I'll Make You Feel Beautiful Once Again.

"Hello?" I answered, without bothering to check my phone to see who was calling before picking up.

"WAZZZAAAAAP?!" The voice on the other end screeched.

"Who is this?" I laughed.

"Michael Christopher Fuentes, speaking."

"Oh, hey Mike."

"You're so enthusiastic," he said sarcastically.

"Sorry. Just got off work. I'm a bit tired..."

"Too tired to party tonight?" he asked.

"Not that tired." There's no such thing as too tired to party. Especially when I need a distraction from my own life.

"Good, cause it's gonna be fuckin' crazy," he said.

"Cool. What time?"

"Nine o'clock. Or I can come pick you up if you want," Mike offered. I glanced over at the clock. It was six forty-three. Giving me an hour and a half before I actually had to be ready.

"Yeah, sure."

"Great! I'll be there just before nine, 'k?"

"Yep."

"Alrighty then. See ya Connor!" He replied excitedly.

"Okay," I laughed and hung up the phone.

I pulled my hair out of the bun it was in and ran my fingers through the wavy mess. After a long day of work, it was neither dirty or clean. I was going to shower anyway, so I decided to wash it. After getting out of the shower, I let my hair dry by itself and pulled it into a bun again.

After an hour of trying on Various outfit combinations, perfecting my hair and makeup, there was a knock on the door, indicating that I was out of time and Mike was there to pick me up.

"Coming!" I yelled, rushing to the door.

"Hello beautiful," Mike said as soon as I opened the door.

"Hello yourself," I smiled. "You look nice." He was wearing all black; making him look even taller and skinnier than he already was.

"Thank you. Shall we?"

I nodded, slipping my shoes on and grabbing my bag before following Mike out to his car. Ten minutes later, we were parked outside the Fuentes/Preciado/Perry residence, as the first guests stared arriving.

After following Mike inside, I was greeted by an overexcited Jaime. "Connor!" He yelled, engulfing me in a hug.

"Er, uh. Hi," I mumbled.

"Jeez, Jaime, give her a little space," Tony said. "Hey girlie."

I laughed. "Hello Tony."

"Hi Connor." Vic said, approaching our little circle of people.

"Well aren't you popular tonight?" Mike chuckled.

"It's kind of overwhelming," I said quietly. It made me feel a bit uncomfortable, mostly because I didn't know the others as well as I knew Mike. Generally, I was anxious around people I didn't know.

As more people started showing up, I felt quite tense. I hadn't expected this many people. Mike said it was gonna be crazy, but I disregarded the statement, pushing it off as over exaggeration.

"You alright?" Mike asked, resting a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, just a bit nervous. I'm never really around this many people at one time. Honestly, I wasn't expecting this many people," I answered.

"Come with me."

It hadn't taken much effort to figure out where he was taking me, my first guess was either out to smoke, or to get a drink, in an effort to ease my nerves. I was sort of correct. He lead me to a makeshift bar area and started taking bottles of alcohol out of the cabinet behind him.

"I'm supposed to be bar tending tonight. You can just chill out with me here, if you want. Can I get you something?" He offered.

"Coke and Jack?"

"Coming right up," he grinned, filling two cups with Jack Daniels. He handed one to me and took the other for himself.

"I said Coke and Jack." I pushed the cup back at him.

"Jack." He pushed it back to me.

"Michael. Coke." I pushed the cup back, yet again.

"It's warm though."

"Fuck you... How are you going to bartender if you're drunk?"

"Honey, I'm a pro at this," he smirked. "Trust me."

I didn't mention the fact that I was pretty much a lightweight. This cup of Jack was definitely more than enough. Obviously, being a small girl, it didn't take much to get me drunk. Hell, I wasn't even legal drinking age yet. Instead of protesting, I raise my cup and bumped it against his, like a toast. "Bottoms up," I shrugged, downing the contents of the cup.

"May I have this dance?" He asked a few minutes later, taking my hand and lead me from the bar to the middle of the room, where everyone else was dancing. As the alcohol started to take effect on me, my anxiety had melted away and my dancing went from innocently twirling and spinning around, to grinding up against Mike, his hands on my hips and mine on top of his.

"Ooh," Jaime laughed. "You two sure are getting friendly." I pulled away from Mike, embarrassed by Jaime's remark. "The rest of us are gonna do shots, if you'd care to join us," Jaime pointed to the bar, where Vic and Tony were talking.

"Sure," Mike and I answered, linking hands and following Jaime through the crowd.

