“We’re going.” The drinks were going straight to my head. I knew they were, but who cared when you were ten sheets to the wind?
“Last I checked you can’t even stand on your feet, let alone drive anywhere.” Jordan snickered under her breath. I was about to hand this girl her ass if she didn’t stop insulating me. Drunk or not, we were going and if she tried to stop me I would leave without her ass.
“I hate you. You know that right?” I growled, letting the liquor even out in my bloodstream.
“Hate’s a strong word. A word you should use when talking about Fuckboy. Not when you’re talking to your best friend.” She tried to pretend as if she was offended by my comment, but I could tell she really wasn’t. She knew I was too drunk to mean anything by it.
“We’re going, Jordan. We can stay in the back and out of his sight, but I really want to go. Pretty please,” I pleaded, begged. Basically did everything I could to let her know we were going.
“Whatever. We will go but if I get yelled at by him I am blaming you, and you’re taking the punishment.” She threw her hands up in the air in defeat. He wouldn’t even know we were there. We would go, watch him, and slip out the back before he even got a whiff of us being in the same area as him. All I wanted was to see him in action.
The anticipation and desires that were filling my body were making me drunker. The effects alcohol had on emotions seemed to be high.
“It will be our little secret, Jordan,” I whispered causing laughter to filter out of her throat. She helped me up and out of the house. Of course, everyone else was heading to the fight. Jordan and I had just got in the car, when a cute guy named Gabriel came up to the passenger side window. I had spoken to him in passing a couple times inside the house and seen him numerous times at school.
“Are you guys going over to the Industrial Park?” Gabriel asked. His eyes were so beautiful, as if they were calling to me, that or the shots were really getting to me.
“Yes, sir!” I answered before Jordan could.
“Can we come with?” He gestured to someone behind him. I knew I should have said no, that it was wrong to let two guys we didn’t know go somewhere with us. But call me dumb because I didn’t care.
Royal wasn’t here to keep me in line and my mother wasn’t around to lecture me about every single choice I made. This is what I wanted, the chance to make my own choices without having to listen to either of them. I didn’t want the lectures or disappointment that would come with it all.
“Get in.” I unlocked the car doors, and Jordan looked at me deadpanned.
Fucking Christ.
“Not a good idea, Noelle,” she argued before they slipped into the back seat. I smiled at her, knowing that it wasn’t but that it wasn’t her choice. It was mine. I couldn’t wait to see Royal, and bringing the two guys in the back seat to see the same fight I wanted to see wasn’t going to change that.
“Thanks for the ride, ladies.” Gabriel smiled at me from the backseat as I turned around to say you’re welcome. His friend was chugging on a bottle of beer in the back, clearly just as obliterated as I was.
“Let me have a swig,” I ordered, reaching out for the bottle. He laughed handing me the bottle, the glass slipping into my hands with ease. Gabriel seemed pleased that his friend was sharing his beverage with me. Shit so was I.
I smelt the beer before bringing the bottle up to my lips, allowing myself to take a long swig from the bottle. The harsh taste coated my throat with a burn as it made its way down to my belly.
“Really, Noelle. You’re going to get me pulled over if you keep acting like a college sorority girl from the front seat.” Everything I was doing tonight was risky, but that was the thing about it. I’ve never taken a single damn risk in my life. I’ve never jumped without knowing what might be hiding in the dark. Fear was just a feeling that you got because of the unknown. Embracing the unknown made the fear disappear. I wanted the fear to disappear more than anything. I wanted to embrace life and live it to the fullest, even if only for tonight.
I handed the beer bottle back to Gabriel’s friend and then grabbed for my iPod that was plugged into the dash. We needed some fucking music. I scrolled through the screen and then down to my Break Shit music list clicking on Always by Saliva. The beat of the music pounded through the speakers of the Jeep as I bobbed my head to the rhythm.
My eyes drifted closed. The beat of the music coursing through my body, the song filtering into my mind, the lyrics relating to my relationship with Royal.
“I wrap my head around your heart…” I screamed the lyrics out loud, beating my hands onto the dash. Jordan started singing, and happiness filled me. I’ve never been freer than in this entire moment.