Uncharted

I felt sort of weird all dressed up and ready to go out. I was worried that I was too overdressed. If I changed I thought I might be too underdressed. I really wasn’t sure where we were going. I figured that a tight, short, black skirt and an equally as tight grey sequin covered tank top were good enough. I even busted out a pair of heels for the occasion.

I timed my exit from my apartment perfectly, when I heard Cooper and Des chatting loudly as they headed down the hallway. I grabbed my bag and was out the door instantly. Both Cooper and Des turned to look at me as I walked toward the elevator, both of their jaws dropped. Des recovered quickly, but I saw his initial shock which made me smile a little. Cooper was more obvious.

“Holy shit!” he exclaimed. “Um, I mean…”

“Your top is blinding me.” Des said dryly.

I rolled my eyes “And your cologne is suffocating me, we’re even.”

Cooper seemed to be trying to figure out what to say. Des didn’t say anything as we all stepped into the elevator where I sent a quick text to Elle, telling her that I was on my way to her place. I was going to drop my bag off and then we were going to go to the club of her choice. I was more excited than terrified which in itself kind of scared me.

“Where you going, looking all…sparkly?” Des asked, his brow rose in question.

His hair was actually combed for once, and it looked really good. I was completely lying when I said his cologne was suffocating me. I could smell it faintly and my God did he smell good. I just wanted to smash my face into his chest and smell him all night. I tried to shake these thoughts out of my head before answering.

I shrugged my shoulder nonchalantly, adjusting my skirt. “Out.” I said emotionlessly, enjoying the fact that not knowing was probably eating away at him.

“We should all meet up.” Cooper said excitedly, seemingly wanting to be my friend again now that I proved that I went out and had fun. It also might have been the fact that I was barely wearing any clothes and he had a penis…but who knows really?

“Yeah, just text me or whatever.” I said disinterestedly, walking ahead of my neighbors as we exited the elevator.

“See you later!” Cooper called after me, I kept walking.

I had enough of those two. One minute Cooper liked to talk to me the next minute he was ditching me to go with his other friends. Don’t even get me started on how much I couldn’t stand Desmond. It was like he went out of his way to be a miserable prick all of the time. I could care less if Cooper actually did end up texting me.

I got into the cab I had called to pick me up earlier because it was quite a walk from my building to Elle’s building and I wasn’t about to attempt that in heels, barely clothed, at night, in the middle of October. I couldn’t wait to get at the club and have a few drinks. I needed to get drunk and dance, and generally just forget about everything that had been bothering me.

I didn’t want to think about the fact that I hadn’t talked to Dylan before I going out. I didn’t want to think about how bipolar my neighbors seemed to be. I didn’t want to think about the hours of work I needed to get done for Monday morning. I really didn’t want to think about the fact that I hadn’t spoken to my boyfriend in almost a week. It seemed like our schedules never allowed us time call each other or Skype. I really didn’t want to think about anything, especially not that.

&&

Elle was holding onto my hand so tightly I was sure I was going to have bruises. As expected, the club was loud and crowed. There were people everywhere, absolutely everywhere. I couldn’t even breathe because there were so many other people breathing in all the useable oxygen. Music was pulsating through the room that was full of bodies pressing against each other under the flashing lights.

Elle stopped at the bar and was instantly waited on, one of the many perks of her good looks…which she seemed completely oblivious to. She really did think that people treated the rest of the population as nicely as they treated her. I guess I can’t complain since I was with her and reaped the benefits as well. Elle said something into the bartender’s ear which in turn made him smile and then he busied himself fixing drinks.

I wasn’t even sure what was in the shot glasses that were then laid out in front of us. I couldn’t help but notice that she hadn’t paid for the alcohol and I wondered what she could have possibly told the bartender. Elle smacked the bar with her pretty little hand and shouted “Drink!” grinning a huge grin at me.

I did as I was told and knocked one back, wincing as the liquid burned down my throat and all the way until it reached my stomach. Then we did another shot, and another after that one, and one last one before Elle pulled me toward the dance floor. My body felt like it was on fire and all I wanted to do was dance. I was sure the alcohol was setting in when Elle and I spun around and danced with each other laughing our heads off at nothing, not that I could remember anyway.

Without even realizing it, I had gotten separated from Elle. There were hands on my hips and my body was pressed against some random guy’s body. I couldn’t even tell you what he looked like it I wanted to because I never bothered to turn around and look at him. I just wanted to dance. I didn’t even bother looking for Elle, I figured I could find her later. All that mattered at that moment were his hands on my hips, the music, and the way our bodies were moving together.

Eventually, my dance partner and I decided to hydrate…with alcohol. Just as I was coming out of my bleary haze I was going back into it. I don’t remember how many shots we did but I know that they weren’t nearly as painful as the first round had been. We were headed back to the dance floor when my phone vibrated, I pulled it out and tried to make sense of Cooper’s text but everything was sort of blurry. So I ignored it.

I went right back to dancing with the same guy…or maybe it was a different guy. Again, I couldn’t even tell you. I was so drunk I didn’t know what was going on. I kept getting text messages and I kept ignoring them because I knew that nothing good could come of texting Cooper back. Whenever Cooper was there was a good chance Des would be too and the last thing the world needed was a drunken bar fight between Des and I.

I didn't even notice, the guy I was dancing with had led me outside. In front of the club where a bunch of people seemed to be waiting for rides or just hanging around. I knew well enough that this guy was trying to take advantage of my drunken self. I yanked myself away from and began to stumble back toward the entrance, knowing that I needed to find Elle as soon as possible.

“Where you going?’ whoever he was laughed and pulled me back with an arm around my waist. I wanted to cry because I was so intoxicated that I couldn’t really muster any strength to speak or fight him.

“Not home with you.”

I looked up at Des, thanking Jesus that he had been around to see me struggling against this guy. I squirmed in the strangers grasp, trying to run and hide behind Des. He kept his hold on me though.

“Yeah?” the stranger challenged Des.

“Yeah.” Des said venomously. “Take your fucking hands off her.”

Something must have made this guy back down because his arm dropped from around me. I guessed it had something to do with the murderous look on Desmond’s face or the way all of his words were dripping with venom. I stumbled forward, only to have Des pull me under his arm to keep me from hitting the ground. I leaned into him, instantly feeling safe. Even if it was Des, I knew he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me. At least I hoped he wouldn’t. I mean, I really had no reason to trust him.

“Come on,” Des said softly, keeping his arm around me as we walked “Let’s get you home before you pass out.”