drinking

chapter 2

I felt the cold rim of the half empty bottle dig into my lips. I poured more liquid down my throat, before finally sitting up to look at Luke. He was lounging on his armchair, staring off into the distance. His index finger would repeatedly tap on his beer bottle, and I knew he was thinking.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" I ask, keeping eye contact with him as I shove more of the grimy liquid into my mouth.

Luke's clear blue eyes flicker to mine before returning back to his daze.

"Me? Nothin' much."

His index finger taps faster, and I sigh before reluctantly putting down my glass.

"Seriously Luke, what's bothering you? You can talk to me," I say, leaning back in my chair.

There was silence, before Luke took a big swig out of his bottle and put it down gently beside his chair.

"What happened when you left me during the movie?" He folds his hands together, playing with the ring on his thumb, twisting it left and right.

I thought about the outcome with my words. Luke and I aren't dating, so why was I scared to tell him about Ashton? 

No, you're not scared, just tell him.

I take a breath in, letting the alcohol consume every inch of myself before speaking.

"I saw Ashton outside, and he asked me out."

I wait a beat, before glancing at Luke, who nodded slowly.

"Why were you so afraid of telling me? You know you can tell me everything," His eyebrows furrow, and I retrieve my beer bottle once again. 

I let the feeling of the cold bottle against my perspiring skin neutralize, and I take another drink.

"I know, I just, didn't know how you would react. I was out with you, not Ashton, and I thought-"

"Hey."

Luke cut my words off, as if my words were birds drifting through the night breeze and he was the midnight hunter. I peer up at him from my hands, and I see him smile softly.

"You know whatever makes you happy is fine by me? I don't own you, you can go talk to other guys whenever you like. Just, tell me when it happens, I don't want to be left in the dark."

I smile back at him, releasing a breath I didn't know I was holding in. I tilted my head to a side and watched his azure eyes follow mine.

"Thank you, Luke," I respond, crossing my legs and placing the bottle in the middle.

"No problem, what are friends for?" He shrugs, and we both simultaneously take a drink from our bottles.

After our bottles were empty, with only the beads of alcohol left clinging desperately to the glass, I opened a new box, handing one to him before sitting down again.

We drink desperately, before I knew it, I blacked out again.

+

It was the next morning, and the harsh glow through the soft curtains greets my unwilling eyelids. I groan, trying to shuffle out of the bed before the light impales me once more. 

I felt another groan behind me, and arms that I didn't know were there tightened around my clothed waist. Not again.

It seems Luke and I always end up in the same bed together after we black out, with no recollection of what happened the next morning. Today, at least, we both woke up clothed. 

I roughly detach his arms from my waist, before standing up and hissing like a vampire in the sun. I hear Luke grunt again, and I turn my attention to the blond boy with bedhead, who was currently staring at me, with only his baby blue eyes over the white blanket.

"You have another hickey on your neck," He mumbles through the cloak, before turning back to sleep. 

I sigh, walking into the bathroom. The chilly tiles greet my feet roughly, as I hiss once more at the feeling. Morning hangovers were not my thing.

Staring at myself in disarray in the mirror, it looks like a wild animal had recently crawled out of the bed. I had heavy bags under my eyes, with my hair into a strange, messy clump, resembling a bird's nest. And as Luke pointed out, there was a dark purple hickey at the base of the left side of my neck.

I gently place my hand on it, drawing my eyebrows together in frustration. This wasn't the first time, but each time I hope it is the last. 

This isn't supposed to happen. Friends aren't supposed to drink until they are senseless and do deeds either of us don't remember in the morning. It isn't right. None of it is. 

But we both still wake up in the bright morning with our body parts tangled around each other like overgrown vines, bearing the same marks and bruises, with scratched backs and puffy red lips.

I rub the bruise that has formed on my neck, before walking out to the bedroom. I lean on the doorframe, studying the giant boy that lay on my bed, snoring softly in his sleep.

What did we do last night? I wonder, before staring at the wooden floors in dismay.

And how do we stop? 

"What's wrong, Haven?" I hear the bed shuffle, and my eyes connect to the boy with a black lip ring.

"What? Nothing, nothing," I stand up from my slumped position, walking over to the nightstand next to the king sized bed.

"You know, when we both say nothing, we mean something," He chuckles, swinging his legs to the bedside and standing up.

I grab my phone, which was lit up a second ago, but the notification faded away as I grabbed it.

"Fine, you got me, I was thinking," I sigh, shoving my phone in my pocket, making a mental note to check my phone later.

"Oh, that's never good."

I glare at him, as he puts on his shoes. He turns around and smirks at me.

"Fine, princess, what were you thinking about?"

I chuckle at the nickname he gave me, and I walk to sit down at the end of the bed, eyeing his wide back.

"Why do we always end up like this?"

Luke stops for a second, before finally shoving his foot into his shoe and stood up.

"I don't know, princess. Maybe we should stop drinking-"

"We both know we can't do that," I smile a sad smile, and he peers at my face for a second, knowing the same. 

It's an addiction, to the buzzing and numbing feeling alcohol leaves on us, and perhaps, an addiction to company.

An addiction to feeling someone else's skin and warmth during the night, as opposed to the frosty empty space of no one.

"Well, we both know we'll keep waking up together again, as long as we drink. So, that was my only solution," Luke shrugs, walking toward the bedroom door.

He glances at my face, wrinkled in worry.

"Don't worry about it, princess. As long as no one gets hurt, right?"

I stay silent, and I hear the door creaking open.

"I'll be back with breakfast. See you."

And the open door slams shut with a thud. 

When Luke leaves, my hand slides into my pocket, remembered to check my phone.

As I click the home button on my iPhone, my heart rises to my throat, and a deep blush forms on my pale cheeks. 

Ashton:

hey haven :)

-

is this a luke fanfic? is it really ???

c