Somewhere, Today

69

Super late update but I just got into my dream school and I was celebrating! I can't wait to write for the rest of my life because I truly love this so much! Here's a chapter for all of ya'll, the people that keep my dream going. All the love xx. 

Song for the chapter: Here's To Us by Halestorm

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"Here's to us, here's to love,

all the times that we messed up.

Here's to you, fill the glass,'Cause the last few nights have kicked my ass.

If they give ya hell, tell em to go fuck themselves, here's to us, here's to us."

"I need two beers and pronto!!" Clair reaches over the crowded bar at the club, the bartender reaching behind him to grab two bottles. I didn't have the heart to tell Clair that I wouldn't be drinking tha beer, but holding onto it all night would will be enough to satisfy Clair.

"This is so fun," her energy jumps off the walls, Clair's body moving to the music as the beers get handed to her. "I'm so glad we're doing this!" She brings the cold beer bottle up to her red lips, the paint marking her bottle for the rest of the night.

Kristina and I glance at each other, a wave of worry passing through us. Clair wasn't really acting like herself, her energy feeling a bit too forced. Of course Clair has always been a bubbly person, but she's never bounced off the walls like this before.

I looked around the club, my eyes scanning over every drunk, looped-up person in here. Kristina's hand reached for mine, her way of trying desperately not to slip away into old habits. Part of me is scared that it may be too soon for Kristina, that she shouldn't be in a club full of alcohol and regrettable decisions.

"Do you think this could be about Louis?" Kristina asks me, her voice barely audible over the club music. The DJ had been playing some kind of jumbled beat, a song that I never would've danced to in a million years.

"I think she's trying to forget him in all the wrong ways," I admit as I observe her ordering her second beer. Clair is trying to forget Louis and her heartbreak by getting wasted and dancing until her feet are sore. This isn't the way that Clair should be mourning her breakup, she should be eating until she's a stuffed turkey and laughing along to movies with Kristina and I.

I pull on Clair's arm, guiding her away from the bar. "What are we doing here?" Clair looks at me in confusion, her chilled beer still in her hand. "This isn't you," Kristina pulls the beer out of Clair's hand slowly, making sure to not insult or hurt her with the action.

"I just wanted to shut my mind up," Kristina and I wrap our arms around Clair, obvious that she needed her friends in this moment. Clair is being honest with us about her breakup, and for once I wanted to be here completely and totally for her.

The first thing I wanted to do for Clair is bring her out of this club, to just get her away from the crowd of drunken dancers. Kristina and I hold onto Clair, our arms linked with hers as we drag her out of the club, her eyes on the ground as we leave.

"I'm sorry I made us come all the way here," Clair says once we're outside, the air around us cold and bustling. The line outside has only gotten longer, various college students just waiting to get in and have a fun weekend.

"Don't be sorry," I say as I wrap my arms around her body, pulling her for a hug. Kristina wraps her arms around us, our bodies all huddled against each other's in the cold night. Guys whistle in line, their gross gawking not getting to our heads though.