Glitter

I didn't belong here.

Looking around myself, I watched the shifting crowds of well dressed people mull around the room and took a step back. Alex, who was right behind me, pushed me forward.

"It's going to be okay, Dee," he murmured into my ear, "they don't bite."

I glanced at Alex and shook my head. "This was a bad idea."

Nora, who was at Alex's arm, rolled her eyes. "Clearly."

She was obviously still pissed about Alex casual-ing it up and inviting me to come with them. I sort of didn't blame her. She looked divine, in her beautiful velvet dress and made up hair.

"Why don't you get us some drinks, Nora?" Alex snapped at her. She made a face and let his arm go. I bit my lip. If my being here bothered Nora that much, all she had to do was say and I'd be out of there faster than an escaping rabbit.

"Fine." And with a huff, she turned and walked towards what I could only assume was the bar.

Across the room, a group of guys stood in a poorly formed circle. Despite being the obvious star attraction, they were all dressed in half casual, half formal attire. Each of them had a bottle of beer in their hands.

"I'll introduce you to my other band members, okay?" Alex told me. His hand, I only barely registed, had wrapped around my arm and he was dragging me towards the group of vaguely familiar men. I was too nervous to offer any resistance.

"Hey, guys."

"What have you here, Alex? Where's Ice Queen?" The statement came from the dark haired man. He had the same hairstyle that Alex did - well almost - and had a lip ring. I couldn't stop staring at that lip ring.

The others chuckled. "From blonde to red-head, really Alex?"

Alex flipped them off and wound his arm around my shoulders. I'd be lying if I said that my thoughts were in coherent order when he did.

"This is Dianna."

Lip Ring, Shaved Head and Cute Face all waved at me. It took me a while but I remembered suddenly where I'd seen them before. They were the guys from the park.

"This is Zack," he pointed at Cute Face, "Rian" - Shaved Head, "and Jackie boy." Lip Ring.

I tried really, really hard to remember the faces to the correct names.

"Hi." I gave them a small wave.

"Hey, Dianna." Shaved Head, I mean, Rian, said. He seemed the friendliest. Zack just gave me a lazy once over and sighed. "My drink's empty, I'm getting another one."

Lip Ring though, he met my gaze and gave me a wicked grin. "You're hot, Dianna." I blushed.

"Your drink, Alex." Nora had come back. I noticed that Alex had pulled away from me and was by Nora's side now. I tried not to let the gut wrenching feeling get to me too much.

"Dianna, you hang out with these losers, okay?" Alex told me. Nora had her arm through his and was pulling him away to god knew where. I wanted to die.

No, don't leave me here alone.

"Want a drink, Dianna?" Rian asked. I smiled at him and shook my head. "Alcohol and I have a bad habit of doing crazy things when we get together."

Jack laughed. "I'm curious to get you drunk now."

Rian just chuckled and was about to say something else when a white blond man came up to him. They exchanged a few words and Rian threw me an apologetic smile. "Job calls..." he pointed at the man. I waved him goodbye and watched him disappear into the crowd. It was just me and Lip Ring now.

"So what's your story with Alex?" he asked me. I looked back at him and watched him take a swig of his beer before replying. "Nora's my roommate."

"Oh?"

I nodded. Focussing on the beer in his hand, I tried hard not to look at his face. It was hard not to stare at his lip ring and talk to him at the same time.

"Yeah. Well, flat mate technically but you get the drift."

"How's it like rooming with a class A bitch?" he asked. My head snapped up to his face. "Excuse me?"

Jack laughed. "Pardon my bluntness, but I don't like Nora. No one in the band does, actually, but those guys are too pussy to ever admit to it."

I didn't know whether to be insulted on Nora's behalf or glad that someone else shared my sentiments. She was kind of difficult to live with. Ok, yes, the last bit might have come from an insane need to hate every fiber of her being but whatever. I think that after entertaining her darned guest (namely Alex) for a few weeks, the least she could have done was show me some welcome when I joined them tonight. She didn't. She'd been a bitch throughout the whole trip here and it annoyed me. I didn't like it when people didn't face things they didn't like head on. Don't like something, say it. Don't pout and sulk about it and expect that person to get the clue.

"I guess people are entitled to their own opinions." I told him.

"Anyway, what's your story then. I mean, we only have like what, two hours to kill right? And I'm guessing that you have no one else to hang with so you're stuck with me."

I shot him a look. "Don't you have people to mingle with?"

He chuckled, "I'm not a very media friendly, or pompous ass kissing person. Kind of the reason the guys get more interviews and what not over me."

"You don't believe much in tact, huh?"

He shook his head. "Tact is for wusses."

I laughed.

"Actually, do you wanna get out of here?" he asked me. I looked up at him. "What? Are you that bored with this place?"

He nodded.

Looking around, I spotted Alex talking to some man in a business suit, waved when he turned around to glance over at us, and turned back to Jack. "What did you have in mind?"

He took the last swig of his beer bottle, put it on a nearby table and grabbed my shoulder. "Fun."

Grinning, I shrugged and nodded to the door. "Let's go then."

And we did.