You jump as the music starts playing, a bit too loudly. Everyone covers their ears until Zoe turns it down.
"Sorry everyone!" she giggles, swaying and holding a cocktail glass.
She clambers onto the table, pulls Alfie up too and starts dancing with him. He looks a lot more sober than her.
He shouts something like: "Zoe, let's get off the table. You're drunk."
She giggles, waves her hand at him dismissively, and carries on dancing. He ends up carrying her off it.
Dan laughs loudly next to you, snapping you out of your people watching. Oh wow, that sounded stalkerish...
You shake your head and snuggle into Dan, who puts an arm around you.
"You alright?" he asks, turning away from Chris.
"Yeah, I'm just tired."
"Up all night on Tumblr?"
"How did you know?"
"I just know some things," he says, winking at you.
You roll your eyes. "Of course you do."
*le time skip*
"Y/n, come over here!" Niomi calls to you. She's sitting with Louise and Tanya.
You look over at Dan.
"Go on. I'll be over here," he says, kissing you on the cheek.
You smile at him and walk over to the group of girls.
"Hey everyone," you greet, sitting down on the sofa beside Louise. "How are you all?"
"I'm great" seems to be the major response.
"We're playing truths," Tanya says, nudging you.
"Who's turn is it then?" Louise asks.
"Mine," Niomi pipes up. "Y/n, do you love Dan?"
You laugh and feel your cheeks flush. "Of course I do."
They all 'aww' at you.
"My turn!" Louise says, setting her glass of what looks like wine down. She starts to whisper. "Niomi, are you a virgin?"
Niomi blushes intensely.
"You're still a virgin?!" Tanya exclaims, in a slightly louder whisper.
Niomi does a small nod. Louise erupts into a fit of laughter. She looks quite drunk. They both do, actually.
You zone out and look over at Dan. You make eye contact and you roll your eyes at him.
He grins at you and shrugs apologetically.
You look around for Phil. You can't see him... he must be getting drinks in the kitchen or something.
You continue to look around, and spot Zoe snogging someone's face off. You turn away quickly - you'd rather not see that.
"Where's Zoe?" Louise asks suddenly.
You point over to Zoe, and Louise gasps.
"What?" you ask, confused.
"That's not Alfie she's kissing..." she whispers.
"Well who is- oh gosh," Tanya gasps, covering her mouth with her hands.
You look over at the person who's kissing Zoe. You see black hair, and a lion top. Oh god.
You look over at Dan. He's already noticed. You catch his eye, and give him a worried glance. He returns it.
Just then, you hear the click of a camera. Dan reacts first. He puts down his glass and walks over to where the sound came from.
"Who the hell took that?!" he shouts.
The room goes quiet, and someone turns the music off.
"Well?" he demands.
It's still silent.
"Fine then. Don't own up, but whoever took it, you'd better delete it now. Or else."
He storms away towards the front door.
You get up and follow him, worried. He goes outside, and starts walking away from the house.
"Dan!" you exclaim, grabbing his arm.
"What?" he slurs, shaking you off. He's more drunk than you thought.
"Where are you going?" you ask, running up to him.
He keeps on walking down the pavement away from Zoe's house.
"Why does it matter to you?" he yells.
"Because I'm your girlfriend! And I'm worried about you, you're drunk!" you exclaim, throwing your hands up in frustration.
"Why do you always follow me about? Just go away! Why are you even my girlfriend? I hate you!" he shouts at you, turning around momentarily and giving you an icy glare.
You feel as if your heart has been ripped out and stamped on. "What...?"
"You heard me. Get out of my life!" he roars, walking away.
He's drunk, he's drunk, he's drunk you keep telling yourself. He doesn't mean it.
Despite all these thoughts, you can't help but collapse on the ground, letting out a sob. You feel hot tears on your face, and you make no effort to stop them.
Dan makes no effort to come back, either.
The whole neighbourhood can probably you wailing, but you don't care. All you can think about is Dan.
His warm brown eyes, his curly 'hobbit hair', his slightly tanned complexion, his slightly chapped lips...
The way he confessed his love to you in the park, the date to the fair, making videos with him, your awkward moments together.
It all gets too much to bear. Your vision goes black.
Alfie's POV:
I walk up to Zoe and pull her off Phil. I push his chest.
