by two in the morning, rosemary was nowhere to be found. josh's anxiety was through the roof as she didn't answer her phone, nor did she seem to be anywhere around the house. his mind was clouded along with his vision, all that around him was a blur and he hadn't had a drop of alcohol.
josh panicked in his attempt to scan the crowds to find the girl, continuing his search of places he had already checked and seeing a few things he could've went on with his life without seeing, such as two people in a bedroom playing strip go fish. yes, strip go fish.
josh had made it back out onto the migraine of a dance floor/grind circle, avoiding everyone dancing- jumping, rather, to whatever song was playing. he was stopped though by a hand on his shoulder, then he was turned around to see the person he had been stressing over all night. she was wearing an awfully cut paper crown that sloppily said "queen of shots" across the front.
"queen of shots?" josh shouted over the music so she could hear. she smiled a bit in her own laughing way, shrugging her shoulders with a sly but cheesy grin. "how many did you have?"
rosemary turned the crown around to reveal tallies going up to twenty. josh's eyes widened after he counted all the marks, his jaw dropping. "twenty shots? not in a row right?" josh didn't know much about this type of stuff since he was never really one to be too interested in parties.
after josh spoke, a song came on that made rosemary seemingly completely forget about the conversation at hand. she looked eagerly up to josh and held out her hand to him. josh raised his eyebrows and pointed to himself, earning a bit of what seemed to be a chuckle from rosemary.
"oh, i don't dance," josh tried, putting his hands out in front of him. rosemary took the opportunity to take one of his hands and pull him to her, then resting her hands on his shoulders. the song was slower than most played that night, it even earned a few negative calls form some lonely partygoers who were obviously rejected by those they tried to make moves on.
josh stood awkwardly for a few seconds with his hands stiff to his sides as she stood with her hands on his shoulders, just waiting for him to do something. when he did nothing, she sighed and smiled a bit, taking her hands off his shoulders. she took his hands and placed them both on her hips, then returning back to having her hands on his shoulders. she swayed them both, which josh didn't actually mind too much. her head rested on his chest, and in that moment it seemed they were the only two people at that party.
that is until the sound of someone puking and another person screaming ruined the moment.
rosemary backed away from josh a bit to see what went on, and apparently some drunk guy puked on somebody's feet. the person with puke feet looked livid, and people were even chanting for a fight.
"can we get out of here?" josh asked warily, keeping his eyes over rosemary's shoulder to the scene unfolding which would probably end with the cops being called. rosemary nodded, her eyes also glued to the scene. though, josh managed to snap them both out of it. as they were walking out, a few people by the door apparently recognized rosemary.
"hey! silent but deadly! queen of shots! c'mon, we got a few things you should try," they were obviously drunk, which set josh a bit on edge. rosemary as a bit hesitant, but they pulled her with them into the kitchen where there was a bunch of people and a line of cups. josh stood among some of the people who seemed a more sober, watching rosemary listen to what the guys were saying.
"okay, so like, we made you a bunch of drinks out of various alcohols, and you gotta like, guess what's in what in under a minute. you just like, point to the bottles that are in it i guess since you like, got punched in the throat or something." the blonde guy shrugged, his sentence ending with a burp and a childish chuckle. the guy beside him punched his arm, earning a whine from the blonde guy.
"chad! you can't just go around pointing out that people like," his sentence was interrupted with a drunken burp, "-like can't talk and stuff." the brown haired guy, chad's friend, scolded chad. chad scoffed and uttered a curse, crossing his arms over his chest.
"okay... three, two, one.. go!" chad shouted, initiating cheers from the crowd that had formed in the kitchen for rosemary. she picked up a cup as soon as he said go, taking a swig and swallowing it, then taking a second. the pointed at the bourbon and red wine, and astonishingly, she was right. she went on to the next drink, then the next, then the next, and by the end, she had gotten around to guessing 7 out of 12 cups in a minute or less. it was quite impressive but led josh to slightly wonder how she got so good with alcohol.
the kitchen crowd dispersed once chad crossed out shots on her crown and put 'drinks.' rosemary stumbled along out of the kitchen, tripping over herself and almost falling to the floor. josh reflexively reached out and caught her, lifting her back to her feet. her breath smelled like a mix of mint and alcohol, which josh then noticed she had two pieces of gum in her mouth. probably to mask the alcohol scent.
"okay, we're gonna go now." josh held her up, noticing the alcohol she had consumed finally settling in. "you're way too drunk to stay here,"
surprisingly, rosemary didn't object. she just nodded and let josh help her out and to the car. she fished in her pockets for the keys and fumbled with them in her hands, finally getting them to josh with great struggle. she managed to get into the backseat without needing help, which slightly impressed josh.
"you good back there?" josh glanced behind him and saw she had already curled up into a ball across the three seats, her eyes closed.
"i'll take that as a yes," he turned back to the road and chuckled quietly, starting the car and heading off in the direction of the nearest hotel his gps told him to go to. he found himself avoiding potholes for her sleeps sake. for some reason, he had a feeling this might've been the most sleep she'd gotten in awhile.
-
a/n: hey it's been a bit huh hardy har har
thanks to -deeplyconfused for reminding me this book exists whoops
so any ships yet or anything idk man lol my top is #chosh (chad and josh for y'all who can't put things together)
ngl joshlynn still the otp
WHOOPS
