𝙩𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙨 ʰ²ᵒ

⁰³. ᵖⁱⁿᵏ ⁺ ʷʰⁱᵗᵉ

∵ ✪ ☾° — ☍ TIPPING TIDES. . .

{CHAPTER THREE ,
— ❝ pink + white ❞ }

"OKAY, WAIT. HYPE ME UP." Maliah demanded, looking at May.

The girl scoffed sassily, rolling her eyes. "Take the damn shot, pussy."

"Ugh," Maliah downed her shot, putting a slice of lemon in her mouth straight after then grabbing hold of her red bull. "Disgusting." She mumbled.

"Yeah, well." May shrugged, downing her third shot in five minutes with a grimace. "We don't drink it for the taste. We drink if for the effect." She said smugly, putting her hand out for her best friend to take. "Let's dance."

Maliah shook her head, "I'm not dance drunk yet."

May grabbed her hand, anyway, walking them out of the back and onto the dance floor. "You don't have to be dance drunk to dance." She said, "It's all about the mindset."

"You sound really wise right now." Maliah began moving to the beat, "Is that the tequila?"

"Probably." May shrugged carelessly. A body moved to be behind May, and she immediately recognised his smell. She groaned.

"Hey stranger." River spoke into her ear quietly, but loud enough for her to hear over the music. "Already drunk?"

May sent a look to Maliah before purposely whipping her hair into his face to face him. "You know stranger dangers a thing, right? I'm gonna get a restaining order."

He sent her a curious look, "You mean.. Restraining?" She went silent at that, rolling her lips in for a moment.

"Yeah, whatever." She nodded, looking up at him. "Close enough."

"You know, I've taken notice you're not really good at English." He told her.

"Damn," She shook her head. "The consequences of being non-schooled." She cringed, looking around for Maliah.

He leaned towards her, "Hey, we should hand out sometime!" He raised his voice so she could hear him over the music.

She scoffed, pushing him away by pushing his chest. "In your dreams, lake."

He gave her a curious look, "It's River." He reminded her. "Not lake."

"Same, same." She shrugged. "Hey, can you give my phone back?" She asked, tilting her head up to look at him.

"I'll give it to Lewis." He told her, "You'll probably lose it."

She nodded, chucking him a thumbs up. "Sweet!" She called, turning around, and bumping into Lewis.

"Hey, are you okay?" Lewis found her looking around.

"Looking for Mals?" She asked him.

"Bathroom, doing shots." He yelled over the music, watching her walk off into the bathroom.

May walked in, seeing her doing shots with a random boy. "Oh Yemanya! I've been replaced!" She yelled dramatically, letting the door fall closed behind her as she walked in. "Who is this fine man?"

𓆉⋆｡˚⋆❀ 🐚🫧𓇼 ˖°



FIVE MINUTES AGO, Maliah stumbled into the bathroom, a bottle of alcohol in her hand and unscrewed the cap. She did this before realising she had walked in on a guy, around her age, dropping eyedrops into his eyes he held open, a joint resting in his mouth.

She put a hand over her mouth, before laughing. The guy relaxed, looking at her with a confused look. ".. . Hello?"

"Oh!" She had realised she hadn't said anything yet. "Sorry, I was looking for a private place to do private shots." She smiled, ignoring the look on his face, and walking into the occupied bathroom anyway. She placed her bottle on the sink and pushing him absentmindedly away from the mirror to look at her hair.