blow ~ h.s

five

The dance floor that was once scantily populated was now a little crowded. It seemed as if a lot of people actually came for the performance. Watching Harry perform on a stage was a different experience than watching him in the garage. There was something casual about the garage practices, but this was anything but. His stage presence was so full, there wasn't a set of eyes in the whole building that didn't watch him. He oozed confidence like it was sweat. And though he was singing to a room full of people, there was something intimate about it. I watched in awe the whole performance. He was the king of entertaining the crowd, he had everyone captivated. They'd played a total of five songs; three of them were covers that I sung along to. I only knew one of the original songs; Woman, the other was a song called Two Ghosts. It was slow, beautiful, and somewhat devastating.

When the performance was over, he thanked the audience, and blew a few kisses before disappearing somewhere behind the stage. I didn't have time to find him and commend him, because Hailey grabbed my hand, tugging me towards the rest room with Leah following behind us both. It was like an unspoken rule amongst women-never let your drunk friend go to the bathroom alone. They each went to a stall as I stood in front of the mirror in horror. The hair that I had straightened earlier was starting to get frizzy, my mascara was beginning to smudge, and my nose was still stained with traces of blood. I groaned as I turned on the faucet and attempted to fix my face. I used my fingers to part my hair and flip it over, trading my middle part for a side part so that the frizziness would be mistaken for intentional volume. When Leah and Hailey were finished, we returned to the booth we had occupied before the performance. To my surprise the band was already there, surrounded by people who threw compliments and sung their praises. I sat back next to Rick who was typing away at his phone. He stopped, gave a dubious look around the bar, directed it towards me, and then back to his phone.

"What's wrong?"

He leaned into me so I could hear his words over the chatter that was happening around us, "Nothin. Some guy is just hitting me up for a shit load of kush, can we get outta here soon? Wanna make this sale." He showed me his phone screen so I could see the text exchange.

I pursed my lips, debating on whether I wanted to stay or not. "Are you okay to drive or should we call someone?"

"I'm alright, I didn't drink that much." I gave him a skeptical look, but nodded anyways. I grabbed my car keys out of my bag and handed them to him. "Pull the car around, I'll be there in a minute." I stood up to let him out of his seat, and walked over to Luke who was showing off the footage he'd captured to some of the group in the corner. I said my goodbyes, trading numbers with Leah and Hailey. I complimented the band members I came across and gave hugs when they were offered. Harry was harder to get to, he still had quite a few people circling him, wanting to get a piece of the underground rockstar. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in a piece myself. I snorted at my own thoughts.

As if he had some type of radar which told him whenever I was looking at him, he looked up and our eyes met. I took a step back, pointing towards the door and waved him goodbye.

He sent a nod my way, and turned his attention back to the girl who was talking to him before. I peered at him for a few moments more before sighing, turning on my heels, and exiting the bar without another look back.

•~•~•~•

When I woke Sunday morning, my hangover greeted me with a smirk. Evidence of the night before still running through my veins, making my muscles sore and head ache. I sat up in my bed, groaning as the pounding in my mind grew worse with the movement. I reached over to open the bottom drawer of my nightstand, retrieving a bottle of water from the stash I kept there for nights when I wake up with a mouth so dry, it hurt. I got up and slowly made my way to my bathroom. I didn't turn the lights on, knowing from experience that the bright lights would only make me feel worse. I sipped from the bottle as I dug around my medicine cabinet. I sighed in relief when I found the bottle of pills I was searching for. I popped two aspirin capsules on my tongue, and washed them down.

I checked the time on my phone and groaned-it was already after noon. I decided to put it on 'do not disturb' mode, not having the energy to speak to anyone. I grabbed my school bag and made my way downstairs towards the kitchen. Rummaging through my mom's liquor cabinet, knowing that good old fashioned hair of the dog was the best hangover cure. I settled on a glass of red wine and sat at the kitchen table.

That's where my mother found me when she stumbled into the kitchen about a half hour later. She looked at me-notes spread out as I worked on last minute assignments, wine glass in hand. I froze. My eyes widened as hers narrowed.

"Are you...drinking...my wine?"

I gave her a small yet sweet smile, lifting my shoulders into a shrug. She huffed and crossed her arms, seemingly contemplating something. "How old are you again?"

"Eighteen," I answered, leaving off the 'in a few weeks' that was supposed to be tacked on the end.

She frowned, before shaking her head. "Only one glass. Pour me one."

I did as she said. I gave her the glass, she thanked me as she sat at the seat across from mine. She helped me with my assignments while we sipped, even going as far as to fill out half of my study guide for Economics. We giggled and caught up. It'd been a while since I spoke to her. She told me about the new movie she'd been directing-the reason for her presence lacking around the house. I told her about our new musical neighbors.

"You mean Dan? He's lived there for a couple years now." She had said.

I frowned, "Oh, that's weird. I've never seen any of the band around before."

She shrugged, "They probably just moved in with him. Us artists tend to travel a lot."

Somewhere between her second and third glass, she'd forgotten that I was only supposed to drink one glass and poured me another. Though my hangover was already gone, I didn't object. I drank half of it and was overcome with drunkenness. For my mother's sake-who had a much better tolerance for wine, I tried my best to act sober.

I was the kind of girl that could drink hard liquor like water, but a few glasses of wine completely wrecked me. After I finished my homework, I wished my mom a good night, and stumbled up the stairs. Knowing I was way too intoxicated for a shower, I collapsed on my bed. Sleep came easy, but waking up in the morning was a punch in the face. The hangover I had was even worse than the day before.

The only silver lining being the fact that I got to be the asshole who wore sunglasses inside at school, and I had a pretty impressive collection of shades. I sat in the back of every class and kept my head down, avoiding conversation and teachers who tried to tell me to take them off.

During lunch, I steered clear of the cafeteria opting to sit in my car, doodling in a notebook. I suddenly remembered that my phone was on 'do not disturb'. I sighed and pulled it out. I had several missed calls from Rick, a few notifications from various apps. One of which made my eyebrows furrow. I clicked on it, opening the messaging app.

Unknown Number: Rabbit....?

............

original a/n- this chapter was definitely a filler. i think the next one will be better :p
hope you enjoy, guys. love you

new a/n- ADORE YOU IS SUCH A CUTE SONG AND MUSIC VIDEO 🥺🥺🥺