Songbird [H.S]

FIVE

Harry was in heaven. A paradise full of sweet alcohol, live music and marijuana. The Cherry was a place far more perfect than he could ever imagine, a wide smile of pure ecstasy lit up his flushed face, clammy from all the dancing he'd been doing a few minutes prior. The loud bass of the current rock song echoing around the building made the floor vibrate as he stumbled his way through the bustling crowd back to the table where his friends were drinking without him. Beads of sweat rolled down his face, smudging the thick eyeliner Marley had let him borrow to do the perfect cat-eye. He was the cheshire cat after all.

The boy's outfit had been one of pure perfection: a cropped leather waistcoat with a purple fringe along the edges, his inked skin peeking through acting like the cat's markings matching wonderfully with his pair of purple velvet bell-bottoms. The boy had also started the night with some cat ears but they'd been lost almost immediately in the crowd when the band started playing. Not that Harry cared, he was far too intoxicated to notice.

Upon reaching his friend's table, he threw himself down into the empty space in the booth with a content sigh, resting his head lightly on Marley's shoulder.

"I never want to leave this place." He hummed, making Marley laugh at his stupidity.

Numerous shot glasses and beer bottles littered the table, courtesy of Niall who insisted on the constant delivery of alcohol to the table, much to everyone's delight. The entire group was an accurate representation of wonderland - their costumes, as Marley had loudly put it earlier made them 'the best-dressed motherfuckers in the entire town'.

Marley had chosen to go as Alice, her blonde hair cascading down her back in loose ringlets, complementing her baby blue, flared jumpsuit with a low cut V-shaped neckline. Her outfit was completed with a pair of white, thigh high-patent platform boots that Harry was obsessed with. The boy had probably mentioned them about fifty times that night, playfully telling her they were perfect for kicking boys that got too close to her in the shin. He soon shut up when she tested out his theory, giving him a lovely bruise on his right leg when he kept clinging to her after a few drinks. In her defence, how was she supposed to dance when the boy was hanging off her like a koala.

Zayn had come as the Mad Hatter, but as expected he added his own little twist so he looked like a mixture of psychedelic hippie and punk rocker. He'd decided to go shirtless so his extensive range of tattoos were on display, peeking through the leather jacket thrown lazily over his shoulders. A bunch of chain necklaces hung from his neck, tiny deck of card charms dangling from the links, clinking together with any slight movement. Additionally, the boy had borrowed a pair of yellow patterned flares from Harry - orange details swirling across the fabric.

And finally, Niall had insisted on dressing as the white rabbit. He wore a dark blue corduroy waistcoat buttoned neatly over his bare torso paired with a pair of white velvet bell-bottoms almost identical to his brother's. To add detail to his simplistic outfit, the boy had stolen his father's pocket watch from his mother's dressing table drawer and borrowed a pair of white playboy bunny ears from the fancy dress shop a few blocks away. However, he found them a little uncomfortable so Marley had taken it upon herself to use them as a headband to keep the hair off her face while she danced.

The group had made it to the club just in time for the start of the band's set. Louis had told Marley there was a space saved upfront for her group of friends which meant they didn't have to barge their way through the crowd to find a good spot before the first song. The band (The Rouges) were a big hit among the group but Marley hadn't been able to stop talking about them all night, gushing about the lead singer's vocals - something that had started to annoy Harry to the point he had to leave the table to dance alone for a while. But now he was back and desperate for another one of the cherry vodka sours he'd been obsessed with all night.