Deception (Michael Clifford)

Nineteen

"Luke!" I shout.
His head turns around wildly to look at me, blue eyes struggling to focus.
"Where do you think your going with that?" I ask over the music, quickly prying an almost full glass of vodka from his hand. He pouts at me pitifully.
"Aw please," he reaches around me to try and grab it back.
"Nope, you've had enough," I reply firmly, holding the glass just out of reach. The smell of liquor on his breath is overwhelming, and I scrunch up my nose in disgust.
"Please Scaral, Scarlal-," the words stumble out of his mouth. "Scar..." he whines finally, leaning for the glass again to the point where he's almost hugging me. I stumble backwards slightly, for god sake, I give up.
I look around the dark venue which throbs with the lights of the dance floor, for Ashton. Somehow I've ended up becoming Luke's babysitter, and I've been following him around all night trying to keep him from getting too drunk, to no avail.
I spot Ashton's fluffy hair behind a large group of men.
"Ash!" I shout, straining my neck over the crowd. His head spins around to look for whoever called his name.
"Ashton!" I call again, and this time his eyes find me. Quickly spotting Luke, who's practically on top of me, he makes his way towards us.
"Please give, give my drink!" Luke's words come out as small giggles, he thinks this is a game! He wraps his arms around me to grab at the glass again.
"Luke," I press a hand against his chest gently, "your drunk, I think you've had enough alcohol for tonight."
He pouts down at me, and I look up nervously, before the corners of his mouth quickly turn up into a mischievous grin again. Just as he's about to make another leap for his drink, I feel it taken out of my hand.
"Luke." A voice says firmly.
Quickly turning around, I see Ashton holding the glass and gently pushing on Luke's shoulder.
Suddenly Luke's eyes draw back and focus on Ashton.
"Come with me man, I'll find you something else to drink," Ash escorts him away, and sends me a small nod. I return it in thanks, and he quickly walks off with Luke reluctantly in tow. I let out an exhausted sigh.

Finally free of the 18 year old toddler, I look around the night club for somewhere quiet to sit. If that's even possible. It's a decent sized place, two levels, the bottom packed with throbbing crowds and loud music, whilst the top, I look up at the balcony, is a cocktail lounge, overlooking the floor. There's multiple bars that I've noticed whilst trailing after Luke, I counted at least 3.
I look around the busy dance floor again, where I've been for the majority of the night. As soon as we got here the boys split up and went in their own directions with various members of the crew. I lost sight of them within seconds, so I trailed off to one of the bars by myself, but then noticed Luke awkwardly standing at the other end.
He didn't stay awkward for long.
I laugh to myself, how quickly some one can change under the influence of alcohol. Even the most quiet and innocent of boys can become loud and confident with a few beers in their hand.
Though it clearly doesn't effect everyone like that.
My eyes pass to a young lady who's balling her eyes out on the floor, surrounded by a group of friends, and giving out hugs to everyone that walks past.
The emotional drunk, I think in my head.
Some people can become violent though, thankfully I haven't seen anyone I know get that drunk.

My legs start to hurt from standing up which reminds me once again of finding somewhere to sit, and maybe getting a drink for myself. I narrow my eyes through the glare and strain my neck. The floor is absolutely packed, and all the stools have been taken up, leaving me nowhere to sit. I sigh.
As I look away, my eyes suddenly catch the familiar blond quiff of Luke through the crowd, accompanied by Ashton and Calum.
So they all found each other.
I smirk as I realise Luke's got what looks like a lemonade in his hand, Ash must have convinced him to forget about the vodka then.
They gather round in a loose circle and laugh, drinks in their hand, arms wrapped around shoulders. I can't help but smile, they all look so happy. Relaxed. I can tell why they make such a great band, they all seem to get on so well.
But then my heart sinks slightly in my chest.
Ashton, I didn't notice before, is not entirely focused on the conversation. His eyes waver around the venue, looking carefully over the heads in the crowd, almost hopefully. But I can tell from the slightly sorrowful expression that he's not expecting to find anything.