F I F T Y
.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

TW ⚠️: Sexual abuse & drugging.

It was already late at night when I was eating dinner all alone.

He had promised me he would be home early. Aiden promised he would try out a new food recipe I made... but he wasn't home from wherever he even went.

I knew he didn't like it when I ate without him, yet I did. I wanted to sleep, not wait and wait for him to get back with a smell of alcohol hanging around him.

I left my dishes in the sink and went to brush my teeth, when the door opened. A part of me wished I was already asleep and I wouldn't get the confrontation, but it was too late.

"Hey." Aiden's voice was loud and clear in the house.

"Hi." I said from the bathroom. "Everything okay?"

"Yep."
A chair screeched over the floor. "Did you eat already?"

"Yeah." I appeared in the kitchen, scratching the back of my head. "Sorry. I was hungry."

He stared at me for a long time, sighing. "It's okay," he then said.

I nodded. "I was about to go to sleep. Where were you?"

Aiden didn't seem to like the question, but eventually answered. "At a friend's house. We hung out and ate pizza."

I bit my lip, a feeling disappointment stinging me. "But you said you would try my recipe. Will you still try it?"

"I'm full." He said. "I'll try it tomorrow. What is it, actually?"

"Spaghetti. With lemon. It's nice." I replied, knowing I had told him what it was the day before. "Was it fun with your friend?"

"Yeah. His dad called, so sadly I had to go, but it was cool."

I nodded and sat down in front of him. This was going well. Aiden was in quite a cheerful mood. "I'm going to bed, all right?"

"Wait." He looked around. "There's still dirty dishes."

"Oh, I'll clean them tomorrow."

His eyes narrowed. "I'd prefer that you clean them now."

I cleared my throat and quickly obeyed. Rinsed the glasses and plates under hot water, and dried them off as Aiden went on his phone.

"Good night." I told him, but he claimed he was going to bed too and followed me to the bathroom.

I quickly put warm pajamas on and climbed into the bed while Aiden brushed his teeth. I turned my back to the door, attempting to fall asleep. His weight soon got put down next to me.

His breaths tickled the back of my neck. Three seconds later his arms were wrapped around me. I shrunk. Moved my shoulders a bit, but he wouldn't let go.

"Stop." I whispered when his lips touched my neck. "I'm not in the mood."

"Shh." He muttered. "I'll be nice." A strand of my hair got tucked behind my ear. "I've had a long day, darling. Please."

I squeezed my eyes shut so deeply I hoped it magically made me teleport somewhere else. "I don't want to today. I've had a long day too."

"Perfect to end it relaxing." He added, his fingers circling on my back. "Please?"

I swallowed deeply, tons of pressure on me. I couldn't see no. He was my boyfriend. He just wants comfort, I thought. Comfort after a tiring day.

"Fine."

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

My breaths were heavy when I woke up, my arms tossing around to find some kind of reassurance instead of Aiden's hands on me.

A groan from Minho beside me. He was still half asleep when he asked, "Princess... everything okay...?"

"Yeah." I breathed. His voice made me calmer. "Nightmare."

With closed eyes, he wrapped an arm around me, starting a spooning position. "This better?"

I nodded, finding extreme comfort buried in his arms. "Thank you."

He took my hand in his, slowly caressing the back of it as he hummed quietly.

"Good night."

"Night, love." I whispered.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

It was our fifth day in France when Thomas forced us to go out again, since the night before that, Minho and I hadn't joined... so there we went.

"I swear... if you two get arrested one more time, I will kill you." Newt muttered before he sped up his walk to move closer to Thomas. "Please be careful. I don't want you to get hurt or into problems."

"Promised." He gave Newt a warm smile. "Well... I can't promise anything, but—."

"Thomas."

He coughed. "Right. I promise."

"Same for you." Minho intertwined my fingers with his as the back of my shoes, which were slightly heeled, hit the ground repeatedly. "Be safe."

"Or you two can just keep watch on them." Frypan suggested.

"Nah. I trust my girl... and I sometimes trust Thomas. They should get time for theirselves, too. Don't need guards." Minho decided while my cheeks turned red from him calling me his girl.

"Let's go!" Thomas hid between our group when we walked past the guards in front of the club, and again, he managed to get in safely.

A sweaty, but not too dirty smell hung in the tight space. It was full with dancing people, a bar in the corner. Drinks were chugged down as lights blinded my eyes.

Thomas and Newt went to buy us drinks as just like last time we went out, Minho and I leaned against the wall in the corner.

"You can go and dance. You know that, right?" He lifted an eyebrow.

I nodded. "As I said, gotta get into it. Drinking first."

He chuckled, then his eyes proceeded to watch everyone in the club. Thomas handed me a strong-smelling drink, a crooked smile on his face. In a minute, our bottles were empty.

Minho shook his head, laughing. "Don't do stupid shit."

"Then I'm afraid Quinn will have to breakup with you." Thomas shot back with a big grin.

