player ♚ lrh

38 - fear

Elise realized rather quickly that Ashton Irwin was the life of the party.

With alcohol or without; his energy remained unmatched. And it was quite entertaining to witness, she felt, for the only person she knew who could even hold a candle to his enthusiasm was Cassie, and tonight, the eccentric girl couldn't compare. He was on a level of his own; far ahead of everyone else in the 'having a good time' department.

He also laughed a lot.

"Slow down, dumbass," Luke warned him with an eye roll, aware that the boy was one drink away from hiccuping through the night.

Ashton let out a happy chuckle, his features relaxed and his eyes a bit glassy. He found Luke's words to be rather ironic. "Oh how the tables have turned, my friend," he grinned, earning yet another eye roll from the much less enthused boy beside him.

"Hilarious." Luke replied simply, his deadpan response illustrating just how clearly he understood the meaning behind Ashton's words.

Long ago, before he'd driven his friends away and before the term 'girlfriend' was anything more than a word he wasn't personally familiar with, Luke was often the one in need of cutting off—alcohol-wise, at least. He was never belligerent, or anything like that, he just partied a bit too hard for a young adult; something he himself could recognize.

'Slow down' was often Ashton's choice in words when dealing with his drunken friend, and it would appear that the roles had reversed, though it was much less serious this time around. Ashton was quite a different type of drunk than Luke's younger self had been—a happy drunk, as some might put it.

A lazy, content smile was permanently stretched across the other boy's lips; a refreshing change from the moody frown Luke used to find his inebriated self wearing.

Perhaps the ironic part was that Luke was very much sober tonight. Well, not entirely, for he'd been sipping at the bottle of beer he didn't truly care for in his free hand, but other than that, he wasn't feeling it. He didn't mind, though; he was rather satisfied just being in complete control of himself for once.

Times had certainly changed.

"Are you okay?" A soft voice spoke, clear in the midst of his reminiscing.

"Hm?" Luke shook his head, eyes catching on Elise's pure, curious ones. He reached for her automatically, fingers finding a place against her hip. "I'm fine. Are you?"

Elise giggled lightly. He was quite funny when she caught him trapped in his own head like that, always turning to check on her, instead. Nevertheless, she nodded. "Mmhm,"

He nodded in response, aware of the fact that he'd spaced out and she could tell. There wasn't anything wrong, he just had a few things on his mind, and their current setting made him a bit more anxious than he would've liked.

It wasn't a party, or anything close. There weren't nearly enough people crammed inside Luke's penthouse to call it that, but when it was considered that he rarely had anyone over other than Elise and the occasional—unwarranted—visit from Ashton; it was certainly more than he'd allowed in a long time.

At first, it was only supposed to be the three of them. Just for fun, that's how Ashton had convinced him to host—well, that, and the fact that Elise had seemed quite excited by the idea—but then, by some miracle even Elise couldn't explain, Luke had reluctantly allowed Ashton to invite just two more.

Purple-hair and the best friend, as Luke liked to call them. To everyone else; Awsten and Cassie.

It was enough to make it interesting. And, consequently, enough to raid Luke's liquor cabinet for the night.