You're My Nicotine

"Although you try to fight, dragged from the silence where you hide 'til you scream..."

"Woah, music's pretty loud," said Joshi from the end of Wall Street.

"The louder the better," Hazel grinned beside him, their arms linked.

The two friends carried on walking down the dimly lit street at around half ten, until they came to the house blasting Misfits. There was a girl lying passed out on the front lawn and a few guys running around, cheering.

Typical party, they both thought.

"Ready?" Hazel asked Joshi.

"Let's do this," he replied.

The front door was wide open so they stepped inside and was instantly hit with the smell of beer, odour and pot. There were punch ups going on, dancing, shouting and laughing.

"Dude..." Hazel started as her eyes scanned around, "Who the hell are all these people?"

Joshi just shrugged with a snort, "Fuck knows! How the hell are we going to find her in this mass of mess?"

"Fuck knows," Hazel repeated his earlier answer.

"Hey, who the fuck are you?" a guy with a mohawk demanded, gulping down some beer.

"We're, uh, friends of October's," Joshi said, "Do you know her?"

"Yeah!" he grinned, "Scotty's friend."

"Yeah, yeah," Hazel grinned back, hoping this guy would make it easier to find her. "Do you know where she is?"

"Well, she's been in the bathroom for like a half hour," he slurred, "I'm Marcus, by the way."

"Hi, so where can we find the bathroom?" Joshi asked, getting to the point.

He took another swig of beer before answering, "Upstairs, second door to your right. If it's not open, there's one on the third floor. Help yourself to beer on the way up."

Before the two could even thank him, he was pulled away in the crowd. Feeling slightly lost, Hazel and Joshi pushed their way through the crowds, and towards the stairs. Hopping over unconcious bodies, and under broken chandeliers, they found their way to the second floor.

"Second door to our right," Joshi muttered, turning right and walking. He counted one door, and then stopped at the second one. He knocked, and when no one replied, pushed the door open carefully.

"OH JESUS!" cried Hazel.

"Wanna join?" A group of about eight people were writing around on the floor with one another.

"Uh, no I - no, we gotta .. um, there's we're... gonna find another bathroom," spluttered Joshi.

"Suit yourself," said the boy, who disappeared under some naked girl.

Joshi closed the door tightly, and watched as Hazel looked around for the beers. She saw a case lying by one of the doors, and grabbed one eagerly.

Joshi found the second flight of stairs, and walked up them, Hazel behind. They looked down the hall; there was a wide, bright hall, with three doors on each side. A big window was placed at the end of the hall.

Joshi looked at the first door on the left; it had a sign that read 'DO NOT ENTER.' He wasn't going to chance it. Hazel looked to her right; it was just a normal door. She pulled it open, and to her dismay saw it was a closet. Angrily, she stepped to the next door and pulled it open.

There was a small bed in the corner, that was shaking with the weight of two people.

"Don't you knock?" yelled one of the figures.

"Not when I have to find October," moaned Hazel.

She slammed the door shut, and ran to the left. Once again, it was a bedroom. Empty, this time. Hazel slammed the door shut, and ran to the end of the hall with Joshi. The last door had big bold words scribbled on it in a black marker.

'PISSING PLACE'

Asuming this was the other bathroom, Hazel and Joshi groaned in relief and Joshi knocked on the door as Hazel gulped down some beer.

"October?" he called, "October, are you in there?"

No answer.

He knocked again, "Hey, October, it’s us, open up."

Still no answer.

"Why don’t you open the door?" Hazel questioned.

"What if she’s... peeing?"

"She would have answered if she was peeing," Hazel replied, "Besides, she wouldn’t have been peeing for the last half hour, would she?"

"I guess," Joshi shrugged and opened the bathroom door.

Hazel spat out the beer she held in her mouth at that second due to the sight in front of them. They had found October... She was sprawled out across the tile floor, still, eyes closed.

"Shit!" Hazel cursed and fell to her knees at October's side. "October?" She shook her gently, "October, can you hear me?"

