Claiming Innocence [#wattys2015]

Eleven

Looking into the bathroom mirror, I examined how Ema had styled me for the party, barely recognising myself.

My hair was lightly curled, flowing down my back. I had the face paint removed and fresh make-up on my face, with what she called 'smoky' eye shadow. I was wearing a fitted black dress with long sleeves- it came half way down my thighs- and black heels. I tugged at the dress lightly trying to adjust the length before Ema smacked my hand away.

"Stop tugging at your dress, it's suppose to be short" she laughed before finishing her hair quickly. She was wearing a short green dress, which complimented her hair. She kept it simple with her shoes and wore similar black heels to me.

"But I'm not used to wearing something like this, it feels weird, these shoes are weird too." I was only just getting used to walking in these stupid things.

With a laugh she packed up all of her things before we headed back to my room.

"So will the bosses be there tonight?" I curiously asked.

"Nah I spoke to Luke at the football game, apparently they have security cameras everywhere so they'll stay away unless they are needed"

"Oh"

I waited at the door for her quietly. Once she came back we headed down stairs.

I didn't realize how long we had taken to get changed, because the moments our feet made contact with the hardwood floor of the bottom level, we could see that the party had well and truly started.

Everywhere in the house was closed off, apart from the big lounge area and the kitchen- being the only areas left accessible. This was probably to keep everyone in the same area, making 50 people seem like a lot more than what it was. All of the furniture was pushed against the wall, large speakers were spread out everywhere, playing dance music and bodies were spread amongst the crowded room dancing and drinking.

Me and Ema pushed our way through the sweaty bodies making our way towards the kitchen, where we found the boys along with Jasmine, Mia, Hunter and Mel pouring drinks whilst laughing uncontrollably.

"Ema! Baaabe" Luke slurred out, swinging his arm around her shoulders.

"Oh god, Luke are you drunk?" she laughed.

"You girls have some catching up to do" Hunter shouted whilst pouring us a drink each.

I've never had alcohol before. The thought of it just reminded me of my father's vile binge drinking and violent attacks. 

Ema is the only one who knows about this, and I want to keep it that way. It's no one else's business. I'm worried that if my father acted like that drunk, everyone else might do the same thing.

Hunter passed me a drink, filled with who knows what, before passing the same to Ema. I noticed her looking at me with a sympathetic expression. "It'll be okay" she mouthed to me before taking small sips of her drink.

I glanced around at everyone, finally meeting eyes with Axel. He looked me up and down, pulling his bottom lip in between his teeth, before meeting my eyes again. Giving me a playful wink, he took a small sip of his drink. I looked to the right of him to see Brax stumbled into him before falling on the floor laughing his head off.

I laughed quietly to myself as Axel turned away from me to help him up, before peering around at everyone else around me who was drinking. They all seemed to be friendly and enjoying themselves.

Was being violent just something my father did?

Everyone else was act positive under the influence of alcohol. Maybe I'll be okay if I do it too.

With that thought in my mind, I lifted the cup to my lips, tilted my head back and swallowed some of its content. It didn't taste that bad, just like berries, with a slight burning from what I'm assuming is the alcohol.

Axel walked to my side before giving me a tight hug and kiss on the cheek again. I was slightly disappointed we didn't share another mouth-to-mouth kiss, that is something I don't think I'll ever be able to get used to.

With the assistance of these shoes, instead of just reaching his shoulder, I now just about reached his eyes, leaving still quite a bit of height between us.

"You look beautiful Tasha" his husky voice spoke, lips pressed to my ear.

 I'm still not used to being complimented, he was one of the first people to do it. Unsure of what to do, I mumbled a quiet "thank you" whilst glancing down at my feet. 

"Come on, lets go dance" Axel yelled to everyone before grabbing my hand and pulling me out to the dance floor. Everyone erupted with cheers as we filled out of the kitchen and into the dancing crowd.

-------------

A/N

I feel as if me making such long chapters, everything seems to look like its happening to soon, so I've decided to go back to a bit shorter chapters :) xx