constant headache

one

The city had always been calming to me. Sitting on roof tops of buildings, that I had been kicked off many times, watching hundreds of people going on with their lives and allowing me to see a snippet of their lives through their interactions with other people - whether it be phone calls or bumping into their old friends from school.

My best friend George sometimes sat with me and made me feel less alone, although the sound of cars and loud conversations would be the only thing I would be focused on.

'Dude, stop spacing out.' George nudged me, causing me to escape the trance I had allowed myself to slip into.

'Shit, sorry. I didn't even realise. What were you saying?' I said, resting my head on George's shoulder.

'My friend Matty is having a party on Friday, do you wanna come?'

I never liked parties, they were always too loud and overwhelming but I hadn't gone anywhere fun with George in a while and I needed to repay him for keeping me company.

I accepted the invitation with a smile on my face.

-

The day of the party came faster that I would have preferred it to.

I threw a random outfit on and grabbed my phone to let George know I was ready. He replied almost immediately saying that he was 'On his way!' - he hadn't turned off that stupid feature on his phone.

It wasn't long before I heard George knocking at my apartment door.

He had dressed himself up in a collared white shirt that wasn't buttoned up all the way so it showed a bit of his chest and plain black suit pants. He could make any outfit look great.

'George, you could have atleast ironed that shirt first. It looks like it hasn't seen an ironing board in its life.' I jokingly remarked, while locking the door and shoving the keys into my pocket.

'I actually don't remember asking.' He smirked, looking extremely proud of what he had said.

-

We could hear the party from a block away, it was surprising to us how it hadn't been shut down by the police already.

As we walked through the front door, we were engulfed by the wave of pulsating music that was reverberating through the walls.

Before I could even comprehend what was going on, George was being dragged away by two boys - one who looked like he had recently shaved his head and the other with a full head of hair that had gotten a bit too long for my liking. The two were complete opposites of each other.

I was left alone to conquer the trials and tribulations of a very loud house party.

I chose to walk towards the kitchen and I sat on the counter, observing all the party-goers dancing around to the playlist that was very obviously carefully curated for an event like this.

Next to me, I found a half-full bottle of vodka. I placed the rim of the glass bottle against my lips and allowed the liquid find its way down my throat. It made my insides feel warm, and it calmed me down.

Suddenly, I felt someone's presence next to me.

His hair was the first thing that caught my eye, the dark curls engulfing his head were interesting to me in a way I can't explain.

'Hi, I'm Matty.'