Painted Lady {h.s}

a kiss

★LORELAI★

May 20th

1997

Tonight has been insane.

I've felt every single emotion in the past twenty-four hours. I've been nervous, spiteful, proud, and overjoyed.

Seeing the band's faces after they got off stage is something I will never forget. They all looked incredibly elated and relieved, relishing in the praise they were receiving. They kept saying how they wanted to go back onto the stage and perform the entire album from start to finish for the crowd.

Then Mr. Chen came into the room with some prevalent news.

He applauded the band at the start of their success, thanking them and congratulating them. He then told the band that publicity buzz is already circulating about them. Piquing people's interest from all over, and demanding to see them in concert. So, Mr. Chen has booked a venue next week for Painted Lady to perform the entirety of Fascination for a crowd of fans.

The band was surprised to say the least, especially since they were talking about doing just that. They were also surprised to hear that they have 'fans' already, given Mr. Chen said a handful of them are people from the showcase. They were assured that this was only the beginning and as soon as the newspapers and magazines run their articles about tonight, it only goes up.

We all left the building running on so much adrenaline we couldn't possibly contain ourselves. Mitch, Niall and Harry were running through the empty streets, screaming at the top of their lungs. Zayn lit a blunt in celebration, sharing it with Harlow and Faye.

I tried to enjoy the moment as much as I could, but something felt like it was pulling me down.

Or maybe someone.

Leo complained the entire drive home about how he has to be up early tomorrow morning for an important meeting at work, but I begged and pleaded with him to come back to the loft with me. He eventually caved when I promised there would be no "funny business" and he would be able to get a good night's sleep.

Well that didn't really go to plan, and I can feel the masked anger radiating off of his body.

As soon as we all got back to the loft, everyone immediately started drinking. Taking whatever we have in the liquor cabinet and downing its contents. Leo didn't want to seem like a bummer, so he stayed in the living room with us and casually sipped on a beer. Everyone slowly got drunker and drunker, and with more drinks came more hostility.

But not mad hostility... Competitive hostility.

Mitch is a very competitive drunk, always trying to prove that he is better than anyone at anything. Then Harry, being Harry, likes to poke the bear. He challenges him to impossible tasks, to which everyone else eventually joins in on.

And that's how we ended up here.

All of us stood on random pieces of furniture in the living room, tension radiating off of our bodies. Everyone's eyes darting to one another repeatedly, gauging one another's next move.

The floor is lava, and every time you move you have to drink. If you stumble, you have to lose an article of clothing. If you jump to the same place as another person, you have to hold up a different number of fingers than the other person to continue on in the game. If you hold up the same number, you both get sentenced to the hallway of hell. I'm not quite sure what happens when you're sent there, we haven't gotten that far yet. Every time someone yells "MTV Top Ten Video Countdown", we all have to move spots.