axl sat next to Izzy, and started to tease him like it was his little brother. Izzy laughed it off, but was getting annoyed. Lauren reached over to poke my leg, gaining me stares from her and Steven. "Do something," she mouthed. I shook my head quickly. I had only known Izzy two days, Axl was his bandmate. There was a huge difference in our friendships. What was I gonna do?
Steven grinned brightly, and nudged me closer to Izzy. I slid a little closer, leaving a couple inches of separation between our legs. Axl paused his teasing, and gave me a knowing, mischievous look. I gave him a small mocking smile, which happened to gain me brownie points. "I like her," is all he said, turning over his attention and making his way to the bartender. I giggled a little bit. I felt like a school girl with a crush on the popular kid. This environment was new and shiny. I had met his friends and saw him in his normal scene, not just the skatepark. He barely knew anything about me, which I argued with myself about. The more he knew, the more I grew closer to him. The less he knew, the easier it would be for me to detach myself. But my mind urged for me to spill everything, about Eric and my hobbies. Everything that I knew about myself I wanted to serve him on a silver platter. I also knew that would be a horrible idea. What if he found a more attractive, less innocent girl?
Izzy slithered his arm around me, removing me from my deep thought debate. "I have a question," I said. When I looked up at him, I expected his eyes to be somewhere off far, but they were directly on me. He smiled faintly, and I reflected a smile uncontrollably. "Yeah?"
I cleared my throat and sat up a little straighter. "Izzy Stradlin is just a stage name...right?" I hesitated. What if I was wrong? Oh how embarrassing-
"Yeah, yeah it is," he laughed, holding up his reputation for looking down as he did. His laugher died off and looked back up, still smiling. Butterflies swarmed throughout my chest. "Izzy is kind of based off of my last name, Isbell. My real first name is Jeffery," he explained. "Huh, does that mean I can call you Jeff?" I teased. "As long as the guys don't catch on," he whispered. All I could do was laugh. I was so eager to be around him and in awe with him, I felt kind of guilty. Eric had been all I had ever known. Was this me replacing him?
"What's your last name?" He asked me, doing his best to carry on our conversation. "Nicholes," I stated. He nodded, "Danielle Nicholes," he repeated to himself. He smiled brightly as he did, which made my heart skip a beat or two. Axl interrupted as we leaned in. I sort of hated him for it, but I was also secretly thankful. It gave me a moment to realize I was moving too fast. I hadn't known him long enough for a kiss, although I don't think it bothered Izzy that much. "Want some?" He asked Izzy, offering him a small white bag. Izzy glanced over to me, and I gave him a shrug. Lauren looked worried for me, knowing me and drugs weren't a good combo. Sobriety had been hard, and it was already hard enough to limit my alcohol intake. Seeing that small white bag made me a little paranoid. "I don't know if that's such a good idea, Axl," Izzy stated uncomfortably. He fidgeted as if he was holding himself back from snatching up the bag. I could see him struggling, sending another punch of guilt through my mind. Izzy looked absolutely miserable the more I studied his face. He was really sweaty, obviously coming down from a high. "Come on, I'll snort a line with you," I nudged him. Lauren didn't bother to protest, she knew there wasn't anything that she could say to stop me. She liked her alcohol, I liked my drugs. It had been a long time, but I was familiar enough to know how much I could handle. When Izzy heard my words, he instantly shot me a confused look. So did Steven and Axl. "You- I..." Izzy failed to manage to ask, so Axl questioned me. "You sure?" He asked. I nodded and held my hand out for him to drop the bag. He hesitated but let me form a few lines. Axl went ahead and got his share, then Steven. Izzy smiled and signaled for me to take the rolled up dollar bill. I was nervous as could be, I could barely keep the bill rolled up. Addiction was my bad habit, and my best friend for a long time. Saying hello again could take me down a lot of roads, bad or good wasn't for certain.
* * *
IZZY'S POV
"You were worried over nothing, look at her!" Axl exclaimed. Megan had shown and gotten ahold of Danielle. They did a few shots together and ended up dancing with each other as well. I wasn't much a dancer, so I just sat and watched. Lauren seemed to grow angry, throwing small passive aggressive remarks and physically showing tension. Axl tried to flirt with her, which only made her flustered and more irritated. That didn't stop him though. He was still trying. "Axl," I warned, he was being more of a shit than usual. "Dude, don't be such a buzzkill. Just go dance with your girlfriend," he argued. I shot him a glare, and he instantly began to ignore me. I sat there for another minute or so before I decided that I should probably go look for Dani. I had lost her in the crowds of dancing. As I walked around the dance floor, Danielle had spotted me. She called me and giggled as she fell into my arms. "There you are!"
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She looked pale but so much more carefree, no thoughts furrowed her eyebrows or fainted her wide smile. It kind of worried me. Sure, I was high too but Danielle didn't seem like the type to be used to this scene. Although, she knew what she was doing when she snorted up that coke. It didn't seem the phase her at all, she seemed to just be enjoying her high moment. "Wanna dance?" She asked. Her vanilla scent filled my senses, and I was finding it hard to keep myself behaved. She noticed that well. So well, she lingered her grip around my neck and kissed my neck. "Or we could always go off somewhere else," she mumbled.
