Introspective Strangers [h.s.]

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Drunk.

If there was one word to describe my current state, that would be it. Completely and irrevocably intoxicated.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to steady myself against the railing in the dingy club hallway, as I stood behind a group of other girls in line for the bathroom. I had been here for the better part of a half-hour, or so my impaired brain was convinced, and no one has budged during that time. They had all better get a move on or this wasn't going to end well for either of us. I was going to end up having to pay for a lot of dry-cleaning in the morning.

Exhaling, I swayed back and forth, fiddling with the bottom of my shirt trying to distract myself from the nausea crawling its way up my stomach as I patted the back pocket of my jeans trying to locate my phone. When I remembered that I had left it with Amelia on the dance floor, I squinted around the walls in front of me trying to find a clock, before eventually turning to the girl behind me.

"Do you have the time?" I slurred, gripping the railing until my knuckles turn white in hopes that my knees didn't give out on me. The loud music from upstairs was beginning to make me feel dizzy.

Pausing her conversation with the friend that she was standing with, she wordlessly handed me the glass that she was holding, so that she could pull her phone out from her bra. I sniffed the drink, immediately regretting my decision, as I felt the ever-growing lump in my throat forcing it's way further up. It was looking as if Rum and Coke's were going to be the death of me tonight.

"It's 2:07!" She half-shouted in my face, sounding just as inebriated as me, and it took every last sober thread of me not to spill her drink as she leant onto me for support.

"Fuck, we've been here a while, huh?" I responded with a yell, placing the glass back in her palm and trying my best to keep the both of us steady. I ran my hand through my hair and stood up on my tiptoes to look back at the still-frozen group of girls waiting outside the door, trying to determine what the hold-up was.

"Yeah, I have no idea what's taking 'em so long up there. Five more minutes and I'm shoving through everyone to take a piss." The girl said and her friend laughs, answering with, "Those are some big words coming from a girl who's 5'2!"

I tried my best to muster a smile at both of them but knew that I was running out of time. I could feel the vomit at a new record-breaking level in my throat.

Hissing and glancing once more ahead of me, I decided I was not going to get into a stall anytime soon. In a split-second decision, I ducked out of the line and back up the stairs as best as I could towards the growing sound of the music, waving goodbye to my human clock on the way out.

As soon as I pushed through the hallway doors at the top of the landing and back into the heart of the club, I wondered if I had made the wrong decision. I stood for a second as my eyes adjusted to the flashing lights, examining my surroundings. People were singing, dancing, and talking all around me. Where was the door?

I had been to this club a handful of times now, as it was close to the University, but I don't think I had ever been sober when I arrived, much less when I left. My navigation skills also happened to be at an all-time low right now, the alcohol being who I could thank for that.

I pushed through the crowd of people dancing and groping each other, willing the contents of my stomach to remain at bay for just a few minutes longer, as I tried to find the fucking door.

Where was it? Was I going in circles?

Multiple hands pulled at me from either side, trying to get me to join them as they moved along to the music, and each touch left me more confused and completely turned around from the last.