The Ripple Effect

1.

"Ariella! Where did you put the mascara?!"
The corners of my mouth rose slightly as I turned to see my best friend looking at me through the bathroom doorway expectingly.

She only ever called me Ariella if I was in trouble or she was being dramatically drunk. In this case, it was the latter.

Taking in Maisy's appearance I noticed that her post-breakup hair cut really suit her. Pre-breakup Maisy sported long blonde locks which dangled around her belly button, now brunette curls replaced them, only reaching down to her shoulders.

"How many drinks have you had?"I replied smoothly, Maisy had clearly forgotten the golden rule of pre-drinks and gotten drunk before doing her makeup.

Before I gave her a chance to answer my question, I replied coyly, "Its in your hand Maise."

Maisy chose to ignore my answer as realization struck her and continued doing her makeup silently while I chuckled at her, I was still laughing at her as I stood up off my bed and plugged my straightener in when a pillow came flying and hit me square in the back of the head. 

Although it didn't hurt, I feigned excruciating pain and fell to the ground screaming, I always had a quiet pride in my acting abilities, they had gotten Maisy and I out of some quite sticky situations before.

However Maisy was no stranger and had known me since I was 4, she knew I was only being dramatic. Maisy turned, the concern etched on her face contrasted against her wide smile, screaming "only alcohol can fix this!"

She ran through my bedroom door through to the kitchen to fetch what I could only assume to be the bottle of vodka we had bought earlier. I continued to laugh to myself at the "dire" emergency situation that Maisy and I had created.

Maisy returned to my room at a jogging pace, clutching the vodka in her hand. She jumped over the pile of clothes that were earlier discarded in our quest to find the perfect outfit, landed one footed on the turquoise futon and spectacularly dived onto the middle of my bed, holding up the vodka as if it were a child in danger.

I watched Maisy land and not two seconds later she was leaning over the side of my bed where I was currently curling my hair in front of my small mirror propped up against the wall.

As I made eye contact with Maisy my smile somewhat faulted. She had an all too familiar mischievous smirk on her face. I had to admit, Maisy was being a bit vague, either she knew I was going to hate it or whatever was about to go down I would never knowingly agree too.

As my suspicions were rising Maisy popped the lid of the vodka.

"Open up A! I'm nurse Maisy and I'm here to provide a temporary fix to our boring teenage lives that are filled with over dramatic girls and disgustingly desperate males."

She moved the bottle closer to my face as I turned to face my best friend, laughing at the harsh truth behind act Maisy was putting on. Her voice deepened with caution but her smile never wained.

"Side effects may include blurred vision, loss of hand-eye co-ordination, slurred speech, possibly kissing some hot seniors, but most of all we are going to have a fucking awesome time at this party."

 At this, Maisy took a swig of the vodka and passed it to me.

I followed her actions and I felt my throat burn in protest to the liquid flowing down it. My face involuntarily screwed up at the taste and I took a deep breath, attempting to recover. 

As I finished the final curls in my unusually co-operative brown hair, Maisy also finished up her makeup. 

Finally, we were ready.

We both took another rather large gulp of vodka each and headed off towards the party.