The bass of you

Chapter 7

When I get into the bar, I see Layla talking to the two men from across the bar earlier and roll my eyes to myself as I walk towards her, preparing to force myself to talk to them in the most friendliest way that I can. Unlike like usual, I'm feeling a bit more confident about talking to them after speaking to Chase, he's given me some sort of boost and I'm not sure what to make of it. Maybe it's because he made me laugh.

Layla turns around in her stool to face me as she hears me mounting mine next to her. "You've been gone for, like, twenty minutes. Where have you been?" she says, not disappointedly though, more curiously than anything.

"I forgot my lighter and this boy gave me a lighter, we ended up chatting. He was so drunk," I answer with an uncontrollable smile.

Layla notices my smile and instantly knows something is up, she raises her eyebrows and jerks her head forward to prod me to tell more.

Grinning, I sigh and turn to the bar counter to pick up the martini she's already ordered for me while I was gone. "He was really handsome and he kept saying about how pretty my eyes are. He also thought I was some porn star called Grace Mably at first, which was funny as fuck."

Layla throws her head back in laughter and slaps her hand on her thighs in amusement at what I told her, she mixes a moan with a stretched out laugh and then looks at me again. "That's funny as hell, a pornstar!" She slaps her thigh again and shakes her head, laughing. "Also, Mon, this is the most interested you've sounded when talking about a boy before. Go back outside and get that boy in here. Right now." She's pointing at the entrance to the bar and raising her eyebrows to me, demanding that I listen to her.

"He's gone back inside a bar now, I think it was the bar that the security men are standing outside of," I tell her, sounding more disappointed than I intended to.

"Aww, that's just typical."

Layla gets up from the stool and wobbles back and forth for a moment, before she leans in on me by my side and rests her head on my hip. I lift up my arm to look down at her as she looks up at me, she's definitely drunk and I'm wishing that I hurry up and get as drunk as she is soon.

"Anything else that you wish to tell me before I go to pee? I see something else on your face and it's something good."

Gulping mouthfuls of the strong martini down in hopes to speed up the process of getting drunk, I sigh and put the glass down, looking down at Layla's mischievous face as she smirks at me. "He's going to Black Dagger's concert tomorrow but I doubt that we'll see him out of the thousands of people going there."

Layla takes her head away from my hip and slaps a hand on my back. "You might do. Dessssstiny," she hisses before laughing and walking off to the toilets.

Turning back to my martini, I think of Chase's gorgeous features and wonder how a boy like that can be single : either he's single or he's flirting with a girl even though he's got a girlfriend. His hair was great, his chiselled features were great, his eyes were great, his mouth was great, even his bloody words were great - no matter how drunk he was. I don't know why I can't stop thinking about him but I hope that the constant thought of him goes away by tomorrow, because I don't like it. I don't like that I'm thinking about a boy I don't even know.

Biting down on my lip in shame of me thinking constantly about Chase, I pick up my martini and down the rest of it in hopes that the booze hits me all at once - just like I didn't want it to. It was just a chance encounter with a really attractive boy, there's nothing special about it. I'll probably meet someone else just as attractive as him – or even more attractive than him. Don't be weird.

The two men that Layla was chatting to are still by the bar, right by Layla's stool, right by me. They're looking at me, expecting me to engage in conversation with them, but the awkwardness returns and I don't know what the hell to say them. I don't even know how much Layla has spoken to them in the time I was gone or what they were talking about so I'm stuck on whether I should introduce myself or just wait until Layla comes back.

The men are really good-looking, probably a couple of years older than Layla and I. They're dressed in jeans and white fitted shirts : the usual things men wear on nights out in Britain. Leaning both arms on the counter, I glance over my shoulder at them at the same time they look at me. I give a wry smile and look back to my empty martini glass. The alcohol is really kicking in now, I can feel it burning every last bit of the sobriety in my body away and my vision is spinning more than before. When Layla comes back and sits on the stool, I gesture for the bartender's attention and he comes over to me.

"Ten of those shots we had before please," I tell him.

He nods and smiles at me as he walks away to prepare my order. I know that these five shots are going to mess me up for the night, but that's exactly what I want. The bartender comes over with our tray of shots and I can't wait to down all five of mine knowing I'm going to be as drunk as ever after them. Layla is back and talking to the two men while I blatantly ignore them. She's not being rude or ignoring me, she just knows that if I'm not looking at them or saying anything, then it means I want to be left alone - so she does exactly that. I'm not offended, I'm appreciative that she does this. She can talk for Wales when she's drunk though and that's exactly what she's doing with those two men now. I can talk for Wales when I'm drunk too, but it has to be when I'm really drunk. I don't even make sense when I'm talking a load of shit, I'm just talking about random things that seem to make sense in my head when I'm saying them at the time.

Picking up a shot and throwing it back down my throat, I slam the glass back down on the tray and continue to do the same with the other four. Layla picks hers up and doesn't down them as fast as me because she's already really drunk. She's got her eyes closed when she's downing the shots like she's going to fall asleep at any moment. The bartender is looking really attractive to me right now and I want to speak to him, but I just don't have it in me to say something, plus he's working.

I've slept with three boys since I was fifteen years old, I've been in two relationships : both of which lasted a few months and were terrible. There was barely any communication, we never agreed on things to do as a couple and there was not even commitment in the end (on their behalf). Layla hasn't been in a relationship since the childish ones in secondary school. She loves the fact that she's 'free'. Whatever makes her happy - I say.