The Girl

FORTY-THREE: PLASTIC FLOWERS

"Okay, everyone shut the fuck up a minute, I have something to say. Listen, just because something burns bright doesn't mean it's going to burn forever..."

SONG: PLASTIC FLOWERS

ARTIST: THE FRONT BOTTOMS

I hated being in crowds or parties without Brianna. She was usually the more congenial one out of the two of us and it made me feel better when she drifted the attention from me. I sat alone, watching everyone else have a good time while Mitchy got obnoxiously drunk. I pressed my lips together and watched the Cristina girl saunter over to me.

"No girlfriend today?" She asked, blue eyes watched me with curiosity and one other thing. She wanted to see if she could trick me into sleeping with her.

I shook my head, trying to come off as friendly as possible. "Nope. She's off in Paris doing runway stuff."

Cristina (Crystal? Crap, I don't actually know her name. I just knew she liked to pretend she was friends with us--the band), gave me a faux apologetic look. I suppressed a grimace. She was really hoping to score tonight.

"Too bad, she's really missing out," She rested her hand on my knee and squeezed it, narrowing her eyes.

"She's really not. This party kind of sucks," I muttered and shifted my knee, her hand falling off. "The beer's really good though."

"Oh, yeah, Mitchy is advertising for some beer company set up in Bali," She explained and brushed a purple strand of hair behind her ear. "You're not exactly picking up my signals, are you?"

"Nope," I brought the beer to my lips and watched an annoyed expression fall on her face.

"Let me spell it out for you, then," She huffed and shifted so she was in position to crawl onto my lap.

"No need," I licked the beer off of my lips. "I'm going to go home. I don't think my girlfriend would appreciate someone like you trying to hit on me--especially since you know I'm in a fully committed relationship."

"I was just trying to have some fun,"

I rolled my eyes. "Just stay away from me. And stop yelling at my fans, for fuck's sake. You're not doing us any favors by scaring them away."

I walked away, feeling a lot shittier. It was more because I missed Brianna. She was supposed to be coming home tomorrow morning, but her brother would be dropping her off since I wasn't sure if I was going to be home. I maneuvered my way through the people and scowled whenever I got beer on me from people who didn't know how to hold their bottles.

As soon as I stepped outside, I felt like I hadn't been able to breathe the entire time that I was inside of there. With the purple haired girl trying to get me to cheat, and the few beers that were making me feel light headed, there was no way I was going to be able to drive Brianna's car back to the apartment. I closed my eyes as a wave of nausea coursed through me.

"Christ," I blubbered and held my stomach, hunching over and took deep breaths. Everything was making my head throb and I couldn't fucking think about trying to get sober because I was pretty sure that I had eaten something I wasn't supposed to inside.

"Luke?" I lifted my head and my eyes widened before I puked on the spot.

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I groaned and rolled over, stuffing my face in a pillow that was clearly not mine. My head was still hurting and I felt like maybe I shouldn't have eaten anything at that party. I completely forgot that people baked shit into brownies and cookies. I huffed and sat up, feeling a little more at peace with the fact that I was in my clothing from last night. I swallowed.