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God..." Joshi repeated, staring down at their friend wide-eyed.

Coughing came from the drugged up girl and she rolled onto her side, groaning loudly.

"Oh thank fuck!" Joshi breathed, clutching his chest, and then crouched down at her other side.

"October, you stupid shit, how much were you drinking?" Hazel asked as she and Joshi helped their friend sit up with her back against the bath tub.

"I hardly... drank... anything..." she giggled through gasps of breath, rubbing her eyes.

"Maybe her drink got spiked..?" Joshi said, looking to Hazel.

"Oh God," she said, "We gotta get her outta here."

"Okay," he replied and stood with his hands held out to October, "Come on, babe, let's go."

Hazel helped October up and she instantly fell right into Joshi's arms.

"Ooh!" October squealed and looked up at the blonde boy, "I love you, Joshi, I do..."

"Love you, too, let's get you out of this house," he replied and put one of her arms over his shoulders as Hazel did the same with her other arm, so October was in the middle, getting help from the two as she stumbled all over the place.

"There you are!" Walker cried, jogging over. "That was some long-ass piss you had," he smirked at October, but then it faded, "Woah, hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fucking fantastic, man!" October yelled, the dazed smile grinning back at him.

"What has she been drinking, she's drunk?" Hazel asked Scott.

"We thought you were looking after her..." Joshi spoke up.

"Well, I was," Scott replied, "She said she needed the bathroom so I took her, and well, I didn't think she'd get this fucked..."

"Well she has and we gotta get her out," Hazel replied and brought October to the stairs.

Somehow, after a lot of tripping and falling, Hazel and Joshi managed to get October down all the stairs, back onto the ground floor within fifteen minutes and help from Scott.

"Are you guys gonna be okay taking her?" he asked once they had reached the bottom.

"We'll be fine," Joshi answered, trying a hell of a lot to not get distracted by his beauty.

"I'll see you Monday, October," Scott told the younger girl, "You need to get some sleep."

"Bye bye," October burped in reply and Scott giggled, causing October to giggle back and then started Hazel and Joshi off.

The front door was already open so the two brought October straight outside and started down the quiet road.

A yawn escaped from Frank as he turned his car into Wall Street, on his way back to the apartment. He had spent all day at the studio with the rest of the band, and he was pretty beat. Opening the window a little, he flicked the butt of his cigarette out and rubbed his forehead tiredly, as he wished he was already in bed. He really needed his body to shut down. Now.

Frank blinked hard a few times to keep his eyes open for the rest of the short journey, but he soon woke up when he saw October on the side walk, not far ahead. He instantly knew something was wrong when he saw that she needed help walking by two people. She had obviously had too much to drink.

He drove past them and further up the road until he found a space to park. After doing so, he ripped off his seat belt and quickly got out of the car. The air was cold against his face as he began making his way back down the road.

"Dude..." Hazel mumbled, causing Joshi to look at her. She motioned with her head to look in front and he did.

"Isn't that..?"

"FRANK!" October grinned widely and threw her arms around the older man as he neared.

"Woah..." Frank said, stopping them from falling over from the weight of them both, "This may be a stupid question, but are you alright?"

"I, um, I-I..." she slurred, "I need to... sit down." And with that, she fell straight down onto the concrete, landing on her backside.

Frank crouched down next to her, looking up at the other two for answers.

Hazel was the first to speak, "This is how we found her, although she said she didn't have much to drink..."

"Yeah," Joshi continued, "We think someone may have spiked her drink or something..."

Or maybe she had mixed the alcohol with pills, Frank thought as he looked at her eyes. They were slightly blood shot and were unable to keep focus on one thing. Her pupils were huge.

"Okay," he nodded, "Let's get her up and we'll take her home in my car."

October suddenly shot up on the ground, looking terrified, "Home? N-no, I promised mom... I can't go home like... like this..."

"Well she'll have to deal with it, October, because you can't stay out here," Hazel replied and helped her up with Frank and Joshi.

