The Darings

Finn felt warm all over. Her head buzzed and her smiles came more often as she sat on the arm of the couch, her eyes glazing around the crowed. They were currently sitting in Amsterdam, the smell of weed and Amstel beer filtering through the entire room. It wasn’t the most pleasant of smells, but it was one that as a uni student, Finn had become accustomed too.

Licking her lips she gazed at people. Everyone in the room save for her small group was stoned out of their minds. Red eyes looked blearily at others, giggles filled ears and food kept getting removed from the very large food display and placed into the mouth of someone who had a mean case of the munchies.

The party in Cartwright Gardens was amazing. But it was something that Finn was already used to, and glancing at the bored expression on Harry’s face across the room, and the fact that Niall was about to fall asleep on her knee was a sign that they were used to this too.

But then there was Ash. Her eyes seemed to be drinking in everything around her. She examined every piece of detail in the room, looking at it all without comment really, sipping her drink. It made Finn smile, sort of.

It was obvious Ash had never been to anything like this. It was clear when she could not stop herself from asking questions, which Finn rather enjoyed. Ash was not afraid to hide that she was new at this. If she wanted to know what something was, or had it in her mind to say something, she just said it. So unlike Finn, who mostly said nothing.

“This isn’t as exciting as I thought it would be,” Niall said finally, sipping his beer to fight a yawn. Finn glanced at him and then to Ash, who looked shocked. She probably thought Niall was crazy, to think that it was boring. “Last time was much more fun, wasn’t it, Finny?”

She raised a brow. “So what do you suggest, Niall?”

He seemed to think about it. Around them, Dutch music filled the room. Each room had music dedicated to it’s theme. Why they had decided to sit in Amsterdam with horrid music and stoners, Finn was unaware. “Why don’t we go to my place?” Finn cut her eyes at him and he rolled his own. “All of us.”

“What makes you think your flat is any better, mate?” Harry asked, raising his brows. Finn nodded once, but said nothing. Harry had a very accurate point. None of them were going to have any better of a time at a single dorm or flat. “There isn’t anything else to do.”

“I dare you to come up with something better,” Niall grumbled, finishing off his beer, looking at it as if he were angry and surprised that it was empty. He set it down on the coffee table, leaning back with a huff.

“I dare you to go up to that girl and finish her beer.”

Across the room, Finn found the girl that Harry was talking about. She was a petite girl, sipping a full beer and smoking a joint in the corner with a bunch of girls, giggling away and glancing at Niall every so often. They were freshman. She could tell instantly.

Shrugging, Niall got up abruptly, marching over there. A single brow of Finn’s shot up in light surprise as he walked, swaggering towards the group. He threw the girl a smirk, reached out his hand and plucked the bottle from her hands. The entire group of girls gaggled in shock as he brought the bottle to his mouth, chugging down the contents.

Done, he gave them a grin, handing the girl the empty bottle before returning, nothing short of proud and amused as Harry shook his head. Completed with his impromptu dare, Niall plopped back down on the couch, clearly satisfied with his work.

The girls still stared at him.

“My turn,” he announced, glancing at Finn then deciding better of it when she pursed her lips. When Finn pursed her lips, you were supposed to change your mind. It was something most picked up on. “Ash, you’re new,” Niall said. It wasn’t a question, and she blinked. “Go take a hit off that boys bong.”

People watching. It’s what Finn did. So she watched Ash very closely, still very curious about the girl who she knew nothing about. Ash opened her mouth, which was curved beautiful, then closed it again. She glanced at Finn, who raised a single shoulder in response.

Setting her full lips in a firm line, delicate face determined, Ash set her drink down, standing and smoothly her jeans. There was no wrinkle in them, but Finn assumed that the other girls hands were sweating as she walked across the room, footsteps precise and filled with purpose.

At first, Ash hesitated by the group of boys. But when they saw her standing there, she did not have to ask. They simply held the bong up to her, offering to lit it for her. She gave them a small grin and smiled before leaning over as one of the boys lit it, telling her what to do.

And then she was coughing hard, pulling away from the ornately carved glass, the smoke running up through the heat chamber, into Ash’s lungs and back out as she coughed hard. Finn grinned at her. There was things more glorious and comfortable than the burning of smoke in your lungs and the inability to breathe oxygen for a few moments.

“Wow,” Niall said when Ash sat back down. Harry and Finn both just watched her. “That was actually impressive. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Don’t assume things,” Finn said to Niall, making everyone look at her. She sat, poised on the arm chair, green eyes on Ash the whole time. She was pleasantly surprised at the turn of events. “You make an ass out of you. Not me, because I don’t assume. Now why don’t we take these… dares elsewhere?”
As a quartet, they all got up, leaving the party. The many sounds of Cartwright Gardens and elements of different party elements around the world faded as they walked outside into the late night, weaving through drunk teens towards the exit of the entirety of the place.

Finn walked in front, Niall and Harry talking amiably behind her. Ash fell into step with Finn. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ash contemplate something before the girl said, “Was I supposed to feel like a dragon?”

Finn cracked a crooked smile. “Yeah. It sort of hurts, at first. Some people vomit.” Ash made a face. “Niall did.”

“What did I do?”

Finn ignored him. She ignored a lot of comments she did not feel like responding to, especially when they were the happy-go-lucky comments of Niall Horan, who was an endless supply of talking. “Turn here,” she directed, gesturing to a small turn in the walk way. It led to a dark park, with only the stares in the open sky as light, and the streetlights in the distance. “That bench surrounding the fountain over there will suffice.”

“What is this place?” Harry asked finally, looking around in the darkness. Finn glanced at him and then at Niall, as if asking the boy to respond to his friend. “I’ve never been here.”

“All the ravers come here for Halloween and do drugs and stuff,” Niall supplied when Finn’s lips did not open. “It’s actually nice at night, though. Especially without those big fucking pupils staring at you when people feel you up. Ecstasy. Gross.”

They all sat around the fountain, crossing their legs on the stone slab. Finn handed out her flask which was refilled once again, after taking a swig of it. It was filled with scotch once again, when they had been in ‘Old Scotland’ at the party.

Above them, a blanket of black stretched out for eons, constellations glittering in forms such as the big dipper and Orion the Hunter. Finn paid them no mind, leaning and running her hand through the warm fountain water.

“Your turn, Ash.”

Trying not to flinch as she drank from the flash, Ash looked at Finn, a bit wide-eyed. Finn waited for her to get past the burning of the liquid to rasp out, “My turn?”

“Niall dared you last. Dare someone.”

“Ooh.” Niall clapped his hands together. “Dares. This is actually a brilliant idea, good job, Harry. Can we make this routine?”

“What’s routine is you’re talking to much and Ash needs to dare someone to do something.”

All went very quiet, and all eyes went to Ash, who seemed to be struck with trying to find something to dare. Finn waited patiently, listening to the sound of the crickets and the cars in the distance. If you strained your ears, you could hear the music from Cartwright Gardens, as usual.

Though she did not want to make it seem like so, Finn was testing Ash. She was waiting to see what the girl was like, what her thoughts were and how she dealt with pressure. You could learn a lot about a person from watching how the deal when given a task and to act when all eyes were on them.

Eyes on Finn, Ash blurted, “I dare you to strip to your knickers and swim in the fountain.”

Finn blinked in surprise. At first no one moved. Then a thin, impressed smile crossed her face as she stood languidly, sliding the straps of her dress off of her shoulders, sweeping her curtain of fiery hair out of the way, shimmying out the material.

“Good work, Ash Hughes.”

“Bless you,” Niall supplied, making them all look at him. “Now get on with disrobing, woman!”