Take Me Home

When I finally found Connor, she was sitting outside smoking a cigarette and talking animatedly about something with a guy who looked like he walked straight out of a fashion magazine. His black hair was styled perfectly and his outfit looked like it could pay for our rent for the next three months. I caught Conner’s eyes from where I was standing behind the dark haired stranger.

“There she is! This is Lincoln.” Connor told the stranger excitedly “This is who I was telling you about.”

I could only imagine I looked like a deer caught in the headlights. I was never good at meeting people, especially after Connor had talked me up to people. She had a habit for making me sound like a phenomenal human being when in reality I was generally kind of boring. When he turned around to get a look at me I was certain this guy had to be one of the reason that the pub was crawling with security.

“Lincoln, this is Zayn.” Connor said wiggling her eyebrows suggestively and giving be a thumbs up behind his back.

“Uh…hi.” I said awkwardly giving him a small wave and a sad attempt at a smile.

Zayn smiled at me and gave me a quiet “Hey.” as I walked toward Connor and he turned back to her. I could just tell by the look in her eyes and the way she was smiling at every word this kid was saying that she was going to try to take him home for the night. I smiled to myself, watching the two of them smoke and flirt, she really seemed to like him.

“Where’d you get the drink?” Connor asked after a few minutes of giggling at whatever Zayn was saying.

“Oh. Um. I don’t know. That dick is refusing to give us drinks tonight so some guy bought it for me.” I told her and then drank the last bit that I had left in my cup. I almost gagged on the last sip. “And he made it strong as hell. My God.” I said trying to recover while Zayn and Connor laughed at my face that was twisted in disgust.

“Oh, look at you! Guys buying you drinks!” Connor said and elbowed me in the ribs lightly. “It’s cause you’re so sexy.” she said over dramatically raising one eyebrow and smirking at me.

I simply rolled my eyes while shaking my head at my best friend “You’re ridiculous.”

“You’re attractive. Just admit.” Connor said.

“I’m leaving now.” I notified the pair as I felt heat rising to my face. I hated being the center of attention. That’s why Connor sang the majority of our songs. I was content being her back up and no matter how many times she tried to convince to take on the lead vocal for just one song I always refused.

“Oh come on. I’ll stop embarrassing you.” Connor said grabbing hold of my wrist and pulling me bacl toward her and Zayn.

“It’s cold. I’m going back inside.”

“It’s freezing.” Zayn agreed taking on last drag of his cigarette before flicking it to the ground and stepping on it with his expensive shoes. I estimated another month of rent from the shoes alone. “Why don’t we go back inside and I’ll buy you ladies a round of drinks, yeah?”

“Okay!” Connor agreed happily as she and Zayn set off for the bar, I followed behind them slowly. I hated being the third wheel. I was clearly being a third wheel in this case so I spent as much time walking over to the bar as possibly.

“Lincoln, c’mon. Keep up!” Zayn called, waving me over to the bar with a smile. I couldn’t help but smile. I immediately knew that Zayn had my approval which was something Connor often worried about when she was interested in a guy.

As soon as I met up with Connor and Zayn, he thrust a shot glass into my hand. “What is this?” I asked carefully, wondering what kind of alcohol I was about to drink.

“Don’t worry about it. One, two, three, go!” Connor said.

I didn’t worry about it, I just threw my head back and cringed as the alcohol burned all the down my throat until it reached my stomach. I shook my head and squished my face up at the taste of tequila. When I finally opened my eyes Connor was holding a lime out to me. Gratefully, I took the lime and bite even though the tequila was already long gone.

“That was the sloppiest tequila shot I’ve ever taken in my life.” I stated.

“So we’ll try again.” A familiar Irish accent said, and I watched Niall grin at me and then clap Zayn on the shoulder. He then proceeded to order four more tequila shots.

This time around, our drinks came with a shaker of salt. I licked my hand and held it out to Niall who shook some salt on my hand. My mind was already starting to feel fuzzy as I waited for the rest of our little group to get their salt.

“Annnnd go!” Connor shouted.

All in one motion I licked the salt off the hand that was holding my lime, threw my head back and held the tequila in my mouth until I bit the lime, it wasn’t until the lime juice was in mouth that I swallowed. The second time around the alcohol went down a lot smoother.

I was suddenly aware of the fact Connor and I still had another half a set of songs to play. I was also suddenly aware of a pair of shockingly blue eyes watching me.

“What?” I asked boldly since the alcohol in my system was drowning my shyness.

The corner of Niall’s lips turned upwards as he shook his head from side to side. “Nothing.” he said after a short burst of laughter. It was the most infectious laugh I ever heard but I was still somewhat irritated he had been watching me. I hated when people watched me when I wasn’t on stage.

I rolled my eyes at the Irish boy and tugged on Conner’s arm. “We’ve got a show to play.” I reminded her. She sighed and said a quick goodbye to Zayn, promising she’d meet up with him when we were through with our job. I, on the other hand, didn’t say anything to either boy. I kept my bleary mind focused on the job at hand.

Connor reintroduced us to the crowded pub and began another one of our more personal songs. She was doing really well until about halfway through when she started to change the words. It wouldn’t have been that noticeable unless you knew our music. I looked over during a bit in which there were no lyrics only to see her eyes opened wide in horror as she mouthed “I forget the words. Help.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, I knew I would have to finish the song if we didn’t want our pay docked. I tried to clear my mind as I began to sing the words that Conner couldn’t remember and that’s when I heard the loud laughter that I recognized as Niall’s. I felt the heat rising to my cheeks once again as I tried to block out the sound of him laughing at what I assumed could only be my voice. I opened my eyes and found that he was in fact watching which meant only one thing, he had laughed at me. I was happy when Connor joined back in when she finally remembered the lyrics. I kept my eyes focused on the floor in front of me, avoiding the glances of everyone in the room. I was so embarrassed.

I knew right then and there that Niall and I would not be harmonious.

When we finally finished our set, Connor quickly packed up her guitar and went running off to find Zayn. I stayed behind, opting to stay away from Zayn since he had obviously been part of Niall’s group. Instead, I made my way to the bar to collect our pay. Once the prick behind the bar handed me the money, I took off toward the door. I stopped midway to look around for Connor and couldn’t see her anywhere.

“Your friend left with Zayn.” I cringed at the sound of Niall’s voice.

“Thanks.” I snapped and began walking heading toward the door again.

“You walking home?” Niall asked, stopping me again.

“Yeah.” I answered shortly, turning around only to send him a nasty look.

“It’s late, do you want a ride?” he seemed to be oblivious to the fact that I wanted nothing to do with him. I hated the way he kept smiling at me.

“No. I like walking.” I mumbled and turned to leave but again he stopped me.

“Want me to walk with you?”

I spun sharply on my heel to face him one last time.“Fuck off, yeah?” I growled and stormed out of the pub without a single look back.