Chapter 96
Mireya
Past
Play - Brother by Kodaline
The Flashing Lights
The alcohol hits me first and I stagger towards the car. Hayzel is holding the bottle of vodka to her lips, taking a sip as she opens the passenger side.
”Mi-reyyy-a,” she says my name slowly and I laugh at how funny she sounds.
“Yes, love,” I ask as I fumble for the ignition.
“I love you,” she whispers, and our laugh slowly fades away.
I grin at her, as she hands me the new bottle, and I take another generous swing. Woah.
The world tilts and my head starts to spin as I rest my forehead against the steering wheel. “I love you too, Hayz,” I reply, passing her the bottle back.
I shift into gear and begin to pull out of the driveway when Hayzel gently tugs at my arm. “We need to call, Ethan!” She says dramatically.
Shit. I almost forgot about that.
“Here,” I hand her my phone, “Use my cell, call him to see where he is.”
She nods and I watch her flick open and just after, his voice fills the car.
“Where the hell are you guys?” Ethan grumbles.
“We’re leaving the house, now,” I reply, yelling a bit.
“Where are you at, we’ll come and get you,” Hayzel adds.
“I’m by erm…” I hear rustling in the background and the sound almost confuses me.
“Are you not at home?” I ask as Hayzel looks at me confused.
“No!” He rushes out, “Sorry, I mean, no. I’m not at home. I’m down the road from Heath’s, can you guys pick me up there?”
Hayzel’s gaze met mine and I shrugged. “Give us ten minutes and we’ll be there.”
Weird as always. He’s never at home whenever we pick him up. Now that I think about it, I don’t think we have ever been invited to Ethan’s home.
“I’ll be there, waiting,” he replies before hanging up on us.
The journey starts, Hayzel switches the radio on, and loud music booms through the speakers.
The bottle is almost empty by the time we pull up into the street and catch his silhouette standing against a wall. I park quickly next to him and he gets in the backseat all smiling.
“Jesus, how much have you guys had?” He says lightly, his voice muffled by laughter.
Hayzel turns around to him and laughs more. “We might have a little, just a little something to drink.”
“Just a little, Hayz?” He asks and she bobs her head as if she were truly convincing him. I snort before meeting Ethan’s gaze in the mirror. “And you Reya? Want something stronger?”
I smile before replying, “tell me where we’re going first.”
“Vincent and a couple of his friends from Hollyberry’s are having a party at his house.”
Vincent is a little older than us, he lives by the coast of Seraphin Bay. His parents are somewhat semi-wealthy enough for him to attend a private college near there called The Hollyberry Academy.
“Ethan! You never told me we were going to Vin’s tonight.” Hayzel says as she slaps Ethan on the arm.
He laughs, fishes a cigarette out of his pocket, and lights it. After taking a drag, he holds it out for me. I lean forward taking a slow drag while keeping my eyes on the road before he slips it back between his own lips. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive, Rey?”
“Nope,” I reply, before pressing my foot on the gas, picking up speed fast which causes Hayzel to laugh hysterically and Ethan to grimace and let out a small “fuck.”
It takes us a little under an hour to get there and I’m parking the car a street down from Vincent’s house but, you can already hear the music booming loudly and it carries throughout the neighborhood.
The sound is deafening.
“You think the golden boy of Seraphin Bay will serve us cheap beer?” I ask as I slip my keys into my jeans pocket and move over to where Hayzel and Ethan are standing.
Hayzel jumps up onto Ethan’s back and I watch as he adjusts her legs around his waist. They talk, laughing and giggling about something I can’t hear.
I look out to the sun setting and the reflection it’s giving as it bounces off of the ocean.
Gosh I’m so drunk.
I manage to pull myself free from thoughts of the scenery and dart towards them ahead of me.
“Rey, I’m so excited!” Hayzel yells when she jumps down Ethan’s back to hook her arm around mine. I smile at her as the three of us walk up towards Vincent's house.
“Wooaahh, who do we have here? Sup Bennett,” Vincent says as he meets us inside.
“What's up, Vin,” Ethan replies grinning. “This is Reya and Hayz,” Ethan introduces us and I give a slight wave of my hand as he glances at us.
“Hey girls,” Vin says gesturing with his head towards his home, “my home is yours, have fun and enjoy the party!” He tells us as we enter the foyer.
His house is booming and I find myself being hauled by Hayzel to the table of a variety of drinks.
“Huh, guess he's not so cheap after all,” she whispers. Expensive wine, expensive champagne, expensive vodka.
That’s going to be fun.
After thirty minutes and multiple bottles of beer Hayzel and I find ourselves on the dance floor with a sea of people dancing, grinding and being carefree.
I'm draining the last of my beer when I feel someone's hands on my hips. His warm breath touches the shell of my ear and his voice booms in my head, “Hey, beautiful, you wanna get tatted tonight?”
I crane my head back to look at him and motion with my hand in a scribbling motion as if I'm writing my signature in that air, “like a tattoo, tattoo?!”
He nods and I grin.
I lean forward to grab Hayzel, who's too lost in the music to care about anything tonight.
“Hayz, come let's go,” I tell her, grabbing her hand.
I nod to the guy in front of me and he takes my free arm, pulling me into Vincent's dining room. Multiple people are making out, some are waiting in a line to get a free tattoo at the far end of the room.
“Right, which one of you is going first?” the guy asks and it suddenly dawns on me that I didn't ask for his name.
“Tattoos, Rey?” Hayzel asks inquisitively and I nod my head.
“Yeah, a late birthday gift for me!”
A smile curls her lips and she squeals, pulling her leg up. “Thighs?”
“Bet,” I reply, as I set up to pull my dress up and expose the lower part of my thigh.
“It might sting a bit,” he says, getting ready.
I shrug at him, smiling. “It’s okay, I can handle pain, it’s not my first one.”
He preps our skin as best as he can with what he has.
Vodka.
Hayzel flashes him a grin and she takes the bottle from him, bringing it to her lips for a swig. “Are you two ready?” he asks and we nod.
The music vibrates through the house and we bob towards the beat, humming the lyrics.
“Just a small pinch and it's done,” he smiles at me and I hear the buzzing of the tattoo gun coming closer.
The needle starts to pierce my skin and I wince at the sensation.
It's not painful, in fact I find it relaxing almost.
“And, we are….” he wipes the excess ink off before continuing, “done.”
Hayzel squeals as she comes by to inspect it. A few moments later it’s her turn. I watch her and all I can do is smile at how excited she looks.
After a few minutes, Hayzel is admiring her small star tattoo on her wrist. Her eyes meet mine and she whispers, “Now we are always a part of each other, Rey.”
I press my forehead against hers and we laugh softly at how stupid we are for doing this.
I pull her back to the living room when we hear another one of our favorite songs playing.
“Promise me this will last forever,” I yell at her over the music and she nods before pulling me closer to hug me.
“I promise,” she replies. “You’ll always be my favorite star, Reya.”
All that matters at that moment is that I had my best friend believing I was worth it all. And as long as she keeps thinking that, I might have a chance to survive.