bound to you | drew starkey

14; irl

a/n: this chapter mentions drug use and kind of has a bit of a panic attack. it's brief and not too intense but i figured i should warn you anyways. read with caution pls💓

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thalia's head was slightly spinning. her hips were moving and she barely noticed since she was laughing at madelyn's attempt to fluidly move her hips. madison and thalia were laughing and slightly leaning into each other while they danced around their friend, not paying any attention to the various pairs of eyes on them.

"how did we rope in the hottest girls to hang out with us?" rudy asked after a while of them all staring at the three lost in their own moment.

"they get paid to hang out with us, rudy." jd laughed through his words, though he knew it was only slightly true.

"chase, how did you trick her into being your friend for this long?" chase punched rudy in response to his question, narrowing his eyes slightly though he was laughing gently.

drew stayed quiet, observing silently but paying attention to all of his surroundings. he would look at his feet when the girl glanced over her shoulder every now and then, though she caught him staring on multiple occasions.

she turned back to madison, leaning her lips close to the girl's ear and yelling that she was going to the bathroom. madison asked if she wanted her to go with her but thalia waved her off and told her to stay with madelyn. madison told her to be safe and thalia thanked herself before pushing through the bodies towards the table. she rolled her eyes at the sight of all of the boys pretending that they hadn't been watching the girls.

she sat her glass on the table next to drew, sending him a small smirk at the red tint in his cheeks.

"can you watch this and make sure nobody slips me anything?" he laughed while nodding his head, promising to take good care of the half empty glass while she skipped off to the restroom.

she told the boys where she'd be incase she was gone for too long and made her way to the back corner of the cramped club. she waited patiently for a few minutes before walking into the bathroom that only had a few stalls.

she wasn't paying much attention until after she had finished and walked out of the stall. she was washing her hands when she caught the glimpse of white powder along the top of the hand drier, three girls huddled around it and passing a rolled up dollar bill to each other.

"you want a bump, hun?" one of the girls wiping her nose asked with a wicked smile, laughing when her friend ripped the bill out of her hands and bent over the powder covered surface.

thalia's head started to spin, more than it had been previously and she shook her hands off quickly before rushing out of the bathroom. she leaned against the wall slightly and tried to regain her calm nature form just moments ago before walking back out into the sea of people.

her heart was pounding and her ears started ringing while her breathing sped up. her senses felt like they'd been dialed to eleven and she started pushing through the crowd the best that she could until she put a hand on chase's shoulder and tried to steady herself.

the boy looked over his shoulder and saw thalia slightly bent over, hand squeezing his shoulder tightly while the other pressed against her chest.

"nat what's wrong?" he turned his body towards her, not even bothering to excuse himself from the conversation before bending down to catch her eyes. "nat what's going on?"

"they uh, i went to the bathroom and uh, there were these girls." she was trying to explain but her soft pants were making it hard to form coherent sentences. there was so much running through her brain that her mouth couldn't catch up.

"it's okay, you're okay." chase was able to put the pieces together though he was slightly unsure he'd gotten it right. he tried to pull the girl into his chest but she was shaking now.

"there was- on the thing for your hands- some girls- they were doing coke and asked if- chase i need to get out of here."

"okay let's go." he tried to get her to stand up straight and move towards the door, catching various confused glances from all of his friends.

"what's going on?" rudy tried to scope out the situation, not believing that his friend could be this drunk after he'd just seen her a few minutes ago.

"we're going to go outside and just get some air. we'll be fine, i'll be back." chase walked the girl out of the cramped room without further explanation, watching her lean against the wall outside.

she put both of her hands over her face and tried to breathe deeply while chase stood in front of her and tried to block any lingering gazes. his hands were on her sides, squeezing softly to reassure her that she wasn't alone right now. chase learned early on that thalia wasn't going to focus on anything he said in this moment, so he resorted to her sense of touch. if she could physically feel him there then that was enough.

it took a few minutes, but her breathing calmed down and her heart beat a little less intensely. she dropped her hands to her sides and looked up at chase with glassy eyes and let out a shaky breath.

"do i look like a raccoon?" chase laughed softly at her question and shook his head, moving to wipe away the small amount of mascara underneath her eyes.

"you just look like you slept in your makeup." she rolled her eyes and slapped his hand away from her, both of them laughing at the small gesture.

"you guys alright?" the pair looked to the side, seeing drew stand a few feet away with a worried look on his face and his hands in his pockets.

chase smiled at the concern he was showing for thalia, not seeing someone act like this around her in a few years. besides their close friends back home.

"yeah we're alright. actually, can you stay with her while i go round up the others?" drew nodded quickly and took the few small steps towards thalia before chase sent the girl a final reassuring look and walked back inside.

"you okay?" he stood in front of her, a few inches taller than chase which made her head tilt back slightly.

she smiled softly, though it wasn't as bright as it usually was and he picked up on that fairly quickly.

"yeah just uh, a bit freaked out i guess." his eyebrows knitted together in confusion, worry practically oozing out of him.

"what do you mean? did someone hurt you?" he moved his hands up to the sides of her face, his thumbs running underneath her eyes like chase's had done previously.

the action made her smile, finding it odd how comfortable she felt around drew in the short amount of time she'd known him. she doesn't usually get this close to people, and when she did it was rooted deeply, which worried her a bit.

"no no, nothing like that. i just uh, saw a couple of girls doing lines in the bathroom and it- i have a shaky past with that stuff." drew nodded, dropping the subject when he picked up on her hesitance about speaking on it.

"as long as you're okay now." she nodded softly and smiled before wrapping her arms around his torso and pressing herself into his chest.

he smiled at the contact and hugged her tighter. it wasn't thirty seconds before all of their friends started to pour out onto the sidewalk.

"there you are!" austin yelled obnoxiously, gaining a few glares from people on the street but he didn't care much.

"austin you're being so loud." jd tried to calm the boy down but he just scoffed.

"thalia!" madelyn gasped and ran over to the girl, throwing her into a drunken hug where they swayed for a minute.

"hi mads. you alright?" she looked up at chase who was laughing gently at the two, happy to see the two getting along as much as he hoped they would.

"i'm alright are you alright?" thalia laughed at madelyn's question, feeling a finger tap her nose slightly before chase pulled the two apart.

"alright that's enough out of you, drunky. let's go back home, how's that sound?" madelyn leaned into chase and smiled, the thought of lying in her bed excited her.

"cmon, lia." drew threw an arm around the girl and started walking down the street, following their group of friends.