𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘉𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 || 𝘈.𝘛

14

Brielle Helders

I'm currently on my fifth drink of the night, or possibly seventh, I lost track. 

Alex hasn't left me alone since he helped me find my gin about an hour ago, which is why I'm sat talking to my last resort, Luke, as Alex practically stares daggers into the back of Luke's head. Alex is stood with Miles, barely concentrating on Miles' pointless mumbling into his ear and instead focusing on Luke and I. 

I have no idea what his problem is, he's been doing this for the past 10 minutes. When I asked him why he was still here, he simply responded with 'You're drunk', not that I didn't know that already. I'm not completely drunk, but I'm on a quick path to it. 

''So yeah, that's how I ended up in the Kooks.'' Luke finishes what had to of been the most boring conversation and I focus myself back into his rambling as I bite on the yellow straw of my drink. 

''Nice.'' I make my best effort to act as though I'm interested, when what I'm actually interested in is currently stood next to my bestfriend whilst staring daggers into Luke. 

I'm still mad at Alex, I haven't forgotten what he said literally hours ago, but his presence is almost intriguing. I'm excited about him being near, and that isn't a good thing. 

''You alright? You seem a bit distant, Elle.'' Luke asks, swivelling the kitchen stool to face me. 

''Elle?'' I furrow my brows at what he just called me.

''Yeah, Bri-Elle. Has nobody ever called you that?'' He smirks wonkily, raising his glass to his chapped lips. 

''No.'' I reply shortly, bothered by the fact that he thinks he's at the stage where he can make up nicknames. 

''Oh.'' His cheeks are a tainted pink as he struggles to face the rejection, and I instantly smirk at the sight of his ego faltering. 

I look down at my empty glass, sighing at the realization that I once again have to refill my glass. In my defense, the glasses are quite small which obviously has me refilling my drinks so often. 

I go to stand up, but Luke protests.

''You've had quite a bit to drink, haven't you? Would you not like some water?'' Luke passively asks, looking up at me with a strange expression to his face.

I almost fire back a response to his snarky remark, but a certain someone beats me to it.

''What's it to you?'' Alex asks from across the counter, furrowing his brows at Luke as his hand clasps tightly around his glass of whiskey. 

Luke's smile falters slightly as he turns to look at Alex, his head tilting in a challenging manner. 

''Nothing, I'm just worried about her, that's all.'' Luke shrugs, exchanging his slouched, bad posture position into a stern, almost protective one.

''Don't be, she's an adult.'' Alex responds instantly, obviously seeing the humour in Luke's failed attempt at coming off as scary. 

''I'm sorry, I recall you disregarding my adult choices just hours ago, Alex.'' I cross my arms over my chest with a challenging shrug towards Alex. 

''Yeah, Alex.'' Luke adds on, and I instantly roll my eyes.

''You can shove it and all, you're just as bad as him.'' I look down at Luke as I stand up without my glass. Luke's cheeks instantly redden even more than before and I see Alex trying to hide a smirk from across the counter. 

''Fuck yes.'' I hear Miles from beside Alex chant under his breath, nodding proudly at my shutdown.

I soon come back to my senses when I realize that as soon as I'm sober, this situation will haunt me. I would never say or do anything like this without the influence of alcohol, but again, who cares?