Blind Ambition

"Hey, the others invited us to a party," Philip said as he entered the bus.

"Sure!" Justin said happily. He stood up immediately after hearing the word 'party'.

"Ugh, I'm not in the mood to party right now. I just want to rest," I told him, my voice tired from the singing.

"Come on Adrien, please?" he persuaded. "For us?"

I sighed. "Alright. Where's Ashlyn?"

"Where else would she be?" Justin said.

"She's already on the dance floor, getting wasted, as usual," Philip told us.

"Fine, let's go," I gave in. I was worried about what she'd do again this time. Last time, she was so drunk we had to carry her to the car. Vomit was everywhere. It wasn't pretty.

We entered the venue and said hi to the people we knew. I saw John and the others drinking with some guys from A Rocket to the Moon. Justin and Philip joined them.

I told them I'll just go to the bathroom. I went around and scanned the place for Ashlyn and sure enough, she was dancing with some guys I haven't even seen before. At least she could still dance without falling over, which means she's not too drunk. I decided to go back to the guys but I couldn't find the place. It was too dark and crowded and I was too tired and lazy.

I went to the nearest chair and sat down. "Would you care for a drink, miss?" the bartender asked me.

I shook my head. "No thank you, I don't drink alcohol." I looked around and saw a lot of people making out and getting drunk. This wasn't my type of crowd. Call me old-fashioned, but I'd rather watch other people get drunk and laugh at them, than me getting drunk and do things I'd surely regret the next day.

I was becoming really sleepy so I decided to lay my head down for a bit and rest my eyes.

After several minutes, I felt someone tap my shoulder. "Adrien."

My head shot up and, without knowing it, hit someone, probably the one who woke me up. "Oww, I think you broke my nose," he said.

I turned to look at him and saw Garrett, clutching his nose in pain. "Sorry! I'm sorry!" Oh my gosh, what the hell did I just do. I hurriedly asked the waiter for some ice.

"No, no, it's fine," he said, holding up a hand, the other still holding his nose.

"Sorry, I was just startled and I—"

"Yeah, I know," he said with a laugh. "Still, I didn't expect your head to be that hard." He sat down on the chair beside me, finally letting go of his nose. I looked at it and it didn't bleed so it was probably fine. I hope.

I smirked. "Well, at least now we're even. You fell on me and I broke your nose."

"Ha, yeah," he agreed with a little laugh.

"Where are the others anyway?" I asked him. I scratched my head and looked around. There were still a lot of people but there were a bit less than a while ago.

"They're somewhere. They went to dance and I went to the bathroom. When I came back, I couldn't find them anywhere."

"Oh, that's great," I said sarcastically. I looked at my watch. "Jeez, it's already 3 in the morning! How long can these people party? It's not the end of the world for crying out loud."

He laughed. "Some just think of it as a way of releasing stress." He called the bartender and ordered 2 glasses of Mountain Dew.

"Blech. Making music's a way of releasing stress. You express your anger and frustration through music and when you do, you feel lighter. When you drink, you just hide your stress for a little while, you don't get rid of it. And the next day, boom, everything comes rushing back, plus a massive headache." He gave me a glass of Mountain Dew. "Thanks."

"You have an interesting way of seeing things," he said then took a sip from his soda. "I never saw it that way before."

"Well, I'm not sure if that's a compliment but I'll take it as one," I said with a smirk. I drew lines on the surface of the glass with my finger.

"It is." He smiled.

"Well, enough about me, what about you? How many girls have you kissed tonight?" I asked, not making eye contact.

"About 12 or 13 maybe," he answered sarcastically. "Not counting the one I kissed before the party."

I laughed. "Oh really," I said. "I bet that's an understatement."

"Oh yeah, I just won't tell the truth, you might be too impressed." He smiled.

I made barfing sounds. "Sure I will." I drank some of the soda.

"Whatever. To be honest, not all band guys are like that," he said, looking straight at me. "Well, I guess John sometimes is but that's not the point."

I looked away and said, "Well, I wasn't saying you all are."

"I know, but I'm just so fed up with people thinking that all we do is flirt and make out with girls we meet. A lot of people think that way," he said, his expression serious.

"Maybe some just think that 'cause you're all good-looking and stuff so that's what you would most likely do," I said. Uh oh, did I just say that?

There was a short pause. "Wait, did you just say I'm good-looking?" he said, turning towards me with a smug expression on his face.

Shoot. "No, I said that in a general aspect," I said, racking my brain for an excuse.

"But that means I'm included too," he probed.

"Whatever," I said. "Think what you want to think." I smiled and then drank the remaining soda in my glass.

"Okay then, Adrien," he said with a smile. "I think that you just called me good-looking."

I stuck out my tongue at him and he laughed. We talked for a few minutes and I learned a lot about him. I learned that he has a yellow car, he loves zombie movies (who wouldn't?), and he once showed up on Halloween dressed up in a Transformers costume— of a kid. "I hope you have pictures of that. Fans would go crazy seeing your belly," I said. I couldn't control my laughter, I was probably looking like a huge idiot.

"I think Pat took a picture and hid it somewhere. He says I might tear it apart when I see it."

I clutched my stomach and laughed even harder. "I'm going to ask him about that."

"Hey guys, come on," Philip said as he approached us from the dancing crowd.

"Finally," I said, throwing my hands up. I twisted the bar stool and jumped off of it.

"You are so weird," Garrett laughed.

"Why thank you," I said with a bow. "Not that I haven't heard that before. I might as well have a huge name tag saying 'Beware, weird carbon-based organism on the loose.'"

"Are you sure you're not drunk?" he asked, still laughing.

"Shut up," I told him and punched his arm. It was nice talking to Garrett. I felt comfortable and he doesn't seem like a guy who'd come on to you and flirt. I looked around. "Hey guys, where's Ashlyn?"

"I think she went back to the bus. I saw her go out a while ago," Pat said.

"Oh, okay," I said. When we went back to the bus, I went straight to our room, ready to hit the sack but no, Ashlyn was sprawled on her bunk. The problem is, I can't get to my bunk (the topmost bunk) without stepping on her hair or her face so that's just not an option. And again, I was too tired to do Tarzan-y things and stretch my leg up to the top bunk 'cause I'm just 5'3 for crying out loud.

Great, now I really have to sleep on the couch.

"Goodnight everyone," I heard Pat say. His bed was the middle one opposite ours.

I said goodnight, too. After changing into my superman pajamas and brushing my teeth in the bathroom, I made sure that everyone was asleep, I quietly went outside, carrying my pillow and tiptoed to the couch. It was really quiet, so the guys were probably fast asleep already.

Good thing the couch was big enough. I was already lying down and about to sleep when I remembered I had to do my daily push-ups. I stood up and did 20.

Afterwards, I could finally go to sleep. The couch was more comfortable than I expected it to be so I immediately fell asleep.