Alternative

Chapter 1 : Bloody Birthday

I snap back to reality to find myself on the dance floor of the bar. I can't remember how I got here. Shaking the strange thought from my mind, I walk to the bar to get a drink.

The bartender happens to be my best friend Sarah, she lives just two doors down from me. "Happy birthday to you-" Sarah starts to sing but is quickly cut off by my laughter. "What's the birthday boy gotta do to get a drink around here," I tease. Sarah then places a glass in front of me and fills it to the brim with whiskey.

The cute guy sitting next to me turns to me, "It's your birthday?" Sarah looks at him, then looks at me and winks. "Yeah," I respond. "Then drinks are on me," he smiles. We eye each other for a moment, the tension building ever so slightly. "So lovebirds," Sarah interrupts, "I'm gonna leave you two to eye-fuck each other for the rest of the night." Sarah winks at me again, then walks off to help the next customer.

The hottie turns to face me directly, "Name's Connor, what's yours?" "Max," I reply. He nods at me, then downs his drink.

---

Connor and I stumble out of the door to the bar, hand in hand. He misses a step and causes us both falling to the cracked sidewalk. We both cackle a bit, until he notices the blood on my face. He unzips his leather jacket, then rips a piece of his shirt off. He immediately presses the cloth to my eyebrow, I wince a little as he does so. The bars sign shuts off, leaving us under the flickering street light.

I fetch my phone out of my pocket. Sarah's shift just ended. Connor and I help each other off the ground as Sarah walks out from the alley beside the bar, shoving her keys in her purse. She looks up and sees the crimson bleeding through the white cloth and running down my hand that's pressed against it. "Oh my god!" she exclaims. "What happened, did you hit him?!" She's always been over protective over me, ever since we were in middle school, but that's a story for another time.

"He didn't hit me, we fell and I hit my head," I reassure her. Sarah sighs, "C'mon, I'll take you back to my place." "But I wanna go with Connor," I wine. She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. "Fine-but don't do anything I wouldn't." I cast a glare at her. Sarah pivots on the heels of her boots, then begins her half a mile trip home. "I would drive you home but we all can't fit on my motorcycle," Connor calls out after her. She gives him the finger, still skeptical of him.

"So wait, you have a motorcycle?" I ask. Connor responds, "Yep, a harley." "As in harley quinn, like the comics?" I puzzled. He laughed at me,"No, you clearly don't know anything about motorbikes or cars."

He swings his leg over the bike and pats the seat behind him. Every inch of myself tells me to get on, but I've always been too afraid to get on a motorbike. Connor glares at me,"What, you scared?" I nod. He sighs, I can see how disappointed he looks so I get on despite my fears. He smiles ear to ear when I wrap my arms tightly around him. He starts the loud bike and reassures me that he'll go slow. I smile through the pure fear in my eyes, for some reason I feel like this isn't a good thing to be doing. Not because he's tipsy, because I'm wasted. I'm not in the right state of mind to be riding on a motorcycle with a stranger I just met, it's not like I do things like this on the regular.

And with a rev of the engine, we set off, leaving my thoughts behind us in the dust.