"What the f*** was that?!" I yell at him.
He flinches and replies, "She kissed me!"
Of course she did, Phil. Of f***ing course she did. This is my amazing girlfriend we're talking about here, and she would never lie to me. Never.
"Don't lie to me," I spit.
"I'm not lying!" he says indignantly. "Zoe's drunk, and she kissed me! I have a girlfriend for heaven's sake!"
"You have a girlfriend?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. "Somehow I don't believe that. Who would date you?"
The room goes silent. I realise that was a bit too rude. I look around at everyone, seeking support.
Tyler mouths, "Too far."
I turn back to look at Phil. He wipes a tear from his eye. I put my hand on his arm.
"I'm sorry, bro, I didn't mean it..." I apologise quietly.
He shakes my hand off as if it was poison and looks down, tears streaming from his face.
I open my mouth to say something, but he walks away. I look at everyone in the crowd.
They all avoid my eye contact.
I turn to Zoe instead. She looks incredibly drunk.
"The party is over," I stammer quietly. Realising that nobody heard me, I speak louder. "The party is over."
Marcus looks over at me. "Mate, it's just started, come o-"
"I said, the party is over," I say firmly.
He stops talking and walks outside, beckoning for the others to follow him. They slowly look at me, then to the door. I avoid their eyes.
Eventually they all leave, and I let out a sigh and sit down on the sofa.
Louise's POV:
I'm guided out of Zoe and Alfie's house by Tanya and Niomi, who look just as confused as me.
"What about Phil?" I ask, to nobody in particular. "We should try and find him."
I squint into the distance, and see a figure storming down the pavement, away from the house.
"There he is," I say, pointing.
"That's not Phil, Louise. Phil is over there," Niomi says, pointing to the curb, where Phil is sitting.
I squint back at the figure. "Wait, where's Dan?"
Tanya's mouth makes a tiny 'o' shape. "That must be him."
I'm about to open my mouth again when I see another person on the pavement, a bit closer to the house. They are lying on the ground, curled up into a ball. Niomi and Tanya see them too.
"We should help them..." I suggest, walking off to them.
Niomi's POV:
I rush after Louise and clutch her arm.
"What if it's a homeless crazy person...?" I whisper.
"Homeless people aren't crazy, Niomi. That's really rude," she replies, shaking me off.
I continue to follow her, getting curious as to who the person is. As we near them, I see a black dress and soft h/c hair. It's Y/n.
Louise crouches down beside her. She's sobbing violently, and shaking.
"Sshhh... shh... Everything's okay," Louise says softly.
"But it's not! Dan's gone..." she exclaims, sitting up and throwing her arms around Louise. She buries her head in her shoulder.
"Y/n, what happened?" I ask in a soothing voice.
She just sobs harder.
"We need to get her home," Louise says to me.
I nod as Louise stands up slowly, still holding on to Y/n, and starts walking back towards the house.
I walk ahead of Louise, and go over to Phil. He's sitting on the curb, motionless and stony faced.
I sit down beside him and rub his back comfortingly.
"Phil, we need to get you home."
He doesn't reply, but nods and stands up slowly. I slip my hand in his and give it a reassuring squeeze. He doesn't respond. He's looking over at Y/n.
"What happened...?" he asks me, his voice croaky.
He seems to decide as if it would be better hearing the situation from Y/n's mouth, and rushes over to her.
Louise gives him a worried glance and whispers something to her. She lifts her head and looks at Phil. She looks awful. Her mascara is running down her tear-stained cheeks, and her eyes are red and puffy.
She lets go of Louise and goes over to Phil instead, who puts his arms around her and starts rubbing her back soothingly.
"We need to get Dan. Where is he?" he asks quietly.
"He disappeared down the road..." I explain. "We don't know where he went."
"He'll get lost out there. He could get attacked or something! We have to find him!" he exclaims, panic in his eyes.
Louise pats his arm, shushing him. "I'll tell Alfie and Zoe to look out for him. He can stay with them when he comes back."
Phil doesn't reply for a while, then nods slowly. "Okay. I'll take Y/n home. Tell them to to call me if there's any sign of him."
He hails a taxi and climbs in. "Thanks for finding her."
"No problem..." I say distractedly, wondering where Dan got to.