"L A B E L S"

Episode 69

Going to the club was supposed to be her way of forgetting everything that had happened. She wanted to erase everything that happened with Joe and the only way she could think to do that was by way of alcohol. She took shot after shot but the alcohol didn't seem to do a thing but make her feel even more worthless. She may have been drunk but she could feel herself losing all grasps with reality and any part of her that still cared was slowly slipping away. It was about three hours into partying at the club and she finds herself grinding against some guy she barely knows while Nick dances beside her with some girl, completely sober for once. He begins to move closer to Dani when he sees the guys hand move from her waist down to her butt.

The guy dancing with Dani gives her a devious smirk before leaning down and whispering in her ear. "You want to get out of here?"

She looks up at him with a lazy smile while slurring her words. "Why would I want to do that?"

He smirks down at her. "For the after party."

She laughs drunkenly and shakes her head. "This is a club...there is no after party."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." He's about to grab her hand and pull her towards the door but before he can she raises her hand to her head as a pained expression crosses her face. She begins to lose her balance and fall to the floor but before she can hit rock bottom two strong arms break her fall. 

The guy puts his arms out to stop Dani from hitting the ground as Nick rushes over with an obvious look of concern. Nick takes her from the guy and gently sets her on the ground before he begins gently slapping her face to bring her back to consciousness. "Dani? Wake the fuck up, Danielle!"

She groans and glares up at Nick before slapping his hands away. "Don't ever call me that again and stop slapping me! I'm fine!" Nick's slightly amused by the fact that cussing was what made her open her eyes. She stands up with a little help from Nick and turns back to the sleazy guy, giving him her best drunken flirt face. He smirks and puts his hands back on her waist. They start to dance again but Dani puts her hand to her head feeling dizzy once again as the lights from the club flash all around her making her feel disoriented. Nick notices that she's about to faint again and comes up behind her before she can. He wraps his arm around her waist and throws her arm around his shoulders.

"Okay...I think you've done enough clubbing for one night."

She throws her head back and looks at him with a frown before whining like a child. "What? No." She begins to resist his pull towards the door but before she can squirm her way out of his grasp, he tosses her over his shoulder and carry's her out the exit. She groans and begins beating on Nick's back while whining up a storm of drunken slurs. "Nick! Put! Me! Down! I want to go back to the club, that guy was like...uber cute."

He sets her down in the passenger side of his car and smirks down at her with a small snicker. "Uber? Okay, now I know you've had enough to drink."

She rolls her eyes and throws her head back against the head rest as Nick shuts the door. He sits down in the drivers side and begins driving away from the loud club. She looks over at Nick with smudged eyeliner and a small smirk. "So...where to now?"

"Well now you are going home to sleep off the alcohol and in the morning you will have the worst hang over." He smiles over at her briefly before focusing back on the road.

Her eyes widen in worry as she leans forward in her seat. "Home? No, no, no, no, no." She turns to Nick with urgent eyes. "I can't go home, Nick! My dad will kill me!"

Nick shrugs with a disinterested expression. "Well what do you expect me to do? You're the one that wanted to come and you're the one that got wasted. You know, you're supposed to think these things through."

She rolls her eyes at his patronizing behavior and begins searching through her purse. She takes out her phone and lowers it when she sees the black screen. "Shit." She turns to him. "My battery died." She sets down her phone and holds out her hand to Nick. "Give me your phone."

He gives her a look before pulling his phone out of his pocket and handing it to her. She snatches the phone and dials a number, putting the phone to her ear. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath to get herself together.

"Hello?"

She puts on a calm and sweet voice, smiling into the phone as she puts her drunken behavior on hold for the next three minutes. "Hi, daddy."

"Hey, Dimples. How is the tutoring going?"

She glances over at Nick with a raised eyebrow. "Tutoring is going good...yeah, um...funny thing, dad; while we were at the coffee shop I met up with Scarlett and she invited me to stay the night..."

"On a school night? I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Yeah, I know and you know I wouldn't even ask if it wasn't important but she's having some...girl...problems."

"Oh..." He coughs, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable and willing to do anything to end the conversation right there. "...well, alright. Just promise me you'll get to school tomorrow, okay?"

"Promise."

"Alright, be careful...and Dani?"

"Mmmhm?"

"I love you."

"Love you too, Dad." She looks down at the phone in guilt and ends the call, handing the phone back to Nick.

He takes back his phone and looks over at Dani with questioning eyes. "So, you want me to take you to Scarlett's?"

She thinks about the grief Scarlett would give her for getting drunk over Joe so she shakes her head.

He's starting to get a little agitated with her. "Well where do you want to go, Dani?"

She closes her eyes and leans her head against the seat as she begins mumbling her words, feeling herself drifting to sleep. "Anywhere...just don't take me home." Her voice gets quiet and she slowly begins to fall asleep.

He sighs and looks over at her with irritation. "Dani! Come on, my dad would kill me!" He sees that she's already asleep and looks back at the road as he begins heading towards his house.

Nick pulls up to his house and quickly scopes out the windows, making sure his dad has already gone to bed before picking Dani up from the passenger side of the car and carrying her inside his house. He makes his way up to his bedroom on the second floor while taking slowly and gentle steps. He quietly opens his bedroom door and walks over to his bed, lying her down gently. He grabs a blanket from the bottom of his bed and gently lays it over her before moving a strand of hair from her face. A smile takes over his face when he notices that she is wearing that horrible gift he gave her for her birthday. He snickers softly and focuses away from the strange book ear rings and back on Dani's peaceful expression. He shakes his head before whispering, "you are so damn confusing, Landon." He shakes his head once again before reaching up to turn off the small light beside his bed but before he can he feels a gentle pull on his hand.

"Nick?"

He looks down at her as she slowly begins to open her eyes. She stares up at him a moment and his face turns to concern when he notices her eyes filling with tears. She forces the tears back down as she speaks with a saddened and hoarse voice. "What's wrong with me?"

He gives her a look of confusion before sitting down beside her on the edge of the bed and looking back at her with seriousness. "There is nothing wrong with you, Dani."

She sighs and stares up at as the ceiling, hoping the maybe by lying on her back it will force the tears to stay inside. She stays silent for what seems like minutes before finally turning back to Nick. "I think I've figured out why you're so bitter towards everyone."

He snickers sourly and gives her a slightly irritated expression. "Oh, really? ...and why's that?"

She shows a small smile before reaching her hand out and placing it on his chest, directly over his heart. "It's broken..." She uses her spare hand to take hold of his and places it directly over her heart. "...just like mine." She stares back at him for a moment before whispering, "stay with me?"