𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙝 ⤳ 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨𝙤𝙣

02

TWO: "BRADDIE-BOY"

❁

"YOU KNOW, IT'S NOT too late to turn around," I say shakily as Sasha parks a block away from Brad's house. We could hear the blaring music and flashing neon lights from where we were, and the thought of being in the same room as hundreds of people we didn't know wasn't a good one.

"Don't chicken out now, Mads. You look amazing and you're going to have a lot of fun," she says not at all sympathetically, way too busy marveling at the house we couldn't even see yet. I sigh anyways, somewhat believing her words.

We follow the sidewalk leading up to the house, amazed (but not surprised) at the number of cars lining up on the sides of the roads. Sasha and I share an astonished look and make our way to the front door that was waiting wide open.

We peeked inside awkwardly, the loud music ringing in our ears and the foul stench of alcohol stinging our nose. Tentatively, we take a step inside.

"What now?" I ask loudly over the music. Sasha looks over at me and shrugs. We both walk deeper into the house, trying to strategically move away from all the drunk dancing. All I could think about at this moment was, Brad would never throw a party like this.

Then I remembered he had three bandmates that very much would.

Sasha and I make our way over to the kitchen for drinks, still not spotting the birthday boy's curly hair. Off to a good start, I tell myself. She picks up some bottled substance she found on the alcohol-covered table and filled it in a red cup, handing it to me. I eye the drink wearily, wondering if it's even consumable.

Sasha has no such worries and chugs the whole thing in one go.

"Damn, that was impressive," someone whistles behind us. We both turn around with raised eyebrows, ready to give the 'Sorry, we're lesbian,' excuse. But as my mouth opens to give the insincere apology, Sasha's mouth lets out a little scream.

I turn again to look at her, trying really hard not to laugh and make the situation more awkward for her. But just one glance at her tomato-red face (she had foundation on, so her complexion was almost purple), all hell breaks loose and it would be a miracle if someone got me to stop.

Amidst my peculiar behaviour (maybe I was already drunk?), I somehow turn around yet again, and I'm immediately shut up by a very confused looking Brad Simpson.

"Happy birthday, Braddie-boy!" I say, a large smile on my face. I engulf the boy in a hug, the sounds of the party surrounding us being drowned out. I pull away reluctantly, giving the boy another smile. "Congrats, you're old!"

"I'm 23!" He defends, shaking his head with a laugh. "How are you, Mads?" he asks, speaking loudly so I could hear him.

"Can't complain, Simpson. Not going to lie, though, my life became kind of a bore after I left you guys a few years back." From somewhere behind us, Sasha makes an 'ahem' sound, as if she was reminding me she was still here. I ignored her.

Brad chuckles, running his hand through his curly locks. "Look at you now, though!" he says, an encouraging smile on his face. "You're working right alongside your mother. That's all you've ever wanted."

I nod, his statement 100% true, but I was more surprised that he remembered.

"I was just going to go find the boys, do you and your friend want to come?" Brad asks after a moment of silence. I turn to look at Sasha who nodded vigorously. Brad laughs again and motions with his hand for us to follow him.

Once again, we're dodging people, but the deeper we get into the house, the more secluded we got. We eventually make it to the lounge where no more than 10 people stood, talking amongst themselves.

"Ah, my kind of people," I joke. Brad laughs from beside me, along with about 10 other people.

Of course, the rest of the room heard me.

I hang my head down low in shame when Sasha gives me a mocking pat on the back, and walk behind Brad as he leads us to the rest of his bandmates who were standing by 3 other people (I was counting shoes).

"Mads, you remember the boys, right?" I finally lift my head up, smiling at James, Tris, and Connor.

"Course I do!" I smile, "how are you guy?"

"Great now that you're here," James says first, walking closer to give me a hug.

"Hey, what about us?" Connor complains, and I chuckle, opening my arms wide for the other two boys to join in on the hugging festivities. "That's more like it," he says, snuggling into my hair.

They all pull away eventually after Brad makes a comment about how he was starting to feel left out.

"Just admit it, Brad, you aren't worthy enough," Tris states dramatically, throwing his arm over my shoulder. I blush, starting to feel overwhelmed by the amount of attention I was getting.

"Stop hounding her, boys," Joe says when he walks towards our little group, wagging his finger in the boy's direction. Tris immediately takes his arm off me, and the four of them hang their heads down low in faux-shame (were they mocking me?). "Finally," he smiles and brings me into a hug. The boys scoff in disbelief, but the two of us ignore them, having much more fun messing with them.

"Finally a hug I can actually enjoy," I joke as I pull away from Joe. The boys just looked offended at this point. I send them a sheepish shrug and turn to look at the three other boys that watched the whole ordeal with awkward looks on their faces. "Madeleine Hunter," I greet, sending them a sweet smile.

They perk up when they noticed I was talking to them, but once I actually got a good look at them, I kind of wish they ignored me and walked away.

They were so good looking it was kind of intimidating.

"I'm Reece," the blond one introduced.

"George," the other blond smiled (wow, that was a nice smile). The third, the brunette, stayed silent. Only when I looked at him did I notice he was looking at me. I could feel the blush fighting its way on my face.

Reece shoved the boy's shoulder lightly, successfully knocking him out of it. I giggled. "Blake," he finally introduced, sending me a sheepish smile. I looked down at the floor, not wanting the boy I just met to see how wide my smile was.

The six other boys clear their throat simultaneously, eyeing the two of us weirdly.

I laugh nervously and look around for absolutely anything else that could get me away from the awkwardness of this situation.

It was only then that I realized that I came here with someone.

❁

(note!)

posted another one even tho no one was commenting lmfao (😭) (guys I'm proud of thIS)

don't forget to VOTE and COMMENT if you want to see more (I still have a bunch of prewritten chapters waiting)