"No, I promised," she whimpered, feeling her legs give way again, "I promised..."

"She can't walk," Frank told her friends and heaved her up into his arms bridal style, "Let's go."

Frank carried October back to his car as Hazel and Joshi followed, and placed her in the passenger seat as she slowly drifted off to sleep. He then opened the back door for the other two, before hopping in himself.

"She'll be alright, won't she?" Hazel asked worriedly as Frank pulled into the road.

"She just needs some sleep and she should be fine by Monday," Frank replied from behind the wheel.

"She scared us half to death when we found her on the bathroom floor," Joshi said, "We've never seen her like this."

"I know, I could have had a heart attack if she hadn't have got up," Hazel agreed.

"Good thing you guys were there or God knows what would have happened," said Frank.

"I don't even want to think about it," Hazel sighed, shaking her head gently.

Frank turned his head and glanced down at the now sleeping teenager in the seat next to him. She was on her side, facing him, and although her hair looked asthough she had just come out of a tornado, she looked peaceful and Frank could hear her soft breathing against her hoody.

"So you must be the friends she's mentioned?" he said as he glanced to the back to direct his question to the other teenagers.

"I'm Hazel," Hazel replied, "And that's Joshi."

"Nice to meet you," Frank smirked a little.

"You too... finally," Joshi smiled back, "She talks about you and we had never even met you."

"She talks about me?" Frank asked and they could see the small smile forming on his lips in the rear view mirror.

Hazel and Joshi looked at each other with giggles in their eyes, and Joshi replied, "Yep."

Not long after, Frank pulled up outside the Armstrong's house and the two clean teenagers got out as Frank lifted up the other not-so-clean teenager, which he was oblivious to.

"Do you guys need a lift home?" he asked Hazel and Joshi as they closed the passenger side door for him.

"We've only got to go round the corner," said Hazel, "We'll be fine, thanks."

"Tell October we'll see her Monday if she wakes up," Joshi said, "We'll see you, Frank."

"Yeah, see ya," Frank smiled to them before they walked away. As he began to the front door, he looked down to see October's face nuzzled in his shoulder and felt her breath tickle his neck, sending shivers down his spine. He could see goosebumps forming on her arms; he walked even quicker so she could get into the warm faster.

A tall, thin blonde answered the door and her brown eyes widened in shock at what she saw.

"Oh my God," the young woman cried, "Is she okay?"

"She just needs to get to bed," Frank replied, looking back at her in confusion.

"Oh, I'm Sarah, Joey's babysitter," she explained, answering his wonderings, "Come in, come in."

Frank went inside and Sarah closed the door behind him.

"Billie and Adie went out earlier," she continued, "But they said they would pick October up at midnight, what... what happened?"

"She's had a little too much to drink," Frank explained as he headed towards the stairs, "I found her with a couple friends in the street, unable to walk. I'll just lay her down on bed."

"Okay," Sarah nodded, still wide-eyed, and started to the kitchen, "I'll, um, I'll call Billie and tell him what's happened."

Frank carried October up the stairs and down the hall, where he kicked open her bedroom door and walked over to lay her down gently on the bed, careful not to hurt her. October stirred and her heavy eyelids opened as she found herself ontop of her duvet and pillow, and Frank removing her boots.

"Frank?" she asked groggily.

He pulled back the covers. "Come on, get underneath," he told her softly.

October sleepily did as she was told and pulled the covers over her, snuggling into their comfort.

"I'll call to see how you're doing tomorrow, okay?" he told the younger girl as he stood up straight.

"Okay, Frankie," she whispered, eyes shut, "Goodnight."

"Night, sweetie," he replied and turned off the light before quietly closing the door behind him.

That night, Frank lay in bed, and although not long ago he was falling asleep at the wheel coming back from the studio, now his body just couldn't shut down. He couldn't remove the image out of his mind of October's sleeping face nuzzled against him as he brought her to her front door.