Sinner's Place {h.s}

sixteen.

"Hey, you guys made it!" Michael saw us walked towards the kitchen, a wide smile on his lips. His eyes were basically floating, I couldn't tell what was wrong with him, but he looked fucked up.

"Hey, Michael." Gracie said as he wrapped his arm around her waist. I shifted on my feet uncomfortably, clearing my throat as I tried to avert my gaze somewhere else that wasn't on their intimate touching.

Why must I be so awkward?

"Anna, wow. You made it," Michael smiled wide, looking down at me, "I didn't think you would come. That's awesome. How've you been?" His breath smelled heavy of beer which made me scrunch my nose up in disgust. I hated being that person, but I guess I had never been one to drink so it was foreign to me.

"Been great!" I lied through my teeth. Isn't that how it always goes? Just having to lie through your teeth when someone in a casual setting asks you how you're doing? It was either lie or tell him about how your mental health is spiraling and you've been looking online for therapists that are way too expensive to afford.

"That's great, listen, there's some drinks in the kitchen," He gestured towards the kitchen with his beer in his hand, "Help yourselves. Oh! We also have a bonfire out back, Nathan and Zayn are out there."

"Zayn?" Gracie and I both said at the same time. At the mention of his name, my heart started to race at a pace I couldn't keep up with. I clutched the sleeve of my sweater, chewing the inside of my cheek roughly.

"Yeah..he's cool. He's alright, guys, we talked to him." Michael tried to assure us, but it was less than convincing. Why the fuck was he here after all that shit happened?

"Dude, not cool." Gracie rolled her eyes as she moved his hand from her waist, then grabbed my hand as she led us into the kitchen. I looked back at Michael who had a confused look on his face, then averted my gaze back to Gracie as we walked.

"I really didn't think he would be here, Anna. I'm so sorry, we can leave if you want." Gracie frowned, taking my other hand as she looked into my eyes. I wasn't going to lie, I had thought about it, but I didn't want Zayn to ruin my time here. This was my first party ever that wasn't related to church and I wanted to have fun.

"No, it's fine," I shrugged, grabbing a cup as I started to make myself a drink, "I really don't care. If he tries anything then we will deal with it if it happens."

Gracie didn't say anything back, she just made herself a drink too. I took a long sip from the vodka cranberry I made, my skin crawling the minute it hit my tongue. I felt like I was going to throw up from how strong I had made it, but it warmed my body up.

"I thought you said everything was going to be in the basement?" I murmured over to her, scanning over all the people around us. Gracie nibbled her lip, doing the same before shrugging her shoulders.

"That's what Nathan said, but I mean, can't control everyone I guess," She paused, "Do you wanna go to the basement? There's supposed to be a rock band playing."

"A rock band?" I smiled to myself. I've never been to a concert before, or ever seen live music before. This was all so new to me. I took another long sip of my drink, nodding my head to her. She grabbed my hand and we made our way down to the basement where the bass was shaking the walls and you could feel the drums under your feet as you walked.

The minute we opened the basement door, the music flooded our ears and my heart jumped at the sudden loudness. We made our way downstairs, the basement was huge and furnished. There was a couple of couches pushed against the wall where some people sat and talked over the music or the people that were standing six feet from the band and danced with a drink in their hand.