after you left |ai|

15

Friday night is family night every week for me. I got over to my parents to have dinner with them, every other week Ben comes too and once a month Chris and Alec join us for a weekend. Even when we all still lived at home, we all ate as a family and spend our evenings chatting and talking about our days. But after my shitty day yesterday, today wasn't much better. Aiden didn't show up at school today and when we called his father, we got no reply. So all day I was worried sick about the boy while having to try and calm down the chaos of the day.

Just two more weeks and the school year is over.

That's the only thing that got me through the day. Mom and Amber were talking about a boy that she liked while dad and I watched a baseball game. I knew enough about the sport to follow and I didn't mind watching a game every now and then. I often went with my dad and brothers to games and all three of them played it during high school. So after a while I learned the rules and started to appreciate the sport.

"You know you can skip family dinner when you want right?" Dad asked me and I looked at him, "You're young and single now, we all get it if you would like to go out on friday nights."

"Why are you saying that now?" I asked him confused

"Because your phone has been buzzing non stop with the same name all night. It's only 10 so you can still go out, I can see there are things on your mind right now that you would rather forget." He said to me and I looked at my phone beside me to see a series of texts from Ashton begging me to come party with them. "Elle, just go and live a little." He said with a smile and I smiled back at him before nodding.

"I will see you tomorrow or sunday" I said to him before kissing his cheek.

"Have fun Elle." He said to me before I went to say goodbye to mom and Amber. They didn't seem to mind much that I left but I was relieved. I loved family nights but I needed alcohol to forget about everything for a night.

I got on my bike that was standing infront of the house and went over to the adress Ashton had send me and when arriving, it was crowded as hell. But I locked up my bike with the others and walked into the bar confidently. I was wearing black skinny jeans with a white crop top so it wasn't even that bad to wear to a club. I spotted the red hair easily from across the bar and one of the guys standing by him pointed at me which made Ashton turn around.

He waved at me with a smile and I smiled back, I went to the bar first to get a beer before getting through the mass of people to reach them. The 7 of them were sitting in a booth by the side of the dancefloor, all a beer in their hands too.

"I almost thought you weren't going to show up" Ashton said to me with a smile before moving over a little so I could sit next to him. "This is the rest of the band and their girlfriends." He said to me loud enough to get above the music. "Michael and Crystal, Luke and Sierra and Calum and Grace." He said introducing everyone and they all waved at me, their faces a mix of normal smiles and grins.

"Hi, I'm Elle" I said to introduce myself to them.

"Welcome to our little group" Sierra shouted and I thanked her with a smile.

This was exactly what I needed tonight. No matter how much I love my family and how much they help me, they can't do what alcohol, loud music and friends can.

"Do you want to go dance? Grace, Sierra and I were just goint to dance when you arrived." Crystal asked and I nodded happily. Everyone had to get out of the booth to let Sierra and Grace out so I had some time to down half of my beer, they already had a head start so I had to make up for that.

I put my beer down on the table before Sierra took my hand and dragged me behind her to the dance floor. There were a few more friends of them on the dancefloor so after a few short introductions we all danced together in the middle of the dance floor and while they made sure not to get any male attention, I didn't mind at all.