|| Love to Hate Me ||

{Thirty-Four}

"Keep my heart
Somewhere drugs don't go
Where the sunshine slows
Always keep me close."
-Drugs or Me, Jimmy Eat World
__________

A rave—that's what it was. Loud music, glow sticks, dancing and ecstasy. Abandoned warehouse Harlan's ass.

It was a rundown building for sure, but it was clear they had been up and running for quite sometime. It was an underground establishment, you had to know what to say just to get through the doors:

"All work no play makes Jack a dull boy."

"Ridiculous." Harlan thought. He hadn't been to a rave in years, not since his early twenties. He preferred the quietness of a bar and a simple house party. But this... this was insane.

Alcohol just didn't seem to numb the ridiculousness he had gotten himself into. All to forget her—Liana Cox.

Just one more month, he told himself; just one more month. It didn't make it any easier.

"You wanna go somewhere more quiet?" Laura yelled over the music; the neon lights moving along her face in the darkness of the building.

Harlan looked to Kyle and Mark to talk him out of it, but they were too busy flirting with a small group of girls to notice his predicament. He had to get away from the loudness, from all the dancing and lights.

Harlan stood from the booth, his tongue trailing across his top row of teeth as he waited for Laura to guide him out of this hell.

She made her way around the DJ booth to an emergency exit. The wires had been tinkered because no alarm had gone off when she pushed open the door, revealing a much different scene.

Bright fluorescent lights shined inconsistently on a long staircase—he could hear the sound of a light about to blow, one set of lights in particular flickering.

"You get high?" Laura asked, pulling a joint out from her bra.

Harlan couldn't help but to laugh. "It's been a while. Don't know if you noticed but, I'm more of a drinker."

"It'll ease the heartbreak." Laura winked, lighting up the end of the joint.

"My heartbreak, huh?" Harlan forced a half smile, holding his hand out for the joint.

"More fish in the sea, you're too good for her, she doesn't see what she's got... yada, yada, yada." Laura snickered as smoke billowed above her head.

Harlan took the joint between his fingers like a cigarette, inhaling so deeply that a crackling sound was heard. "How could you tell?" Harlan asked through a tight throat, trying to keep the smoke down in his lungs to get the full effect.

"Hate to burst your bubble, but you're pretty transparent." Laura sat down beside Harlan, reaching for the joint again.

"I fucked up." Harlan admitted.

"It's a human trait, we all do. Don't feel too bad, little miss perfect has fucked up a time or two herself, I'm sure."

"Little miss perfect? How do you know it was with Lee?" Harlan grinned.

"By the way you look at her. I can see the desperation in your eyes."