𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐞 જ⁀➴

XVI

Jameson

Julianna Min turned seventeen on December 1st 1997, and due to the celebrations being held by both party animals Adonis and Maira, it was deemed to be the biggest event of the year.

As Julianna had no sense of familial obligations to attend the night of her birthday, their friends were in charge of making her not feel the obscene absence of their presence. Gatherings normally consisted only of their small friendship group of six, but Maira used the planning of the event to alleviate her own grief and pushed the boundaries to a lot further. Outside, the winter chill of the harsh weather gnawed at the windows, a stark contrast to the feverish warmth within. The sixth years area was sweltering, a thick heat radiating from the crush of bodies packed tightly together. The air, humid and tinged with the tang of alcohol and sweat, felt heavy against their skins.

Glasses and bottles were clutched in unsteady hands, spilling drinks as bodies bumped and collided in the dim lighting.

"When I feel heavy metal

(Woo-hoo) And I'm pins and I'm needles

(Woo-hoo) Well, I lie and I'm easy

All of the time but I'm never sure why I need you"

Jameson teetering the borderline of drunkenness jammed his forearm consisting of the sweaty bottle of alcohol through the packed throngs of human bodies and murmured ramblings of apologies in crinkled strings as he stammered. Julianna's eyes brightened at the sight of him as he neared where she stood on one of the unstable tables, arm wrung around Elliot's necks as she screamed the lyrics of some Blur song. Just in time, he saw the moment she stupidly decided to leap into his arms and caught her fall, hoisting her down from the table with a laugh.

"Oh my god—you're here!" Julianna said. "It's my birthday!"

Jameson nodded. Chuckled breathlessly. "How you feeling?"

"Like I wanna skinny dip—will you go skinny dipping with me, Jamie? Luisa says that's what all people do on birthdays."

"She did, did she?" Head craning around, Jameson turned to skim for the girl in question and pondered why she would state such lies to Julianna and then glimpsed her further in the fog of the smokescreen occupied tongue deep with her current on again, off again boyfriend, Miller. "Don't listen to her, Jules. I mean you know how she gets when she drinks too much."

"I don't...not anymore."

"Isn't she your friend?"

Bambi eyes crumpled. "But she doesn't speak to me when she's sober." Jameson peered across at her and her mask of sadness that wholeheartedly consumed all her soft facial features fell.

His brows knitted as he frowned. "What are you on about?"

But Julianna immediately dispersed from the question that he asked, waving a small hand as if to dismiss what she just said. Before Jameson could further delve deeper into her feelings, loud screams emitted from the crowd as some song they all loved blasted and reverberated through the speakers. Jameson aimed to bracket a hand around Julianna but she slipped from his grasp and ran to join where Maira and Adonis danced, in his opinion quite provocatively, and Elliot stood not so far behind, red rimmed eyes concealing the fully blown pupils that hid within. He wanted to peal his gaze away from the pair, but it almost seemed that Elliot was adamant on torturing himself.

Why, oh why, do you intend to break your heart over and over again, Jameson thought. But he recalled Cassandra and quickly kept the question stitched behind the seams of his lips.

"You wanna head outside?" Jameson offered him, but the drunk brown-haired boy merely stumbled and shook his head.

Hand clutched around a bottle outstretched to motion to the floor where Maira wrapped a bare leg around Adonis' hip, his hand snaking around to keep her balance as she hung her head back with a contagious laugh. Manicured fingers grazed the expanse of his chest and it only managed to tear a humourless laugh from the depths of Elliot's throat. "How long you think it's gonna take until they enter their sex crazed routine again? You know...the one when they fuck at every location possible?"