Be Your Everything

f i v e

If I'm Lucky: f o u r

Luke's Perspective

I thanked the guy behind the bar for my beer and waited for Calum and Ashton to get their drinks as well. Ashton got himself and Bryana vodka tonics, not straying from their usual drink order. Calum got a beer and scanned the room for girls; not in a creepy way, just to find a girl to chat up for the evening. I saw no harm in joining him, so I propped my elbows up onto the counter and began to assess each girl that walked by, each one more plastic looking than the next.

Seeing no one of particular interest (as usual), I took out my phone and tried to kill time before Jo found me and took my drink away. Granted, I probably shouldn't have been drinking to start, but I'd had one hell of a 24 hours and just needed something to take the edge off.

I kept myself entertained with Twitter for a while, silently wishing Ash and Bryana could stop giving each other those fucking puppy dog eyes on the other side of Calum. The fact that I even had to be at this party after the day I've had was making me a little more irritable and I really just wanted to go home and try again tomorrow.

"Mate, let's take a lap. We can chat up some friends, take your mind off things." Calum gave me a nudge, breaking me of my thoughts. "Let's try and dodge Jo as long as we can, yeah?"

"Jo's not the problem." I grumbled, annoyed that he was trying to make her out as the bad guy. "It's me. She only has to fucking be here to watch me because I fucked up." The truth was management was really to blame for all of this, constantly trying to force us to do one thing or another. Last night, I snapped from the pressure, and now I had to deal with the consequences.

"Well, whatever the case may be, let's go get your mind off of it."

We rounded the corner of the bar in search of people we knew, finding another bad counter on the other side. Jo's sister was talking with a girl that I'd never seen before, and it looked like she was giving her a pep talk or something. Whoever she was, she was beautiful. She kept flashing this cute, shy smile at Jaclyn while she spoke, and I found myself wondering who she might be. Jaclyn and Jo were the kind of girls that didn't put up with bitches, so this girl must be pretty chill for them to be hanging out with her.

The two of them were engulfed in their conversation, oblivious to anyone else in the room as people walked past. The girl twirled a strand of blonde hair around her finger and I snuck a glance at the top of her head, curious as to whether or not she dyed it that color. Not a trace of brown showed at her roots, so it had to be natural. For some reason, this girl just seemed really cool from looking at her. She didn't pay too much attention to who was watching, and she gave her undivided attention to Jaclyn as she spoke.

Calum suddenly stopped in his tracks once we were close to the girls. I turned back to look at him, and unfortunately did so just in time to walk right into Jaclyn's friend. I was able to catch her to keep her from falling, but her drink had already managed to escape her grip. The colorful liquid spilled all over me and stained the hideous shorts that I'd been convinced to wear to the party.

I looked at the embarrassed girl in my arms in amusement. The poor thing was clearly mortified, but all I could think about was the fact that this beautiful stranger had given me the perfect excuse to leave the party.

"I am so sorry," she said in shock, unable to tear her eyes away from mine. I let out a small laugh, which seemed to make her feel a bit better. Calum came from the bar with a stack of napkins and handed them to the two of us. Luckily for the girl, her dress had managed to avoid the spill.