A World Alone - D.R.

two

"Why are you making me do this?" Jade groaned, looking at herself in the mirror. She had a full face of makeup on, and she was trying her absolute hardest to resist rubbing at her eyes, despite how much her contact lenses were irritating her. She flopped onto Amy's bed, facing the ceiling and squeezing her eyes shut, hoping for some relief from the irritation.

"Because I've just submitted my thesis and I want to get drunk!" Amy explained to her best friend. "When you submit your Thesis and want to get completely trashed in London, I'll come visit you."

Jade sighed. Amy was completely correct, she would 100% fly to London just to celebrate the ending of her educational career. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't excited to show her best friend the best clubbing spots in London. At this point, she was resigned to her fate.

Amy dabbed on a few last strokes of mascara and Jade finished the rest of the liquid in her wine glass, and Amy's for good measure, and the girls headed to the centre of the city, ready to hit the town, their pre-mixed beverages in plastic water bottles. About halfway there, Jade started to regret not eating before she had arrived at Amy's.

They were in lively spirits as they headed into the first bar on their stop and met up with some of their other friends. The drinks flowed very freely.  Even for a Saturday night, they were definitely the most lively group there. They all saw each other nearly every day at the university where they all worked but that didn't stand in the way of how much they could catch up on each other's lives, even if they had just seen each other a few hours ago.

***

Daniel and a handful of Renault mechanics were stood in a small cluster by the bar. They were mainly from Daniel's side of the garage and they were all there to celebrate John's birthday. He was turning 30 and in some effort to make him feel 20 again, they had come to the almost unanimous decision to go out for drinks.

Daniel and Joe weren't particularly convinced at the idea, especially as everyone had a rather important job to do the next day but they had been overruled on the promise that no-one would go overboard tonight.

A few quiet drinks were all that had been promised. Daniel was under close supervision by Joe who was only letting zero-calorie soft drinks into his driver's hand. John offered the next round and thrust a bottle of beer into Dan's hand. Joe was on it as fast as lightning, pulling it out of Daniel's hand, only to be met with some very dirty looks from Daniel and John.  

"Mate, come on! It's my birthday!" John said, his words only slightly slurred. 

Joe sighed, half expecting the puppy dog eyes Dan was trying out on him. He gave the sweating bottle back to Daniel, and cautioned him: "Only this one."

Daniel grinned and sipped from the bottle. He could manage with just one. It was more than he was usually allowed on a race Saturday. 

A loud group of laughter on the other side of the room caused the whole group to look down to where it was coming from. A group similar in size to theirs was ordering shots and laughing at one girl with dark hair as she downed them all.

Daniel thought it was a bit weird, then assumed it must have been a dare or something. She slammed the last glass down on the tabletop, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and raised her hands up over her head. She shouted out to her friends but Daniel couldn't quite make out the words over the rest of the noise in the bar and settled just for watching them.

He watched her stand up, her phone and wallet in her hand as she made her way to the bar. She was staggering a little but that could've been down to the heels she was wearing, rather than the amount of alcohol she had just consumed.

She came and stood by the bar, next to Daniel, not really noticing him, despite him being stood right next to her at the side of the bar where only he and the rest of his group were. She placed her order with the bartender as she was attempting to take a selfie, and spontaneously fell right into Daniel.