I covered my mouth with a hand, stunned at the comeback. "Damn, Thomas!"

His grin turned prouder. "New drink?"

I nodded, told Minho a quick goodbye, and followed Thomas to the bar. I ordered us two drinks as Thomas claimed a place for us to stand, a high table in front of us.

"Here ya go." Another bottle of a sweet drink got pushed in front of me. "What if we request Taylor songs to the DJ?"

I smiled, feeling my head get lighter and lighter by the second. Yes, even after one bottle. "Definitely. Hey, what is this?"

He held up the bottle. "I don't even know. It tastes good."

I agreed with a nod and drank a few more sips, staring at Minho who somehow got convinced to dance with Winston and Newt. I smiled at that, brightly.

"Bonjour."

Thomas and I looked up at a tall boy. His dark hair was styled like a punk, strands sticking out with gel. He smiled at us, perfect teeth revealed.

"Uh... hey." I replied.

"Ça va?"

Thomas fidgeted with his drink. "Yeah, uh, bien. English, please?"

"Ah, sorry." His head got thrown back when he laughed. "Cool, some foreigners. We don't see them much, in clubs, at least."

"It's great here." Thomas commented. He took a look around again.

"It is. I come here often." He touched his lips. "You have family here?"

"No." I let out a laugh, sensing the heavenly feeling rise in me. "On a trip."

"Nice." He held his hand out above our glasses, suddenly introducing himself. "I'm Micheal."

Thomas and I shared a glance, but eventually told him our names. Three minutes later we were laughing with the boy, and he had offered to buy more drinks. Thomas and I refused politely, not being that dumb either. Taking drinks from strangers wasn't smart.

"Hey." Minho's hands on my shoulders as Newt approached Thomas. The Asian gave Michael a sharp glare. "We were about to go. Come on."

"We've haven't even been here for an hour!" Thomas protested. "At least let my finish my drink."

A few more glances from Minho and Michael had rushed away as fast as he could.

"No, we want to go." Newt responded. "Come on, Tommy. Maybe we'll go to another club."

He liked that idea, so chugged his drink down so quickly I barely noticed it. I then did the same thing to my drink, which was still my second one.

"Let's go." Minho took my hand, leading me out of the club gently, but in a hurry.

We bumped into tons of people. It hurt like hell, like my skin was super sensitive, suddenly.

Now that we got closer to the exit, I only longed for it more. A bad feeling hit me fast, and the club was starting to smell muggy. The air was stuffy in my nose, barely coming through.

"Do you have a bottle of water?" I heard Thomas ask Newt. The question repeated in my ears a few times before I asked Minho the same thing.

"Outside." He promised, before he pulled the bottom of my dress down, and the top up, so I was better covered again.

"It's stuffy as hell in there." Thomas mumbled when finally the cold air of the night touched our skin.

I breathed in and out, fresh oxygen entering my lungs, but nothing helped with how dizzy and slow I felt.

"My feet hurt so much." I made my way to a bench. The world was spinning around me, every step hurting, yet making me feel like I was floating.

Minho kneeled in front of me with a sigh. "How many drinks have you had?"

"Two."

He raised his eyebrows. "Two, hm?"

"I swear." I tossed my head back. "Just two. Can I get some water?"

"We have water in the hotel." He said. "So let's go. I'll carry you if needed."

I shook my head, ears ringing by now. Vision blurry. "I don't... feel so good." Minho was just a vague picture in front of me, his worded echoing in my head over and over again.

"Hey, Thomas!" Frypan grumbled. "If you decide to throw up, don't do it on me."

Another figure now sat next to me. Thomas.
"God, maybe that drink was... too strong." He struggled to talk. Slugged all over his words.

"Here, I'll carry you." Minho announced. He was already wrapping his arms around me when I refused.

"One sec." I pressed a hand to my forehead to stop the pain.

"Shouldn't have drank that much." A few said in unison.

"We didn't drink too much." Thomas and I managed to get out. "Two bottles."

Minho got enough and lifted my straight off the bench fast. Way too fast, because my blood pressure lowered. My vision went black and I couldn't even tell if that was because my eyes closed.

I was unable to move. To see. Did I faint? I was sure I didn't have low iron... right? I didn't remember.

"It's the drinks." Newt's sudden realization hurt my ears. "The shuckin' drinks. Tommy, we'll get ya water, all right? Try not to... die or whatever the hell is happening."

"Hey, hey, Quinn!" I didn't know where I was. I was sure Minho was the one raising his voice, but I lost track of time. "Princess? Hey... Newt!"

I tried to talk. Tried to do something to hint I was just in some kind of trance, but I couldn't. Everything was spinning and I was falling. Falling endlessly, until the echoing voices finally disappeared too.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

A/n: Oh, well, that's a nice celebration of chapter 50 :)

But Tysm!! The story has gotten so far in just a few weeks! 💗

Predictions for the next chapter??

xx Vera