Tony poured a round of shots, one for each of us. "Ready?" Mike asked, handing me the small glass of tequila. "No chasers," he warned.

I nodded.

"3, 2, 1," Vic counted, and on one we all downed the shots. I coughed a little, causing Mike and Jamie to laugh.

"Never had tequila before?" Tony asked.

I shook my head no. "Spicy," I said. "It burns!"

"What did you expect?" he asked.

"Here," Vic said, holding out a con of Coke. I gladly accepted and finished the half empty can of soda.

"Thanks," I smiled after swill owing the remaining liquid.

"Ready for round two?" Jaime smirked. Had I been completely sober, I probably would have hesitated. Seeing as I was already intoxicated, I didn't give it a second thought.

After finishing our second round, Mike went out for a smoke. I wasn't in the mood, so I just danced with Tony.

I stopped when a song I didn't really know come on, walking over to the bar, where Vic was sitting. "Why aren't you dancing?" I asked, slightly slurring.

"I just don't," he answered.

"Come on," I coaxed, placing my hands on his shoulders, sliding them over his muscled arms and grabbing his hands, pulling him to the edge of the crowd.

"Looks like I don't have a choice, do I?"

"Nope," I replied, hips swaying to the music. He didn't dance, really, just standing there, looking me up and down as I moved. I took his hands and placed them on my hips. He removed them and continued staring at me.

"What?" I raised an eyebrow.

"You're drunk," he said.

I was in no condition to confirm or deny that, but I wasn't going to take rejection tonight. "You are too!"

"Connor, you've had a lot to drink. I don't want you to end up making a mistake because you've had too much to -"

"Is dancing really a mistake?" I didn't think so. It would only be a mistake if he took advantage of my drunkenness, or was just as drunk himself.

He thought for a moment and shook his head. "No, but I'm terrible at dancing."

---

Besides that fact that I'd been at a party, and obviously gotten drunk enough to black out, I couldn't remember anything; not even where I was, or how I'd ended up asleep on some stranger's bedroom floor.

I had no idea what to do. I was too scared to leave the bedroom because I didn't know whose house I was in, but staying in the bedroom meant staying in there until the person snoring on the bed woke up.

Who I found pretty much answered both of my questions. H was shirtless, tangled in the sheets and spread out across the bed, his long hair fanned out around his face.

It was obvious that this was Vic, and I was at his house. Knowing that, I felt comfortable enough to go find the rest of the guys.

I'd never been on the upper level of the Fuentes house, so it took me a moment to navigate the stairs. Once I located them, I tiptoed down the hall, and the stairs towards the main level. The house was surprisingly empty for having been partied in last night. I found Jaime in the kitchen, flipping pancakes.

"Good morning, mamacita," he smiled.

"Morning Jaime," I replied.

"So, anything interesting happen last night?" He asked, smirking.

"...I'm not sure... I can't really remember all that well," I was saying, when Mike and Tony came inside through the back door. "Where'd you two come from?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The roof," Mike answered.

"Typical, Tone." Jaime chuckled, flipping more pancakes. He turned to me and explained, "Tony has been known to end up on roofs mysteriously when he's drunk."

"He's quite attracted to them, actually," Mike laughed. "I've never woken up on the roof. We had a fun time getting down though, didn't we, Tone."

He nodded.

"I woke up in Vic's room... On the floor. I don't remember anything that happened last night. I didn't even know whose house I was in," I explained again, to Mike and Tony. "I'm assuming nothing too bad happened, since I'm still fully clothed."

"Well," Jaime started. "You and Mike had drinks as soon as you two got here, and like a half an hour later you started grinding up on each other. After that we all did shots and you kept trying to get Vic to dance with you. By that point you were wasted, and he didn't want to, so instead you danced with some dude, then you went upstairs and locked yourself in the bathroom and Tony found you curled up in a ball crying -"

"It looked like a panic attack -" Tony cut in.

"But I thought it was just the alcohol," Jaime continued. "Anyway, Tony took you up to Vic's room and tucked you in on the floor. Not long after that, the cops showed up and kicked everyone out." He handed me a plate of pancakes.

"Shit," I said, pouring syrup on them.

"It's not too bad, we've had crazier parties," Mike shrugged.

"I thought Vic was gonna get killed last time," Tony said.

"Hm?" Vic mumbled, entering the kitchen.

"Tony was just telling Connor about how you almost got killed," Jaime told him.

"You don't want to hear that story," Vic said. "Anyway, you feeling any better, Connor?"

"Besides this massive hangover, I'm feeling swell," I replied sarcastically.