Never The End

Chapter 17 - Just One

"You want the first sip?" Jason offered me the bottle.

"I don't drink" I whispered, embarrassed. The cold glass of the bottle touched my hand as Jason brandished it to me.

"Just one sip, to calm your nerves?"

"Yeah... just a sip though.” I grasped the cold bottle in my hand. What am I doing?My hands were shaking. I griped it tighter as my hands threatened to shatter it.

"Go on then." Jason urged. I smiled meekly, aware of what I was about to do.

The bottle seemed to weigh a thousand tonnes. Slowly, I lifted the sweet poison to my lips. A small drop trickled onto my dry tongue. It burned straight away. As the cold liquid slithered down my throat, a burning sensation filled my lungs. The acidic taste made me shiver. I gagged a little. I saw Jason look at me oddly. Great. He thinks I'm a freak who can't even handle a little drink. "You ok?"

I gagged. “That is hideous!” I wiped my mouth with my sleeve, trying to remove any reminisce of the taste from my lips.

Again, Jason laughed. “Really? Try a bit more, it takes a few sips to get used to.”

 Not wanting to seem babyish, I plunged the bottle to my lips again and took a large swig. My lungs inflamed as I struggled to down the Vodka. Each breath sparked a new flame in my chest. I could feel my eyes watering.

After a few seconds, the burning died down.

It kind of felt nice... Jason grabbed the bottle and took a large gulp. His lips cradled the bottle as his tipped it up to the sky. Unlike me, it didn't seem to affect him. He swallowed half the bottle without even thinking about it. He let out a sigh after he swallowed and smiled at me.

"What do you think?"

"It's quite nice actually.... it tastes sour but not in a bad way." I hiccupped and we both laughed.

The bottle was placed once again in my hands. Each swig felt more and natural... even fun I guess. I began to feel the cold drifting away as my body became warm and tingly.

I looked over at Jason who was staring into the distance smiling to himself. His eyes looked vacant and he was giggling. I found myself taking yet another sip of the toxic liquid. It began to numb my senses and blur my vision but I didn't really care. My eyes blurred a little bit. The world started spinning as I steadied myself on the railings. My stomach was doing back flips. Butterflies danced in my gut. I couldn't control my laughter. I was howling uncontrollably for no reason.

I like it.

The rain suddenly came out of nowhere. Droplets splashed onto our faces. It pounded onto the ground, bouncing waist high. Jason tried to cover us with his coat. I shook my head.

Pulling away from him, I stood up and grabbed Jason by the arm. "Let's dance!" I laughed.

Jason's face broke out into a grin. I hoisted him up and he wrapped his arms around me. We span round in circles, giggling. His feet were sliding all over the place. The rain soaked our clothes. The steps all blurred into a mass of movement but we didn't care. Nothing seemed to matter anymore. Our sopping wet clothes stuck to each other, intertwining us into a blur.

His face was the only thing I could actually see clear enough to focus on. His smile glinted. He twirled me under his arm and I crumpled my body to fit under it. My head brushed his arm and he quickly spun me back round to face him making me splutter with laugher. He twirled me into his body and we swayed, completely oblivious to the rain shower getting increasingly worse around us. We waltzed around for a second, his hand cradling my back.

We collapsed onto the bench, practically squealing with laughter. I put my hand on Jason's chest. His heart was beating ten to a dozen. He put his hand on mine and curled his fingers making a ball. "You want some more?"

The bottle was offered to me again. Grinning, I accepted.

This time the bottle didn't feel as comforting as I pressed it against my lips. The cold glass stuck momentarily to my mouth. Even as the alcohol was tipped down my throat, I felt nothing. Nothing but emptiness inside. The realisation of my actions began to creep into my mind. Not wanting to face up to them, I tipped yet more of the numbing liquid down my throat, gulping each mouthful down without hesitation. Stop before it's too late.

As if my thoughts had come to life, a sudden wave of nausea flooded over me. Trying not to show it to Jason, I buried my face into his chest. I curled my arms around his waist and nestled into him. He rested his head on mine, his heart still fluttering. It seemed to fool him into a false sense of security. He stroked my hair gently. Everything starting spinning as I looked around. My head was pounding. The incessant drumming made my eyes water. I squeezed my eyes tightly to try and control myself. Each breath made my chest burn again.

I felt my stomach lurch as I jumped away from Jason just in time to throw up all over the pavement.