"Yeah, probably." I flip my long, back hair over my shoulder. "I'm not bloody going home with some guy I know nothing about." I found myself absentmindedly twirling my finger in my hair, before I knew it my finger was just about stuck in my wild, unruly strands. My hair wasn't even curly, it was just frizzy and giant.
"Maybe you should find yourself a man. Not for a one night stand, just for a, I don't know, companionship?" Lionne looked uneasy. She knew the word 'boyfriend' made me squirm. I'd only ever had one boyfriend, and we fell into our relationship accidentally. I've always had a tendency to friend-zone guys the second I open my mouth to talk to them.
"Yikes, Lionne. I give that idea a 20% per cent chance of happening. And anyway, I don't need a companionship, not right now anyway. Just because you guys have a significant other." I sip my drink.
"Speaking of, I am yet to meet Nina's new guy, what was it, Sven?"
"His name is Marc, where did you pluck Sven from?"
"You said he Swedish." Lionne defends.
"He's half Swedish, he's from Bristol."
"Then what the hell was he doing in Tokyo?"
"I bloody told you, he's a photographer, that's how they met. Don't you listen? Christ."
Lionne puts her hands up in defeat. "Maybe you do need to find a man to fulfil you for one night only." I laugh with her before we decide to take a round of shots.
Lionne spills some vodka on her white, skin-tight singlet dress, so we make our way to the bathroom to dry her off. She makes her boobs shimmy under the hand dryer and we laugh. Two girls start talking to us, they ask if they could have a photo with us, we take one in the mirror. Lionne stumbles and we grab a hold of each other as we enter back into the smokey, hot and blaring atmosphere, pushing our way through countless sweaty people dancing against each other until we reach the front. We dance and dance until my head is almost spinning, partly from the alcohol, and partly from the fact that we were literally spinning around as we held on to each other. We get up on the side of the small stage again as Nina's set ends, and another DJ takes the deck. We leant against the graffitied wall and she bounds over to us, engulfing us into a hug and practically dragging us into the main area.
"Let's drink!" We take another round of shots, the liquid burns my throat before I can think that maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
For the next two hours I begin to feel the full effect of my alcohol consumption. I was about a drink and a half away from being fully blown, face on the floor, drunk. We dance more, waving our hands in the air and jumping around. Lionne's boyfriend, Zak, arrives. They kiss on the dance floor and next minute, Nina is dragging me and Lionne by the arm, which causes her to detach herself from Zak. She drags us to the outdoor area, Zak follows behind us, trying to keep up through the bustling crowd.
"Really, Nina, do you mind at all?" Lionne looked a little mad.
"Sorry guys, needed a smoke." Nina leans against the balcony with her lit cigarette in hand. Zak is smoking too, his arm wrapped around Lionne's body. Nina passes me the cigarette and a take a drag of it before handing it back to her. My arm is around her shoulder and we sway with the music. My mind is somewhere else as I look out upon London from the balcony. I look at all the buildings, the lights, and then I look at him. I look at him for a second and my mind is already racing with those memories. Being with him. Being in his bed, his car. Telling him I want to do great things. Watching him as he strummed his guitar and sang those beautiful lyrics into the microphone. Him calling me in the middle of the night asking me to come over. Us rolling in his bed getting tangled in his sheets. Sitting on the floor of his flat at four in the morning with his mates as they smoked weed and cigarettes. Him telling me that I can do amazing things, without him. Me telling him that he was right.
