Artifice

Drunk

I practically threw myself into my apartment, laying my things down on the table near the entrance and pulling off my jacket.

Though I was accustomed to the cold, I hated it. New York always was incredibly cold during fall and especially winter. There was nothing actually magical about New York winters, the snow was dirty, smog covered the skies, and no one really went around singing carols like in movies.

Thankfully I still had a few more weeks till the festivities would begin, so I had time to prepare myself by buying the biggest and warmest clothes I could find.

I set down the small bag that contained my phone and a notebook that I sometimes would use to sketch things I saw while out.

My feet audibly tapped on the wood floor. It was a weekday, my roommate would be at work and our place was eerily quiet. I prompted to turn on some quiet music to possibly get some studying in for the day.

Opening my textbooks led to minimal reading and more temptation to do anything but study.

After minutes of repeatedly reading a paragraph to finally process what it was saying, I shut the book and mentally readjusted my schedule to fit studying in another time.

I swayed around the living room to the song playing, picking up the mess that had littered the place from a week of being neglected to be cleaned.

Minutes turned to hours and the apartment seemed spotless. I surprised myself by even vacuuming the floor and washing the dishes.

"Honey, I'm home!" Lizzy's voice filled our apartment as well as the sound of her opening the door. "You cleaned, how domestic of you." She laughed putting down bags she held in her hands.

"If I left it to you we would have to be swimming in filth."

"You right." Her response was accompanied with a cackle.

Elizabeth was a handful, to say the least. We've been friends since I moved to New York three years ago for school, we hit it off the bat almost automatically. Two months into our friendship she offered to have me move in with her since I was moving back and forth from temporarily renting spaces. She had an empty room and I had nothing to lose.

"Take out?" I asked, yelling from the living room to her inside her room.

"I was thinking we could go out tonight," I groaned and she popped her head outside the doorframe. "Don't be a bore, you're always home. It's Friday Eva, live a little." Her head popped back out of sight.

-

My speech was slurred, and my mind was hazy, still I managed to get up and dance along with my best friend.

"Aren't you glad I made you come out tonight?" She yelled over the music filling up the dark room full of intoxicated bodies.

I nodded and bobbed my head back and forth, raising my hands in the air and moving along to the thumping song. The vibrations ran through my body, including a wave of heat, and another sensation reaching down my spine.

I turned around realizing it wasn't the loud music or the alcohol manipulating my senses.

"I saw the way you were looking over to me and how you were moving, practically begging for me." He said and I couldn't recall ever even seeing him.

"No" I laughed. "No thank you."

I turned away, leaving the stranger with his hands up in the air and a flustered look.

When I looked around, Lizzy was gone from the dance floor.

I pushed my way back to the bar and leaned on it, rejecting the bartenders offer for a drink.

Looking around the club, it was bland. The only color that was visible was black, black walls, black seats, black curtains, black tables. If it wasn't for the little light being reflected onto the walls from the multicolored lasers and peoples outfits, the place would be pitch black.

Liz was not in the crowd of people anymore. She was a big girl though, I didn't worry about her too much but tonight I was alone and in my state that was the last thing I wanted.

I guided my eyes from one side of the club to another.

A girl slapped a guys hand after he tried grabbing her while she was dancing.

You go girl

Another was nervously watching with a drink in her hand. A few men lurked around the club watching the girls, like the nasty vultures they were.

Two people were sat in a booth deeply making out, the guy had a familiar head of hair. I moved my head in different directions to get a better view of the guy but had no luck.

Without thinking I moved towards the booth and looked inside.

The girl on the other side of the kiss looked at me and they stopped.

The familiar head of hair raised and I ducked back realizing who it was. I cursed under my breath as I speedily ran away from what I just interrupted.

"Eva?" I prayed my intoxication was deceiving me and the voice actually belongs to a small brunette girl I called my best friend.

A hand touched my shoulder and I faked a big smile.

"Oh hey!" I yelled over the music. "What a coincidence, twice in one day?" The alcohol in my system wasn't helping me at all.

"Uh, yeah." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Are you here alone?" I nodded.

"Well technically no, my friends here but she ditched me and I'm drunk." A giggled left my mouth and my inner conscious wanted to punch myself.

"Do you want me to take you home?"

"You have company," I looked over his shoulder at the blond he was previously sucking face with. She stared in different directions, her lipstick messy on her lips and her hands on her lap.

"She's- she's fine alone. You're not in the condition to be alone right now. Let me take you home." He reached out for my hand and I stepped back.

"You were an ass today, you know?"

"Don't be stubborn and let me take you home." His voice was demanding, under his intense stare I couldn't build up the courage to say no.

"I needed a ride anyways," I swallowed. "Let me just text Liz."